Bewitched!
Paul asked his fellow Christians in Galatians 3:1, “Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?”
The question of being bewitched is a good one to ask on this All Hallow’s Eve.
To be bewitched is to be tricked, duped, intentionally fooled into believing lies. Paul asks the question in relationship to the believing of lies in place of the True Gospel.
Some of the people in the church in Galatia had been led away from the Truth and were wandering away into what Paul calls “another” gospel. That “other gospel” is one that more easily fit the cultural patterns, ideas, proclivities and practices than a life fully conformed to the Gospel in obedience to God through Jesus Christ.
As in the days of Paul and the Galatians, there are evangelists of the true gospel and there are evangelists of other gospels. One speaks truth, the other lies.
So, ask yourself, “who has bewitched you?” What syncretistic ideas have you believed and incorporated into your faith and life – ideas that are actually foreign to the True Gospel?
Today is a good day to ask that question as our culture “celebrates” darkness and death in contraposition to the Gospel of light and Life.
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Thank you for the great reminder and teaching here-more to read on http://www.parkerhudson.com
Coincidentally, TV show AMERICAN HORROR STORT features witches this season with the name COVEN
applied to this year’s edition.
I love that passage because it shows Paul’s cleverness with words. The Galatians were Hellenistic Gauls, i.e. they came from the Celtic culture, but were Hellenized. As such, they feared witchcraft and admired the wisdom of Greek philosophy. Paul takes on both of their heritages and calls them “foolish” i.e. bad Greeks, and “bewitched”, i.e. bad Celts. He addresses both of their cultures in one sentence.