Main news for 29 October 2024

In his letter to the church of Galatia, Paul speaks quite decisively about circumcision: whoever is circumcised receives no benefit from Christ. At first glance such a statement may seem plainly absurd: after all, among Christians in those times the circumcised were almost the majority, including, among others, Paul himself. Clearly the issue is not the fact of circumcision itself. However, judging by the context of the letter, it is not hard to be convinced that the issue here is recent Gentiles who were being circumcised after already becoming Christians. And that was an entirely different matter: for them circumcision became a kind of mandatory religious rite without which one could not enter the Church or become a Christian.

So, at least, claimed those who were urging newly converted Christians to be circumcised. Paul could in no way reconcile himself to this. And the issue here was not a position or theological opinions, but the apostle's experience. He knew too well that no religion and no efforts undertaken within religious frameworks lead, by and large, to anything. Paul, while still Shaul, did everything he could to reach the ideal and become what was then called a living Torah. He strove to follow the Torah with complete sincerity and in all fullness, and suffered complete defeat.

Only the meeting with the Risen One on the Damascus road saved him from spiritual collapse. And now he hears the assertions of people convinced that relationships with Christ are not enough for salvation, that they must be supplemented by circumcision, otherwise nothing will come of it! And this when even in the Torah circumcision is called only a "sign of the covenant"! Not its meaning, this covenant-union, and not even some fundamental condition, but only a sign!

Of course, refusing the sign of the covenant concluded with God is by no means a virtue. But to place salvation in the sign? For Paul this was simply absurd. Yet he understood: for some people it really is so. And such a state of affairs means only one thing: people hope more in their religiosity than in Christ. And in that case there is indeed no reason to count on Christ's help and intervention. One can, being a religious person, seek and find Christ.

One can even build relationships with Him while remaining, though not too much, a religious person. But to find Christ and then set out in search of some further religion without which one supposedly cannot manage means simply not understanding whom one has met. For a Christian, relationships with Christ are by definition of value in themselves, necessary and sufficient; they require no additions or "supplements." And if a person does not understand this, it means he is not quite a Christian yet. Or not a Christian at all.