Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Galatians 1:1, 2 and following. Indeed, the subject of the epistle to the Galatians is the christian’s relationship with the law of Sinai. This epistle has three main parts: a) the historical part (Gal 1:6 to 2:21) in which the apostle reminds the Galatians of the origin of the gospel he announced to them, his call and his relations with the brothers in Jerusalem and with Peter. b) the doctrinal part (Gal 3:1 to 4:31) explains the difference between justice by faith and justice by law, as well as the raison d’être of the law. c) finally, the part of the exhortations (Gal 5:1 to 6:16) deals with practical life and the manifestations of new life.
Indeed, the exposition of the epistle to the Galatians on justification by faith without works is very close to that developed in the epistle to the Romans. It should be noted that this epistle has lost none of its relevance today. For in a vast part of Christendom, formalism, ritualism, and “good works” tend to replace or at least complement faith in Christ’s atoning work on the cross, walking by the Spirit, and works of faith.
But it is a severe epistle that Paul addresses to the assemblies of Galatia. For he had to deal no longer with a moral sin as in the Corinthians, but with a doctrinal evil of the greatest gravity. Indeed, these poor Galatians, deceived by false doctors, were abandoning grace, the only means of salvation, to return to the religion of works. Paul forcefully affirms the absolute character of the divine Truth. It is one, it is complete, it is perfect because the Truth is Christ (Jn 14:1-7). We sometimes hear strong minds argue (basically to justify their disbelief) that each people has received its own revelation, the religion that best adapts to its character and civilization. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is only one gospel; he proclaims that “our Lord Jesus Christ… gave himself for our sins.” What is the consequence? “In order to tear us away from the present evil century…” (Gal 1:4). Moreover, Gal 1:10 reminds us of another crucial truth, namely that the concern to please men makes us lose the status of slaves of Christ. Is it to Him first, to Him alone, that we desire to please (1 Th 2:1-7)?
As usual, he wishes the congregations grace and peace from God contemplated in his character as Father, and from Jesus in his character as Lord. But here he adds “in the name of Jesus,” which belongs to the character of the Gospel that the Galatians had lost sight of, to know that Christ had given Himself for our sins in order to deliver us from this present evil century. The natural man, in his sins, belongs to this evil century; the Galatians wanted to enter under the pretext of justice according to the law. Christ had given Himself for our sins in order to take us away from them, for the world is judged. Considered as in the flesh, we are of the world. Now the righteousness of the law is connected with men in the flesh.
It is man as in the flesh who must accomplish it, and the flesh has its sphere in this world: the justice that man would like to accomplish in the flesh is directed according to the elements of this world. Legal justice, man in the flesh, and the world go together. Christ, on the contrary, saw us as sinners, having no righteousness, and he gave himself for our sins and in order to deliver us from this condemned world, where men seek to establish their righteousness by placing themselves on the ground of the flesh that never fulfills it. This deliverance is also according to the will of God our Father. He wants to have a heavenly people, redeemed according to that love that has given us a place in heaven with Him, and a life in which the Holy Spirit operates to make us enjoy this blessed position, and make us walk in the freedom and holiness that God gives us in this new creation, of which Jesus himself, risen and glorified, is the head and glory.
The apostle addresses his subject and the state of the Galatians who abandoned the Gospel in its foundations, made it spring from an oppressed and indignant heart. How was it possible that the Galatians so promptly abandoned the one who had called them according to the power of Christ’s grace, to embrace a different gospel? It was through God’s call that they shared in the glorious freedom and salvation that has its realization in heaven. It was through redemption that Christ had accomplished and through the grace that belongs to us in Him, that they enjoyed heavenly and Christian happiness, and now they turned to an entirely different witness, to a witness that was not another Gospel, another true good news. This other gospel was not one, and only disturbed minds by perverting the true gospel.
