Devotions

fruit of the Breath

Posted on July 30, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Galatians 5:22-26 (JDV)

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Breath is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

Galatians 5:23 gentleness, and self-mastery. There is no law against such things.

Galatians 5:24 But those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its sufferings and cravings.

Galatians 5:25 If we live by the Breath, let us also keep in step with the Breath.

Galatians 5:26 Let us not become egocentric, provoking one another, envying one another.

fruit of the Breath

This is another instance where the Bible uses resurrection metaphor, but it is often missed because we tend to use Spirit for translating πνεῦμα, rather than Breath. What Paul is getting at is that the Galatian Christians were dead in their sins, and the Sacred Breath (Holy Spirit) breathed new life into them. Their old lives achieved the achievements of the flesh (mentioned in yesterday’s text). Their new lives in Christ produce the fruit of the Breath: the character of godliness.

The heretical cult trying to take over the Galatian congregation were pushing for them to become entangled in an achievement based religion. Paul and his team encouraged the Galatians to reject that heresy, and concentrate on keeping in step with the breath that made them alive.

Lord, keep us constantly aware of the new life you breathed into us. May we keep in step with your Breath, and allow him to produce his fruit through us.

Posted in discipleship, faithfulness, goodness, kindness, patience, peace, resurrection, self-control, the flesh | Tagged Galatians 5 | Leave a comment

an insult sandwich

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Galatians 5:19-21 (JDV)

Galatians 5:19 Now the achievements of the flesh are obvious: whatever results in sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity,

Galatians 5:20 idolatry, alternative spiritual experiences,¹ hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish passions, dissensions, heretical cults,²

Galatians 5:21 envy, drunkenness, excessive partying, and anything like these. I am warning you about these things– as I warned you before– that those who are practicing such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

an insult sandwich

When I was growing up in the Southern United States, KKK stood for Klu Klux Klan, a racist organization bent on controlling and terrorizing blacks. But when I went to the Philippines, I discovered that they use the same three letters for an approach to telling someone what they don’t want to hear. KKK stands for kiss, kick, kiss. You soften the blow by sandwiching an insult between two praises.

That appears to be how Paul is operating in this passage. He is condemning some of the specific traits of verse 20 which are associated with the Judaizing heresy which is trying to take over the congregations in Galatia. He lists the traits of verses 19 and 21 because the Galatians think they are beyond those problems.

Paul’s point is that they are all results of walking according to the same flesh. If you want to live the resurrection life, you need to put all that stuff to death.

Lord, you have brought us to new life by your Sacred Breath. Show us how to live consistently according to that new life.

1φαρμακεία

2αἵρεσις

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animation, not stagnation

Posted on July 28, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Galatians 5:16-18 (JDV)

Galatians 5:16 But I am saying, walk by the Breath and you will certainly not carry out the cravings¹ of the flesh.

Galatians 5:17 You see, the flesh craves² what is against the Breath, and the Breath what is against the flesh; these are opposed to each other, so that you don’t do the things you want to do.

Galatians 5:18 But if you are led by the Breath, you are not under a law.

animation, not stagnation

I don’t like the word Spirit for πνεῦμα because it leads people to think in terms of possession by a ghost. That is not at all what Paul is getting at. Paul uses πνεῦμα as a means of animation, not possession. It is in passages like this one that we see the contrast. The flesh and the Breath are both necessary for new life, but the flesh is used to being dead, so it wants to stay dead. So, in the case of the Galatians, they tended to fall back on superstition and legalism because that is what they know. The heretics come along and tell them they need to follow the Jewish traditions, and they believe it, because that is what the flesh craves. But the new life within them craves freedom. They did not come to life by following a human tradition, they cannot walk in newness of life that way. Human tradition leads to stagnation. God’s Breath gives animation.

Lord, thank you for the new life you have given us by your fresh Breath of resurrection power. Lead us by that new life, and keep us from falling back into the old death.

1ἐπιθυμία

2ἐπιθυμέω

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against

Posted on July 27, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Galatians 5:13-15 (JDV)

Galatians 5:13 For you were invited to be free, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another by love.

