Pauls letter to the Galatians

1
Pauls letter to the Galatians

• The weakness of law verses the power of faith
  working through love

2
Whats in Galatians?

• Doctrinal information about
  salvation through faith in
  Christ Jesus Pauls
  gospel of the Grace of God
• Warnings about our human tendency to want a
  religion based on works of law Judaism!
• Practical daily life lessons about living by a
  faith that is motivated by love

Galatians is a mini-Romans
3
Outline of Galatians

• 1-2 Answer challenges to Pauls authority the
  origin of his gospel
• 3-4 Expose the false teachings of Judaisers who
  perverted the truth of salvation through faith in
  Christ Jesus
• 5-6 Explain the impact of faith working through
  love on the way we live and treat each other
  (what James calls be doers of the word)

4
Pauls 1st Journey Acts 13-14
5
Antioch

• Paul preached Jesus as Gods son, raised from the
  dead salvation by faith!

Acts 1338-39 38 "Therefore let it be known to
you, brethren, that through this Man is preached
to you the forgiveness of sins 39 "and by Him
everyone who believes is justified from all
things from which you could not be justified by
the law of Moses.
6
Iconium

• A great multitude of Jews and Greeks believed
  (141)

• Paul Barnabas spoke boldly and worked many
  miracles (141)
• Unbelieving Jews poisoned the minds of the
  Gentiles (142)
• City became divided (144)
• Both Jews and Gentiles made a violent attempt to
  abuse and stone Paul Barnabas (145)
• Paul fled to Lystra (146)

7
Lystra

• Probably met Timothy here
• Paul healed a crippled man (1410)

• The people wanted to make Paul Barnabas gods
  (1411-12)
• Jews from Antioch and Iconium convinced the
  multitude to stone Paul (1419)
• Disciples gathered around Paul, he rose up, and
  went into the city (1420)
• The next day he went to Derbe

8
Derbe

• Preached and made many disciples (1421)

• Then returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch
• Strengthened the new disciples
• Warned them we must through many tribulations
  enter the kingdom of God (1422)
• Appointed elders in every ecclesia
• Paul went back to Antioch in Syria
• Judaisers set out to overturn Pauls message
  make Gentiles get circumcised keep the Law

9
Letter to Galatians was written

• From Antioch (Syrian) at a
  critical time when Judaisers were
  challenging the inclusion of Gentiles by grace.
  These Gentiles were not circumcised and did not
  keep the Law.

Acts 151, 5 1 And certain men came down from
Judea and taught the brethren, "Unless you are
circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you
cannot be saved." 5 But some of the sect of
the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It
is necessary to circumcise them, and to command
them to keep the law of Moses."
10
Letter to Galatians was written

• Paul Barnabas dealt with Judaisers in Antioch
  of Syria, but it was harder to reach the new
  Galatian converts
• Pauls authority was under attack too
• Probably written between 1st and 2nd journeys,
  just before Jerusalem conference in Acts 15

11
Paul defends his Authority

• An apostle by the will of God, not men (11)
• Judaisers claimed Paul was not one of the
  original apostles like Peter and James
• Jesus gave him the gospel by revelation (112)
• Formerly persecuted Gods ecclesia and wanted to
  destroy it (113)
• God separated him from womb and called him
  through grace! (115) cp Jer 15
• God made Paul a preacher to Gentiles (116)
• Accepted by the other apostles (124)

Its hard to believe how much these Judaisers
discredited Paul an apostle with spirit gifts
who was called directly by Christ!
12
No commendationno praise, no thanks

• Paul wouldnt give the Galatians any basis to
  think it was OK to agree with the Judaisers
• Rather than thanking God or them, in 16, Paul
  marveled they were turning away so soon to
  another gospel
• This was a major error that would destroy all the
  work God had commissioned Paul to accomplish
• Even all the apostles, working together, could
  barely hold back the Judaiser movement to return
  to the law and circumcision

13
Principles of Judaism

• Emphasizes procedures that we
  must do to be saved
• Leads to comparing ourselves
  with others and judge others
• Motivated by a work/payment
  system I do, therefore I earn
• Hard to refute because it relies heavily on the
  Bible, especially the Law
• Claimed that even Jesus kept the Law, so we
  should too!
• Not motivated by love!

