Imagine you’re a Gentile (non-Jewish) Christian in the early days of the faith. You have no Bible, the Church is still finding its footing, and all you have to go off of are these remarkable stories about the life and teachings of Jesus. 

That was the situation for many in the Church in Galatia (located in modern-day Turkey). The closest thing they had to a Bible was the Old Testament, which was originally given in a culture and time outside their own.

A unique predicament emerged as a result, these Gentiles were having a tough time figuring out the interplay between the Jewish law of the OT and Christ’s New Covenant of the present. 

Some of Jesus’s Jewish followers taught that strict adherence to the Law was required to follow Christ. This included the ever-so-notable practice of circumcision.

Gentlemen, for obvious reasons this isn’t the most attractive selling point…

Of course, this caused quite a stir amongst the Christians there. So much so that the Apostle Paul was prompted to intervene. And, in doing so, wrote these words:

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now to make a long and theological story short, the Jewish law was intended as a way of preparing the nation of Israel for the coming Messiah. 

Since the Messiah (Jesus) came, died, and rose again it was time to move into the next stage of God’s plan. So the law served its purpose (Matthew 5v17), meaning commands such as circumcision were no longer compulsory. 

(I think a lot of men can let out a relieved “amen” to that.)

For this reason, Christ’s followers had the freedom to either get circumcised or not. The important thing was that their salvation didn’t depend on it.

With that in mind, I’d like us to take a look at two of the words Paul uses concerning freedom…

The first is the Greek word sarki, which is translated in the NIV as “sinful nature”, a phrase that can also be translated as “the flesh”. This will be important later but first I want to focus on what it’s contrasted with…

…douleuete, the Greek word Paul uses when he encourages the Galatians to “serve one another in love.” 

This word is used to describe a type of service similar to that of a slave under their master and it’s what we’ll focus on for the remainder of this post.

It’s quite a paradoxical choice of words and one I’m convinced was intentional. 

How many of us associate freedom with being a slave? In fact, we typically associate freedom with the opposite. 

So, what’s going on here? 

First of all, Paul is not putting his seal of approval on the immoral practice of chattel slavery. What he’s doing here is invoking figurative language to paint a picture of what true freedom is.

Freedom in Paul’s view is intimately bound up in a servant-like adherence to the Way of Jesus. A freedom that, naturally, produces love (the good of another before the self) as its result.

To Paul and the writers of the New Testament, the truest form of freedom manifests itself in life with God. Such a life transforms the self not only to promote one’s own well-being but the well-being of others, too.

But something stands in the way.

It’s that first word we addressed, the sarki or “flesh”. It’s present in every human being and if we’re not careful we’ll find ourselves under its oppressive and ever-so-subtle thumb.

So tomorrow we’re going to explore this concept of the flesh in more detail. And how are we going to do that? In the most interesting way I know how…

…with a little art history!

For now, be blessed.

Jon

Theophilus Newsletter

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