GALATIANS 1- [filmed by the T head- C.C. bay]
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Galatians 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed.
https://youtu.be/Bk04o7nBlsE
Galatians 1
ON VIDEO-
.Justification by faith
.Luther
.Paul’s controversy
.Damascus road
.Abraham’s faith
.The Jerusalem council
.Judiazers
.The church at Antioch
.Legalism
.God raised Jesus from the dead
.Grace and Peace
.There is no other gospel
.It’s not about the preacher
.The law cannot justify you
.Father to all who believe
.The dead don’t sin
.Antinomianism
.The message of the Cross
NEW- [past links- verses below]
I wrote a brief commentary on this book years ago [pasted
below] and will do a little background before we get to the chapter.
Paul the apostle was the missionary to the gentiles- we see
his ministry told in the book of Acts.
Paul was converted to Christ on the famous Damascus road-
spoken about in Acts 9.
His background was a religious teacher of the Old Testament [Pharisee]
and excelled above many in this field.
After his conversion he ‘saw’ all the great truths of grace-
that were contained in the Old Testament- and was able to unfold them in his
letters [most of the New Testament] in a way that the other apostles did not
seem to do.
As he preached to the gentiles- he showed them how being
justified [saved] was not by the works of the law- but by faith in Jesus.
Some Pharisees who also believed- they came to Paul’s churches
and told them that Paul was wrong- that they
need to get circumcised- and come under the law- in order to be saved.
Paul disagreed with them- and in Acts chapter 15 we read
about the debate.
The leaders at the Jerusalem church held a council- and
agreed- that the gentile believers did not have to get circumcised and come
under the law- but having faith in Jesus was enough.
Over time- some of the Pharisees who believed- still went behind
Paul's back- and taught the gentile believers that they should get circumcised-
and come under the law.
They were called the Judiazers.
This letter [Galatians] was written to these believers- to
warn them- that the true gospel was what he had previously taught them- and
what they believed at first.
Paul refutes the false teaching that they need to become circumcised-
and teaches them if they do go back under the law- they have ‘fallen from
grace’.
Ok- chapter 1
Paul reasserts that his calling came from God- and God
alone.
That the things that were shown to him about grace- came as
a direct revelation from Jesus himself.
That he did not 'get permission’ from the Jerusalem leaders-
or anyone else- but God himself called him for this mission.
He tells the believers that the power is in the gospel message
itself.
And if anyone- man- or angel- or even himself- preaches something
else [another gospel] that he should be ‘accursed’.
The simple reality that Jesus died- and rose again- is where
our justification comes from- it does not come from the law.
Paul recounts his early experience after being converted-
and tells them that his message came directly from Christ.
God had opened up to him the knowledge he had as a Pharisees
who studied the Old testament- and began to reveal to Paul how the message of
grace was there all along.
He just didn’t ‘see it’ until he too believed in Christ.
The message of grace- to Paul- is not simply one truth among
many.
But it is the heart of the gospel- we will read later on ‘if
there was a law given- that could have given life- then Christ died in vain’.
Strong words indeed- and as we ‘open’ the letter over the
next few weeks- we will see why he was so tough on ‘his’ churches.
MY PAST TEACHING LINKS/POSTS- [verses below]
On today’s video [Gal. 1] I quote from these bible books-
below are my past commentaries- teachings on these books.
https://ccoutreach87.com/romans-updated-2015/
[Focus on chapters 3-5]
https://ccoutreach87.com/acts/
[focus on chapters 9-10-13-15]
https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/
[I mentioned doing some videos on a shrimp boat- the same spot where I shot today’s
video- I believe those videos are on the James study- plus- I quote from James
as well]
https://ccoutreach87.com/genesis/
[focus on chapter 15]
https://ccoutreach87.com/1st-2nd-corinthians/ [Focus on chapter 15]
GALATIANS [Here’s a study I did years ago- I will add it to
the current videos/posts I will be doing on the book]
(1327) GALATIANS; INTRO- Okay,
finally made it, been wanting to teach this letter for a while. Let me overview
some church history that I feel would be helpful in understanding the book.
During the 16th century Reformation you had an explosion take place
within Christianity, though the official ‘schism’ dates back to the year 1054
between the western [Catholic] and eastern [Orthodox] expressions of the
church, yet in reality it was the 16th century upheaval that really
split the church. A few centuries before [14-15th century] you had rumblings
within the church that had well taught Catholic men challenging many of the
institutional concepts of the church; men like John Huss, Wycliffe and others.
These men were extremely influential and had an effect on the church. Then in
the 16th century you had Catholic writers who remained within the
Catholic Church, but they too challenged the status quoi. Men like Erasmus of
Rotterdam, these intellectuals would call for the idea of going back to the
original sources of study [Greek New Testament and also other renaissance
ideas] and this too would lead to the historic Reformation. But without a doubt
Martin Luther [the Catholic monk out of Wittenberg, Germany] would be the
firebrand of the movement. Martin was a well trained Augustinian monk who
struggled with the guilt of sin for many years. Not normal guilt, but extreme.
