Pentecost 3C

Galatians 5:1, 13-18, 22-25

¹ For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

¹³ For you were called to freedom, siblings; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. ¹⁴ For the whole law is summed up in one, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ¹⁵ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.

¹⁶ Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. ¹⁸ But because you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

²² The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, ²³ gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. ²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵ If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Ordinary Time

In this green and growing Season of the Spirit, Time of the Church as we count Sundays after the Day of Pentecost until Reign of Christ, the church lives in the power and grace of the Holy Spirit of Pentecost.


Galatians

The apostle Paul's letter or epistle to the Galatians is one of his seven undisputed or authentic epistles.

The community at Galatia was the first ethnic church, in the sense of geography and culture; they also were ethnos as gentiles! The words Galatia, Gaulle, Gaelic, Celt, Celtic all come from the same root.

• Galatians is the Epistle of Freedom.
• Galatians is Reformation Central and vitally important to Martin Luther's theology.

Galatians includes:

• Paul's only birth narrative: "In the fullness of time God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law." Galatians 4:4
• Neither Jew nor Gentile, male nor female, slave nor free, for all are one in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:28 – last week with Juneteenth, too! • A pair of famous Pauline lists—works of the flesh [5:19-21, omitted in this week's reading] and fruits of the Spirit [5:22].


Paul and Law and Gospel

"Gospel" means Good News. For Paul, the gospeled good news is death and resurrection.

Christ has died – Christ has risen – Christ will come again

Today's passage brings us a typical Reformation contrast and dichotomy between law and gospel that we try to articulate in preaching.

Almost every time Paul uses the word "law," he refers to circumcision, sacrificial law, ceremonial law, and not to the ten commandments, but "law" in Galatians 5:14 refers to the ten words or commandments of the Sinai Covenant that like Jesus, summarizes the commandments with "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." As working papers for our life together, the commandments set permissions, limits, and boundaries so we can live in freedom.


This Week

God gifted Israel the commandments or ten words – decalogue – after they'd been freed from slavery in Egypt, yet still were on their way to the place where they'd settle to live together and amongst people who had other gods and other agendas. The commandments outline the limits and boundaries of our freedoms.

In Galatians, Paul reminds us "Christ has set us free" [from slavery to sin and self] and in an echo of the commandments, continues to describe how we now are free to love our neighbors, who in turn are free to love us. In Paul's words in 5:13, "Through [God's agape] love become slaves to one another!" The New Testament variously uses Greek words that translate into servant or slave in English; here it's doulos or slave rather than diakonos or servant (the source of our word and ministry of deacon).

Bond service and chattel slavery were common in the Ancient Near East, which likely is the reason Paul draws this parallel. However, maybe especially a week after Juneteenth's celebration of emancipation, service or enslavement in Christ is our wiling response to God's gracious love and not coerced. Jesus outlines two commandments; note how Paul mentions only one—love our neighbor as we love our self.


Fruit of the Spirit

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control all are fruits of God's Spirit of Holiness and Life. You know how fruit grows on a branch or vine or tree that's rooted in the ground? The entire organism receives nutrients from the earth, water, sunlight, and restful nights. Fruit starts small with a bud, then a flower forms, and gradually gets bigger and riper, finally it is ready to pick and enjoy.

Can bud to flower to ripe fruit be a model for qualities and characteristics the Holy Spirit slowly grows in us so we can gift others?