Letters to Galatians by Father Ambrose Vaz

Hi guys..here's a summary of what I've learnt during Father Ambrose Vaz's talk on Paul's letters to the Galatians.

Gal 3:1-5 "You foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross! Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and believing it? How can you be so foolish! You began by God's Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power? Did you all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely it meant something! Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it?"

The law is a guide or our tutor, but the Law can never save our lives. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Faith is what makes us righteous, not by just merely abidding by the law. In Abraham's time, there is no Law or the ten commandments by Moses yet. Yet, Abraham, who is the leader of our faith, is righteous even when there isn't any 10 commandments during his time. This shows that we are called to be faithful disciples of Jesus and not merely be law-abidders. "Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?" (Gal 3:5) Obviously, we receive the Spirit by believing what we have heard.

(Gal 3:6-9) "Consider the experience of Abraham; as the scripture says," He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous." You should realize, then, that the real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith. The scripture predicted that God would put the gentiles right with himself through faith. And so the scripture announced the Good News to Abraham:" Through you God will bless all people." Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who believe are blessed as he was."

Father Vaz mentioned that we should recall the last time when we receive the Holy Spirit, what were we like before that? We were still very much sinners yet the gift of the Holy Spirit is descended upon us. The Spirit comes to us and we invite the Holy Spirit to come to us. Prayer is a sign of acknowledging the Spirit in our lives. We open our hearts to welcome the Spirit. We never earned the Holy Spirit. Similarly, the law has no power to save us, except Jesus, our Saviour of the World. The Law is lifeless and it can only point to how sinful/ horrible we are. In the gospel, we come to know that Paul is so fixed on Jesus, that he proclaims that only through the grace of Jesus, we can be saved. Paul asserts the gospel he taught is the authentic Christian message and Jesus is everything. Grace and Friendship of God made the difference in our lives. We as human beings, is not about doing, but being. So let us leave everything and follow Jesus.

When we receive a sign from God, we do not just focus on the sign but we look beyond it and follow the direction of God's sign. Similarly, when we ask for road directions to the carpark, someone points her finger at the carpark. We do not just focus on her finger, and see whether she cut her nails, or polished her nails. However, we look beyond her finger and go towards the direction and follow it. We trust in that person and follow it fully. Hence, we are called to trust God more fully and follow in his ways and direction for us.

Is salvation the gracious gift of God, or is it the earned wage of the "good Christian"? The answer is : salvation is the gracious gift of God. It is an undeserved merit that none of us deserve the honour. Hence, we have to humbly accept it and live the way of Jesus. We must not allow salvary to sin enter into our lives. Hence, we have to do good as a gratitude to this gift of salvation. Good works is celebrating salvation. Good works show that Jesus has saved me.

Sometimes, I feel like I'm the elder son of the prodigal son. I abided by all laws and is very sensible. Yet, when my parents poured out their love more for my sister, who is less obedient, sometimes I questioned them, what about me? Just like when the father in the prodigal son clothed the younder son with beautiful clothes, a ring for his finger and celebrated a feast for him, the elder son is jealous and questioned his father what about him? But, I have come to realise that my parents have outdone everything that I could have done. They gave the best to me and how ever I gave my best to them, it is very little as compared to what they have done for me. Similarly, Jesus has outdone everything we have done. He died for our sins.

Father Vaz gave a parallel to the death of a person and Jesus dying on the cross for us. When a person dies, all his debtors stopped chasing him after his debts. So all his debts have been ended, put to an end. The person is dead, there is nothing more that the person can do. Similarly, Jesus took all our sins and faults upon Himself and put to death our sins on the cross. However, Jesus rose up form the dead and is able to live the freedom of his life again. Now, all of us live a debt-free life because Jesus humbly accepted his death on the cross. We were made free by Jesus. The giver of the Law, that is Jesus, is the one who saves. The law giver is more important than the law. The law merely reminds us of the promises of God.

In human justice, we often think of ways how to punish the person for all the evil that he has done. However, in divine justice, it is the total opposite. It always thinks of ways of what can be done to save the person back.

(Gal 3: 19-22) "What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, adn it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between. But a go-between is not needed when only one person is involved; and God is one. Does this mean that the law is against God's promises? No, not at all! For if human beings had received a law that could bring life, then everyone could be put right with God by obeying it. But the scripture says that the whole world is under the power of sin; and so the gift which is promised on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ is given to those who believe."

Total obedience is the bare minimum that we can give. It is like breathing in. God gave us the gift of oxygen. We breathed in the oxygen, just like we accept salvation. The Spirit reign in our faith and we merely accepted it. We are just riding on God's victory and success. Hence, we cannot claim any credit for it. We accept being made righteous in God. Salvation requires response and cooperation to do God's will and follow his ways. Just like we have to breathe in oxygen to live. We cannot say that there is oxygen around us, so we dont breathe in and we can live. We need to copperate with the Spirit.

Father Vaz also touch on Sons/ Children of God (Gal 4:1-11). A personal appeal (Gal 4:12-20). The 2 covenants: Hagar and Sarah (Gal 4:21-31). The fruit of the Spirit is not to compete but complete one another. (Gal 5: 22-26). Additioanl readings on (Gal 5:16-21, Gal 6:1-10)

I don't have enough time to type out the whole scripture reading so I hope you guys can read them up on your own and hope you have enjoyed my insights on Paul's letters to the Galatians.

With lots of love,
Priscilla