A Brazen Solution
Comments on Galatians with an ear to Luther’s commentary
Scripture Text: Galatians 2:20 and Numbers 21:4-9
Series: Comments on Galatians
How ridiculous! So it seems on the surface. Moses crafted a bronze snake and set it up on a pole so that the Hebrews who were bitten by snakes could look at the bronze serpent and live. Look deeper. The snake bites were not the Hebrews’ real problem; they were symptomatic. Theirs was a crisis of sin. It was their sin that sent the snakes. It was their repentance that sent God’s mercy.
The serpent is a curious form for God to choose. Yet in it, we see the quintessence of our own sin, personified in our Savior being lifted up on a pole. If we keep our focus on the sins of the past and grumbling about the present, we never shift our gaze to God’s solution, the cross. Only there will we find life and victory over sin and evil. This too seems ridiculous to many. Indeed, “the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18).
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Rev. Dr. Mark E. Ryman has served as Pastor for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Salisbury, NC, since 2021. Previously, Pastor Ryman served congregations in North Carolina and Ohio, as well as a call to specialized ministry with Sola Publishing.
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