A fellow Catholic leader would encourage Luther to trust in the grace of God
for his forgiveness. While reading the book of Romans [whose themes relate
strongly to Galatians] he would come along the famous passage ‘the just shall
live by faith’ and in Luther’s mind this was a total release from the bondage
of trying to appease God thru all the religious works that he was going thru.
In essence Luther discovered the historic gospel of grace thru the reading of
Romans and was set free. Now Luther had no intention of leaving the Catholic
Church, but as a very influential teacher/scholar out of the university city in
Germany, he had lots of influence. The Catholic church at the time was
worldwide and you had differing views of the church in various states. Many saw
the state of the church in Rome as having given in to materialism and become
too worldly. Rome was at the time trying to raise money for the restoring of
the religious buildings at Rome and one of the priests going around selling
indulgences was named Tetzel. The abuse of selling these ‘get out of purgatory
early’ things was offensive to many Catholics, and Luther had ‘no small stir’
when Tetzel reached his area. These things would lead to the famous nailing of
the 95 questions on the door of Catholic academia and would be the beginnings
of the historic split. While it would take way too much time to go into all the
theological differences between the Protestants and the Catholics, one of the
main issues deals with how we as Christians view ‘being saved’. The historic
Protestant position is called ‘justification by faith alone’ [Sola Fide] the
Catholics counter with ‘the only time ‘faith alone’ is mentioned is in the book
of James, where it says a man is not saved/justified by ‘faith alone’. Ouch!
The main point I want to make is this letter deals with the early church’s
belief that man is accepted with God based on the sacrifice of Jesus on the
Cross. Paul will challenge the ‘Judaisers’ [those who believed you needed to
keep the law in order to be saved] and will argue that the law itself [Old
Testament books] teaches that men are justified/accepted with God based on
believing in the free gift of God thru Christ. Make no mistake about it, the
New Testament clearly teaches this doctrine. Catholic and Protestant
theologians BOTH agree that man is freely saved by the grace of God in Christ.
But at the time of Luther’s day these glorious truths were lost in the morass
of religious tradition and works. As we read thru this letter in the next few
days, I want all of our readers to see the argument Paul is making from this
basic theological view point. Is man saved by works [keeping Gods law] or grace?
The bible teaches grace. Now I don’t have the time to also introduce the modern
controversy between the ‘new view’ of Paul between Protestants [called new
perspective]. There is an ongoing debate over whether or not the historic
Reformation view of Paul is correct [men like N.T. Wright and John Piper are
hashing it out] and I do think there are some merits to this discussion, but
before we can delve into that aspect, we first need to see the historic
question of works versus faith, and this letter is one of the best to deal with
the issue.
(1328) GALATIANS 1- Mark Twain said ‘the classics
are books that everyone loves to praise, but nobody wants to read’. As we begin
this study I can’t emphasize enough the need for Christians to read the bible!
Many of the current problems in Christianity would be solved if we simply got
back to reading the bible in context. Okay, in chapter one Paul defends his
authority as being one who was sent by God, not man. He explains how after his
conversion he spent years receiving direct revelation from God; he was not
taught the gospel of grace by consulting with man. Paul was in a unique
situation compared to the other apostles, Paul was the first apostle to have
had a strong intellectual background in both Judaism and philosophy; he knew
his stuff. This ‘allowed’ God to reveal things to Paul FROM THE SCRIPTURES that
revealed Gods grace and the reality of how men are justified by faith and not
thru the law. In essence Paul wasn’t out in left field receiving Divine
revelations about things that nobody ever heard about. They were new things in
the sense that they were hidden in God until the time that God chose to reveal
them [Ephesians 3]. Paul rebukes them for forsaking the true gospel and being
drawn to another gospel ‘which is not another’. Okay, what’s the true gospel
Paul is speaking about? It’s not only the definition given by Paul in 1st
Corinthians 15 [the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus] but it includes
being justified by faith and not by the law. The Judaisers did believe in
Jesus, but they were rejecting justification by faith alone. The false gospel
that Paul is refuting is the gospel that said the Gentiles must ‘keep the law
in order to be saved’ [see Acts 13 and 15]. In no uncertain terms Paul condemns
this message; there was no compromising the reality of Gods free grace given to
the elect. The actual faith itself that is deposited in the elect is a divine
act of God [Ephesians 2] the unbeliever is dead in sins with no ability to
‘resurrect himself’ and the new birth is Gods sovereign act of raising a person
from the dead [spiritually] and giving them faith. This is the gospel of grace.
