Full Text for Galatians- Volume 45 - The Marks of Christ and the Closing of Galatians (Video)

No. 45. >> Before we close, would you be so kind as to explain to us what the marks of Jesus, the stigmata I believe they are called, refer to. What a way to end his letter. What's going on here? Do you think that Paul is still angry with the Galatians and his opponents? Do you think they listened to what he had to say? >>DR. ARTHUR A. JUST, JR.: Paul ends his letter in such a remarkable way that it is a moment for us to pause and reflect, what in fact is he trying to do here? Now, look at the text with me here. Because I want you to see how Verse 17 really does stand out on its own. It would seem very natural to end the letter like this -- and let me just read this for you. As many of you who walk along this canon, this rule, peace on you and mercy that is on the Israel of God. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with your Spirit be with you brethren. Amen. Isn't that a natural ending? Peace and mercy be on you that is the Israel of God. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ with your Spirit, brethren. Amen. I mean, that's natural. That's natural. But there's this verse in between. And Paul cannot help himself. But I think in putting this letter in, I mean, all along I think we've seen he's been sparring with these opponents. And he's being getting his licks in. He said they ought to castrate themselves. And he compares them to pagans. And says the works of the flesh, the power of the flesh, is equivalent to the power of the law. All along we've seen that. He's going to boast in Christ crucified. They are boasting in dead foreskins. All along he's just really been in a sense not only just sparring with them but even ridiculing them. But here in the second to last verse, I think it's his final powerful punch. And it is an extraordinary statement to make. And I think in making it, he sums up the entire letter in the most magnificent way that he possibly could. I think he's still angry. I mean, he's angry because the end isn't in sight yet. He doesn't know what the results of all of this is going to be. He is still wondering what it is that's going to happen here in Galatia. So he is making a final statement about all the things that he has been talking about. And he does it in such a succinct beautiful way. Now, let's look at the text. Because I think you'll see it when we translate it. Verse 17 he says: From now on do not let anybody trouble me. Now, I think you've got to see in this statement Paul is basically saying: Listen. I've had it. I'm the Apostle Paul. I have come here. I have preached the truth of the Gospel. You have strayed away from it. Some of you have listened to these opponents. Not all of you. But some of you have. They have abused, you know, my position there as the founding pastor. They have taken you away from the Gospel. The truth of the Gospel has been compromised. He says: I've had it. From now on don't let anybody else bother me. Don't trouble me anymore. Get out of my face. I've had it. That's what he's saying. He is -- I don't want to say he's at his wits end. But I think he's reached the point where he has said everything he has to say. And he's just going to commend this to the Spirit now. Commend this to the Lord and his holy angels to take care of these Galatians so the truth of the Gospel might come out. But having said that, from now on don't let anybody trouble me, these are his final words. And this is why -- and if you look at the Greek, it's the first and last words. For I am bearing -- and had this language of bearing is important. I am bearing the stigmata, those are the marks, the scars, the marks of Jesus in my body. The marks of Jesus. Now, I'm sure you've heard of this stigmata. This is a -- kind of a -- it was a movie a number of years ago. I never saw it. But my students and my son says I should. Roman Catholics talk about the stigmata of Jesus, these are the marks on the hands, the feet, the side. You know, there were in the mysticism of the church people who demonstrated these stigmata in some sort of a miraculous way, there's lots of shrines to people who had this stigmata. Paul is not talking about anything mystical. Paul is says: Look at my body. Beaten. Whipped. Tortured. You picked me up at the side of the road as if I were half dead. You know, you did not despise me or spit me out as he says when I was in this weakness. But you know the scars on my body. Look at them. Look at the marks of Jesus. And this is what he's saying: The injuries that I have on my body were inflicted by the same powers that crucified Jesus. So my body is a testimony, flesh, my flesh, with its scars on it, with its stigmata, my body preaches the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because if you look at my body, you will see a sign of the present activity of the redeemer. Not because of who I am. But because of what I've preached. I said before: I will boast in nothing but Christ crucified. I will preach Christ crucified. For preaching that I have been stoned. I have been whipped. I have been scourged. I have been beaten to the point of death. And those marks that I now bear in my body are a sign of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because I have suffered with my Lord. I have been in a sense co-crucified with him in baptism. And that has led to this suffering. Now, this is why he says it. I think you get the message. The stigmata. This is the activity of the Gospel. He says: Okay, Galatians. You want to compare? You want to boast? You want to make a showing in the flesh? Look at the opponents. They've got a pile of dead foreskins there. Is that what you want to boast in? Or do you want to boast in the stigmata that are on my body because I have preached Christ crucified? Remember, they don't want to be persecuted for preaching the cross of Christ. They would rather count dead foreskins from performing circumcisions. I'll preach Christ crucified. And if it means that I'm going to be inflicted with these, these scars, then so be it. That's what it means to live under the theology of the cross. Now, I don't know about you. But I think that's a profound way to end this epistle. Because Paul has shown throughout this epistle that it is really in many ways about how he as an apostle to the Gentiles bears in his own body, his speaking, his character, his own sufferings, he has borne the Gospel to them. And they loved him so much they were willing to take out their eyes and give them to him. Now, that's an extraordinary act of love. And Paul is appealing now had in his final words to them that his bearing in his body these stigmata of Jesus is a sign that he is the true apostle who speaks the truth of the Gospel. The Gospel of a crucified Christ. That is why he ends with grace. Because the crucified Christ is the space in this new creation where God is making right what has gone wrong. He has blessed them with peace and mercy. And now he returns to grace. Gift. The gift of the preaching of Christ crucified by the Spirit that he wishes rests upon the Galatians so that they can see in God's grace in this space in which he is making right what has gone wrong, in this new creation, they can see that it's all about Jesus Christ and him crucified. We don't know what happened after this. That's one of the great mysteries. Whether the Galatians turned to Paul or if they went with the opponents. As I mentioned earlier on, we know that circumcision ceased to be an issue in the church after the Apostolic Council. And a part of that was the letter that he wrote to the Galatians. I would like to think that Paul's letter moved the Galatians by the Spirit to return to confessing the true faith. To not be afraid. To not be hypocrites like Barnabas and Peter were in Antioch. But to stand up to those opponents and to actually help them to see that it is in fact the Gospel of a crucified Christ that is the heart of the Gospel itself. Certainly throughout the rest of Paul's missionary journeys, his preaching Christ crucified defined him. And we as Lutheran Christians today, we acknowledge that not only is justification by grace through faith at the heart of our faith, but when we actually engage in preaching justification, what we preach is the theology of the cross. And that's not only what we preach, that's who we are. As pastors, we bring people into Communion with the sufferings of Christ. We help them to interpret their sufferings through the sufferings of Christ. We show them that it is in suffering, in tragedy, in brokenness, that Christ is present with his gifts. Like Paul who came to the Galatians broken, bleeding, dieing, smelly, somebody who they could have despised and spit out because he was so horrific in his appearance, this was the occasion for them to embrace Paul and the Gospel, to embrace him as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself. To use the language of Paul: Let us never grow weary in preaching Christ crucified. Let us never grow weary in showing that in the theology of the cross and in the sufferings of Christ is our hope of righteousness. Now may the peace and mercy of God be upon you, the Israel of God. And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your Spirit, brothers.