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If Paul is famous for his contrast of flesh and spirit, he is also famous for the key words he uses that go with them both. He speaks of the works of the flesh, but the fruit of the Spirit. Compare artificial Christmas trees with ordinary but real fruit trees in an orchard. The Christmas trees

For Paul the Galatian controversy isn’t a matter of people choosing one religious option or another, finding a way forward on a spiritual journey; it’s a matter of truth. If it is true that the Messiah has died and been raised, then this in turn establishes a network of truth that carries its

The Galatian Christians have come out of the “Egypt” of idolatry, of worshiping false gods. They have been set free, redeemed by the personal action of the one true God in his Son and his Spirit (Galatians 4:4-7). Now it seems they have had a look at the wide and worrying world of freedom, and

Paul pictures the Mosaic Law in the role of a babysitter until Israel should grow up. So Paul now asks the Galatians, do you want to go back to being a child, when you could be grown up? Do you want to go back to being a slave, when you could be free?

Beginning again from scratch to learn who you are is a strange idea for most of us. It is precisely what people who have suffered severe memory loss need to do. It is what people who have suffered other kinds of loss also need to do: the refugee without home, country or family is only one