Re:Verse passage – Galatians 5:1-15 (day three)
“I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves.”
Is Paul the one still writing this letter? Just a few sentences back, he spoke eloquently of faith making itself evident by way of love. Now, he’s envisioning a scenario in which the ones who’ve make so much of the saving power of circumcision get bonus points with God by doing some extra slicing. That goes way beyond what one normally associates with the legacy of the apostle Paul. But he gets your attention, doesn’t he? Paul’s jolting crudity is a marker that this isn’t some kind of ivory tower theologian’s debate. It’s either Christ’s sufficiency, or it’s Christ’s irrelevance. Paul unequivocally declares that the one who suffered under Pontius Pilate and died a criminal’s death did all the bleeding that will ever be necessary for the human race.
Well stated! ( and in words we mortals can understand!)
Sandy Peters