A Coptic Orthodox Journey through the Bible

In this chapter St. Paul emphasizes something that should be familiar to us by now, which is that we are saved by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. St. Paul also calls out the Galatians for going backwards - they came straight to believing and being baptized for Christ but now they are thinking about backing up from Christ and relying on the works of the Law. This makes no sense to St. Paul when they have already felt the impact of Christ in their lives. St. Paul also discusses why the law existed and its purpose.

Also before we jump in there are a couple of places where we go pretty deep and see St. Paul is digging into the first few books of the Bible to make his argument, so it is okay if it gets a little confusing. With God’s blessings we will understand St. Paul’s arguments which I think are still relevant today.

This chapter discusses what is believed to be St. Paul’s third visit to Jerusalem after meeting Jesus on the Road to Damascus. This is recorded in Acts 15 (the Jerusalem Council). As we will see this chapter discusses his visit about 14 years after his last visit. Barnabas and Titus go with St. Paul. He meets with some of the apostles, the pillars of the Church. The first part of the Chapter discusses the Jerusalem council; then from v11 - 21 he discusses interactions between him and St. Peter.

As we see more of St. Paul’s thoughts being developed related to the Law of Moses, I want to take a moment and offer one way to think about the dispute between the Judaizers and St. Paul which I found from an Eastern Orthodox source: to St. Paul we are saved through Christ, that is what matters and that is who must be followed. The OT leads us to Christ who fulfills it so there is no need to follow much of the symbolism of the OT such as circumcision and Temple sacrifices. To the Judaizers these Gentiles are choosing to become Jews when they come to follow Christ, while we often use the term “converted” in reference to what happened to St. Paul on the road to Damascus, it would be more accurate to say he was enlightened or transformed by his experience as he came to recognize Christ as the Messiah prophesied in the OT. However, St. Paul never stopped believing he was a Jew, so from that perspective the Judaizers idea makes sense. So to continue, if the Gentiles are becoming Jews why would they not continue to follow Judaic teachings.

The main issue in Galatians is not whether one has to be circumcised or not. It is: what does it mean for the way of life of Christians if we continue to lead a life based on the Law of Moses as if nothing has changed now that the Messiah, the Christ has arrived?

A deep dive into the background of this epistle, including the date, the recipient, and theme of this epistle. This includes a deep dive into why St. Paul argues that Gentile Christians did not have to follow the Law of Moses (become Jewish) in order to be Christian and follow Jesus.

This episode includes a review of the first chapter of this epistle.

After showing the Corinthians every love and compassion, confirming that he will spend everything he has, and will give even himself for their sake. He makes his final promise regarding his 3rd visit to Corinth. He encourages them to examine themselves and prays for them that they do not do any evil but do only what is honorable. He also proclaims his apostolic authority, which he will not use except for their edification and for the glory of God, which is important because he also highlights that they may not like his harshness which he may have to use. However, everything he does is to bring them to Christ and through love. He closes with a farewell.

In previous chapters, St. Paul defended himself against those who criticized him. He did it, not for himself but because he wanted the people of Corinth to not lose faith in him and start following the false teachers. These false teachers would take them away from Christ. St. Paul comes to the climax of his self-defense. Having related all his trials, adventures, and persecutions, he is about to show how these are allowed by the Lord in order to save him from being exalted by the abundance of his heavenly revelations, save him from pride. The abuse, necessity, and persecution he has experienced are not signs of his worthlessness. Rather, they are caused and necessitated by his greatness.

To establish his apostleship, St. Paul here speaks about the divine revelations that he enjoyed; of which he confirms that it is not profitable for him to boast. When he presents it, he speaks about it like he is sharing the story of another person.

He even says at the end of the last chapter, “If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity” (2 Cor 11:30). As if he is saying that if he boasts about himself it must be in his weaknesses. We see him discuss how God allowed for him to have a temptation in his body. What he truly boasts is the possibility granted to him by God to endure the temptations and the afflictions for the sake of the Lord; beside his exalted love for his people as his own children. Finally, he seeks from them to get prepared by the holy life, so that he would rejoice when he comes to them.

In brief, we see St. Paul speak more clearly than anywhere else about his own visionary experiences. Even in admitting to these experiences, he treats them less as a boast than as a confession as he recounts how God has aided him in maintaining his humility. We have often heard about St. Paul’s thorn in the flesh. It is here that he shares it and how he prayed repeatedly that God would heal him and take it away but learned that what God had given him was sufficient. Paul saw even this persistent problem as a means to his repentance and humility.

