No. 44. >> Along these same lines, instead of closing with language of justification by grace through faith for instance, Paul closes of language of Christ crucified and the new creation. What does Paul mean when he says neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. But what matters is new creation. >>DR. ARTHUR A. JUST, JR.: If you talk to Lutherans about Galatians, they'll say that it's the epistle that was the most beloved epistle by Luther and his Galatian commentaries. Two volumes in Luther's works. It is perhaps the greatest statement of the Gospel that he has. And one of the reasons why is because this is the epistle along with Romans of course where Paul speaks with such clarity about this principle doctrine of the church, justification by grace through faith. I think we've already seen how important it is to Paul in his argument. It's the first theological argument he mounts in Chapter 2. And he does refer to justification in some way or another all the way through the epistle. However, here at the end, and oftentimes what he really wants to say is at the beginning at the end. At the beginning at the end, he doesn't use justification language because I think he wants to place the atonement of Jesus and his resurrection in a larger context. In the context of creation itself. Now, I want to go back to what I said was a possible translation of justification. And that is that instead of translating it justify -- and the Greek word by the way is ***dichio, to declare righteous, we sometimes say justify. But instead of using it in that way, to declare righteous or to justify, that we speak of justification as making right what has gone wrong. Now, here is why: Because I think that definition of justification, making right what has gone wrong, fits better, this final theme that Paul brings forward as kind of the culminating climatic theme of his epistle. And that is new creation. Now, here is what Paul is saying I think right here at the end. And I think Verse 15 is one of the most profound statements in all of Paul's epistles. And you can't just pull it out. You've got to see it in a context. Paul speaks here about the cosmos in the previous verse. And we talked about what that means. This is the law world or the world of Christ crucified. Now he turns to the language of creation. And it's really interesting what he says here. He said after all these chapters of talking about circumcision and talking about the uncircumcised and talking about the law but particularly in terms of circumcision, you know at the end of the day, that's not what I want to talk about. Circumcision really is not what this is about. And it's not about uncircumcision. Circumcision and uncircumcision really don't matter. And what I really want to talk to you about is what does matter. And what matters -- and here I think we can even put it in this language: What really exists is not circumcision or uncircumcision. But what really exists, what really matters, is new creation. New creation. Now, if you know that language, new creation is the language of the Apocalyptic. Of this divine invasion in which God in Christ enters the world as the creator to make all things new. And if you look at justification language as making right what has gone wrong, that is much more understandable in the context of a creation that has been infected with the virus of sin in which what was created good has now gone terribly wrong. And that what God is doing is entering back into that creation, the one who created everything in Genesis. The one who spoke and brought it into being now is back in creation as the incarnate one, Jesus Christ, speaking and acting and dieing to take that creation that was infected with the virus and making it new. Not making up a new one. But taking what is broken there and making it whole. And making it new. That's what matters. And that's what exists says Paul. Now, this is -- this is profound language. And you know what? I think that the image there of a creation made new -- and this is -- this is an image that I think we can really wrap our minds around. That image of a creation made new is something that I think resonates more with people than the forensic language of the courtroom which is what justification is usually associated with. I think in Romans the language of the courtroom is much more explicit. But here I think Paul wants to think -- have us think in creational terms. Now, why is that? Because I think every human being can identify with the fact that things are very, very wrong. Now, I know this is going to kind of put this in a context that in five or ten years may not be applying. But right now the context of our country is very tenuous. We're in an unpopular war. Gas prices are high. There's all kinds of problems in our schools. People are unhappy. People are not right. And they know something is wrong. Even though economically things are going actually pretty well. There are certainly some people who are falling through the cracks. But generally people are doing quite well. But there's a dissatisfaction. I think if you were to go into anybody's life, you would see that there are things in their life that they can clearly testify to that are not going well. That things are wrong. I mean, I think of my own life. You know, with a mother with advanced Alzheimer's, a father with Parkinson's. I mean just go down the list of things that each of us has. Things are not right. And we can't make them right on our own. We want newness. We want wholeness. We want to be able to know by faith that somebody has come into this world and made things right. That's what Jesus does on the cross. That's why Paul boasts in the cross. Because it's there in that shameful death that Jesus takes all that is wrong, all that is broken, upon himself. And by giving up his life for this creation, he restores it to what it once was and what it could now be in him. If you want to see what true humanity looks like, it's not a bunch of sinners walking around. It's the one who is sinless. That's the way we were created in the garden. Adam and Eve were created fully human without sin. And when they sinned, they ceased to be fully human. The way in which we see what our full humanity really looks like is when somebody without sin comes into this world and shows us what it means to be fully faithful and obedient to the Father. Even to death. Death on the cross. What we see in Jesus is somebody who is fully human. What we see in Jesus is somebody who has restored the new creation. You and I are not born fully human because we are born with sin. But when we are baptized, when we are joined