Strict Teachers; Galatians 3-5

May the mumbling commence!

Paul spends a lot of time speaking about the relationship between the Law and faith in Galatians.  I am drawn today to a passage from Galatians chapter three.  Read from the Phillips translation:

Before the coming of faith we were all imprisoned under the power of the Law, with our only hope of deliverance the faith that was to be shown to us. Or, to change the metaphor, the Law was like a strict governess in charge of us until we went to the school of Christ and learned to be justified by faith in him. Once we had that faith we were completely free from the governess's authority.

For now that you have faith in Christ you are all sons of God. All of you who were baptized "into" Christ have put on the family likeness of Christ. Gone is the distinction between Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female – you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, you are true descendants of Abraham, you are true heirs of his promise. (Verses 23-29)

The Law was like a strict governess.  Well, I have never been in a situation where I had a governess.  So I think of the Law instead in terms of the teachers that I have had in my school life.

Do you remember any strict teachers that you had?  I do.  I did not like them at the time.  I tended to like the more lenient teachers in my life.  But, in hindsight (which, remember, is often twenty-twenty vision), I learned much more from the strict teachers.

I remember the English portion of my high-school career.  I started out in remedial English classes.  In my sophomore year, a student teacher discovered my skills because she challenged me like no remedial teacher had done in the past.  I moved into the regular track in my junior year, and I did fine.

During my senior year, I chose to take Senior Composition – a class that had a reputation for being difficult and taught by a teacher who had a reputation for being tough.  Ms. Rohrer did not disappoint.  The papers expected of us were college-level papers.  We visited Kent State University’s large library for our final project.

It was a tough class.  But, I found, as I started my college career at Kent State, that I was well prepared for English college-level classes.  Some of the professors were actually less strict than Ms. Rohrer!

I give thanks for tough teachers – for tough teachers who care for their students as a parent would.  That is a dynamic that is missing from this translation of the governess example.  The Law ushers people into the adoptive family of God.  The Law points us to Christ Jesus.  And faith in Christ Jesus makes us children of God.

When we enter the family of God, all other distinctions that we once had mean nothing – Baptist or Catholic, Republican or Democrat, homeowner or renter…

Name your distinction.  It doesn’t matter anymore in the family of God.  We are all one in Christ.

What glorious work the Lord has done through the Law and Christ combined!  What mercy!  What grace!

Give thanks!

Enough mumbling for now…

Peace Out