Galatians 5:14 You see, the whole law is fulfilled in one word: Love your neighbor as yourself.

Galatians 5:15 But if you are biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be obliterated by one another.

against

In Galatia, a new theology had been introduced that turned the congregations against one another, took away the believers’ freedom in Christ, and made it impossible for them to serve one another by love. This new theology was working against the gospel instead of promoting it. One of the reasons the Lord gave us this book in scripture is that the same thing can happen today. When we start biting and devouring, something has gone wrong.

Lord, make us experts in your word, not so that we can win against our theological opponents, but so we can champion your gospel and demonstrate its truth by loving one another.

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interrupted race, defiled loaf

Posted on July 26, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Galatians 5:7-12 (JDV)

Galatians 5:7 You were running well. Who interrupted your being persuaded about truth?

Galatians 5:8 This persuasion does not come from your inviter.

Galatians 5:9 A little fermented dough contaminates the whole batch of dough.

Galatians 5:10 I myself am persuaded in the Lord you will not accept any other view. But whoever it is that is disturbing you will pay the penalty.

Galatians 5:11 Now brothers, if I were still preaching being circumcised, why am I still persecuted? In that case the trap of the cross has been eliminated.

Galatians 5:12 I wish those who are disturbing you might also let themselves be castrated!

interrupted race, defiled loaf

Paul shows his frustration with the group of heretics who are throwing the Galatian congregations into confusion. He expresses what is going on by describing it as an interrupted race. The goal of the race is not some new tidbit of truth. The believers in this region are trying to become persuaded of the truth they were already taught. This new additional teaching of the heretics was interrupting their progress.

It was doing more than that. Paul changed his metaphor to express the fact that the new teaching was defiling the congregation just like fermented dough permeates and changes the loaf. If left unchecked, the result will be a congregation of lost souls.

Lord, give us discernment, and a strong desire to run toward truth, not away from it.

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the things that matter

Posted on July 25, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Galatians 5:1-6 (JDV)

Galatians 5:1 Christ set us free so we could experience freedom. Stand stable then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:2 See! I, Paul, am saying to you that if you get yourselves circumcised, Christ will not be of benefit to you at all.

Galatians 5:3 Once more I testify to every human who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to do the entire law.

Galatians 5:4 You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from favor.

Galatians 5:5 You see, we eagerly await through the Breath, by faith, the hope of righteousness

Galatians 5:6 because in Christ Jesus neither being circumcised nor not being uncircumcised accomplishes anything; what matters is faith achieving things by love.

the things that matter

The Sacred Breath (Holy Spirit) has come into us, and given us new life. We have no need to go back to the dead letter – which could only accentuate our need for Christ. If we try to be justified any other way, it would alienate us from Christ. The achievements which matter are the ones achieved in faith by acts of love.

Lord, thank you for the new life we have. Thank you that we never need rely on the dead letter to do the things that matter.

Posted in faith, grace, love, works | Tagged Galatians 5 | Leave a comment

siding with the bully

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Galatians 4:28-31 (JDV)

Galatians 4:28 Now you too, brothers, like Isaac, are promised children.

Galatians 4:29 But just as then the child born as a result of the physical act persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now.

Galatians 4:30 But what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the slave and her son, because the son of the slave will never obtain inheritance rights with the son of the free woman.”

Galatians 4:31 For this reason, brothers, we are not children of a slave but of the free woman.

siding with the bully

Paul carries out his allegory a bit further. He equates the Jewish nation apart from Christ as Ishmael, bullying little Isaac. The reason Paul brings this up is that the heretical faction trying to take over the Galatian churches is seeking to convince them that they need to follow the Jewish traditions even though they are Gentiles. Paul’s team made no such rules for the new Gentile church. To do so would be (in Paul’s analogy) like siding with Ishmael.

Lord, help us to respect your gospel of grace, and resist adding any new regulations to it.

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children of the desolate woman

Posted on July 23, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

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Galatians 4:21-27 (JDV)

Galatians 4:21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, aren’t you listening to the law?