Paul was adamant about rejecting false gospels! In our day there are so many
‘gospels’ going around it’s not funny. I caught a few minutes of a TV
evangelist the other day quoting verses from all over the bible in order to
entice people to vow money to him; yes he used these words in no uncertain
terms. He told the people they must quickly pick up the phone and dedicate the
money to him, because it was this act of faith that would release the harvest.
Now I don’t know how much longer God is going to allow stuff like this to go
on, how much longer networks will continue to air this stuff, but we as
believers/preachers need to condemn these false gospels in no uncertain terms.
Paul will use strong language when defending the gospel; we need to get back to
defending it too.
(1329) GALATIANS 2- Paul recounts his meeting with
the apostles at Jerusalem; some feel he is talking about his first visit [Acts
11- before AD 50] others think he is discussing his Acts 15 meeting [right at
around AD 50] I’m in the latter camp. Paul is basically telling the churches of
Galatia that he already went thru this whole discussion with the main apostles
at Jerusalem [Peter, James and John] and that they had already agreed that the
Gentile believers did not need to get circumcised and come under the law in
order to be saved. I do find it interesting that out of the 4 decrees that were
made [read Acts 15] that the only one Paul recounts here is ‘to remember the
poor’. The only decree worthy enough for Paul to recount is the one on
charitable giving; those of you who have followed this blog for a while know
how much I emphasize this point. If the early church was teaching tithing to
the Gentile churches, surely it would have come up at the Jerusalem meeting,
but it didn’t. This chapter has some important verses that all believers should
commit to memory ‘if righteousness come by the law, then Christ died in vain’
‘the life that I now live I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me’ etc. I really want all my Catholic/Protestant readers
to pay attention to the verse’s that I just quoted; the bible clearly teaches
that if men could ‘be saved’ by keeping Gods law, then Christ died in vain.
Paul will go on to teach [chapter 3] that if there had been a law given that
could have given men eternal life, then ‘being saved’ would come that way; but
he then goes on to say that there never was a law given that men could keep in
order to be saved. Paul always gives the caveat ‘does this mean we go out and
break the 10 commandments’? And his answer is always a big NO! The point of
this chapter is we as believers are saved because Jesus died to pay the penalty
for our sin; the proof that the penalty was completely paid is in the fact that
Jesus rose again [Romans 5]. All who believe in this reality are now the
children of God, indeed ‘we are all the children of God by faith in Jesus
Christ’.
(1330) GALATIANS 3- The main point of this chapter
is God made a promise to Abraham that he would ‘bless’ all nations thru one of
his kids someday [Genesis 12). This promise was given to Abraham 430 years
before God gave the 10 commandments to Moses. Therefore the promise that men
would be justified/saved by faith cannot be ‘undone’ by a later act of giving
the law to Moses. The point being that Paul is arguing with the Galatians that
their new view that they need to keep the law in order to ‘be saved’ [the blessing
of Abraham IN CONTEXT!] is false because God already told Abraham it would be
by faith in the coming Messiah. Paul then asks ‘is the law then against Gods
promise’? No, it was given to man [Israel] until the time came for the promised
child to be born [1st century], but now that the promised child is
here we are no longer under the ‘schoolmaster’. The schoolmaster term can be
confusing; the word in Greek means the person who walked the kids to school
[truth] and then dropped them off AND LEFT. Paul is saying the law period
served its purpose; it revealed mans sinful nature to him and then ‘dropped him
off at the Cross’. Paul is saying the law fulfilled its purpose and we are now
under grace. As new creatures in Christ we walk in love and fulfill the righteousness
of the law by our new nature, it’s not a legalistic thing. There is some
confusion today on this chapter; some were taught that ‘the blessing of
Abraham’ was speaking of the promises in Deuteronomy on financial blessings.
And that the curse is speaking about the curse of ‘poverty’. Though it is true
that the bible does speak about this in the Old Testament, in context Paul is
not saying this here. Paul explains what he means about the ‘curse of the law’.
He says it’s the curse of never being able to do enough to appease God, the man
that is under the law puts himself under this mindset of perfectionism and
lives under this constant feeling of never being able to do enough. This was
Paul's previous experience as a Pharisee. When Paul teaches that we are
delivered from ‘the curse’ so the ‘blessing of Abraham might come on the
gentiles, that we might receive THE PROMISE OF THE SPIRIT BY FAITH’ he is not
saying Jesus died to make us financially rich, he is saying Jesus delivered us
from the old law mindset of legalism and we now have forgiveness and acceptance
as a free gift- ‘being now justified by faith we have peace with God thru our
Lord Jesus Christ’ [Romans 5].
This post deals with the faulty understanding
expounded by many Evangelical/Protestant ministers [end times scenarios, Tim
Lahaye type books] that exalt ethnic/racial elements into the gospel, and
contribute to the many present tensions between Muslims/Jews/Christians.
