DAY 267

WHAT GOD INTENDS

Song of Solomon 1, 2, & 3 and Galatians 2

There are two general streams of interpretation about this potent Book, the Song of Solomon. The first is that it is a collection of love poems between and a man and a woman celebrating the sexual relationship God intended for marriage. Yes it is explicit. It is explicit in the beauty and power and passion of the deep interconnectedness between husband and wife. The second interpretation is that it represents the union of Christ and his church. It might be acceptable to function at both levels. I tend to prefer the first. Why (you might ask)? Because so often the church is viewed as uptight about sex. There is nothing uptight in this book. Young Jewish boys were actually not allowed to read it. I am pleased that we can in God’s Word celebrate sex when it is being practiced as God intended.

How God intends “things” is what many of us wrestle with, even today. Make a list of the moral hot button issues – from capital punishment, to abortion, to same-gender marriage, to end-of-life medical treatment, to stem cell research…the list is endless. Many divisions have arisen in churches over these and other issues. I have often said if we could “wave a magic wand” so that the church agreed on all the issues, then give us a day or so and we will find more to disagree on.

So knowing what God intends – and church unity – are important issues. In fact it is exactly what Paul is working on in Galatians. In chapter two he: 1 – lays out how he has gone to Jerusalem and what his standing as an apostle is. 2 – He presents the situation and gets resolution. 3 – He again presents the Gospel. Let’s look at each.

1.      He lays out that situation and in doing so he is walking a razor’s edge. He is an apostle. He is going to the other apostles. If he leans too much on their authority, then it might indicate he really does not think he is one. If he leans too far the other way then he might be indicating he is not concerned about unity.

He walks this line well and then lays out the issue. The issue is some Jews who are followers of Jesus have come to Galatia (after Paul has planted churches and given them the Gospel) and told the Galatian gentile Christians that it is good that they have accepted Jesus, but they must also be circumcised and keep the Jewish law…there it is…the Gospel PLUS something…in this case circumcision.

2.      So Paul presents the situation and gets a resolution. They only need the Gospel. He even challenged Peter when he strayed from this “freedom in Christ.” Using the language used earlier in this post, the key is “what does God intend for these Gentiles?” Paul, very concerned with church unity, is equally concerned with presenting the pure Gospel.

3.      This brings us to the third point. He again present the Gospel in verse 16: we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.

In the next few chapters of Galatians we will spend more time looking at the full implications of just what this means.