Your Kingdom (Messiah) Come

Was this Paul’s Thorn in the Flesh?

I can hardly imagine what it would have been like to be Paul. To be so sure that you are not only on the right path, but the righteous path! To have dedicated yourself so thoroughly to that path that the zeal of it consumes you. Only to learn that you were going exactly the wrong way!

Paul was born in a region that, because of the internal conflicts within the Macedonian empire and choosing to side with the eventual “winner”, had been granted citizenship as Grecians. A right that the Roman empire chose to retain when they conquered Greece. Meaning that Saul of Tarsus was born a citizen of Rome.

He grew up as a Jew, in Jerusalem. Which meant that most of what came natural for citizens of Rome, was prohibited by his family’s allegiance to the God of Israel. In his case, his tribe was that of Benjamin, a relatively small tribe whose ancestral inheritance could be found just north of Judah’s.

By his testimony (assuming that others might have reason to boast) he tells those in Philippi about his own “pedigree”:

…circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the congregations of those called out by God; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. (Phil’p 3:5-6)

And in his testimony before the Jews (including “believing Jews”), after being accosted because of his ministry to Gentiles (noting that this occurs after his third journey and after being reprimanded by James for alienating the “believing Jews” by not requiring the Gentiles to first come under the Laws of Moses) AND therefore being required to offer a blood sacrifice as a “show” of allegiance to the Law (see Acts 21:17-26), Paul states:

“Brethren and fathers, hear my defense which I now offer to you.”

And when they heard that he was addressing them in the Hebrew dialect, they became even more quiet; and he said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and putting both men and women into prisons, as also the high priest and all the Council of the elders can testify. From them I also received letters to the brethren and started off for Damascus in order to bring even those who were there to Jerusalem as prisoners to be punished.

“But it happened that as I was on my way, approaching Damascus about noontime, a very bright light suddenly flashed from heaven all around me, and I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ And I answered, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And He said to me, ‘I am Jesus the Nazarene, whom you are persecuting.’ And those who were with me saw the light, to be sure, but did not understand the voice of the One who was speaking to me. And I said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been appointed for you to do.’ But since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me and came into Damascus.

“A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well-spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. Now why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name.’

“It happened when I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, that I fell into a trance, and I saw Him saying to me, ‘Make haste, and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about Me.’ And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves understand that in one synagogue after another I used to imprison and beat those who believed in You. And when the blood of Your witness Stephen was being shed, I also was standing by approving and watching out for the coats of those who were slaying him.’ And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’” (Acts 22:1-21)

These were his words spoken roughly 28 years after the death of Jesus; given in the temple, to the Jews of two classes (who, it would seem, had learned to tolerate each other):

1) those who believed that Jesus was the Messiah but (like James) had determined that the Law of Moses (and all that that meant) should be imposed (at least in part) on any who would be saved among the Gentiles and observed in full by Jewish “believers” (what were referred to as Judaizers);

2) and those who rejected Jesus as the Messiah, maintaining the Law as predominant.

Interestingly, we are told that they (both groups of Jews) were willing to listen to Paul’s testimony until this point. But at this statement (“And He said to me, ‘Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”) all of the Jews (both groups) began to scream, “Away with such a one from the earth, he should not be allowed to live!”

[I need to again point out that, according to James’ (and those with him) Paul is told, “You see, brother, how many myriads (ten thousands) there are among the Jews of those who believed, and they are zealous for the Law; and they have been told about you, that you are teaching all the Jews who are among the Gentiles, to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.” (Acts 21:20-24)

They then convince Paul that he needed to shave his head and declare his willingness to keep the Law, culminating in a blood sacrifice…which he did in his attempt to be ‘all things to all peoples’.

It was in fact while he was fulfilling this ‘vow’ that he was accosted, leading to the testimony noted above. The city and the system, it would seem, had absorbed the ministry of the Messiah into its doctrines – but only as subservient to their customs and traditions! A risk we still face as followers of Christ (the Messiah) today.]

