"... in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value." (v. 6)
For reading & meditation:
Galatians 5:1-15
Permit me to pause in our meditations on the chief differences between the Christian faith and non-Christian religions to turn our eyes inward to the state of affairs within the church. We have not been as careful as we might in relation to this matter of vertical conversion. Oftentimes we have been more interested in statistics than in actual true conversions. The church, generally speaking, has a lot to answer for in this respect. The horizontal has outrun the vertical in some sections of institutional Christianity. This is why in a number of countries church leaders will not baptize converts until they have received some clear teaching on what the Christian life is all about. In Paul's day, as we see from our text, the main question being asked was about circumcision - whether or not that was essential. Paul threw the emphasis on being a new creature. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts, he said, is faith expressing itself through love. Conversion will involve a miraculous change; when it doesn't then it is not true conversion. What sort of change? There will be the slaying of the beast within, the gathering of the discordant forces of the soul into harmony, the cleansing of a stained conscience, entry into a more abundant life, and a deep inner sense of fellowship with Christ. Conversion doesn't have to be cataclysmic to be real either. The underlying facts are a new life, a new relationship. But it is as much a miracle as the calling forth of Lazarus from the dead.
O God, save us in the church from the peril of horizontal conversions-people changing in relation to one another but not in Your direction. We want the real and only the real. Send us Your Spirit in even greater measure. Amen.
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