Gentile Genitals

No worries...this post isn't going to be X-rated. Barely PG.

Item #9 on my list is "Memorize Galatians 5". I chose that chapter for a few reasons:

1. It's been a central one in my spiritual life lately and has recently been emphasized at our church.
2. I can identify with the Galatians' temptation to gain their worth from (and earn their salvation through) adherence to the law. Also, I think Paul's exasperation with them is a little bit funny. Is that bad?
   
3. It deals directly with the idea of walking in the power of the Holy Spirit, which is the key (imho) to living as Christ-follower with any kind of victory and satisfaction. It is the lens through which all of the rest of life must be viewed. There is coming to know Jesus, and then everything afterward is walking in the Spirit. All the other topics and ideas and challenges are essentially different facets of a Spirit-filled lifestyle.

I started memorizing a while ago, but I was having trouble mustering the discipline to retain much past verse one, which: not unusual for me. Two days ago I had a brainstorm. Why not enlist Joy's help? She's up for half an hour after Will goes to bed, and studious endeavors are right up her alley. Plus, having the opportunity to quiz me might be a fun little reversal for her. She was game, and we started that night.

Yeah, it hadn't occurred to me that this chapter is loaded with references to circumcision.

So my memorization journey began with a very awkward conversation wherein my 8 year old daughter learned what circumcision is. Here's how it went:

Me: "Well, back before Jesus came, back when Abraham was around, God gave His people a way to show that they belonged to Him. He asked all the men and boys to...um...well...take a...piece of their...private parts...a piece they didn't really need...and cut it off."
Joy: (wide-eyed, open-mouthed look of revulsion)
Me: "Yeah, I'm sure it was pretty painful."
Joy: (horrified) "That's so GROSS!"

And thus my girl is introduced to the rich history of God's covenant relationship with His people. Incidentally, "That's so GROSS!" was also essentially her reaction to learning the basics about sex, childbirth, and menstruation, all of which I communicated much more positively and articulately than the above. I'm starting to be concerned that it may be the theme of her childhood and/or a future autobiography title.

We have yet to get to the verse where Paul wishes the false teachers would emasculate themselves. Maybe my kids' college funds need to be supplemented by "future therapy" funds.

Anyhow, once we got past that, we did ok. I explained to her that in Galatians "circumcision" represents trying to follow all the rules so that we'll be good enough for God. I told her that someone was telling the Galatians that they had to follow all the Jewish rules or they wouldn't be good enough. We established that a contemporary correlation might be someone telling Will that if he didn't make his bed every single day we would kick him out of the family. (Seriously flawed comparison, I know, but it communicated what it needed to.) And over the past two nights here's what we've both memorized:

Galatians 5:1-5, NASB
1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.
2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
3 And I testify again to every man that receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole law.
4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified through law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness.

The non-standard punctuation bugs me, but I like the NASB, so there it is.

The other thing I didn't factor in when enlisting Joy's help was how difficult these first few verses of the chapter are. "No benefit"? "Severed from Christ"? What?

I was honest with her about the fact that I don't completely understand it. We talked about how Romans 8 tells us that nothing in all of creation can separate us from the love of God. In the end, we decided that Paul is at least saying that depending on the rules instead of God's grace is a really big deal. And a really bad idea.

Not a bad take-away for a couple of good girls.

Twenty-one more verses to go!