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Paul's Letter to the Galatians - Table Fellowship for 1st C Jews
- During the Exodus from Egypt and 40 years in the wilderness the Israelites developed an identity as a
people apart. They were unique in the ancient world in several ways: they had one God, not several; they
had abandoned human sacrifice early; intermarriage with non-Jews was forbidden, and also within wide
degrees of kindred; men did not have sexual intercourse with other men or boys (Lev 20:13) - common
then especially among Greeks; very strong rules on sexual morality; high respect for individual dignity
and equality before the law; they had a covenant with their God; and they had been given 10
Commandments by their God (Ex 20:2-17). They had found out the hard way that these were a good
basis for living and for survival as a people. When they wandered from their God's laws, they suffered -
both from natural hardships in the desert and military defeats.
- Many ways both internal and external developed to reinforce tribal loyalty, unity, social cohesion and
identity. The individualism of our western culture was almost unknown. Contravention of rules led to
exclusion from the tribe, with many social costs. Identified fellow Israelites easily by circumcision and
food laws. These may have developed originally for health & climatic reasons, but the food laws were
underlaid by very important laws against idolatry. Not only were they forbidden to worship or sacrifice to
idols, but any food, meat or drink which had been offered to idols was strictly and expressly forbidden to
be consumed.
- To avoid all risk of contaminating themselves accidentally by consuming food or drink which might have
been offered to idols without their knowledge they insisted on preparing all their food and drink
themselves, reinforcing this with complicated rituals for washing utensils and their hands.
- At formal meals in both the Greek and Roman worlds participants reclined on benches around 3 sides of
a table. Also in the central area would be a large jar containing wine mixed with water. Before drinking
Greeks and Romans would pour a little of this wine on the ground as a libation to their gods. Jews could
not then drink from this wine jar. Nor could they eat any of the food unless they were certain it had been
prepared according to their rules, and that none of it had been sacrificed to idols before being sold in the
market.
- All this made formal meals very difficult, and there are several records, both Greek, Roman (Tacitus:
"they sit apart at meals") and Jewish, as well as Biblical (Exod 34:15; Dan 1:3-17; Judith 12; Esther
14:17; Tobit 1:11, Acts 10:28, 11:2-3) showing that on such occasions the Jews would eat "parallel"
meals - ie seated in the same room but eating food and drink from separate tables and prepared by their
own rules, and often by their own people. Gentile rulers seemed to accept this. The Letter of Aristeas,
written in Egypt in 2nd century BC, mainly about how the Septuagint came to be written, gives many
details of such a parallel banquet. It also emphasises how Moses enjoined ways for the Jews to maintain
their distinctiveness by piety and righteousness. Piety is relationship to God, righteousness is
relationships to other human beings, maintained by purification etc. Righteousness appears to label and
celebrate the totality of Jewish identity.
- In areas where Jews and Gentiles lived side by side, eg in the diaspora, the many Jewish communities
established all over the ancient world, the distinction between them would be maintained by these rules:
considerable amounts of social intercourse was normal, but the line would be drawn at "table
fellowship".
- Christian Table Fellowship, koinonia
- Paul emphasised that there was no difference between Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free
(Gal 3:28): all were equal in the sight of God. The primary manifestation of this equality was the
Eucharist, when they shared one bread and one cup. IE passing a bread around the table with each taking
a piece, and passing the cup to each other with each taking a drink from it (1 Cor 10:16-17).
- So there was a new cultural boundary, that between Jews who were Christians and Jews who were not.
Table fellowship between these two groups of Jews was now difficult. A non-Christian Jew invited to eat
with a Christian Jew could not be sure how the food and wine had been prepared - had his host ceased to
worry about the food laws and adopted Gentile habits? Perhaps his non-Christian slave had
surreptitiously poured a libation from the wine before serving it? Or bought some surplus meat from the
temple after it had been sacrificed there by Gentiles? And Christian Jews might worry about how their
Gentile Christian hosts were preparing food.
- Social intercourse between Christian Jews and other Jews became difficult. Also Gal 6:12 suggests that
Jewish Christians are being persecuted for associating with uncircumcised Gentile Christians -
presumably by other Jewish Christians, either local or from Jerusalem (Gal 2:12). Presumably the
persecution would be disciplining and expulsion from the synagogues.
- A solution was to reinforce the original boundary: table fellowship with Jews only, ie the circumcised.
Circumcision was a symbol. Not the problem, only a solution. Persuading Christian Jews and Gentile
Christians to be circumcised would enable table fellowship between all Christians and Jews to be
continued. The Jesus movement would then still be seen as a Jewish group. This solution also gave to the
Christians attractive social benefits of complete interaction with Jews.
- There were strong pressures from some Christian Jews for continuing with circumcision and avoiding
table fellowship with uncircumcised Gentile Christians. Peter was persuaded to agree, but then
backtracked in light of these pressures (Acts 10:28; 11:2-3), which supposedly had been resolved in a
series of meetings in Jerusalem - the first "council", when koinonia had not ben broken.
- Paul's Concern.
- If Jewish Christians maintained their Jewish practices, and Gentile Christians became Jews, then
uncircumcised Gentile Christians could no longer share table fellowship = Eucharist with them. Paul also
saw that continuing with circumcision represented an adherence to the Jewish Law, which Christ had
now replaced. (Although his attitude in Romans is less rigid).
- So for several reasons Paul had to argue strongly against circumcision, as a symbol of the Jewish Law
and the Jewish food laws, using every rhetorical device to boost his own credibility and to reinforce the
group identity of the Christians, reminding them that they are all sons of Abraham, brothers in the Lord,
righteous now through faith in Jesus Christ, and promised a reward in the next life.
