In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul presents the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Christ as a strong refutation of the claim that Gentile converts to Christianity must be circumcised and must observe the Law of Moses.  The Law of Moses is the standard of righteousness accepted by the Jews, prevailing throughout most of the Old Testament.  In the New Testament, there is a new righteousness defined by allegiance to the person of Christ who is proclaimed to be, in comparison to all of God’s previous messengers, a better representation of the divine nature and will:

“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.” (Colossians 1:19-20)

Pope Francis has been discussing the book of Galatians.  Here, I will examine the thoughts he expressed in two separate addresses: the first one on August 25, 2021, titled The Dangers of the Law, and the second one on September 1, 2021, titled Following Rigid Rules Does Not Lead to Holiness.

In the first discussion, Pope Francis focuses on the fact that it is hypocritical, for a Christian, to deny that the Gospel of grace has replaced the Law.  The apostle Peter himself was guilty of such hypocrisy at some point, and was rebuked by Paul.  The pope says:

“Writing to the Galatians, Paul deliberately mentions this episode that had taken place years before in Antioch. He wanted to remind the Christians of those communities that they were absolutely not to listen to those who were preaching that it was necessary to be circumcised, and therefore be “under the Law” with all of its prescriptions. Let us recall that it was these fundamentalist preachers who had gone there and were creating confusion, and had even robbed that community of their peace. The object of the criticism regarding Peter was his behaviour when sitting down to table. For a Jew, the Law prohibited eating with non-Jews. But Peter himself, in another circumstance, had gone to the house of Cornelius the centurion in Caesarea, knowing that he was transgressing the Law. At that time he had said: “God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean” (Acts 10:28). Once he returned to Jerusalem, the circumcised Christians, who were faithful to the Mosaic Law, reproached Peter for his behaviour. He, however, justified himself saying: “And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit’. If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?” (Acts 11:16-17). Let us remember that the Holy Spirit had come at that time into Cornelius’ house when Peter went there.”

In the New Testament, the ultimate proof of individual transformation is the presence of the Holy Spirit within an individual, and the manifestation of that presence in the form of convincing acts in daily living.  Here, Peter, a Jew, broke the Law by accepting an invitation to enter a Gentile’s house.  In the process, he witnessed the presence of the Spirit in the Gentiles.  He baptized them merely to recognize that God himself had already accepted them, an acceptance that occurred even though they had nothing to do with the Law of Moses.

Paul’s criticism of Peter is related to a separate incident in which Peter did not show consistency in his attitude toward the Gentiles.  The pope explains:

“Something similar had also taken place in Antioch in Paul’s presence. First, Peter had been eating with the Christians of pagan origin without any difficulty; however, when some circumcised Christians from Jerusalem arrived in the city — those who were originally Jews — he then no longer did so, because he did not want to incur their criticism. This was the error — he paid more attention to criticism, to making a good impression. And this was serious in Paul’s eyes, also because other disciples imitated Peter, first among them Barnabas who, with Paul, had evangelized precisely the Galatians (cf. Gal 2:13). In so doing, without wanting to, Peter, who was a bit here and a bit there, not clear, not transparent, was, in fact, creating an unjust division within the community: ‘I am pure…. I am following this line…. I have to do this … this cannot be done…’”.

Noting that Paul uses the word hypocrisy to describe Peter’s behavior on that occasion, Pope Francis dedicates the rest of the discussion to denouncing hypocrisy among Christians.  In defining hypocrisy, he says:

“What is hypocrisy? It can be called the fear of the truth. Hypocrites are afraid of the truth. They prefer to pretend rather than be themselves. It is like applying makeup on your soul, like putting makeup on your behaviour, putting makeup on how to proceed: it is not the truth. ‘I am afraid of proceeding as I am and I put make up on my behaviour’. To pretend hinders the courage to openly speak the truth; and thus, the obligation to speak the truth at all times, everywhere and in spite of anything, can easily be escaped. Pretending leads to this: to half-truths. And half-truths are a sham because the truth is the truth or it is not the truth. But half-truths are a way of acting that is not true. We prefer, as I said, to pretend rather than to be ourselves, and this pretence hinders the courage to openly speak the truth. And thus, we escape the duty — and this is a commandment — to always speak the truth, to say it everywhere and in spite of anything. And in an environment where interpersonal relations are lived under the banner of formalism, the virus of hypocrisy easily spreads. That smile that does not come from the heart. Trying to be on good terms with everyone, but with no one.”

