Beyond the Law: The Transforming Power of Faith
October 12, 2024 - Saturday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Galatians 3:22-29
Paul continues his arguments aimed at dissuading the Galatians from embracing the law of Moses. Socrates said that knowing what is good leads to doing good. Paul, on the other hand, said that we have "the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out" (Rom. 7:18). This problem of humanity goes even further: are we intrinsically good, neutral, or bad? Confucius believed that we are naturally good. Paul, however, says that we are all locked under the control of sin (see Rom. 3:9; Gal. 3:22). Who is right? Who is wrong?
The Biblical story is full of surprises, and one of them is that Abraham, who did not know the law, obeyed God, but his descendants, who were given the law, transgressed it and disobeyed God. The promise associated with Jeremiah's new covenant was the ability to obey God. The Lord would write His law on our hearts (see Jer. 31:31-34). What Socrates and Confucius taught but our experience disproved could finally become a reality. We would become good, know good, and do good. But humanity would have to wait for the Messiah to come, for Jesus Christ to offer His life for the forgiveness of sins, and to pour out the Holy Spirit into our hearts.
Paul compares the law to a guardian. Any law informs us of what we can do and what we cannot do; any law also includes penalties for those who transgress it. Thus, many of us obey the law out of fear of the consequences of disobeying it. Legislators introduce laws, and educators hope that we internalize the law and "instinctively" obey it. But the need for criminal justice tells us that things are not so simple. The guardian needs to force us to obey him, and if we do not, he punishes us. Quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy, Paul wrote: "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them" (Gal. 3:10; Deut. 27:26).
The entire Old Testament is a book of hope, awaiting the fulfillment of God's promises through the coming of the Messiah. With Jesus' coming, the promise of the new covenant and the transformation of humanity came to fulfillment. Paul was one of the first who experienced it in his life. The one who was "breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord" (Acts 9:1) through faith in Christ began to love those he once sought to destroy. And this love extended to all the Gentiles to whom he preached the Gospel of Christ. Paul wanted everyone to experience a similar transformation.
At the heart of today's passage is the proclamation of our equality: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is no male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28). Circumcision, which the Galatians wanted to undergo, established division and distinction: not all could be circumcised. On the other hand, the sacrament of baptism established equality. All who believe in Christ must undergo baptism. John Dominic Crossan puts it this way: In Christianity, "a Jewish Christian is not superior to a Gentile Christian, nor a male to a female Christian, nor a free Christian to a Christian slave."
In our world plagued by different types of division despite claims of being led by the rule of law, Paul reminds us of the transforming effect of faith in Jesus Christ: the ability to obey God and equality in Jesus Christ. "For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26).