In the previous chapter, St. Paul refused to compare Himself with others, especially with the false apostles; counting his call as divine, and his measures as not according to the human mind. Now, however, he decides to respond to all the criticism he has been receiving from the false apostles in Corinth. From what is known, it is believed that these false apostles were Judaizers. As a reminder, Judaizers are Christians from a Jewish background who felt that Gentile Christians should be following many of the Jewish laws, including circumcision and the food laws, if they really want to be Christian. And, yes, there were still people who made these arguments despite the council of Jerusalem we read about in Acts 15 that declared the opposite. Here St. Paul defends himself and, at the same time, criticizes these false apostles not because he cares about what they say about him but because they are taking people away from following Christ by preaching false doctrines. St. Paul needs to defend himself so the Corinthians follow the Truth, which is what he offers them.

In this and the next couple of chapters, St. Paul is preparing them for his next visit. That is why in this chapter we see him responding to several charges and suspicions which they have raised against him, and warns that he will exercise strict discipline if it is necessary when he arrives. We know that there were many detractors who came to Corinth and were casting doubt on his Apostleship. This is why he returns to his own defense in this chapter to defend his conduct and his authority. Regarding his conduct they accuse him of writing harsh letters and then being weak when he visited them in person. He explains that, in part, he does not want to use harshness in front of them. Regarding his authority, he says it is the same, in word, when absent, and when with them. When he is gentle in front of them it is a choice he is making and he pleads with them to not put him in a position to use his authority to discipline them to bring them back to Christ. When the false teachers evaluate themselves they do 2 things: 1) they set the measure, in other words they decide their standard by comparing themselves to themselves and 2) they compare themselves by themselves not by those who are superior to them. The result of these 2 things is that they are unwise because a person should evaluate themselves according to the measure of God and not a measure they set for themselves.

Chapter 8 is about the principles of giving. To ensure that he was not misunderstood in the last chapter of accusing the church in Corinth of being mean in giving, St. Paul presents an apology for his zeal in exhorting them to practice that grace (1-5). Then he goes on to give some instructions concerning the well-received gift, and how to practice it. While St. Paul writes about the collection for the Church in Jerusalem, he writes that he doesn’t need to bring it up because he knows of their willingness to send these contributions. He writes to them to ensure their gift is ready, while explaining their gift should be one of generosity and not one of compulsion. He did not want to show up and talk to them about contributions because if he did they might give them in front of him out of embarrassment and he did not want to put them in that position. Another reason is if they were not ready when he arrived it would be embarrassing for them (Corinth) and for St. Paul - imagine if some people from Macedonia came with him and saw the Corinthians were not ready. This would be embarrassing for them when they began the collection a year earlier. He also discussed the idea of sowing and reaping. We reap what we sow. So if we sow scarcely or abundantly that is what we will reap.

In the previous chapter, St. Paul continued a discussion about how we perfect our holiness, his joy at the Corinthians repenting, returning to God and the Church. He discussed Godly vs worldly sorrow and he shares his joy regarding their interactions with Titus.

St. Paul begins a new topic in this chapter. He discusses collecting donations for the Jerusalem church.

We previously discussed how collecting donations for that church accomplished many things including, helping those who were in need in Jerusalem, assists believers in living out their faith, and helps to grow relations between Churches who were mostly made up of Jewish followers of Christ with those who were mostly Gentile followers such as in Corinth.

The Corinthians had already agreed to help the Jerusalem church as he asked them in 1 Corinthians 16. However, the money had not been collected so with great care he brings it up again in this chapter offering them an opportunity to fulfill their commitment.

Remember, St. Paul’s whole goal with this epistle is to get peace back and reconcile the people with him. In the last chapter he was speaking to the people who felt alienated. Telling them to come back to Church and that if they do not come back to church, they will end up joining a different community, away from God. He reminded them that they are different people now. They have been baptized and follow Christ so they cannot go back and follow one of those communities because you can’t have fellowship with them anymore. You have been transformed and no longer have anything in common with those people, those who worship pagan gods.

In other words, he appealed to them to not associate with the world. He continues this idea at the beginning of this chapter. St. Paul begins by talking about how we perfect our holiness, then his joy at the Corinthians repenting and returning to God and the Church. He discusses Godly vs worldly sorrow and he shares his joy regarding their interactions with Titus.