For decades the border between the Republic of Ireland and the North was the focus for a bitterly divided community. All that came to end with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement. Checkpoints came down and the bitter divisions started to heal. Preventing a return to a hard border, therefore, was a key issue during Brexit. So no wonder fury erupted when the EU attempted to impose border checks over the export of Covid vaccines. Removing the border came at great cost and it can’t be allowed to creep back in.
A similar situation played itself out in the early church. After centuries of using the law to negotiate a ‘hard border’ between them and God, some Jews had found a new freedom in Christ. His death on the cross opened a new way to heaven based on faith in Jesus alone. So, when a church in Galatia started to backtrack and insist on obedience to the law as well as faith in Christ as the means of salvation, the apostle Paul saw red. Removing the border came at great cost and it could not be allowed to creep back in!
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