Jews by Nature Galatians 2:15 - Equipped for Battle

Paul wrote a discourse to the church members in Galatia concerning false teachers called Judaizers because they were off base when referring to the grace of Jesus Christ. Their legalistic requirements to have a relationship with God gained Paul's attention particularly when referring to laws of circumcision and separating themselves from Gentiles. After confronting Peter because he, his group, and even Barnabas separated themselves from the Gentiles when leadership from the church in Jerusalem arrived, Paul continues to give reasons why their actions were not in alignment with the gospel. He continued his thoughts in chapter two and verse fifteen where we read:

We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,

Part of Paul's argument against the Judaizers was that they were requiring laws to be kept that they themselves could not keep. Even though there was a great advantage for them, the Jews could not keep the Jewish law of God. Paul said, “We who are Jews by nature...”. In other words, we were born into Judaism. God Almighty chooses to which group we are born. None of us choose our parents, and Paul makes the appeal that God chose that they be born Jews. They were the ones to whom God gave the law in the first place. They had the culture, training, exposure and examples of keeping the law before them. There was a definite advantage to being born a Jew.

Paul adds, “...and not sinners of the Gentiles,”. In other words, they were not like the Gentiles who did not have the advantage of the law being given to them. The Gentiles had their own laws, and compliance to the law of God was virtually unknown to them. This would be a distinct disadvantage when it came to a relationship with God. We should never expect people to do what we want them to do unless they have our information, and when it came to the law, the Gentiles were mostly clueless. Though both Jews and Gentiles were sinners, the Gentiles didn't have the law to reference where they were sinning.

We too have an advantage in the United States of America. We have the word of God. Most of us were born here, and we have been exposed to the Bible all of our lives. We, who are Americans, by nature, in that most of us did not choose to be here, have a unique opportunity to have a relationship with God that many in the world have never known. As we consider Paul's words today, may we all be thankful that God has chosen us, given Divine providence toward us, that we could be born in a place where though we are sinners, we may know the God of the Universe who sent His Son Jesus to save us from our sins.

Next time will discover what Paul has to say about how we are justified by grace, so read ahead, and let us join together then.

Until tomorrow...there is more...

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