The NT contains a lot more warnings about Judaism
(legalism) than it does about liberalism!
14
Simple example of Judaism (legalism)

• A husband and wife do family Bible
  readings together after dinner.
• The husband checks off his Bible
  companion, reads quickly,
  thinking about
  what he wants to do when the readings are over.
• The wife considers each reading, looking for
  lessons and answers to solve issues shes facing
  in her family.
• Both satisfied the requirement to read the word,
  one as a legal requirement, the other out of love
  for Gods ways.

15
Galatians balances James
Liberals Christ did it all, so I dont need to
do anything or change
Judaisers I must work to earn my salvation
James corrects this
Galatians corrects this
Faith working through Love (Gal 56)
God has forgiven us in Christ. We follow Christs
example live for God and his family because of
our love for them.
16
Pauls authority (11)

• An apostle not of man but by
  Jesus Christ God the Father
• The same God who raised Jesus
  from the dead
• God the Father of us all (v.3,4)
  a theme Paul will pick up again in
  Gal 3
• The Law treated Israelites as slaves, but grace
  offers us adoption into the family of God as sons
  and daughters!

17
Grace and Peace (v.3)

• Grace (a Gentile term) the undeserved kindness
  of our loving Father who desired to save us
• Peace (a Jewish term) the wonderful
  relationship we now have with our Father because
  He has adopted us as His children
• Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins willingly
• All according to the will of God

18
Turning away to a different GospelO foolish
Galatians, who has bewitched you? (31)

• So soon implies Paul wrote this letter soon
  after his 1st journey
• Turning away from God not Paul (v.6)
• Some who trouble you Judaisers
• Different gospel based on works of law, not
  faith in Jesus Christ (2 Cor 114 another
  Jesus)
• Angel from heaven some claimed angels taught
  them in visions (Col 218)
• Let him be accursed (8 9) this is a critical
  issue

19
Challenges to Paul

• Paul is just trying to please people the
  Gentiles
• Paul got his gospel from Peter and other apostles
  in Jerusalem
• Paul is inconsistent he circumcised Timothy, not
  Titus

• Pauls Defense
• He tries to please God as a faithful servant of
  Jesus Christ (v.10)
• God separated him from birth (v.15)
• He got his gospel direct from Jesus Christ (12)
• He spent little time in Jerusalem or with
  apostles (16-24)
• God told him to go to Jerusalem by revelation
  (22)
• Pauls mission was to the uncircumcised (27-9)

20
Origin of Pauls Gospel

• 11-12 Jesus Christ taught Paul direct
• 13-14 Paul didnt get his gospel from
  his earlier life
• 15-17 Paul didnt get his gospel from other
  teachers
• 18-24 Only stayed in Jerusalem 15 days during
  his first visit, and had limited contact with
  Peter and James

21
Pauls mission is not personal

• He personally persecuted Gods
  ecclesia tried to destroy it (v.13)
• Paul was zealous for the traditions
  of the fathers (v.14) no man could
  have changed him!
• God called Paul through His grace (v.15)
• God decided to reveal His Son in Paul, so he
  could preach to Gentiles (v.16)

God is responsible for Pauls mission! God
wanted Paul to show Gentiles how Jesus Christ
lived.
22
A warning to usbecause we all do make many
mistakes

• Its easy and tempting to attack the motives and
  authority of our brothers and sisters when we
  have disagreements
• Its easy and tempting to gather ecclesial
  support for ourselves when we have disagreements
  with others
• Resist the temptation aim for unity peace (on
  most issues)
• Pray for understanding of our doctrines and
  principles so we can present Gods gospel, not
  our own.

23
In Galatians 2 we will continue with Pauls
defense of the Gospel of Grace
24
(No Transcript)