No. 42. >> Why does Paul return to the theme of circumcision at the very end of the letter? Obviously Paul did not think he had said enough about circumcision already. So he adds more. But I'm not sure why. >>DR. ARTHUR A. JUST, JR.: When we get to the last seven verses of Galatians, Chapter 6 Verses 11 to 18, we are in what is the equivalent in say a rhetorical structure the epilogue of the letter. And here you're going to see that there is going to be an echo to the way in which Paul began this letter to the Galatians. The echo is going to be a liturgical one. That just as at the beginning of the letter by saying: Grace and peace to you from God our Father. And he ends with glory forever and ever Amen. So also he is going to end in a liturgical way here. And what he's doing is he's bringing the Galatians back into the presence of God. Which in a sense they've been in all along. Because this is a homily. And it's in the context of a worship service. But he's acknowledging the fact that they are in the presence of God. And he is bringing them to the point where they recognize that here at the end he is going to accent the major themes that he wants to accent in this letter to the Galatians. Now, here is the surprise -- at least it always surprised me. And I think I do now understand why. But it took me a while to fully grasp and appreciate what Paul is doing here. What surprises here is that he returns to that theme of circumcision, which your very question alerts us to. That's an astute question. Because it shows us clearly that Paul is returning to a theme that you know you think he has said enough about it. But it is still such an issue that he feels he needs to address it one more time. Now, this final part of the letter is also one in which he returns to Christ crucified. And in a way he introduces a new concept or at least a new way of speaking of that concept. And that is the concept of new creation. But we're going to see that that is a way in which he has been talking about the Gospel all along. And now he names it new creation. Now, what is a surprise to a certain extent is that he doesn't return to what we think of as one of the major themes of Paul's letter to the Galatians. And certainly what we confess as Lutherans to be the major theme of Paul's epistle. And that is justification by grace through faith. He does not return to that. We're going to address that in a moment in another question. But I do want to put on the table right now as we begin to look at this epilogue that there are some things about it that surprise us. Now let's begin by looking at the concept of circumcision. And to do that, we need to get into the epilogue. First of all, in Verse 11 Paul is using an imperative here. I think it's his last imperative. And he says it very clearly to them. Look -- this is see. Look at this, you know. This is a very I think poignant personal moment in the epistle. He says: Look at what large letters I am writing in my own hand. Now, there are a couple of things here that I want to accent. First of all, and we haven't talked about this, this letter was most likely dictated. That's one of the reasons why the grammar is sometimes a little bit tough. The way in which Paul is speaking it out must have been such that everything was not lined up perfectly grammatically. He had what is called an amanuensis, someone who is actually writing down what he says. Now obviously Paul would check it over and make sure it is what he wanted to say. But it is dictated essentially. Now, here you can see Paul is going to handwrite these last words. And I think you can see as we go through them how carefully crafted they are. Now, there is something important about this. This is something that I have thought about a lot in terms of our own culture today. When I grew up, I went away to school very young. And I wrote a lot of letters. My mother wrote me letters. I had old girlfriends who wrote me letters. And occasionally my father would write me a letter. My grandmother would. I have a collection of a lot of letters from when I was young. And I find when I receive a handwritten letter from someone, it is a very poignant experience. Because when you write something with your own hand, it reveals something of you. Your personality comes out. And you can -- you know, you can see kind of the care that somebody takes in sitting down with a pen and in their own handwriting, writing out a personal note to you. I try to teach for example my students in the deaconess program to write thank you notes in their own hand. I think it's very important for people to see that. I really appreciate it when somebody does that. And there is something very intimate and personal about that. I think that's what's happening here. They, the Galatians, know Paul's handwriting. I mean, it makes me sad to think about this. But my mother has Alzheimer's now. And I have the last letter that she wrote. And you can see that her handwriting was getting a little rugged. It was hard to read. But it was still her handwriting. And when I see her handwriting now, I know she can't do that anymore. It's a very poignant thing for me to see her handwriting. It was the same for the Galatians to see Paul's handwriting. And there has been this idea that Paul had trouble with his eyes. Remember the bulging eyes and pluck out my eyes and give them to you. He says: Look at what large letters I'm writing. I think Paul had a very large handwriting because of his eyes. And that's what was so distinguishing about his handwriting. So here Paul is saying: Hey, I'm going to take up the pen now. Because what I'm going to write to you, it's very personal. It's very direct. And