A Verse-by-Verse Examination of Galatians: A Closing Story
In a dungeon, where the smell of rats, death, and urine, permeate the cages, an angel appears with such radiance that the darkness flees. He walks up to a man dressed in rags and scars, whose eyes are closed, and whose hands are tightly locked in chains and prayer. The prisoner asks in less fear, and more humility, than any other would, “For what have you come?”
“I have come the day before your death in order to take you two-thousand years into the future, to a distant land filled with people of strange tongues who seem to desire the Truth. I will give you their tongue so they may hear and understand.”
In the flicker of an eye, they are at a small town church early in the morning. The angel calls upon the preachers and elders of all the churches in town to come to this church for a message. The preachers and elders are nervous and excited for the first time. The congregations all arrive early for the first time. For the first time men and women invite strangers to church. For the first time the pews are full, as are the floor, and windows. Today, the kids stay upstairs, for the first time since their mother’s womb.
No one can explain it. Yet, no one can deny it. Some laugh at first. Some wail in tears. For Paul the apostle has come to speak at church today. The elder preacher gives up his special seat in front of the church for Paul to sit in, and there he does. The preachers are greeted like normal men as the crowds find a place to sit or stand. Church bells ring, and church begins.
The minister of the congregation speaks before all, “Ladies and gentlemen, today we are so blessed to have with us Paul! Yes, Paul, the writer of our Holy Scriptures. And, in just a few moments, he will bless us with a message of grace and love. But, first, let us sing a few songs to our god.”
The people sang as if they were a trained choir. They sang, “The Old Rugged Cross,” “Just As I Am,” and, “His Name Is Jesus,” with such power in their voices that cars stopped outside. Even the sides of the church became crowded.
Paul sits in front of the church alone. All eyes look to the back of his head. All are at the edge of their pews, waiting, longing, and crying in anticipation, to hear his message. Yet, he does not stand; indeed, he hardly moves.
The songs end, and the preacher proclaims while holding a hand over his heart, “Wasn’t that wonderful? I have never felt the power of the Holy Spirit move so much as today. You all sound so wonderful. Now is the time for communion. Let us lift the cup and eat the bread that Jesus ate and drank.”
The elders got up from the crowded pews, and walked to the front. A prayer was said, but Paul did not close his eyes. No one knew. The eldest elder came to Paul bearing a silver plate with breadcrumbs, and another bearing small glasses of poor man’s grape juice. Paul quietly asked, “Sir, what is this?”
The elder, taken aback at first, quickly thought that perhaps Paul was testing him, and he hoped deep in his heart that the silver was good enough. “Paul,” the elder replied meekly, “this is the body and blood of our lord. Please, partake, and remembered what our lord has done.”
Paul sat bewildered. Eyes began to creep up. Soon everyone was looking at Paul. And their eyes became wide when he shook his head to decline the offering. Another preacher then quickly introduced Paul, to avoid any problems, saying, “It is time! It is time for Paul to bless us with his message of grace. Paul? Would you please come up front?”
Paul stood up, and everyone trembled. He walked up to the front, and, as he did, the people grew perplexed at his attire. He was dressed in rags that did not fully cover him. They were stained with blood. Blood that looked fresh. He turned. His face and arms covered in scars for the pronunciation of a Name the people did not know. Bitter tears, the kind that cut and burn, ran down his face for the souls of a people thought saved. He bore a troubled brow and eyes of concerned sorrow. Searching with his hands, he was just able to find the pulpit to rest his weary arms upon. He dropped his face in a quick prayer that was more a plea. Composing himself, his tears, and face of meekness, became as bold as a lion as he raised his head. He spoke so loudly the speaker system was turned off:
“This Jesus may have been the Christ, but I tell you no lie: Yahoshuah is the Messiah! This cross may have been your salvation, but I tell you no lie: salvation is of the Jews! I am Paul! A Pharisee. Listen to me as I have listened to the Father. This lord you speak of, and his communion, I am familiar with. I learned of him when in Rome with the heathen there, but while I am here let me speak to you of a Passover of death the likes of Israel could not have imagined. Yes! Even after the first Exodus. Yet, even so, I speak it in haste: There will be another coming. And I fear for you all. There is One above all! Only One Name can save!”
Paul went on for hours explaining things unheard of before, for He read the Torah—the Torah he had constantly quoted in his writings—of which they had only a few of … and tattered ones at that. After hours and hours, yes, even into the night, Paul continued his message, but he ended it with Solomon’s last words, and with that he walked away from the front. The angel appeared, took Paul’s hand, and disappeared before everyone’s eyes.
Slowly, and quietly, the men and women went home. Their life changed, for about a week, but slowly they forgot his message, as they had forgotten his others.
Is this a preacher’s dream? Or is it a nightmare! Could it be real? Could Paul be able to speak in your church? If so, what would he say? What message would he give? I tell you no lie: Paul would say the same thing that Peter said, and the same thing Abraham taught his children. They would say what they said the first time: Chase after Yahoweh! Let go of the traditions of men.
This is no fairytale. For today, Paul did come to church, and this is what he said:
“For not the hearers of the Torah are righteous in the sight of Elohim, but the doers of the law shall be declared right.” (Romans 2:13).
