Introduction

One of his earliest writings, the epistle to the Galatians is one of the undisputed letters written by Paul. He is addressing the churches in Galatia that he founded a few years before. The purpose of the letter is to remind them of the one true gospel of grace and encourage them to stand firm against any other gospel. The letter responds to the acceptance by these churches to the teachings of Jewish-Christians that are requiring them to circumcise as the next step in their new life as Christians. Paul works toward this goal sharing some ecclesiastic history, writing sound and innovative scripture interpretation, appealing to their personal relationship, and pleading for the expulsion of the “troublemakers”. Paul uses the best methods of argumentation common during his time and each argument introduces new possibilities to the main idea of a law-free gospel.

This paper explores hermeneutical possibilities of the passages looking at the implications of the law-free gospel of grace for cross-cultural relations in ministry, identity, the role of the church in the world, and the accountability of the church’s leaders. Each passage has been studied, analyzed, and translated into a monologue in order to apply the teachings of Galatians to our current contexts.

The first monologue comes from a university professor specialized in “human relationships.” She observes human behavior and is always looking for ways to improve human relationships by providing tools for people to relate to each other. She is ugly with big cheeks and big teeth that come out of her mouth, but she has a very high self-esteem and very nice posture. She wears elegant clothes but she doesn’t iron her jacket and she wears snickers with her dress. The word “regrettably” is one of her trademarks.

The second monologue is from an artist that reflects on scripture through the lenses of visual art or she appreciates works of art through the lenses of scripture. She doesn’t attend any church but she has a close relationship with God and studies scripture by herself. She has a very up beat personality and speaks very fast but in moments of insights she speaks very slow.

The third monologue is from a very old lady born in a rural neighborhood in the mountains of Puerto Rico. She only studied elementary school but she reads and studies the Bible avidly. She reads a lot of other books and is a self-educated person with simple vocabulary from a country context. She has a son that became a minister of the word and sacraments and then obtained a Ph. D. and works as a systematic theology professor in a seminary in the United States. This monologue should be performed in Spanish with a translator, since Doña Isabel doesn’t know English. The monologue was actually written in Spanish with Isabel’s words and translated by an educated woman that tried to be faithful to Isabel’s limited education.

The assumed audience for these monologues is a Sunday morning worship service in a Presbyterian congregation, during the time of the sermon. Use your imagination to visualize the characters speaking the words of the monologue. Enjoy the reading and enjoy God’s grace to humanity as inaugurated by Jesus Christ on the cross.