What Matters Is Faith Working Through Love!

Hi! and happy good Tuesday to all of us, GUYS.  Our "food for the soul" today:

THE GOOD NEWS (11 October 2016)

"CHRIST freed us to make us really free.  So remain firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.  I, Paul, say this to you: if you receive circumcision, CHRIST can no longer help you.  Once more I say to whoever receives circumcision: you are now bound to keep the whole Law.  All you who pretend to become righteous through the observance of the Law have separated yourselves from CHRIST and have fallen away from grace.

As for us, through the Spirit and faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.  In CHRIST JESUS it is irrelevant whether we be circumcised or not; what matters is faith working through love." - Galatians 5:1-6 

(Paul does not want converts to be circumcised.  See how firmly he speaks to them; this would be a falling away from grace.  Why?  It was not a sin, Paul could well have tolerated without encouraging it. 

Yet for Paul, you cannot preach the Gospel in an authentic way without taking stances that upset others.  Again "the truth of the Gospel" is not only in the formulas of dogma: it is also in the stand you take, showing how free we are.  If the Gospel is liberation, the apostles should adopt, at least on certain points, positions that disturb and shock.  JESUS gave an example in violating the holiest of laws, that of the Sabbath, when it was not necessary to do so.

Such is the necessary scandal in all Christian behavior, which will never be as scandalous as was JESUS' death on a cross [see 1 Corinthians 1:17].  To save people means, somehow, making them discover who they are before GOD, and then bringing them to confront the forces that have kept them subjugated and alienated.  This is why Paul was so opposed to perpetuating Jewish practices.  Following Paul, we could ask in our days: Who are those who give in to prejudices and alienating powers, and who are the persecuted [5:11; 6:12]?  Oftentimes, the Gospel is lived more authentically in Christian groups that are politically aware and active than in groups that limit themselves to liturgical practices.)  

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