Basically I was wondering what he was saying on the 2nd half of that
verse, where he says, "If I were still trying to please men, I would
not be a servant of Christ." To me, he's either saying that, "he
can't serve Christ if he's trying to please men", or he's saying
that, "if I wanted to please men, the last thing I would have done is
to be a Christian."

I hope I made that distinction clear. The two meanings sound the
same, but are very different.

I'm thinking it's the 2nd meaning, especially with the way that the
NIV words the passage. I was asking just because that section of the
verse seems to be saying something entirely different than what the
rest of the verse, and everything before and after that. It's like
he went on a short tangent with that comment and I wanted to figure
out what that tangent was.

Considering his history, I'd say Paul was talking exclusively about
his ministry, and isn't talking about Christianity in general.
However, it shows that the value of becoming a Christian, and being
right with God, was worth losing his family and the all power he had
in the Jewish community. That applies to all of us today.

As a background on the passage, the letter of Galatians was a
response to some Jewish Christian's claims that you still had to obey
the old laws and customs to be a real Christian. These Jewish
Christians were telling everyone that you they still to follow all
those traditions. They were also telling people that the reason Paul
is not making the Gentiles follow those customs is because Paul is
compromising the "requirements" just to make the Gentiles happy so
that they'll agree to become Christians.

Paul's response, basically, is that they were flat out wrong, and
that Jesus is all you need to become a Christian. God's love and
forgivenes has always been more than people could mentally handle,
and that's why the law was set up in the first place.

I'm not sure if that clarified the question, or if that made it seem
more confusing. Those of you who know me know that I frequently have
difficulty verbalizing my thoughts into anything remotely coherent.
Either way, I'm going home. I think I went over my "saying stuff"
threshhold for the day, and I have to go home and not say nuthin for
the next couple of days.


Mark

--- In pugetsoundchristiansingles@yahoogroups.com, "celebok"
<celebok@e...> wrote:
> Mark,
>
> I'm not entirely sure if I'm understanding your question correctly,
> but here's what I get out of it. Maybe the NIV might make it
> clearer, or maybe it won't:
>
> "Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I
> trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I
would
> not be a servant of Christ."
>
> I guess ultimately Paul is making the distinction about whose
> approval you're trying to win by doing what you do--it's either men
> or God, and he's saying it can't be both. Of course, there's also
> the possibility that he's talking ONLY about his own ministry and
> his own motives for what he preaches (as he talked about in the
> preceding verses), and saying that if he were still trying to
please
> men, he wouldn't be doing what he's doing, because the men around
> him are certainly not pleased with him preaching the good news
about
> Jesus Christ! Looking at the context, his main point seems to be
> that what he's preaching came from God, not from men. So I'm not
> entirely sure if I would take this to mean that in ALL cases it's
> impossible to please both men and God.
>
> Anybody else willing to take a stab at this?
>
> --Wayne
>
>
> --- In pugetsoundchristiansingles@yahoogroups.com, "Mark Enriquez"
> <enriquezm@w...> wrote:
> > Hey everyone,
> >
> > I'm trying to figure out exactly what Galatians 1:10 means, and
> I'm hoping y'all can help me out. Here's what it says in my KJV,
> compact e-sword version:
> >
> > "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men?
> For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
> >
> > Is Paul trying to say:
> >
> > 1) I can't be an effective servant of Christ if I'm trying to
> please men?
> >
> > or
> >
> > 2) If I'm trying to please men, the last thing I would have done
> is to be a servant of Christ?
> >
> > I'm leaning towards 2, but I don't have enough info to say that
> for sure. Let me know what you think. And if you think one or the
> other, let me know why you think so.
> >
> > Thanks for helping an aging brother out!
> >
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > "Pleasure is a poor substitute for excellence."
> > -unknown