to Christ, when we are joined to his sinless flesh, that's when we become fully human. To be baptized is to be fully human. To be baptized is to live in the new creation. To be baptized is to bear the fruits of the Spirit in this new creation that manifest the one who is fully human through our own acts of charity, love and forgiveness. So this statement by Paul, circumcision doesn't amount to anything. Uncircumcision doesn't amount to anything. What really does exist, what really does amount to something, is what Christ has done through the cross of Calvary. He has brought in a new creation. Now that the new creation is here, Paul is going to speak about it in such a way that it becomes the norm. It becomes the rule. Or to use kind of the equivalent of the Greek language, it is the canon. It is what is going to guide our lives. It's not the law that does it. It's the new creation. The new creation -- and I'm going to say this carefully. And I'm just using this as an example. The new creation is now our moral code. It's not a moral code. But it's like our moral code. It's what guides us. And that's exactly what Paul says. In Verse 16 he says: As many of you as -- and this is an important distinction here -- as walk along. Let me see how the translation does it here. Yeah. Who walk by this rule. Now that's how this translation is. But it's by this canon. As many of you who live by this canon is what he's saying. Remember he said: Walk in the Spirit and you do. As many of you walk along this canon, this rule. You know the canon of the Scriptures, that's what shows us what God wants us to know about him. The canon here is the new creation. As many of you who walk in this new creation, this is what you get. And here is his blessing to them. This is a Jewish blessing. It's a beautiful blessing. And it's have liturgical and it shows you how he's bringing them back into the presence of God by means of his language. And they've been there all along. But he's bringing them back to a recognition that that's where they've been. And he's giving them a blessing. Peace on them and mercy. Peace on them and mercy. Those who walk according to the canon, the rule, the guide, of the new creation. Now, we've talked about peace. Peace is wholeness. It is health. It is wellness. It's relational integrity. It's having reconciliation with God. It is what we yearn for. It is what we receive in the liturgy. The peace of God be with you. Go in peace. The Lord bless you, keep you, make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The last word you'll hear in the liturgy. Is the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace. Peace is what comes from heaven with the angels when Jesus is born. Peace is what happens when Jesus enters into Jerusalem. Peace on earth. Peace in heaven in Christ. That's the blessing that Paul is giving them. Peace on them and mercy. Now, he doesn't use the word here grace. He uses mercy. Because that's what he's having on the Galatians. And that's what in fact Paul hopes that his opponents see as well as being the heart of the new creation. God's merciful miraculous healing of all that has been broken. Mercy is I think the No. 1 characteristic of Christians. Certainly it must be of pastors. And it is certainly what must be of deaconesses. Because it's at the heart of what it means to be baptized. Being merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful. And those who walk along this canon of the new creation, peace on them and mercy. And then this is connected. And I think this is how I would translate it. That is on the Israel of God. It's not -- let's see how this translation -- for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. I wouldn't translate that and there as and. These aren't two different things. Peace and mercy be upon them. That is anyone who walks according to the rule of the new creation. That is those people who have peace and mercy on them for living in the new creation, that is those people are now the Israel of God. The Israel of God, peace and mercy. Living in the new creation. All the same. Now, think about what he's saying here. He is saying that these Gentiles from Galatia whom Christ died for on the cross, whom Christ showed his mercy and love for by spending out his life for them. They are now the Israel of God. Not because they are circumcised. Not because they kept the law. Simply because God's grace is upon them. They've been united with Christ in baptism. And they believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world. Again, I hope you see how shocking this would be for his Jewish Christian opponents. These Judaizers. These Pharisaical Christians. They are claiming: Wait a minute. We're the Israel. We have the marks of circumcision. And all the other things. And Paul is saying: No, no, no. Anyone who lives in the new creation in which there's neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision, they are the ones upon whom God's blessing rests, peace and mercy. They are the Israel of God. The new creation is what the Israel of God lives in. In the Christian church what you and I are a part of as we gather as the body of Christ around Word and sacrament, we are the new Israel. Founded on the 12 apostles as a cornerstone. Jesus Christ -- excuse me, as foundation stones. Jesus Christ being the cornerstone. The pillars being Peter, James and John and the four brothers of Jesus. We are that Israel. And it's not because we follow certain laws or because we have a certain heritage or because we're circumcised or because we have certain blood lines. It is simply because Jesus has engrafted himself into us by baptism in faith so that we have communion with him like the branches into the vine. And because he is our brother, God is our Father, and we are his children. We are sons. Sons of Jesus Christ. Sons of Abraham. Now, all of that language is the language of Galatians that has been reverberating throughout this epistle. And now Paul names it Israel. New Israel. That is what the Galatians are. And Paul stands with them. And it's interesting he uses the language now here of Israel of God to include both himself as a Jew who has become a Christian by means of conversion to seeing Jesus as the Christ. And with these Gentile Galatians who were as far from the east is from the west from him until Christ came and redeemed them both. This shows you what Paul means in Chapter 3 when he says: There is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is neither male and female. But we are all one in Jesus Christ. And if we skip forward here to the end, we are all one as the Israel of God in Christ.