Galatians: Kidnapped by the Rules Online Trivia | Religion

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. How did Paul of Tarsus, who wrote a critical if not scathing letter to his friends in Galatia, begin life?

Answer: A member of the tribe of Benjamin, Paul was circumcised on the eighth day, in strict conformity with Jewish law, and later became a Pharisee.

To understand Paul's attitude toward rules, religion and religious leaders, it is important to understand Paul's early life. He was, in all respects, a perfect religious Jew. As Paul tells us in a letter to the Phillipians, he was "circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, [of] the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews..." (Philippians 3:5, "KJV"). Paul zealously embraced the religion of his people and became a Pharisee, a member of the high profile and exclusive sect that emphasized religious learning and careful observance of the details of Jewish religious law (rules) and traditions.

2. Paul's involvement with the militant Jewish sect of the Pharisees is potentially relevant to the letter he later writes to the Galatians. We first meet Paul (at that time called "Saul") in Luke's account of the stoning of the martyr Stephen in Jerusalem soon after the death of Jesus. Which of the following was mentioned in Luke's account?

Answer: Those stoning Stephen put their cloaks at Saul's feet.

The Pharisees, including Saul, exhibited particular hostility toward Jesus during his life and actively persecuted Jesus' followers after his death. The book of Acts relates that those who stoned Stephen placed their cloaks at Saul's feet and that Saul approved of their actions. Luke then goes on to describe Saul's zealous persecution of Jesus' followers.

In "The Message", Acts 8:3 is rendered: "And Saul just went wild, devastating the church, entering house after house after house, dragging men and women off to jail."

3. The circumstances surrounding Saul's decision to become a follower of Jesus may also be pertinent to his letter to the Galatians. What event most influenced Saul's conversion?

Answer: Being struck blind and hearing the voice of Jesus

Paul (the name Saul took after his conversion) had been the member of a rigid religious hierarchy committed to strict observance of religious rules, rules that were narrowly interpreted by the religious leaders. Yet Paul's experience caused him to follow Jesus, not another person persuading him or a particular interpretation of religious writings.

4. Paul traveled extensively, telling the story of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. He persuaded people of the truth of his message and urged them to trust Jesus and the heavenly Father who had raised Jesus from the dead. In Galatians 4:13, which of the following does Paul give as a reason that he brought the message to the Galatians?

Answer: Illness

In Galatians 4:13 Paul indicated that it was because of an illness that Paul first shared his message with them. Despite Paul's infirmity, the Galatians not only cared for him as they would an "angel of God", but they also believed Paul and became followers of Jesus.

5. What response did the Galatians make to the Paul's message that allowed them to "receive the Spirit" and be "justified?"

Answer: They trusted/believed Paul's message about Jesus.

Paul's teaching to the Galatians emphasized a reliance on trusting God and Paul's message (which Paul indicated was really God's message) about Jesus. Because of this trust, they received God's Spirit. Paul made it clear that it was the Galatians' faith, rather than their adherence to a set of rules or a religious tradition, that empowered them. In Galatians 3:5 Paul chides the Galatians, asking them, "Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracle among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith?" ("NASB")

In English, we distinguish between "faith" and "trust", although the meanings do overlap. In the Greek of the New Testament, the word "pistis" subsumes multiple senses of the two English words and is sometimes translated faith and other times as trust depending on context.

6. In the years that followed Paul's initial visit to the Galatians, other people who identified themselves as followers of Christ influenced them. What did these new "teachers" convince the Galatians they needed to do?

Answer: All of these things

Despite Paul's previous life as a religious Jew, he did not tell the Galatians that they had any obligation to be circumcised, observe traditional Jewish festivals or holy days, or focus on keeping Jewish law. Paul clearly expressed his anger at those who were distorting the Gospel of Christ and at the Galatians for being taken in by the deception (Galatians 1:7).

In "The Message", Eugene Peterson translates Galatians 1:6 in this way: "I can't believe your fickleness-how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message!" Galatians 1:8 is rendered: "Let me be blunt: If one of us-even if an angel from heaven!-were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed."

7. Paul indicated amazement that the Galatians would desert the message he brought for a different message. What did Paul claim as the authority for his message?

Answer: A revelation from God through Jesus Christ

In Galatians 1:12 Paul affirms that with respect to his message, "I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." Paul, the quintessential religious Jew, who had once slavishly accepted the authority of religious teachers and devoted himself to the complete authority of the Jewish law, now denied that any human had contributed to the message he shared with the Galatians.

He asked the Galatians to accept his message on faith, faith that was not in Paul but in the God from whom Paul received the message.

8. As an adherent to the Judaism of the Pharisees, Paul had been under the supervision of those above him in the hierarchy, particularly the well-known Rabbi Gamaliel. Newly converted to Christianity, how long did Paul wait before making contact with those considered to be authorities in the early Christian church?

