D'oh! One of my New Year's resolutions in 2012 was to finish reading the bible and I've still got 17 books and just under 300 pages to go. Hopefully I'll have this sucker done with by 2014.
Chapter 4
You won't amount to much until you die. Because, see, a christian is a child of Christ, a kid might as well be a slave until he grows up to inherit his father's wealth, and you won't get any of that until death.
Before the congregation got to know god, they were slaves to other gods. And yet, now they're turning back to their old habits and Paul's worried he's done all this work in vain. He wants to stay with them until they die, see. He links it all to Abraham and his two sons, Isaac, the result of divine promise, and Ishmael, the result of unprotected sex with a slave girl. Christians are Isaac, being persecuted by Ishmael, the Jews. And as the scripture says, they need to cast out Hagar and Ishmael, because they're free.
Chapter 5
Whatever you do, don't get circumcised. Jesus, who was circumcised, no longer likes it and won't allow you into heaven on the basis of presence or absence of a bit of penile skin. What will get you in? faith which worketh by love (v. 6). This entire chapter is a treasure trove of famous biblical sayings. Just 3 verses later we get A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (v. 9) But here it's about bad people putting false ideas into believers' heads.
Speaking of agitators, Paul wants them to self-castrate, just like he wants believers to love one another without giving into the sins of the flesh, which Freud might call your id and which is constantly battling with the holy spirit, or superego. These two forces are at constant war with each other, and both keep you from doing what you want.
Among the more fun sins of the flesh: fornication, drunkenness and orgies. You're supposed to nail them to the cross with Jesus. On the other side, you've got the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance (v. 22-23)
Chapter 6
If someone succumbs to temptation, help him without succumbing yourself. Don't be an egoist. Work hard. Be faithful. Don't sin. Take joy in doing good turns. Don't believe people who try to convince you to get circumcised.
Showing posts with label Galatians. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Galatians. Show all posts
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Galatians, Chapters 1-3: Curses
Chapter 1
Paul and the other apostles are writing to the church in Galatia, which is apparently already worshiping other gospels. He curses the false preachers and says if he was trying to win a popularity contest, he'd tell them what they wanted to hear, but he's a servant of Christ, so he tells them what they need to hear.
He reminds us about how he used to persecute Christians, until god spoke to him on the road to Damascus. Or possibly he was in Arabia. Anyway, he was somewhere, and he spoke to god. Then he went to Jerusalem and spoke to Peter and James.
Chapter 2
Paul went around hectoring people for a few years, but then had a revelation that sent him back to Jerusalem to get his new message for the Gentiles approved. They agreed and didn't make his companion Titus get circumcised, for which I'm sure Titus was eternally grateful. They had this conversation because of some false christians who wanted to kidnap them and sell them into slavery. But they were careful, because they wanted to get to evangelising. The apostles approved the message, with the proviso that they also had to remember the poor.
Later, at Antioch, he got into an argument with Peter, who refused to eat with the gentiles in public, which led other Jewish christians to act the same, so he pointed out that salvation is through Jesus, not circumcision.
Chapter 3
Paul calls the Galatians fools, which seems like the easiest way to lose your audience. He asks if they got the word through obeying the law, or faith, and why they're so materialistic.
Following the law makes you cursed, because Jesus. The laws were just a temporary thing between Abraham and Jesus. A prison guard, or a teacher. Then he tells us we're all one under Jesus, conveniently forgetting that part in just the last book where he said women shouldn't speak in church.
Paul and the other apostles are writing to the church in Galatia, which is apparently already worshiping other gospels. He curses the false preachers and says if he was trying to win a popularity contest, he'd tell them what they wanted to hear, but he's a servant of Christ, so he tells them what they need to hear.
He reminds us about how he used to persecute Christians, until god spoke to him on the road to Damascus. Or possibly he was in Arabia. Anyway, he was somewhere, and he spoke to god. Then he went to Jerusalem and spoke to Peter and James.
Chapter 2
Paul went around hectoring people for a few years, but then had a revelation that sent him back to Jerusalem to get his new message for the Gentiles approved. They agreed and didn't make his companion Titus get circumcised, for which I'm sure Titus was eternally grateful. They had this conversation because of some false christians who wanted to kidnap them and sell them into slavery. But they were careful, because they wanted to get to evangelising. The apostles approved the message, with the proviso that they also had to remember the poor.
Later, at Antioch, he got into an argument with Peter, who refused to eat with the gentiles in public, which led other Jewish christians to act the same, so he pointed out that salvation is through Jesus, not circumcision.
Chapter 3
Paul calls the Galatians fools, which seems like the easiest way to lose your audience. He asks if they got the word through obeying the law, or faith, and why they're so materialistic.
Following the law makes you cursed, because Jesus. The laws were just a temporary thing between Abraham and Jesus. A prison guard, or a teacher. Then he tells us we're all one under Jesus, conveniently forgetting that part in just the last book where he said women shouldn't speak in church.
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