Tuesday 15 August 2023
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as children. (vs 4-5)
Background
Today’s reading in the Methodist Church in Britain is linked to the commemoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary: a non-specific festival, in many Protestant churches, dedicated to Mary; a more specific celebration of the ‘Feast of the Assumption’ (Mary’s taking up into heaven) in Catholic and Orthodox churches.
So while Mary isn’t named in these verses from Galatians, she is present here as the mother of the Lord: the one through whom God in Christ enters fully into our humanity in order to transform and redeem it (vs 4-5).
The Letter to the Galatians is generally agreed to be written by the Apostle Paul to communities he had founded in the ancient Near East. In it, he addresses some rather tangled theology among the believers. They have been flirting with a notion which had some currency while the Early Church was still trying to understand its identity, but which Paul rejected completely: that being Christian also required becoming Jewish and adopting circumcision and adherence to the Jewish law.
Earlier in the letter, Paul writes with frustration about this departure from his own teaching (1:6-7). He insists that trust in Jesus is the only criterion for Christian identity and belonging, and that God’s initiative alone, in sending his son – rather than any legal or ritual observances by believers –make that possible (v. 4).
Paul describes this new identity and belonging in familial terms: believers are adopted, again by God’s initiative (v. 5b) and so stand before God not as subjects or servants but alongside Jesus as God’s children, and as co-heirs with Christ of all God has to give (v. 7). The gift of the Holy Spirit confirms this and makes it possible for Christians to relate to God with the intimacy and confidence with which a child can relate to a parent (v. 6).
To Ponder:
- Does Mary have any particular importance in your Christian faith and/or spirituality? What reasons do you give for your answer?
- Paul turns to the language and understanding of paternity to describe the new identity and intimate relationship with God made possible in Christ, but the word ‘Father’ may not always be helpful or positive in describing and expressing this. What other images or language might convey the theological and spiritual richness Paul is feeling for here?