(1331) GALATIANS 4- Paul says there was a time
period before the promise would be fulfilled thru Christ; that time has come to
an end [the law] and we are now in ‘the fullness of times’. When we were under
the law we were no different than servants, but now in grace we are mature
sons, people able to inherit the promise. Paul says why do you desire to go
back under the ‘restraint’ phase, the time of discipline and legalism, we are
now in a fullness stage thru the New Covenant and we don’t need the old
mentality anymore. Once again Paul really ‘spiritualizes’ the Old Testament in
his teaching, he says that the law [Old Testament] taught this difference
between law and grace. He uses the story of Abraham having 2 sons [Ishmael,
Isaac] and he says ‘cant you hear what the law is saying’? One son was born by
promise [Isaac] the other thru the works of the flesh [law]. And just like it
was back then, the one born after the flesh persecuted the one born after the
Spirit, so today [1st century] those after the flesh/law are
persecuting those born after the Spirit. It’s important to see that Paul DOES
NOT use this analogy to describe Jewish/Muslim [Arab] relations; he actually
refers to natural Israel as ‘Ishmael’! He says the Judaisers [Jews zealous of
the law] were fulfilling the type/symbol by persecuting Gentile believers. We
need to keep these distinctions in our minds, because when we don’t rightfully
discern the truth we do damage to the non ethnic testimony of the gospel. Paul
says the law relates to natural Israel/Jerusalem who is under bondage with her
children, but the ‘New Jerusalem’ which is above is the mother of us all, and
this Jerusalem relates to the church. The New Jerusalem is not referring to a
physical city that will ‘hover over the earth during the millennium rule’
[EEK!] But it refers to the new community people of God, the church. I have
written on this before and these references in the New Testament [Revelation,
Hebrews- us being the new Zion, etc.] are speaking of the church, the people of
God. Paul once again speaks of ‘natural Jerusalem’ in a negative light, in the
sense that he teaches those who are under the law are not walking in the
fullness of the promises of God as come in the Messiah. The New Testament
spends no time engaging in the glorying of any ethnic group [whether it be
Israel, Gentile, etc.] It’s not that the apostles were being anti Semitic, it’s
just the emphasis is on the new kingdom of God and the new people of God [the
church made up of both Jew and Gentile]. Its striking to compare the writings
of the first Jewish believers to the current trends amongst many evangelical
preachers, the two don’t mesh well.
(1335) GALATIANS 5- Paul’s main theme is if we
possess the Spirit as believers [being indwelt by God’s Spirit] then let us
also walk in/by the Spirit, as opposed to trying to please God by the law and
being circumcised. Paul will use the somewhat controversial term ‘ye are fallen
from grace’ which simply means that these Gentile believers started by faith
and went back to the old Jewish system, much like the themes in the book of
Hebrews. Paul says when you go back to the law you have left grace. Christ has
‘become of no effect to you, you who are justified by the law’. This is a good
example of how words and certain phrases can develop over the centuries of
church history and develop a different meaning over time. In essence the bible
does teach that a person can ‘fall from grace’ but this does not describe what
the modern reader might think. The first church father who attempted to
formulate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity was a man named Tertullian, he
lived in the second century and was what theologians refer to as one of the
Latin fathers [as opposed to the Greek ones- Origen, etc.] Tertullian was
famous for the sayings ‘what does Jerusalem have to do with Athens’ and ‘I
believe because it is absurd’ he was resisting the influence of Greek
philosophy on the church, he felt that Greek wisdom was influencing the church
too much. He was trained in law before becoming a theologian [like Luther and
Calvin of 16th century Reformation fame] and he used the words ‘God
is one substance/essence and also three persons’ later church councils would
agree with this language. But the word ‘person’ at Tertullian’s time was the
Latin word ‘personi’ which was taken from the theater and meant a person/actor
who would put on different masks during the play; the word had a little
different meaning then what we think of today as ‘person’. Later centuries
would come to condemn certain Christian groups who seem to have formulated
language on the Trinity that expresses the same thing as what the original
developer of the doctrine meant to say, but because words and their meanings
change over time we get ourselves into disputes that might be getting us off
track. Paul also tells the Galatians that if they become circumcised that they
are obligating themselves to keep all the law. Of course the medical procedure
that many have done in our day is not what he is speaking about, but in Paul’s
day getting circumcised was the religious rite that placed you into the religion
of Judaism, and this is what Paul is refuting among the Galatians, he tells
them not to go down that road. This chapter has lots of good ‘memory verses’,
the famous lists of the works of the flesh versus the fruit of the Spirit are
found here, and it seems pretty clear to me that Paul identified circumcision
with the moral law of the 10 commandments, that is he saw being circumcised as
an act that obligated you to ‘keep all the law’ some theologians are discussing
whether or not Paul meant the law of Moses when speaking about going ‘back
under the law’ some think Paul was speaking only of the ceremonial law and the
system of animal sacrifices when he was telling the gentiles that they should
not go under the law, I believe if you read Paul in context both in this letter
and the book of Romans, that he is speaking of the moral law too, not just the
ceremonial law. All in all Paul exhorts these believers to fight for their
right to be free from the past restraints of religion and bondage, he tells
them to not desire to go back under a system of bondage, that Christ has made
us free from that legalistic way of life and he has liberated us by giving us
the Holy Spirit- if we ‘walk in the Spirit we will not fulfill the lusts of the
flesh, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh,
and these two are contrary one to the other, so that you cannot do the things
that you would’ amen to that.
