Become like me, as you were once like me, but then you became like I once was, so now you need to sort yourself out or alternatively - Galatians 4:8-21.
There are no surprises to see that Paul’s concern for the Galatians in verses 8:21, primarily regards rescuing them from the Judaizers false gospel. It seems to dominate this passage, as it does the rest of his letter. I love the irony in that Paul became like a Gentile in his pursuit to win the Galatians over, but the Christians in
On a practical note for some consideration, Paul urges the Galatians to regain some of their lost joy, as they seem to have mislaid it somewhere while trying to carry out their legalistic rituals and not keeping the main thing the main thing. This made me think about two things a) how free in Christ am I? b) Does my relationship with Jesus generate joy or have I lost it, or did I ever have it in the first place?
So what is this freedom in Christ/from the law all about? According to John Piper freedom from the law does not result in self-gloryfing lawlessness, he goes on to explain that becoming like Paul, and being free in Christ therefore free from the law means that we must allow Christ to be formed in us! Earlier in the letter (2:20) Paul gives us a big clue on how to ‘get some’ of this freedom, he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Dying to self and allowing Christ to live in us is pretty difficult. I depend on myself quite a lot and I feel we all have a little in-built desire regarding our own self importance. Allowing Christ to be formed in us means that we have to rely completely on him, proper Christ shaping only comes with us genuinely abandoning ourselves to him.
Now I must go and have a ponder at the joy that my relationship with Jesus should bring me……….
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