I am going to take extra care here to speak in my own handwriting, in my own way of speaking by means of this pen exactly what I want to say to you about the final words to you as your pastor, who founded you, who loves you, who preached the truth of the Gospel to you. Here are my final words. I think this is just one of those extraordinary moments. Now, this isn't the only example of somebody taking up the pen at the end of the letter when there's an amanuensis. So this isn't unique. But I think Paul, especially the way he says: Look at what large letters I'm writing to you, it is a very important thing. Then he goes now into circumcision. And this is really interesting. Verse 12 you can see that Paul is still agitated. And he's not going to let go. Look at what he says in Verse 12. He says: Those who wish to make a good showing in the flesh -- now we'll talk about what that means in a minute. But to make a good showing in the flesh. These are the ones who are compelling you, that's present tense. Are compelling you and keep on compelling you to be circumcised. There's circumcision. Only -- except -- only in order that they are not persecuted for the cross of Christ. Now, let's stop there for a minute. These others now he's talking about, these opponents of Paul, they want to make a good showing in the flesh. Now, the flesh here is of course a reference to circumcision. They want to boast in -- well, let's just say it plainly. They want to boast in dead foreskins. That's what they want to boast in. That's what circumcision is. And in order for them to do that -- and here is that language we've heard on a number of occasions in the epistle, it comes up again and again, this compulsion, this absolute necessity, they are compelling you to be circumcised. As I said, that's present. Over and over again they are doing this. So it's persistent. And the reason is is that they don't want to be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Now, this is the first time where Paul has stated in as bold a way as he is here that the real reason that circumcision is kind of this compelling thing for his opponents is because they are a little bit embarrassed by the cross of Christ. And maybe even more than a little. Now, I have said that his opponents certainly agree that Christ was crucified. He was raised from the dead. They are not denying the crucifixion of Jesus. But this is not what they preach. They would rather preach circumcision than the cross of Jesus Christ. Now, Paul goes on in Verse 13 to again refer to the act of circumcision. And he says this: For even those who are circumcised. I think this is -- those who are circumcised -- these are the circumcised people -- are the very ones who are habitually being circumcised and insisting on circumcision. In other words, those who are obsessed with circumcision. For not even these keep the law. Guard the law. Keep the law is probably best for us to understand it. Keep the law. Because they wish -- and listen to this carefully. Because they wish, they desire, to have you circumcised so that they might boast in your flesh. Now, there's a wonderful little kind of parallelism here. They wish to -- it begins by saying they wish to make a good showing in the flesh. They wish to boast in your flesh. And what they are talking about as I said, is circumcision. And the desire, the compulsion to circumcise is because they are embarrassed by the cross of Christ. And they are not even themselves being true to the keeping of the law. They are hypocrites. Because they are picking and choosing what it is they want. And they are focused in on circumcision because that is a very clear, obvious, expression that one is in fact keeping the law. Now, he's talking about his opponents here. And he's talking about them in such a way that I think we have to see that Paul is building in here a ridicule. He is ridiculing them for boasting in the dead foreskins that come from circumcision. Now, there's another thing going on here. And here, if you read the commentators, they are very clear on this. And we've seen that this is possible by the way in if which Paul has done this before. I mean, without getting too graphic, you know, circumcision does kind of focus your attention on a particular part of the body. If you were a pagan, that particular part of the body would have been part of the pagan rituals that were at the center of the life of the Roman Empire. And I'm talking here about the Dionysian phallic parades in which there would be almost a worship of this particular area in the human male anatomy. I'm being real discrete here. But you can see that the focus here of Paul's opponents and the focus of the pagans in their Dionysian phallic parades is on something that is absurd when you think of the Creator of all things, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Father sending the Creator Jesus into the world to recreate it in his death and resurrection. And how Christ is present by his Spirit. I mean, to compare these things to the work of the Holy Trinity as it's accomplished by Christ and the cross and his resurrection is for Paul the absolute essence of absurdity. And the reason the opponents are doing this -- and he compares them to the pagans -- is because they are ashamed to use the language of Romans, they are ashamed of preaching Christ crucified. Now, this puts on the table right here at the end of this epistle two diametrically opposed preachings. Preaching circumcision or preaching Christ crucified. And now that he's introduced this concept of circumcision and crucifixion into the end of his letter, he is now going to move it to a climax that is absolutely shocking.