Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


3.04.2004  

Out of the Loop

So. That passage in Galatians. After reading it, and reading it again, and again, and again, and still scratching my head, I read it out loud to Erin. She didn't have a clue. Neither did Dan, for that matter. My thoughts on the matter? I'm thinking the last sentence, "now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one" is saying that God is mediating between Himself, in some fashion. How so? Well, mediation is required when there is a reconciliation of some sort that is needed by two (or more) parties...say, X and Y. Yet here, it seems to be saying that God was mediating between Himself...He's both X and Y. (This sounds way too much like algebra for my liking...it's easy to explain this way, though.)

What's the significance of that? Not a whole lot...at least, not on its own. It does, however, bring to mind the passage in Genesis 15 where God makes His Spirit pass between the split animal carcasses, essentially saying to Abraham (and us), "so be it (death) to Me if I should fail in keeping this covenant." Yet, when we look at the cross, and realize it was His intent all along to bring about reconciliation through that sacrifice, He was essentially saying, "so be it to Me if I should fail in keeping this covenant, yet this covenant will not be fulfilled unless this happens to me."

In Genesis 15, God tells us that the covenant with Abraham is one that is entirely on His end; Abraham has no part of the covenant to fulfill. Abraham simply enjoys! Galatians 3:20 shows us again that God removes us from the loop of reconciliation; we have no part in the actual reconciliation. We simply enjoy!

One last note. Some of you may be going, "but what about obedience? What about listening to God? What about the instruction that God gave to Moses, or even the commandments that Jesus gave us? How is it that we "simply enjoy"? I would say this: obeying and listening to the instruction and commandments are part of what we do when we enjoy God. Yet, we would have no right nor be able to enjoy God if He did not reconcile us to Himself through Christ...through Himself. Because of that, because it is still God who is at work in us through Christ, we are able to enjoy Him.

Yep...there for the reading are my thoughts on the matter. Chip and Cleve and Jared seemed to think I wasn't too far off my rocker :) I think I need to consult a couple of commentaries to firm it up, but it seems to make sense.

posted by Bolo | 9:37 AM
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