You "really" need to read this post... it will help your argument
Here is what you are missing Bob. You are separating who Paul is addressing in the letter into Jew
and Gentile, when he makes no distinction. We have already seen from Adam Clarke's commentary,
passages from Acts, and my post #78, that he is addressing the churches in the region of Galatia
which consisted of Jews and Gentiles who primarily were converts to Judaism. Are we to assume
that they were all blameless under the Law? That they didn't attend synagogue, Jew and Greek,
while engaging in various forms of Greek idolatry, or philosophy, of doctrines of science so called?
When they all left the synagogue, Jew and Greek, to join Paul and his companions, they were leaving
practices of Judaism behind, not forgetting that many may have been "traditions of the elders",
that Jeshua condemned. You refuse to acknowledge the content of the letter from chapters 2-5, that
Paul was addressing the fact that:
2:
4 And because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), were troubling the churches in the region with practices that Paul insisted were unnecessary. You insist that they were pagans who came out of paganism and were now returning. The narrative does not support that. The commentaries do not support that. The letter does not support that. Quoting passages from Romans and 1 Corinthians is not relevant to the discussion. They may be relevant to a discussion of what constitutes idolatry or paganism. It is totally unacceptable to say that verses 1-7 of Galatians 4 have no bearing on what he is saying in verses 8-10. If you believe that, I will leave you to such blatantly false scholarship.
Your assumption is that he is only addressing Greeks in verse 8, as if Hellenized Jews and Greeks alike who observed some form of Judaism were free of false doctrines of "gods that are not gods". That there was some pure form of worship there before Paul arrived. To the contrary, the strictest Jews of Orthodoxy were the very ones opposing him and blaspheming him and driving him out of the synagogue. You accuse me of not holding myself to the details of the narrative, but your "details" are based on assumptions that simply do not hold.
It is like saying that all of the Christian denominations by the Grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit are holding pure doctrines. Nope, when the Tishbite comes, he will be cleaning house, even as Paul and the other apostles, under a powerful display of the power of the Holy Spirit, were cleaning house in the synagogues throughout the region.
He continues in his narrative in chapter
3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
He is still addressing the churches of Galatia, making no distinction between Jew or Greek, just believers
who he was trying to hold to a pure doctrine of the New Covenant in the Holy Spirit. You are assuming
along with many commentators, that he is only addressing Gentiles when he says:
8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.
This is a brash, and irresponsible assumption. Totally in contradiction to the entire narrative of the
Law and the prophets. Jews were just as guilty as Greeks of "serving gods that are not gods."
I have pointed out repeatedly that you are making this assumption and it is absolutely unscriptural.
He is addressing the churches, making no distinction between Jew and Greek. You are doing that.
To quote a famous member of the forum: details matter. Yours are a little too convenient, and naive.
There is no reason to believe that prior to Paul bringing the Gospel to the region that the Jews there
were living like saints. That is a downright irrational assumption, but if you want to make it, I leave
you with this final appeal to reason, knowledge of human nature-both Jew and Gentile, and the
complete narrative of scripture. That Paul is addressing the issues of mankind, making no distinction between Jew or Gentile. Neither does the Father or the Son.