(1338) GALATIANS 6- Paul closes this short
theological treatise with some practical stuff; help each other out with their
burdens, if you see a brother struggling, restore him in the spirit of
meekness. Those who are teaching you Gods word, ‘communicate’ to them in all
good things [share with them financially and materially]. Good advice that Paul
gives to all of the churches he writes to. As we close our study of this
letter, I want to emphasize that the majority of what Paul is teaching [over
90%] is great theological truth, it would be silly for preachers/teachers to
grasp hold of any single verse and to exalt that above the main body of truths
that we have discussed. It isn't hard for any preacher/teacher to go thru this
letter on a few Sundays and teach the main truths of the letter. We desperately
need to get back to doing it this way in many Pentecostal/Protestant/Evangelical
churches- and yes, the ‘organic church’ guys too! We all have a tendency to
pick out pet doctrines out of the New Testament and then to make the side
issues the main thing. I think the main thing [justification by faith, the
blessing of Abraham in context, etc.] is good enough without us having to try
and find some type of ‘Rhema word’ that is not the main word of God. Recently a
good man died, Oral Roberts. A few weeks have passed and I think it is okay to
mention a few things. The media reported how many preachers showed up to the
funeral in Cadillac’s and expensive cars, there have been various articles
written about the legacy he will leave behind. Some wrongly said he was the
father of the ‘Word of Faith/prosperity movement’ [E.W. Kenyon was the real
father, and Kenneth Hagin and others lay claim to the title]. The point I want
to make is Brother Roberts was a good man who did good things, but his way of
doing doctrine is not my cup of tea. He was famous for popularizing the
‘seed-faith’ teaching. It comes from Paul’s letters when he does tell believers
that if they give in faith God will bless them, true enough. But when we read
the New Testament there are many warnings against greed and materialism, and
when we take a simple practical truth from Paul, even though it’s true, and
when this truth becomes our main message, then we err. In this last chapter of
Galatians Paul gives practical advice about giving financially to those who are
teaching you, good. But this is one verse in a letter filled with other main
teachings, the important stuff if you will. For believers in our day to have
built ministries/churches and to have as the foundation of these ministries the
few practical side verses, is wrong. We need to focus on the main thing, and
keep the main thing the main thing! [Redemption thru Christ's Blood, eternal
life to those who believe, etc.] I don’t want to speak bad about brother
Roberts, he was a good man who went home to be with the Lord, it’s just the
discussion that has happened after his passing shows us how easy it is for good
men to get sidetracked with a verse or 2 and then to exalt it out of context.
As I conclude this brief study on Galatians, I think I will go back over a few
main verses in the next week or so and give you some ‘practical’ things that I
have gleaned these last few weeks. In a sense I will show you how God can speak
to us in a personal way thru these letters, yet at the same time not losing the
original meaning of the letters. One of the distinctions of the early church
fathers was this Christ centered approach to the scripture, they looked for
Jesus on every page. I’ll end with an example form Saint Augustine; he shared a
thought on the story of Jesus walking on the water to the land, and that the
disciples needed a wooden boat to ‘cross over’ he then applied the wood of the
boat to the wood of the Cross and said how the Cross allows us to cross over to
God, just like the boat let them cross over to the land. Now this is a simple
example of applying scripture in a sort of symbolic way that is not in context,
but nevertheless it’s okay to do. So I will do a few things like this in the
next few posts. But while doing this, we want to not forget the main meaning of
the letter, a good ‘side example’ should never negate the main body of truth.
(1340) GALATIANS AFTER-THOUGHTS: As I said the
other day I will try and go back over a few verses and share a few more things
on Galatians. One of the things I wanted to mention was the fact that I
purposefully chose to teach the letter in the classic Protestant way [mostly] I
avoided getting into the ‘New Perspective’ ideas on Paul and ‘what he really
meant’. So let’s talk a little on it; as of the date of this writing there is a
theological debate going on [mostly in the ivory towers, but seeping somewhat
into mainstream thought] that re-looks at Paul and what the context of his day
was. For instance when the Reformers of the 16th century spoke about
being Justified by Faith and not by works, many of them were speaking about the
works of tradition and the things they felt were wrong in the Catholic faith.