The pope also says hypocrisy is incompatible with love, the fundamental ingredient in Christian relationships:

“Hypocrites are people who pretend, flatter and deceive because they live with a mask over their faces and do not have the courage to face the truth. For this reason, they are not capable of truly loving: a hypocrite does not know how to love. They limit themselves to living out of egoism and do not have the strength to show their hearts transparently. There are many situations in which hypocrisy is at work. It is often hidden in the work place where one appears to be friends with one’s colleagues, while competition leads them to stab them in the back. In politics, it is not unusual to find hypocrites who live one way in public and another way in private. Hypocrisy in the Church is particularly detestable; and unfortunately, hypocrisy exists in the Church and there are many hypocritical Christians and ministers. We should never forget the Lord’s words: ‘Let what you say be simply “Yes” or “No”; anything more than this comes from evil’ (Mt 5:37).”

In the second discussion, the pope reminds his audience that Paul’s words in Galatians carry full biblical authority and are not a mere opinion:

“This is not something new, this explanation, it is something mine: what we are studying is what Saint Paul says in a very serious conflict with the Galatians. And it is also the Word of God, because it entered the Bible. They are not things that someone makes up: no. It is something that happened in that time and which can repeat itself. This is simply a catechesis on the Word of God expressed in the Letter of Saint Paul to the Galatians; nothing else.”

He then introduces the topic he wants to address.  Referring to Paul, he says:

“At this point, he directly challenges the Galatians: he places before them the choices they have made and their current condition, which could nullify the experience of grace they have lived.”

Even though the text of his message does not show the specific passage that is the object of his commentary, I am guessing from the context that it is Galatians 3:1-5, in which Paul says:

“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?”

Commenting on these verses, Pope Francis says:

“And the terms the Apostle uses to address the Galatians are certainly not courteous: we have heard. In the other Letters it is easy to find the expressions such as ‘Brothers’ or ‘dear friends’; here no, because he is angry. He says ‘Galatians’ generically and on no less than two occasions calls them ‘foolish’, which is not a polite term. Foolish, senseless, may mean many things… He does so not because they are not intelligent, but because, almost without realizing it, they risk losing the faith in Christ that they have received with so much enthusiasm. They are foolish because they are unaware that the danger is that of losing the valuable treasure, the beauty, of the newness of Christ. The Apostle’s wonder and sadness are clear. Not without bitterness, he provokes those Christians into remembering his first proclamation, with which he offered them the possibility of attaining a new, hitherto unhoped-for freedom.”

Paul’s words present two approaches in conflict with each other: the “works of the law” and “what you heard.”  The Pope explains:

“The Apostle poses questions to the Galatians, with the intention of shaking up their consciences: this is why it is so forceful. They are rhetorical questions, because the Galatians are well aware that their coming to faith in Christ is the fruit of the grace received through the preaching of the Gospel. He takes them back to the starting point of the Christian vocation. The word they had heard from Paul focused on God’s love, fully manifested in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Paul could not have found a more convincing expression of what he had probably repeated to them several times in his preaching: ‘It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me’ (Gal 2: 20). Paul did not want to know other than the crucified Christ (cf. 1 Cor 2: 2). The Galatians must look to this event, without letting themselves be distracted by other proclamations.

In short – Paul’s intention is to compel Christians to realize what is at stake, so they do not allow themselves to be enchanted by the voice of the sirens who want to lead them to a religiosity based solely on the scrupulous observance of precepts. Because they, the new preachers who had arrived there in Galatia, convinced them they should turn back and return to the precepts they had observed and perfected before the coming of Christ, which is the gratuitousness of salvation.

Besides, the Galatians understood very well what the Apostle was referring to. They certainly had experience of the action of the Holy Spirit in their communities: as in the other Churches, charity and the various charisms had manifested themselves among them too. When put to the test, they had to answer that what they had experienced was the fruit of the newness of the Spirit. At the beginning of their coming to faith, therefore, was the initiative of God, not of men. The Holy Spirit had been the agent of their experience; to put Him in the background now in order to give primacy to their own works – namely, the fulfilment of the precepts of the Law – would be foolhardy. Holiness comes from the Holy Spirit and is the gratuitousness of redemption by Jesus: this justifies us.”

