I have been teaching through the book of Galatians and I have come to a conclusion. Even though I have reached a pretty firm position that the New Perspective of Paul on Paul makes better sense of the text, I have found myself not teaching all the intricate details. I used to think that the people of my church were dying of thirst and that I would be teaching them such great truths of scripture that it would be like giving water to the thirsty. I have found that teaching on this detail is problematic. Many times it brings about more questions than it answers. Second, the students I work with (and the church in general) sadly doesn't have the biblical knowledge to understand the arguments. We as a church have almost NO knowledge of the Old Testament. Throughout our study we have affirmed two ideas in text(although I am sure this list will grow).
1. Jesus is all that is necessary for salvation
2. We don't embody and live out the gospel if we make distinctions along ethnic or racial lines.
On a side note, it is very interesting and at times very funny to talk about circumcision to a bunch of 7th graders.
If you have no idea what the new perspective on Paul is I would recommend several books and a website.
The first book would be What Saint Paul Really Said. This book give a solid introduction to the issues. John Piper has written a book attempting to show the problems of the NPP. It is called The Future of Justification. A good website would be found here: NT Wright page
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