What Paul did not get the chance to remind them all was what had taken place with James some ten years earlier – shortly after his first journey ended – though James was quick to bring it up to Paul (Acts 21:25-26)

(This, as we will see, was the beginning of a compromise for which Paul would spend the next fifteen or so years paying.)

Back then, after confronting Peter for his hypocrisy regarding the applicability of the ransom price Jesus paid to the Gentiles who believed in Him, they (including Peter and Barnabas) proceeded to go to Jerusalem where many of the first followers of Jesus, those of Jewish heritage of course, had remained even after the dispersion that was the result of the very persecution which began under Saul.

When they arrived in Jerusalem the entire congregation greeted them and rejoiced with them in the work that the Lord had done through them. Until “some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise the Gentiles and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses.’”

As we can all imagine, this was not at all in line with where Paul had developed in his understanding of the Good News to all peoples! This led to a great debate, at the height of which Peter makes a definitive appeal:

“Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the Good News message and believe. And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are.” (Acts 15:7-11)

Unfortunately, what came out of Jerusalem was a compromise, authored by James (by the way, there is some debate as to who this ‘James’ is – though the majority view holds that he would have been the half-brother of Jesus – which may also mean that he was the “other James” listed among the twelve).

It is safe to call it a compromise, even though Paul was willing to submit to the commission to deliver the written pronouncement to the Gentile congregations, because of Paul’s own counter letter that he wrote to those in the region of Galatia.

Several key concepts are given in this letter - the first epistle from Paul (and likely the earliest of the New Testament canon).

He begins by expressing his seeming shock at how quickly they had been “disturbed” by a distortion of the Good News message of Jesus – knowing quite well that the Judaizing Pharisees had followed after he and Barnabas, bringing the perversion that was just debated in Jerusalem. Paul does not hold back: “As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a “good news” that is contrary to what you received – that one is to be accursed!”

He reminds the Galatians of his prior “life” as the chief persecutor of the congregations of God and of his isolation, after his conversion, during which time he receives the revelation from God that will be the core of his preaching going forward.

This brings him, in the epistle, to his recounting of the events that had, just a few weeks before, taken place in Jerusalem; backtracking a bit to include the incidence with Peter in Antioch that was the primary catalyst for their going to Jerusalem. Paul includes his rebuke of Peter:

“If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how do you compel Gentiles to live like Jews? We Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in the Messiah Jesus, even we have believed in the Messiah Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in the Messiah and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if while seeking to be justified in the Messiah, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is the Messiah then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with the Messiah; and it is no longer I who live, but the Messiah lives in me; and insofar as I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then the Messiah died needlessly.” (Gal.2:14-21)

In essence, Paul is drawing a clear line for Peter: we were not made right with God by means of the Law; the Law did not have the ability to make that possible. That was why we needed the Messiah, Jesus. Through Him alone can a person be justified before God. And once we have received that gift, for us to return to the Law (which failed to justify us) would be without value. The Messiah now lives in us and through us. We now must live by faith in Him, not by any attempt to adhere to the Law – if that is not our condition, then the Messiah did not need to die!

These words to Peter are likely a big part of why he stood in Jerusalem, as one of the first disciples of Jesus, one who had been to His empty tomb and had seen and spoken and even eaten with Him, and declared that He was all that was needed for salvation.

That Paul goes next to a comparison that centers on Abraham, Sarah, and Isaac makes it safe to surmise that he is writing this part of his letter primarily to those of Jewish heritage among the Galatian believers (and possibly any Judaizers who might happen upon his letter).

In the midst of that comparison, Paul describes the intent of the Law, for the Jews, from God’s perspective:

Therefore the Law has become our tutor to the Messiah, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in the Messiah Jesus. For all of you who were immersed into the Messiah have clothed yourselves in the Anointed One. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in the Messiah Jesus. And if you belong to the Messiah, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise. (Gal.3:24-29)

After finishing the details of the comparison by summarizing, once again, that we are not the “children of a bondwoman (the Law) but of a free woman (grace and faith), Paul lays it out plainly:

It was for freedom that the Messiah set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.” (Gal.5:1)

To be absolutely clear: the Law was/is that yoke of slavery! And according to the Revelation – that very yoke is what our adversary desires to enslave us with (see Rev.6:5-6 and note the word often translated “pair of scales” is this word rightly translated “yoke” here and in Acts 15:10 above).

