Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Tuesday, March 24, Galatians 1:14

"and profited in the Jews' religion above many equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers." (KJV)

There is a concerning trend growing in the church today of those who hold traditions of past church fathers above the Scriptures. No matter how "venerable" they seem, from Augustine to Luther to modern "thinkers", we need to weigh all of what they say according to Scripture.

And on the other end, there are those who think we need to go recreate "forms" of the early church in the Bible, like only having house churches and trying to interpret certain forms of worship that are not really fully understood from the Roman era.

At that time, Christianity was being declared "illegal" in many areas, and could not be held in public places. The Jewish believers were being cast out of their synagogues, and needed a place to meet, which was usually houses, even outdoors. During the great persecutions, often the only safe place in Rome were the catacombs, tunnels where the dead were interred.

There is a difference between form, tradition, and the actual Gospel. We aren't first century people. We have complete freedom to build places to accommodate the large numbers of Christians who believe. The Council of Jerusalem set the Church free from following Jewish traditions that were fulfilled in Christ.

But, being fallen people saved by the grace of God, we all have our faults, and still try to take refuge in old traditions that gave us comfort in the past. We need to have common ground on the essentials of the Christian faith and the doctrine of Christ, but the true church is a people serving as a Body of Christ. And where they meet is irrelevant. We need to discern the difference between gospel and ritual handed down from generation to generation, sometimes very distant from what is written in the Gospel.

Find common ground that brings those essentials to the forefront, and stop wasting time arguing about stupid stuff.

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

*KJV used*

Memory Helps

"and PROFITED in the Jews' religion
above many EQUALS in mine own nation,
being more exceedingly ZEALOUS
OF the TRADITIONS OF my fathers."

(Words per line: 6-7-4-6)

Memorizing portions like this are not on the "to do" lists of most Christians, so I won't spend too much time on it. For me, it is the typical pattern I follow in longer passages like this, finding an "anchor word" in each line which I capitalize, memorizing them first, making word pictures as I fill out the words in front or behind the lines, one line at a time.

Quickly, I may be holding a "money bag" with "Jew's religion" stamped on it for line one.

Then I have duplicates of myself holding the bags for, "many equals in mine own nation". I am standing "above" them.

"Zealous" is a tough one. I am jumping up and down very "zealously", because I'm way more zealous, maybe adding a "Zealous Jew's religion" stamped on my "profit" bag.

And finally, for "traditions", I can't help but go back to making a bunch of "Tevyes" from "Fiddler on the Roof" where he starts singing the song "Tradition!". And if you don't know that song, look it up to help you remember.

Linking verse numbers:

My memory character for verses 14 is my friend "TeRry" (T=1, R=4), wearing the Tie for chapter 1. He takes the place of those profitable equals of zealous traditionalists so I can link it to Galatians 1:14.