This passage is one that makes the lives of Bible characters seem so different from our own. We have struggles that we may describe as “wrestling with God,” but it’s not a physical wrestling match. We may feel limp afterward, but we don’t generally wind up actually limping.
Scholars disagree about the nature of the “man” who wrestled with Jacob. An angel? A pre-incarnate appearance of Christ? Was it just a vision, or just metaphorical? What commentators do generally agree on is that Jacob needed to learn to depend on God instead of on his own cleverness. And this we have in common with Jacob, even if we never have an experience as strange as his nocturnal wrestling match.
Paul’s loyalty to the Jewish people may have been questioned by many Jews. Not only had he become a follower of Christ, but his invitation to Gentiles to become followers without following Jewish laws and customs might suggest a lack of respect for the traditions of his people. But Paul insists in the strongest terms possible on the reality of his devotion to them.
It is not the physical ties which matter most, however. God’s call transcends heredity, and it is the second birth that matters more than the first.
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