Galatians 4:22 You see, it is written that Abraham had two sons, one from a slave and the other from a free woman.

Galatians 4:23 But the one from the slave was born as a result of a physical act, while the one from the free woman was born by means of a promise.

Galatians 4:24 These things are being taken allegorically, because the women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery– this is Hagar.

Galatians 4:25 You see, Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, and she is in slavery with her children.

Galatians 4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

Galatians 4:27 You see, it is written, Rejoice, childless woman, unable to give birth. Burst into song and shout, you who are not in labor, because the children of the desolate woman will be many, more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.

children of the desolate woman

The Jews in Paul’s day must have fumed over his little allegory in which he identified physical Israel as the descendants of a covenant of slavery. Some had told Jesus that they are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been slaves to anyone (John 8:33). But they were indeed slaves – to Rome and to their sinful nature.

But Paul understood the gospel promise that the Gentiles (who were considered desolate and barren by the Jews) would become numerous and fruitful members of God’s eternal kingdom because of Jesus. This did not mean that all Gentiles wholesale would be saved. But it did mean that any Gentile seeking salvation through Christ would not have to go back to the legal regulations of the Sinai covenant to achieve it.

No matter what your physical lineage, God offers you freedom today. The price of freedom has been paid by Christ himself. Accept his payment for your freedom, and live in it.

Posted in faith, freedom, Gentiles, gospel, slavery | Tagged Galatians 4 | Leave a comment

listen to our enemies

Posted on July 22, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

man wearing suit jacket sitting on chair in front of woman wearing eyeglasses

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Galatians 4:15-20 (JDV)

Galatians 4:15 Where, then, is that feeling that you were blessed? Because I testify to you that, if you were able, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

Galatians 4:16 So, have I become your enemy because I was truthful to you?

Galatians 4:17 They show zeal for you, but not rightly. They want to shut you out from me, so that you would show zeal for them.

Galatians 4:18 But it is always good to be shown zeal rightly – and not just when I am with you.

Galatians 4:19 My children, I am again suffering birth pains for you until Christ takes shape in you.

Galatians 4:20 I would like to be present with you right now and alter my voice, because I don’t know what to do about you.

listen to our enemies

It is hard to go from flavor of the month to enemy. It hurts to think that people who respected you and wanted to hear your teaching are now ambivalent to it and you.

Because we Christians are seriously interested in teaching about the Bible and theology, we tend to attach ourselves to those whose teachings we appreciate. No problem, except that it usually means we have to take sides. It would be good for us to be careful that in our taking sides, we do not shut out alternative views altogether. Jesus is never wrong, be we are – often.

We should hold our allegiance to Christ firmly, and our loyalty to human teachers with caution and open-mindedness.

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the hurt of rejection

Posted on July 21, 2019 by Jefferson Vann

focus photo of yellow paper near trash can

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Galatians 4:12-14 (JDV)

Galatians 4:12 I beg you, brothers: Become like me, since I also became like you. Do not wrong me;

Galatians 4:13 you know that it was because of a physical weakness that I announced the gospel to you formerly.

Galatians 4:14 You did not treat my time of physical testing with rejection or revulsion. On the contrary, you welcomed me as a messenger of God, as Christ Jesus himself.

the hurt of rejection

Paul had experienced the joy of welcome by the Galatians, and the added joy of a successful ministry there. But now things are different. Oddly enough, his time of welcome came when he was fresh into his missionary work, still having to live up to the stigma of having been radically against the church and the gospel until his dramatic conversion. Added to that, he entered the region with a severe illness. He called it his time of physical testing. It was just as much a test of the Galatians as it was of Paul. Would they accept the message from this broken messenger? They did. They had welcomed him as a messenger of God – which he literally was.

But now things had changed. A group of heretics had taken hold of the Galatian congregations, and they were discrediting Paul and his team. There is no hurt quite like the hurt of being discredited and ignored by those who once welcomed and trusted you.

Lord, we pray for those who have been wronged in their churches. Please give them strength and help them get through this terrible time, and bring healing and restoration to them.

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