In other words, the experience of the Galatians is similar to that of the house of Cornelius in the sense that the Galatians saw manifestations of the Holy Spirit in their lives even though they had not been exposed to the Law of Moses.  Their actions, attitudes and behaviors were driven by the love of Christ rather than observance of a list of commands.

The pope then tells his listeners that Paul’s message to the Galatians equally applies to them:

“In this way, Saint Paul invites us too to reflect: how do we live our faith? Does the love of Christ, crucified and risen again, remain at the center of our daily life as the wellspring of salvation, or are we content with a few religious formalities to salve our consciences? How do we live our faith? Are we attached to the precious treasure, to the beauty of the newness of Christ, or do we prefer something that attracts us momentarily but then leaves us empty inside? The ephemeral often knocks at the door during our days, but it is a sad illusion, which makes us give in to superficiality and prevents us from discerning what is truly worth living for.

Brothers and sisters, let us however keep the certainty that, even when we are tempted to turn away, God still continues to bestow His gifts. Throughout history, even today, things happen that resemble what happened to the Galatians. Even today, people come and harangue us, saying, ‘No, holiness is in these precepts, in these things, you must do this and that’, and propose an inflexible religiosity, the inflexibility that takes away from us that freedom in the Spirit that Christ’s redemption gives us.”

The last part of the address is an exhortation to steadiness with the assurance of God’s love when difficulties are present:

“Beware of the rigidity they propose to you: be careful. Because behind every inflexibility there is something bad, which is not the Spirit of God. And for this reason, this Letter will help us not to listen to these somewhat fundamentalist proposals that set us back in our spiritual life, and will help us go ahead in the paschal vocation of Jesus. This is what the Apostle reiterates to the Galatians when he reminds them that the Father ‘supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you’ (3:5). He speaks in the present tense, he does not say ‘the Father has supplied you with the Spirit’, chapter 3, verse 5, no: he says – ‘supplies’; he does not say, ‘has worked’, he says ‘works’.

For, despite all the difficulties we may pose to His action, God does not abandon us but rather abides with us in His merciful love. He is like that father who went up onto the terrace every day to see if his son was returning: the love of the Father never tires of us. Let us ask for the wisdom always to be aware of this reality, and to turn away the fundamentalists who propose to us a life of artificial asceticism, far removed from the resurrection of Christ. Asceticism is necessary, but wise asceticism, not artificial.”

It seems obvious to me that the pope’s message was primarily a rebuke to fundamentalist tendencies within the church, rather than an attack against Judaism.  However, Rabbi Daniel F. Polish reacted to the pope’s thoughts with an article published on September 8, 2021, titled Why Pope Francis’ comments on the Torah were hurtful to his Jewish friends.  The article is too long to be covered completely here, and I am only giving a brief summary.  He said:

“This past August, Pope Francis made a statement that some have characterized as causing the greatest tension in the relationship between the church and the Jewish people since the beginning of his pontificate. The pope offered a reflection on Paul’s teaching about ‘Torah,’ a word often—incorrectly—translated as law. Early in his remarks, the pope said, ‘God offered them [the Jewish people] the Torah, the Law, so they could understand his will and live in justice. We have to think that at that time, a Law like this was necessary, it was a tremendous gift that God gave his people.’

To that point there was nothing the pope said that could be considered offensive. However, later in his teaching he asserted, ‘The Law, however, does not give life, it does not offer the fulfillment of the promise because it is not capable of being able to fulfill it. The Law is a journey, a journey that leads toward an encounter… Those who seek life need to look to the promise and to its fulfillment in Christ.'”

The rabbi then goes on to explain that the pope’s latest statement is in contradiction to the friendship his papacy has extended to the Jews so far.  He lists a variety of friendly interactions between the pope and Jewish leadership, where Francis made statements such as the following:

• “A Christian cannot be an anti-Semite; we share the same roots.”
• “In the Jewish-Christian dialogue there is a unique and particular bond, by virtue of the Jewish roots of Christianity: Jews and Christians must therefore consider themselves brothers, united in the same God and by a rich common spiritual patrimony on which to build and to continue building the future.”
• “I would like to make a separate note. The Jewish people have suffered so much in history, they have been chased away, they too have been persecuted…In the last century we saw so many brutalities against the Jewish people, and we were all convinced that this was over. But today the habit of persecuting the Jews, brothers and sisters, is here reborn. This is neither human nor Christian…The Jews are our brothers and should not be persecuted.”
• “This statue is exactly a demonstration of two sisters of the same dignity, the church and the synagogue.” (This is about a statue called “Synagoga and Eclesia in our time” installed in September 2015 at Saint Joseph University in Philadelphia)