Were they wrong in applying Paul this way? No. In context was Paul talking
about the works of ‘Catholic tradition’ when saying men are not justified by
works? No. So it’s good to point stuff like this out. The problem I see with
some of the New Perspective theologians is they can explain stuff and when
you’re done listening [reading] it’s possible to miss the heart of the New
Testament doctrine on Justification by faith, we don’t want to lose people in
the weeds when trying to peel the layers of the onion. So I purposefully chose
to teach this letter in the plain way that most Protestants would understand
it, but I do think that N.T. Wright [Bishop of Durham, Church of England] has
good things to add to the debate [as well as John Piper- the Reformed Baptist
preacher who has taken the New Perspective group and rebuked them]. It’s good
and profitable to engage in these types of theological discussions, but we need
to once again ‘keep the main thing the main thing’. I also avoided getting into
the debate on exactly what ‘works of the law’ meant. Some think Paul was only
referring to the rite of circumcision. In some verses [both here and in Romans]
this is true. But some [N.T. Wright] apply this in a way that says the act
itself was simply an ‘identifying badge’ that brought you into the community of
God, while this is true, they get a little off track by not fully seeing that
in Paul’s writings these things go hand in hand. Paul mixes in the ‘work of
circumcision’ with the idea of keeping the moral law/10 commandments. When
saying ‘we are not under the law’ Paul includes all of it, not just the
ceremonial law. How do we know this? Because whenever Paul makes this argument
he always adds ‘does this mean we go out and sin’? And his answer is always no,
but instead of saying ‘no, don’t sin because we are still constrained by the 10
commandments’ he says ‘no, how can we who died to sin still live in it’. To be
frank about it, many of the Reformed guys have problems with this as well, they
teach a kind of theology that says the N.T. believer is under the law, I
disagree. So as you can see this debate can go on for a while, that’s why I
chose to avoid it in this study. I want all of our readers to be grounded in
the basic truths of the letter before launching into a deeper level. Okay
enough for now, tune in the next week or so and I’ll try and do some practical
stuff from Galatians.
(1342) WHEN THE SEED SHOULD COME TO WHOM THE
PROMISE WAS MADE- As I was teaching thru Galatians this verse ‘spoke to me’ in
a personal way [will explain it in a second]. I felt like the Lord was saying
that there are long term promises/destinies that he has planted within us, both
as individuals and communities, and that often times he is waiting for the
‘seed to come to whom the promise was made’. In the parables of Jesus the seed
speaks of a few things. Most of us are familiar with 'the seed as the word’
imagery- ‘the sower sows the word’. But Jesus also speaks of ‘the seed’ as the
children of the kingdom that his father has planted in the world. And of course
in Galatians Paul is specifically referring to the singular seed, who is
Christ. Every few years I go thru our radio messages and will adjust the
programs I air. I often find that the messages that I marked as ‘o.k.’ are not
o.k. anymore, it’s not that they are bad, it’s just I notice a tone/level of
‘seed’ [spoken word] that is not mature enough, it seems like as the years roll
by the later messages just sound better. God has all of us in a maturing
process; things that we thought were ‘deep revelation’ at one time, now sound
quite silly. As I was marking off the programs that sounded too immature, I
felt like the Lord was saying ‘the seed has come to whom the promise was made’
sort of like the lord was saying ‘son, I was waiting for your level of maturity
to catch up to the promise’. Also in Romans it says ‘the whole creation groans
and travails in pain together until now’ I also felt like the Lord was saying
the seed, as it pertains to all the people groups we relate to, were also in a
‘birthing process’ that too had to mature to a point where the promises could
be inherited- ‘when the fullness of times was come, God sent forth his son,
made of a woman, made under the law’ [Galatians] God has ‘fullness seasons’
times [Kairos] when he says ‘okay, the promises I made to you at the beginning
of the journey are now ready to be experienced’ in essence the seed has come to
whom the promise was made. Now, this sort of spiritual/symbolic way of hearing
God, is it a good way to develop doctrine? No! Never, ever! Pope Benedict
critiqued the ‘historical, critical’ method of liberal theology in his book
‘Jesus of Nazareth’ the method developed out of the liberal universities in
Germany in the 19th- 20th centuries. Men like Rudolph Bultman would
popularize it. It was a way of reading scripture thru an
historical/archeological lens. Some of the ideas are good and profitable, but
some are not. Many would reject the supernatural aspects of scripture and come
to deny the resurrection. Not good. The Pope also warned against this way of
‘dissecting’ Jesus and Christianity to a point where you really don’t see the
true Jesus anymore. The real Jesus of Christianity and history, the Jesus that
we all have a relationship with by faith. The point being we want to go to
scripture with an open heart and expectancy to ‘hear God’. While doing this, we
also want to recognize that the scripture had the SAME MEANING to the first
century church as to us today, the meaning never changes, the applications do.