Answer: Three years

Addressing a crowd in Jerusalem after his conversion, Paul reminded them that he had been "educated here in Jerusalem under the exacting eye of Rabbi Gamaliel" (Acts 22:3, "The Message"). In the book of Galatians, however, Paul takes pains to emphasize his reliance on the direct revelation he received from God. Paul points out that he sought no guidance or advice from the leaders of the early Christian Church.

9. Of the Apostles, Paul met only Peter on his first visit to Jerusalem. On his second visit, fourteen years later, he also met "those who were of high reputation", including Jesus' brother James and John the Apostle. What did Paul say those who were of high reputation contributed to him?

Answer: Nothing

Paul spent fifteen days with Peter during his first visit to Jerusalem three years after his conversion (Galatians 1:18, "NASB"). But it was seventeen years before Paul returned to Jerusalem again. On this second visit, some of the Jewish followers of Jesus tried to compel Paul's Greek friend Titus to be circumcised, but Paul successfully resisted this pressure.

He indicated that the only thing that Peter, James and John asked Paul to do was "remember" the poor, a thing that Paul was already "eager" to do (Galatians 2:1-10, "NASB").

10. Paul also describes a later encounter with Peter at Antioch. Which of the following best describes this encounter?

Answer: Peter behaved badly and Paul publicly scolded him.

Continuing the theme of his independence of human authority, Paul relates the story of an encounter with Peter at Antioch. When Jewish men arrive from Jerusalem, Paul and the other Jews begin to sit a table apart during their communal meals instead of sitting with the Gentiles. Paul says, "Later when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line" (Galatians 1:11, "The Message").

11. Paul taught that it was believing the message about Jesus and trusting God, rather than keeping Jewish law, that would make things right between a person and God. In the book of Galatians, which Jewish patriarch, who lived before God gave the Law to Moses, did Paul use as an example of a person whose faith made things right with God?

Answer: Abraham

In his letter, Paul quotes from Gen 15:16, which states "Then he (Abraham) believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness" ("NASB"). Getting right with God as a result of trusting God is contrasted to law-keeping as a means to become "righteous".

The Galatians had initially accepted Paul's teaching but were beginning to accept the view that even Gentile followers of Jesus needed to concern themselves with Jewish law. Paul was aghast. He wrote, "You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it's obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives" (Galatians 3:1, "The Message").

12. 12. Paul pointed out that in accepting circumcision, one signified one's acceptance of an obligation to keep the entire Jewish law - an obligation that belief in Paul's message about Jesus and trusting God set one free from. What term did Paul give to this unnecessary acceptance of Jewish law?

Answer: A yoke of slavery

Even apart from the fact that keeping the Jewish Law is unnecessary for a follower of Jesus, Paul points out that, "The obvious impossibility of carrying out such a moral program should make it plain that no one can sustain a relationship with God that way" (Galatians 3:11, "The Message"). According to Paul, "Christ has set us free to live a free life. So take your stand! Never again let anyone put a harness of slavery on you" (Galatians 5:1, "The Message").

13. Paul points out that even though no one can keep the Jewish law perfectly, there is a formula for "fulfilling" the law. In Galatians 5:14 how does Paul characterize the fulfillment of the law?

Answer: Loving your neighbor as yourself

Paul argues that rule-keeping would be of no benefit to the Galatians. Paul is aware that his message could be misconstrued as an invitation to lead a self-serving life. Rather than feeling free to merely indulge their own whims, Paul counsels that the Galatians should, "through love, serve one another" (Galatians 3:13, "NASB").

14. Paul taught the Galatians that keeping the Jewish law was not a suitable or effective method to avoid self-centered conduct. How instead did Paul advise the Galatians to avoid living selfishly?

Answer: Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit.

Paul warns the Galatians, "When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ" (Galatians 5:4, "The Message"). Peterson translates Galatians 5:16 as "Live freely, animated and motivated by God's Spirit. Then you won't feed the compulsions of selfishness," whereas the "NASB" more prosaically reads, "Walk in the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." Paul not only holds that faith results in the Galatians being right with God, but also that walking in the Spirit that such faith brings, will allow them to avoid selfishly wrong behavior.

15. Paul says that if we assiduously maintain an attitude of joy and peace, being careful to love passionately, exercise due patience and self-control, be kind, good and gentle to everyone, and prove ourselves faithful, then, as a result, we will be able to walk by God's Spirit.

Answer: False

Paul taught that trustfully relying on the guidance of God's Spirit would result in right conduct and spiritual satisfaction rather than the other way round. According to Paul, things such as self-control, patience, kindness, goodness and faithfulness are not the cause of God's favor but the result of it.

Source: Author uglybird

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor trammgr before going online.
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Galatians: Kidnapped by the Rules Quiz

Something had gone wrong in Galatia. The Galatians were "deserting" the true message for something dangerously different: keeping the rules. This quiz examines a letter Paul wrote to lay bare the deception and to rescue the Galatians from the deceivers.

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