To Rabbi Polish, the meaning of the statue in Philadelphia provides a good illustration of the concern raised by the Jews:

“In fact, the statue that he blessed in Philadelphia embodies the concerns about the words Pope Francis spoke this August. The medieval versions of synagoga and ecclesia were a physical representation of what has come to be called supersessionism or replacement theology. That idea holds that the religion of the Jews, that Torah, is antiquated and outmoded. It has been replaced in God’s favor and design by a ‘new Israel’—the church triumphant. Replacement theology is the face of the church that the Jewish people have been familiar with for the past 2,000 years. It leaves no room for Jews and Judaism in God’s plans for the world. They have been, literally, replaced. And, of course, the sense of being replaced makes a people feel vulnerable and endangered in a hostile world.”

It is impossible to deny the historical fact that people who called themselves Christians persecuted the Jews in Europe.  Not only Jews were victims of the Holocaust in Europe, but today in the United States, acts of terrorism are still being committed against Jews by white supremacists who yell “Jews will not replace us.”

However, the whole purpose of this website is to point out that this history is the legacy of a form of Christianity that took root in the West but is not representative of the idea of following Jesus.  When the pope says “a Christian cannot be an anti-Semite,” he is not making an extraordinary comment that reaches beyond the teaching of Christ.  On the contrary, it is a trivial conclusion from New Testament teaching.

While I understand that Jews, based on experience, have become suspicious of Christian intentions, I think the concern they express about the pope is based on a false premise.  They act as if Pope Francis just recently discovered Galatians, and that his friendly attitude will now change because of the discovery.  Nonsense! The pope has been reading Galatians for many decades, and is a friend of the Jews because of that.  But his friendship does not mean he has to abandon his firm belief in the supremacy of Christ.

It is Christ who taught the pope to love the Jews and everybody else, and Francis has been making overtures not only to Judaism, but also to Islam and other religions.  Paul, who wrote the Letter to the Galatians, is the same person who wrote:

“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.” (Romans 12:14)

“Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” (Romans 12:17-18)

When Christians are persecuted for their faith, they are to rejoice and pray for their persecutors.  When they are not persecuted, they are to live in peace with their neighbors, which is what the pope is doing.  The idea of using force for Christ has no place in the New Testament.

Therefore, a great concern of mine has been that “Christians” who are not inclined to truly follow Christ and his difficult teaching give themselves the option of going back to the Old Testament where they can more easily find material that supports their own inclinations.  For example, those who are inclined to use violence to meet their objectives can find justification in the fact that God’s people, in the Old Testament, are very often involved in violence.  The assumption of equality between the Old and New Testaments makes this possible.  I reject that assumption, and I wrote the book Grace and Truth to show that the narrative in the Bible itself makes no room for it.

In the Bible, people are to be judged by the fruit they produce in life.  I have no animosity toward Jews, and I am sure many of them a good and decent people.  But I suggest that a belief system must also be judged by the fruit it produces.  Paul himself is a good example of the individual transformation occurring as one goes from the Law of Moses to the Gospel of Christ.  When he was a Pharisee under the Law, he zealously persecuted the early Christians and felt justified in doing so.  After he became an apostle of Christ, he never called for violence against anybody.  In fact, he endured persecution, saying:

“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.” (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

What a transformation!  I like the new Paul so much better than the old one.  I am not saying that Rabbi Polish is bound to be like the old Paul.  But I am saying that the old Paul was not violating the Law of Moses, as given in the Bible, when he was persecuting Christians.  I am also saying that “Christians” who persecute Jews are not followers of Christ.  Under the Gospel of Christ, Paul became a different person and a model for all Christians.  Therefore, even though I am with the Jews against white supremacists and other persecutors, on the matter of supersessionism, I have to say to the rabbi: “Sorry brother, I’m with the pope on this one.”

Here is an additional piece of information: as I was getting ready to publish this post, I read this morning that Pope Francis continued to denounce antisemitism during a trip to Hungary.  He reportedly said today:

“I think of the threat of antisemitism still lurking in Europe and elsewhere …”

“This is a fuse that must not be allowed to burn. And the best way to defuse it is to work together, positively, and to promote fraternity.”

Perhaps Rabbi Polish’s concerns are unjustified, as I suggested above!