-Spiritual cannibalism - that’s what Paul is warning against. Animals. Base survival, turning on those closest to you in a desperate situation. Or, maybe it’s not quite so desperate. Sometimes we just take little bites out of one another - a tasty morsel of gossip here, a snipey complaint or grumble there (Philippians 2.14). Other times we jettison any pretense of forbearance or forgiveness and break the family apart, we break up the band, put it right asunder (cf Philippians 4.2, 4.5; 1Corinthians 13.7; Colossians 3.13). Of course all this is in fact the polar opposite of loving and serving one another. Apparently this must have been happening within the assembly there in Galatia. They were turning on one another, wounding with their words no doubt, causing conflict and holding grudges and walking in unforgiveness. Surely this was a result of the inroads of these judaizers. The controversial teaching had spawned disagreements, disagreements which were turning ugly and now this assembly of called-out-to-be-gathered-together ones had drawn up battle lines. Divided. They were a family at war. Yes, ugly, unseemly, awkward and embarrassing to any onlooker. This schism threatened their very survival as an assembly, the exact reason why the Lord had called them out of the world and into existence to begin with - to show Him to the world (cf Philippians 2.15), to give the unbelievers around them a picture of His glory and grace, and they would do this by their love. But for now they were sliding apart in a growing division of seismic proportions, one which did indeed threaten their very existence. Back in those days, divorce was not an option, the very thought of a church split and of multiple congregations existing thereafter within a single city was incomprehensible. Totally inconveivable. No really, I’m sure the thought would have never even entered Paul’s mind, nor the mind of any other early believer. That there might be two disparate congregations existing side by side within one city - completely unimaginable. No, they were (meant to be) one. Theirs was one city, one assembly. That’s how they rolled. They rolled together, or not at all. And so an assembly like this one in Galatia was really only left with two options - one was to faithfully come together and work out their differences in love and grace and truth, to serve and build up and bear with one another. The other option would be to allow these divisions, these fault lines, to fester and widen like two massive sliding tectonic plates and not only get them completely off kilter but ultimately consume and destroy them, destroy their witness, destroy their ability to be that blessing to their city for which God had blessed them to begin with. Paul is warning them - watch out! Wake up and be careful, take care and fix what needs to be fixed, because this is going sideways and destruction is going to happen if you don’t do something about it.
-Sadly, we don’t know how things turned out for this assembly. We do know how things turned out for the global body of Christ. Not good. Division slowly crept in, and ultimately the body fractured wide open. Disunity and factions now are rampant. They are tolerated, even. Acceptable. They are called denominations. It is the new norm, yet so far from that fetching unified bride for whom Jesus prayed in that upper room before He sacrficed Himself to make it all possible (John 17.11-22). "That they may be one", He prayed. "That they all may be one... that they may be one, just as We are One". Three times He asked it. Three times. Surely He meant it. Surely His Father heard Him, heard His pleading, His interceding on behalf of His would-be glorious bride. And yet, what do we have today? Churches split and believers turn on one another over the smallest of things. Carpet choices. Placement of ornaments. Preaching styles. Yes, there are weightier issues of doctrine (many of which are still non-essential, non-salvific), but even with those few others, surely there is a way to come together, to lay aside differences of interpretation for the greater glory of the Bride (and her glorious Groom). Yet in our brokenness we let other people’s brokenness drive us apart, bodies (and Body) split asunder ad nauseum. God have mercy on us all...
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