The bulk of the remainder of his first epistle centers on a new and different dichotomy – one that can be found (unfortunately) within the lives of those who HAVE recognized and embraced the freedom that comes in the Messiah; those who recognize that the Law is not able to produce life or righteousness or the purposes of God.

Staying with this new distinction makes sense – even though doing so takes us a bit out of the lane in which we started. But to finish the previous point (before addressing this separate distinction): the net result of Paul’s decision to denounce the Judaizers and declare, unapologetically, that they were in fact enemies of God’s Good News, was the imprisonment from which he was never fully released.

Despite having been forewarned, Paul had returned to Jerusalem; and despite his attempt to be “all things to all people” his compromise to James and the ‘believing Jews’ had brought him no closer to overcoming their stubbornness in holding on to a form of Godliness that denied the very Power of God Himself!

His clear declarations that to keep even some faith in the Law was a total rejection of the work of Christ led to him being imprisoned, receiving innumerable stripes, (five times from the Jews receiving thirty-nine); beaten with rods three times, stoned (and left for dead) once, shipwrecked three times – spending a night and a day in the sea. He was frequently traveling and frequently in dangers from rivers, robbery, his countrymen, the Gentiles, in the cities, in the wilderness, on the sea; among false brethren – in labors and hardships…and yet he could not reject the liberty that comes only from faith in Jesus as Messiah and the Son of God! (See 2Cor.11:23-29.)

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As for the secondary dichotomy I mentioned above:

This letter from Paul comes early in his ministry – before much of the cost of his service is collected. And as important as the rejection of compromise to the Law was to Paul’s understanding of the freedom that can ONLY be found in the Messiah; his conviction of the importance of standing on the right side of that liberty was great enough to bring that point into the closing of this letter.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. (Gal.5:13-15)

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Jesus tells us that He did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets but to fulfill them. When He inaugurates the New Covenant on the very day that He, by His sacrifice on the cross, does just that– fulfills all of the Law – He also declares the New Commandment:

“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:34)

Oddly – the only comment recorded after Jesus, three times, speaks of the importance of this new commandment, is Peter’s query regarding where Jesus is going and why he can’t follow Him.

And so He repeats it:

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another.” (John 15:12-17)

Paul, in his letter to the believers in Rome (mostly Gentiles at the time of his writing due to the banishment of Jews from Rome by Claudius), reiterates the Lord’s command when he advises them to, “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled Law…for all law is summed up in ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Since love does no wrong to a neighbor, it fulfills the Law.” (See Rom.13:8-10)

The point being that though the work of Jesus fulfilled the Law and settled the cost of each man’s sins with God, there are still, within that grace and liberty, ways that we are expected to behave, in honor of Him.

Peter notes it this way:

Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.

The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint. 10As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (1Peter 1:1-11)

And John declares it as well:

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1John 2:15-17)

If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. (1John 1:6-7)

Back to Paul’s first written message. Where he decries a dependency on anything but the grace and mercy of Christ; and then explains how that freedom should be lived out.

To reiterate, what he and all of these New Testament writers are not saying is that somehow our behaviors will settle our accounts with God. He will not tolerate sin – any sin, any kind of sin. The ransom price, the cost of our release from the sin we have sold ourselves out to, is the propitiation, the atonement of sinless blood of a Man – which only Jesus can provide.

However, our response to His freeing us should not be our determination to waste the liberty; to enslave ourselves once again to a yoke of bondage. We all know that it is possible to accept Jesus Christ as our salvation, and yet to sin after having done so – in fact John says we lie to ourselves if we deny that reality. So the nuance here is Paul’s (and our) point of focus – as we will see.

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. (Gal. 5:16)

This is the crux, the leverage point for all that comes next from Paul. Having been born of the Spirit, we are encouraged to walk in that same Spirit. We remain able to choose. Being born of the Spirit did not remove from us that aspect of the Image and Likeness. In fact, our willingness to take up the “cross daily” is the essence of the life of a “new creation in Christ Jesus”. And, walking by the Spirit helps us to not carry out the passionate longings of our flesh.

