HERMENEUTICS OF ELEUTHERIA IN THE STRUGGLE FOR IDENTITY IN GALATIANS 5:1-15 AND ITS IMPLICATION FOR THE CHURCH IN THE MIDDLE BELT OF NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

                In this age, a common phenomenon that has been embraced by most human society is freedom. Great numbers of communities have the challenges and agitation to be completely free from all kinds of bondage or slavery in its minutest form. Consequently most human communities are grabbling with the fundamental question of their freedom or liberation which is tied to some enslavement of some sort of existential factors affecting them either positively or negatively. Indeed the Christian community particularly in the Middle Belt of Nigeria as an integral part of the larger society is also confronted with a seemingly similar situation or the question of real freedom, or a misunderstanding of the concept and perhaps a flawed interpretation of what “freedom in Christ” actually mean. Thus, it is argued that, Christianity is a religion of freedom par excellence (Hodgson, 1976, p. xiv).

Pauline studies have been a matter of great controversy over the years among many New Testament scholars. Interpreting his letters has generated heated debate within the ranks of biblical scholars following his diversity of methodology in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ in the Mediterranean settings. Hence in understanding the concept of evleuqeri,a (eleutheria) “freedom” as depicted in Galatians by the apostle Paul, an interpretive model of the letter in the Greco-Roman context is necessary for today’s  hermeneutic.

Thus, in Galatians as distinct from other Pauline epistles like Corinthians, Romans and Colossians, among others, there is the frequent assuage of the concept of evleuqeri,a (eleuth̲eria) freedom which draws attention to the event of Christ salvific work. Paul clearly states that evleuqeri,a (eleutheria) freedom is a product of God justifying the sinner and imparting on such a one his righteousness. This freedom is from all the forces of life that subjected man to untold bondage of different kinds which includes: sin, flesh, demonic power, Satan and the world system. For instance, apart from the epistle to the Romans, it was in Galatians that Paul gave a distinctive use of the concept. Longeneker (1984) posits that Paul is the “apostle of liberty”. He demonstrated this by employing the noun in its dative form evleuqeri,a|- (eleutheria) to mean “freedom”, or “liberty”, and give its cognates evleu,qeroj (eleutheros) (adjective) and the verb form – evleu,qerw (eleutherō) meaning to  liberate, or set free. In the overall context of this study, evleuqeri,a (freedom); of all its appearance in the New Testament times and its cognates, only twice (5:1, 13) does it appear in its dative form in Galatians. Several scholars gave attention to the concept in the context of Pauline corpus; this research however focuses its investigation on the concept in the letter to the Galatians.

            Accordingly, Esler (2003) argues that Paul discussed freedom by using Sarah-Hagar allegory to support his “care associated with freedom, as potent identity-descriptor, with the action of Christ and those who adhere to Paul’s version of the gospel” (p. 206). The problem under investigation could be deduced from the efforts of the “agitators” in the churches of Galatia to impose the Jewish religious system or stipulations of the Torah upon the newly founded churches by Apostle Paul as a means of earning righteousness, thereby contesting that Pauline gospel of freedom is insufficient for gaining salvation. Thus, scholars like Capes, Reeves, and Richards (2006) posited that many argued:

The trouble makers were Jewish Christians who believed that circumcision was necessary for salvation. These were the Judaizers who appeared at the Jerusalem conference (Acts 15:1-5). They were outsiders, dogging Paul’s trail, coming to these newly established churches once the apostle left the area. The Judaizers were Pauline antagonists, trying to correct Paul’s incomplete gospel by encouraging Gentiles believers to obey the whole law. p. 107

