No turning back! (1)

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. Galatians 4:8-11

Every now and then you hear about a prisoner who reaches the end of their sentence and gets released – only then to find that they want to get back inside. They have so much looked forward to that day! But then it turns out that they just can’t cope with the outside world. There are even reports of people committing another crime purely in order to be sent back.

It seems almost unbelievable; yet it’s understandable. That person has become “institutionalised”. However wretched prison life might be, at least it provides a community of a sort, not to mention “bed and board”, perhaps also activities and opportunities for hobbies and educational pursuits. The outside world seems uncertain and frightening, even with various kinds of support.

When Paul wrote to the gentile Christians of Galatia, this is how he felt they were in in a spiritual sense: they used to be in prison, then they were set free, and now, incredibly, they are going back where they came from. If you read the words above you can almost see him throwing up his hands in frustration and disappointment. They’re turning back!

Christians who turn back: it’s a reality that every church has to come to terms with, today as in Galatia 2000 years ago. So I want to ask two questions. First, what was going on in Galatia that caused this to happen? And then – and this will have to be next time - what might be the things that tempt us to turn back today?

First, then, what was going on in Galatia that left Paul so troubled?

Galatia wasn’t a town or city, but an extensive province of the Roman empire. The experts disagree on exactly how to dovetail together this letter that Paul wrote to them, on the one hand, and the account of his missionary activities in Acts, on the other. But the place to start is Acts 13-14, where we read that Paul and Barnabas visited the Galatian towns of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, and preached the gospel there. Many became believers in Christ, so that new churches were formed. And – and this is the key point – many of these new believers were gentiles rather than Jews: pagans, originally worshipping false gods. In fact, at Lystra they got so excited by the things Paul and Barnabas did that they decided they too must be gods and tried to offer them animal sacrifice, much to the horror of the apostles (Acts 14:8-18).

These were exciting days. Remember, all the first followers of Jesus were Jews; they recognised him as the Messiah foretold by the Old Testament prophets. But, now, here were non-Jews believing in him as their Messiah too!

Wonderful.

But it raised a question: were these new converts to be accepted as fellow believers in Jesus just as they were, or did they need, in effect, to become Jews first? Should they be required to submit to Old Testament laws and the Jewish calendar; especially, should the men be expected to be circumcised?

Paul and Barnabas were in no doubt. We are saved through faith in Christ alone! So welcome them into the body of Christ just as they are, requiring only baptism; that’s all that matters. No problem.

But now Paul has heard that these churches have been visited by what seem to be hard-line Jewish Christians. These people are teaching that this isn’t enough; they seem to be saying, in effect, “All right, you gentile believers are welcome to join us in Christ, but Christ is the Messiah of the Jews – so in order to do so you must first become Jews yourselves”.

What horrifies Paul is that many of these converts are accepting this teaching and submitting to it. He just can’t grasp how they can do that: You were enslaved to your pagan idols; then you were set free when you came to faith in Jesus; and now you are allowing yourselves to be enslaved again! – only this time to the slavery of the Old Testament law. “You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you…?” (Galatians 3:1).

He is so angry and alarmed that he indulges in quite startling language. Referring to these false teachers as “agitators”, he says, in effect, “If these people are so keen on circumcision, let them go the whole way and castrate themselves” (Galatians 5:12). This is no dry theological debate! Paul’s anger is white-hot.

So let’s go back to where we started: What caused so many of these Galatian Christians to “turn back”? The answer, in a word, is: False teaching.

The same is a danger to us, so we’ll come back next time to explore it a little more, and also to pose my second question: Never mind the history lesson; what things might tempt us to “turn back” today?

Please join me.

Father, as I look back on my life I know there have been times I have been tempted to turn back from Jesus – indeed, times I have actually done so. Please forgive me and breathe your strength into me, so that never again will I fail him. Amen.