“What, then, shall we say? Is the Torah sin? Let it not be! However, I did not know sin except through the Torah. For also the covetousness I knew not if the Torah had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’” (Romans 7:7).
“So that the Torah truly is set-apart, and the command set-apart, and righteous, and good.” (Romans 7:12).
“For I delight in the Torah of Elohim according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, battling against the Torah of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Thanks to Elohim, through Yahoshuah Messiah our Master! So then, with the mind I myself truly serve the Torah of Elohim, but with the flesh the law of sin.” (Romans 7:22-25).
“For the Torah of the Spirit of the life in Messiah Yahoshuah has set me free from the law of sin and of death.” (Romans 8:2).
“Because the mind of the flesh is enmity towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself to the Torah of Elohim, neither indeed is it able,” (Romans 8:7).
“And there is no deliverance in anyone else, for there is no other Name under the heaven given among men by which we need to be saved.” (Acts 4:12).
“Owe no one any matter except to love one another, for he who loves another has filled the Torah.” (Romans 13:8). But what is love of fellow man? “By this we know that we love the children of Elohim, when we love Elohim and guard His commands. For this is the love for Elohim, that we guard His commands, and His commands are not heavy, because everyone having been born of Elohim overcomes the world. And this is the overcoming that has overcome the world: our belief.” (1 John 5:2-4).
“The one who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not guard His commands, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever guards His Word, truly the love of Elohim has been perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. The one who says he stays in Him ought himself also to walk, even as He walked.” (1 John 2:4-6).
“Say to me, you who wish to be under Torah, do you not hear the Torah?” (Galatians 4:21).
“And we know that the Torah is good if one uses it legitimately, knowing this: that Torah is not laid down for a righteous being, but for the lawless and unruly, for the wicked and for sinners, for the wrong-doers and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, for those who whore, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and for whatever else that is contrary to sound teaching, according to the esteemed Good News of the blessed Elohim which was entrusted to me. And I thank then Messiah Yahoshuah our Master Who empowered me, because He counted me trustworthy, putting me into service, me, although I was formerly a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and an insulter. But compassion was shown me because being ignorant I did it in unbelief.” (1 Timothy 1:8-13).
According to this, the Law, which is good, was for Paul. But what about us? Who among us is sin free? Who reading this hasn’t lied? The Law is Good … if one uses it properly! What would be a proper way? To show love for the Father. “Everyone doing sin also does lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Everyone staying in Him does not sin. Everyone sinning has neither seen Him nor known Him.” (1 John 3:4-6).
“For the secret of lawlessness is already at work—only until he who now restrains comes out of the midst. And then the lawless one shall be revealed, whom the Master shall consume with the Spirit of His mouth and bring to naught with the manifestation of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood, and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth, in order for them to be saved. And for this reason Elohim sends them a working of delusion, for them to believe the falsehood, in order that all should be judged who did not believe the truth, but have delighted in the unrighteousness.” (2 Thessalonians 2:7-12).
“Yahoshuah said to her, ‘Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you shall neither on this mountain, nor in Yerushalayim, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because the deliverance is of the Yehudim. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father also does seek such to worship Him.’” (John 4:21-23).
If a Jew—a plain looking Jew—walked into your church, would He even be allowed to address the congregation? Let’s pretend this was allowed, and let’s also act as if the Messiah did not already say what the plain looking Jew says. What would our response be if the Messiah didn’t already say what this plain Jew is about to say? … He speaks, “You heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone looking at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” There are few churches that would have a single person heed the words of this legalistic Jew. No. Rather, almost every Christian would be telling Him that He is wrong.
Note: I asked this question to many people, and most said they would indeed tell Him that He was wrong. We all do error in not knowing His Word well enough. Many say this was a new law Yahoshuah gave. It was no longer the “Dreaded strict external Law.” Now it’s in the heart. But not looking at a woman lustfully was a sin in the Tenth Commandment. Many think He was expounding on adultery, when He was simply sharing another one of the Ten Commandments, which was expounding on adultery. “Do not covet your neighbor’s wife.” How many men know of Job’s words, or are as well boasted of as the man who said, “I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze at a maiden?” (Job 31:1). What would the wisest man to ever live say? “Do not desire her prettiness in your heart, neither let her captivate you with her eyelids.” (Proverbs 6:25). The Truth seeker would nod in agreement with the plain looking Jew, but the unwise would proclaim without taking a moment in time, “I indeed would tell Him otherwise.”
Do not commit adultery against the King in heart or action. Keep the Sabbath in heart and action! Say His Name as bold as a lion, but as loving as a kitten. For He is! He is! And His Word, His grace … lasts forever.
May His Word be spoken in your house with such love that the Word enters your ears and eyes as if He were standing right in front of you. And may your questions that arise be answered verse by verse, prayer by prayer, with humility upon humility, as you walk as the Rabbi walked, just like brother Paul.
Be Blessed and be a Blessing
Shalom
-Valentine Thalken Billingsley
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Additional Scripture References:
Luke 16:30-31, Romans 6:22-23, Hebrews 3:4-8