That’s the main point I want to make, so today the Lord might be speaking to
you about certain ‘seeds’ coming to maturity in your own life, things that you
have been waiting for and maybe the lord was saying he needed a maturing
process to take place, both in you and the people you relate to. The ‘whole
creation’ if you will.
(1343) One of the other themes that spoke to me
from Galatians was the idea that Israel and the world were under a
‘schoolmaster phase’ until the fullness of times arrived. This phase was the
whole economy of Old Testament law and rule. I felt like the Lord was saying
that many of us have been led, and actually have arrived, at places and
purposes the hard way; i.e. - the ‘tutor’ phase. That is God allowed the
process of trial and error and discipline to work in us until we arrived at the
purpose and goal. Isaiah says that ‘I have chosen you in the furnace of
affliction’ yes, this way of ‘arriving’ is much more painful, but it still gets
you there. Now the entire discipline phase for the world was the time period
before the Cross. The law and the Old Covenant were the only way to ‘get there’
so to speak. If people wanted to have a relationship with God, they were either
born Jews, or converted to Judaism. Today of course we have access thru the
Cross. One of the earliest ‘cults’ of Christianity was a sect call ‘Gnosticism’
these early adherents mixed Greek dualism [material world bad, spirit world
good type of a thing] in with Christianity, they taught that the God of the Old
Testament was the evil God who created the material world, and that thru Jesus
we can come to know the true God of the New Testament, the God who gives us
salvation by delivering us from the material world. Though it seems like there
are verses in the New Testament that teach that the ‘world’ is evil and that
God wants to ‘deliver us from this present evil world’ [Galatians] yet in these
contexts ‘the world’ is simply speaking of the lost system of man and the ‘way
of the world’. In Christian theology matter is not inherently evil. The Apostle
John would deal with the Gnostics in his first epistle by saying ‘whoever
denies that Jesus has come in the flesh is not of God- they are anti-Christ’.
Because the Gnostics believed all matter to be evil they would reject the
humanity of Jesus, John was targeting them in his letter. As I mentioned before
the controversy over the Trinity was settled at the council of Nicaea [a.d.325]
but the church still battled with the nature of Jesus. Nicaea said ‘God is one
essence/substance and 3 persons’. But this did not fully deal with the nature
of Jesus, various ideas rose up [Monarchianism, Dynamic Monarchianism] that
challenged the nature of Christ. In 451 a.d. the church settled on the language
that ‘Jesus is one person with 2 substances/essences [natures]’, though to some
this looks like a contradiction to the earlier language of Nicaea, this council
in 451 [Chalcedon] was simply saying Jesus was ‘fully God and fully man’ so
anyway we were all under the discipline phase until the ‘fullness of times’. I
am believing God to get us to the destination with less ‘tutoring’ if you will,
less trial and error. Sure, we will never fully get to the point of not making
a few mistakes and stumbling along the way, but as we get older hopefully we
will ‘stumble less’.
(1345) BUT BEFORE FAITH CAME, WE WERE KEPT UNDER
THE LAW,SHUT UP UNTO THE FAITH THAT WOULD AFTERWARDS BE REVEALED- Galatians
3:23 Over the years I have grown in my understanding of ‘church/ministry’ and
have come to see that God requires of us to ‘do justice, love mercy and walk
humbly’- that is we often begin the Christian life [especially minister/pastor]
with a bunch of noble goals and dreams and we become fixated on the finances
and buildings and all the outward stuff that we think is needed to ‘reach the
world’. All well meaning men with noble goals, but often times the whole thing
devolves into ‘if these parishioners would be obedient and tithe 10 % of their
income we could do great things’ and behind the scenes there begins to be an
accusatory spirit by the leaders/pastors towards ‘these rebels’. As someone who
does not receive offerings or money I have been freed from this whole scenario.
Now, how does ‘faith come/ be revealed’? In contrast to the above picture, God
will often speak to us and use us when we do not have the cart before the
horse- when our time and efforts are not always consumed with building ‘our
ministry’ or getting the funds needed for what we think is Gods purpose. In the
parable of the great supper, Jesus says a man prepared this great meal/table
and he sent his servant out at suppertime to call the guests, and out of the
first 3 groups he goes to, 2 out of 3
couldn’t make it because they purchased stuff [land, livestock] then the master
gets mad and sends him to the poor, blind and maimed [do justice] and there is
still room so he is told to go out into the highways and hedges and compel them
to come in. The point I want to make is those who were preoccupied with stuff
missed the true riches, it’s not that they meant to be rebellious; it’s just
the nature of the beast. I want to encourage all of our leaders to re-focus as
the New Year begins, sure- you are going to have to deal with practical things
[money, etc.] but don’t become so consumed with ‘the ministry’ that this
becomes the driving factor of your life. I have had ‘minister friends’ who were
always talking about, or trying to ‘build up the work’ some times when we would
interact [run into each other] if I had a homeless guy they couldn’t wait until
I would ‘lose’ the brother so we could talk ministry. I know they mean well,
but they are so consumed with ‘the stuff’ they couldn’t see the true riches;
they were missing the ‘great supper’ and didn’t even realize it. ‘In as much as
you did it unto the least of these, you did it unto me’.