For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. (Gal.5:17-18)

The battle is real – a bare-knuckles clash between what walking in the Spirit acts like and what the flesh desires. The word we read as “opposition” or that which is opposite, is describing exactly that. The desires of the flesh are not just different from that which comes from walking in the Spirit – they are the opposite of them.

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Gal.5:19-21)

To take these one at a time we would have these fifteen “deeds” (plus a catchall):

1) Immorality – “porneia” = “fornication” and comes from the word “pernēmi” which means “to export for sale” and is the source word for the Greek for “prostitute”

2) Impurity – “akatharsia” = “uncleanness”

3) Sensuality – “aselgeia” of uncertain origins it means “licentiousness, wantonness” (so suggesting extreme shamelessness)

4) Idolatry – more of a transliteration; “eidōlolatria” a compound word that means “worship of an image”

5) Sorcery – “pharmakeia” = “the use of medicine, drugs or spells”

6) Enmities – “echthra” which is sourced from the word that means “hatred” and refers to “hostility toward others”

7) Strife – a primary word “eris” that means “strife, quarrelsomeness”

8) Jealousy – “zēlos” from a primary verb “zeō” which means “to boil, be hot”

9) Outbursts of anger – “thumos” = “passion”; it is derived from “thuō” which means “to rage, seethe”

10) Disputes – “eritheia” = “rivalry, hence ambition”

11) Dissensions – “dichostasia” = “standing apart”

12) Factions – “hairesis”; a transliteration for “heresies” that means “a choice or opinion”

13) Envying – “phthonos” = “envy, to desire what belongs to someone else”

14) Drunkenness – “methē” a primary word that means “drunkenness”

15) Carousing – “kōmos” the word for “a village festival” that inferred “reveling”

…and things like these all of which, we should be forewarned, will prevent those who practice them from inheriting the kingdom of God.

As opposed to the fruit of the Spirit – the singular outcome that is the result of walking by the Spirit and which manifests itself in these nine ways.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Gal.5:22-23)

The fruit, which includes the following attributes, stand above and beyond the laws of the flesh:

1) Love – “agapē” = used to describe the love that God has for His creation

2) Joy – “chara” = “joy, delight”

3) Peace – “eirēnē” = literal or figurative “peace; by implication, welfare”

4) Patience – “makrothumia” a compound word derived from “makros = “long, far distant” and “thumos” = “passion”; so, “long-suffering”

5) Kindness – “chrēstotēs” = “goodness, excellence, uprightness” a derivative of the word “chraomai” = “to use, make use of”

6) Goodness – “agathōsunē” = “goodness”

7) Faithfulness – “pistis” = “faith, faithfulness” from the verb “peithō” = “to persuade, to have confidence”

8) Gentleness – “prautēs” = “gentleness”

9) Self-control – “egkrateia” a compound word from the preposition “en” = “in, on, at, by, with” and “kratos” = “strength, might”; so, “mastery of self”

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. (Gal.5:24-26)

Paul summarizes by describing the drastic commitment that goes with accepting Jesus’ offer to pay the price of our sins: we have been bought with a price – and our response to that salvation should be our willingness to crucify the flesh – that part of us that is in opposition to His will and purposes. We have been given the life of the Spirit of God; we should therefore walk out each day by His Spirit.

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In what is most likely his last epistle, at least of those written to the congregations, Paul reinforces what he had taught from the beginning:

Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude.

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. (Col.2:6-15; 3:1-4)

Paul paid dearly because of the animosity of the Law against the Freedom that comes in the Messiah. The Messiah God sent. The Messiah that God had foretold His people that He would send – even as He forewarned them that many would miss His coming.

Paul received the revelation of the eternal plan of God: from every tribe and language and people and nation will be found those who will accept His offer of ransom. There is no longer a distinction between races or genders or social status or occupation. All, ALL that divides us is whether or not we have chosen to accept His offer. What choice we make will be respected by Him!