                The invasion of the Galatians churches by the tara,ssontej, tara,sswn (trouble-makers, 1:7; 5:10) or avnastato,untej  (agitators, 5:10) has soon led to a sudden apostasy and confusion, even division along tribal lines. Indeed it has caused a lot of problems of instability to the believers in Christ, on whether or not to return to the Law of Moses for the help needed to live the Christian life. Paul contested that, the Pseudo-brothers were all out to spy out the liberty they (Paul himself and his converts) had in Christ through the gospel he preached with the demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit. The trouble-makers and agitators were enforcing the Jewish stipulation of circumcision, observation of special days, new moon, and special calendar year and so on. The teaching of the false brothers (yeuda,delfoi) had penetrated the churches in Galatia which was quite different in its quality and content with the one preached by Paul. Paul identifies it as o] ouvk e;stin a;llo( (“not that there is another gospel”, 1:7 NRSV). Barnes (2006, p. 9) refers to the gospel preached by the agitators as “modified gospel” while Capes, Reeves and Richards (2007, p. 107) calls it the “other gospel”.

                In Paul’s Galatia, the picture painted is such that, the uncircumcised were seen as essentially social outcasts from the common wealth of Israel and consequently became object of contempt (Guthrie, 1974, p.12). The challenge was that, the early Christians in their pre-conversion days, had been conditioned to think or have their thought tilted towards the Jewish religious system they were cultured in (4:1-7). Paul warns the churches in Galatians against Judaizers, who taught the Gentiles to be circumcised and obligated to keep the Law of Moses. These Judaizers had infiltrated the church secretly and had managed to deceive many Christians.

These heretical teachers, who were responsible for this sudden apostasy (1:7; 5:10; 6:12, 13), taught that circumcision was necessary for salvation (5:2; 6:12-15), and they accordingly demanded a maintenance of the ceremonial law of Moses, or at least the observance of days and months and seasons and years (4:10, 21) (Ridderbos, 1956, p.15). Paul in confronting these enemies of the gospel maintained that the freedom the Christians have in Christ need no form of ritual or Jewish religious stipulations to be authentic or as a necessity for salvation. Paul firmly debunked ‘syncretism’ which was gaining ground in that church. Even division that arose along cultural lines or tribal lines was confronted (3:26-29).

Furthermore, Christians in Galatia were getting circumcised and keeping Holy Days, Barnes (2006, p.7) contends that, “on the surface at least, it is surprising that of all of Paul’s letters, the epistle to the Galatians is undoubtedly his most fierce worded; more so even than the two Corinthians letters”. Barnes (2006) mentioned that Alan Cole calls it ‘spiritual dynamite’. He argued further that, Paul pitted himself against the Judaizers, but not against the Jews as such, simply because, he himself was a circumcised Hebrew of Hebrews, and a Pharisees no less (Phil. 3:5). Additionally, he preached the gospel entrusted to him to his Jewish kinsmen first (Rom. 1:16) and he recognized the fact of having the privileges in being entrusted with the oracle of God (Rom. 3:1-2). Paul was so passionate in praying with unceasing anguish for Israel to be saved by turning to Jesus as their messiah (Rom. 9:1-3; 10:1). No wonder, he also took up a collection of special offering for the saints suffering famine in Judea (Rom. 15:25-26; 1 Cor. 16:1-6l 2 Cor. 8-9; Gal. 2:10), (p.8). These facts above suggest that, being Jewish was hardly the issue at stake, but being Judaistic was the bone of contention. This letter was a complex construction for Paul and indeed it was tagged ‘a letter for recovering Pharisees’ (Barnes, 2006, p.8).        There is a seemingly similar situation in the churches and societies in the middle belt region of Nigeria today. For instance, the advent of insurgences by mercenaries and Fulani herdsmen against villages and communities of the middle belt has triggered the revival of traditional religious worship and cultural practices that were abandoned for the gospel of Jesus Christ for almost a century ago. For fear of attacks and death, many have th/j ca,ritoj evxepe,sateÅ “fallen away from grace” (Gal 5:4). That is, though still maintain their church membership; they seek for other means of help for protection and deliverance against the attackers. For instance, one of the traditional cults which is sought after is the ombatse cult worship among the Eggon people of Nasarawa State. There was much agitation by most of the youth to join the “ombatse prayer group” which they believe gives one ‘power’ to withstand the enemies (insurgents) or provides one with a “shield” that makes it impossible for the marauding forces to gain access to one’s life or village communities within Eggon land.