Twenty Centuries Later

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? Galatians 3:1  NASB

Bewitched – Have we been fooled?  Would Paul say the same thing to us if he showed up at our doorsteps?  “You undisciplined Christians, who has cast an evil eye upon you?”  Perhaps that translation reveals a bit more in this text.  We are prone to think of “foolish” as if it were simply a matter of lack of intelligence, but we must remember that Paul is Jewish and in Jewish thought, mental mistakes have moral consequences.  This word (anoetos) implies that a lack of intelligence is exhibited in a lack of control over lusts.  The Galatians (and others) didn’t simply lack knowledge.  They lacked discipline.

Paul wants to know how this happened.  His question reveals two underlying elements.  The question itself suggests that they should have been disciplined.  Right understanding should lead to right living.  The fact that the Galatians are not living according to expectation is a clear indication that their theology is also a mess.  Behavior is not divorced from apprehension.  These people aren’t carnal Christians (do some research and discover who really invented that term).  They are sinners in need of repentance.  The second implication of this question arises from the use of the Greek word baskaino.  The word means “to cast a evil eye.”  It is a word about superstition.  It describes people who believe in magic, sorcery and legend.  In other words, baskaino is a word about people who don’t trust the sovereignty of God.  What Paul suggests with this word is that these Galatians are still pagan in their thoughts and practices.  That’s why they are foolish and bewitched.  They haven’t come to grips with the truth about Yeshua HaMashiach.

How does Paul know that they are still thinking and acting like pagans?  He looks at their behavior!  What does he see?  He sees people who are not living according to Torah.  You can check out the list of foolish actions in Galatians 5:19-21.  Where does that list come from?  Did Paul just make it up?  No, each of those actions is a violation of Torah.

It is common for Christians to accept Harnack’s proposal that Judaism and Christianity parted company early in the second century.  Coupled with replacement theology, this proposal implies that Christians don’t need the life instructions found in the Torah since Christianity separated itself from Jewish concerns.  But current scholarship has overturned Harnack’s theory and seriously questions replacement theology.  The historical record shows that believing communities practiced Torah living well into the 4^th Century.  In fact, it was a small group of intellectuals who eventually turned the Church away from its natural Jewish foundation.  So, when Paul writes to the Galatians, he doesn’t have to explain a new code of conduct to them.  He knows, and they should have known, that Torah obedience is the standard.  It is only their undisciplined thought and action that keeps them locked in pagan ways.  I wonder if the Church today isn’t a great deal more like those pagan Galatians than it is like the intended believing and practicing Body that Paul so desired.  I suppose we will have to look and see, won’t we?

Topical Index:  bewitched, baskaino, undisciplined, Torah, Galatians 3:1, Galatians 5:19