“Runaway Witness”

In my study for this week’s daily readings and sermon Sunday, I learned something that I really wanted to share with you. I didn’t want to put too much information into any one day, or lose the point of the individual passages with a second main point. So today is a spillover into the weekend. I hope you find it as interesting as I did. 

 

In chapter 3 of Galatians, Paul has shifted the focus of his letter from defending his authority (chapters 1 & 2) to defending his message – that justification comes through faith. To our untrained eyes, he has simply been laying out theological points to make his case. But the Judaizers saw that he was doing far more than that. Paul was shooting out the legs to the scaffolding of their argument – one by one. And he was using THEIR ammunition to do so! The references that Paul used were from the elements most sacred to the Jews – the patriarchs, the prophets, and the law. 

 

This is similar to a court scene where an attorney begins to cross-examine a witness from the other side. As the witness begins to share their story it becomes apparent that they are making a case for the opposition! The argument for the side that brought in the witness has just imploded and the trial is over. 

 

Take a few moments to look up the following verses from the Old Testament and see how Paul used them to make his case for faith.