(1353) THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS WERE UNTIL JOHN, SINCE ‘THAT
TIME’ THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS PREACHED- When teaching Galatians we got into the
‘Kairos’ season- that is a time period when God said ‘the old dispensation has
fulfilled its purpose and the new time has come’. In the above heading Jesus
says it’s a ‘kingdom time’. One of the good things about the New Perspective
teaching is they bring out Gods greater world purpose for the whole creation
[Romans 8]. It is easy for believers to see their entire Christian lives thru
the lens of individual salvation, while this is certainly an important subject,
if this becomes the main focus of the believer he can become myopic and miss
the greater intention of God- the ‘since that time the kingdom of God’
intention. When Jesus turned the water into wine at Cana, what exactly was he
trying to show us? Do you find it strange that there just happened to be all
these water containers sitting around? The Jewish religion was very familiar
with the idea of ‘washings/baptism’ the temple system was surrounded by these
baths and pools and in the gospels we see people linking water with ceremonial
cleansing. No one said of John ‘what in the heck is he doing baptizing people
in the Jordan’ they were familiar with the rite. Now Jesus doesn’t pick any old
water buckets lying around, he is using the symbol of ‘old law’ cleansing, he’s
saying ‘look, I just turned your water [old way of getting clean] into wine [my
Blood which will replace/fulfill the old system]’. The significance of what he
did was heavy. The appearing of Jesus in the 1st century and his
death, burial and resurrection [ascension too] enacted a major change from old testament
economy into a new kingdom age, the water served its purpose, but the new wine
has come- party on.
VERSES-
Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but
by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
Galatians 1:2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the
churches of Galatia:
Galatians 1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ,
Galatians 1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver
us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
Galatians 1:5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Galatians 1:7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble
you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be
accursed.
Galatians 1:9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man
preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be
accursed.
Galatians 1:10 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.
Galatians 1:11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which
was preached of me is not after man.
Galatians 1:12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I
taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past
in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God,
and wasted it:
Galatians 1:14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my
equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my fathers.
Galatians 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
Galatians 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him
among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
Galatians 1:17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were
apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
Galatians 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to
see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
Galatians 1:19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James
the Lord's brother.
Galatians 1:20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold,
before God, I lie not.
Galatians 1:21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and
Cilicia;
Galatians 1:22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea
which were in Christ:
Galatians 1:23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted
us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
Galatians 1:24 And they glorified God in me.
Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it
saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all
the world may become guilty before God.
Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is
manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no
difference:
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of
God;
Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Romans 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through
faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that
are past, through the forbearance of God;
Romans 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:
that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law?
of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith
without the deeds of the law.
Romans 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the
Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
Romans 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the
circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God
forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Romans 4:1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as
pertaining to the flesh, hath found?
Romans 4:2 For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof
to glory; but not before God.
Romans 4:3 For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and
it was counted unto him for righteousness.
Romans 4:4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of
grace, but of debt.
Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that
justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Romans 4:6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the
man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works,
Romans 4:7 Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered.
Romans 4:8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute
sin.
Romans 4:9 Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision
only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to
Abraham for righteousness.
Romans 4:10 How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision,
or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision.
Romans 4:11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of
the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he
might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised;
that righteousness might be imputed unto them also:
Romans 4:12 And the father of circumcision to them who are not of
the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our
father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
Romans 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the
world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the
righteousness of faith.
Romans 4:14 For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is
made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Romans 4:15 Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is,
there is no transgression.
Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace;
to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is
of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the
father of us all,
Romans 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many
nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and
calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Romans 4:18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might
become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall
thy seed be.
Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto
Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding
great reward.
Genesis 15:2 And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me,
seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?
Genesis 15:3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no
seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
Genesis 15:4 And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him,
saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine
own bowels shall be thine heir.
Genesis 15:5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now
toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said
unto him, So shall thy seed be.
Genesis 15:6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him
for righteousness.
Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered.
Psalm 32:2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not
iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Heb. 4:15
Note- Please do me a favor, those who read/like the posts-
re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read them on- Thanks-
John.#
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