Now, says the apostle, repeating his words to make him feel the importance he attached to them, if I or an angel in heaven preached something to you besides the gospel that I have already preached to you, let it be anathema (Gal 1:9). Judaizing Christians did not formally deny Christ; they wanted to add circumcision to Christ. But the gospel that the apostle had preached was the complete and whole gospel; nothing could be added to it without altering it, without saying that it was not the perfect gospel, without really adding something of another nature, that is, without corrupting it, for God’s entirely heavenly revelation was what Paul had taught them. For the apostle in his teachings had completed the circle of God’s doctrine. To add to it was to deny its perfection, to alter its character, and to corrupt it. The apostle does not speak of a doctrine openly opposed to the gospel, but of what is outside the gospel he had preached.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
- The Galatians are diverted from the one good news; Fatherhood of God:
1 Ch 29:10 David blessed the Lord in the presence of the whole congregation. He said: Blessed be you, from eternity to eternity, Eternal, God of our father Israel. Ps 68:6 The father of orphans, the defender of widows, is God in his holy abode. Isa 63:16 Yet you are our father, for Abraham does not know us, and Israel does not know who we are; It is you, Eternal, who are our father, Who from eternity call you our savior. Isa 64:7 However, O Lord, you are our father; We are the clay, and it is you who have formed us, We are all the work of your hands. Mt 6:9
This is how you should pray: Our Father who is in heaven! May your name be sanctified; Mt 7:11 If, wicked as you are, you know how to give good things to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him for them. Rom 8:15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her; then she stood up, and served him. 1 P 1:17 And if you invoke as Father the one who judges according to the work of each one, without acceptance of persons, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your pilgrimage,
- Instability, examples:
Ps 106:13 But they soon forgot his works, They did not wait for the execution of his designs. Mt 13:6, but when the sun appeared, it was burned and dried, for lack of roots. Acts 13:13 Paul and his companions, having embarked at Paphos, went to Perge in Pamphylia. John separated from them, and returned to Jerusalem. Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you so quickly turn away from the one who called you by the grace of Christ, to move on to another gospel. Gal 2:12 Indeed, before the arrival of some people sent by James, he ate with the pagans; and when they came, he dodged and stood aside, for fear of the circumcised.
- Warnings against False Doctors
Mt 5:19 The one who therefore suppresses one of these smallest commandments, and who teaches men to do the same, will be called the smallest in the kingdom of heaven; but he who observes them, and who teaches to keep them, will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Mt 15:9 They honor me in vain, teaching precepts that are commandments of men. 1 Tim 1:7 they want to be doctors of the law, and they do not understand what they say or what they say. 1 Tim 4:2 by the hypocrisy of false teachers bearing the mark of wilting in their own conscience;1 Tim 6:3 If anyone teaches false doctrines, and does not cling to the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine that is according to piety;2 Tim 4:3 For there will come a time when men will not endure sound doctrine; but, having the itch of hearing pleasant things, they will give themselves a crowd of doctors according to their own desires; Tt 1.11 to which one must close one’s mouth. They upset entire families, teaching for shameful gain what should not be taught. 2 P 2:1 There have been false prophets among the people, and there will likewise be false teachers among you, who will introduce pernicious sects, and who, denying the master who redeemed them, will draw upon them a sudden ruin.
- Call to God, as a witness
Gen 31:50 If you mistreat my daughters, and if you take more women, it is not a man who will be with us, beware, it is God who will be a witness between me and you. Dt 30:19 Today I take heaven and earth as witnesses: I have put before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, that you and your posterity maylive; Jg 11:10 The elders of Galaad said to Jephthhea, Let jehovah hear us, and judge us, if we do not do what you say. 1 S 12:5 He said to them again: The Lord is a witness against you, and his anointed one is a witness on this day that you have found nothing in my hands. And they answered: They are witnesses. Jb 16:19 Already now My witness is in heaven, My witness is in high places. Rom 1:9 God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, is a witnessto me that I constantly mentionyou; 2 Corinth 1:23 Now I take God as a witness on my soul, that it is to spare you that I have no longer been to Corinth; Phil 1:8 For God is a witness to me that I cherish you all with the tenderness of Jesus Christ. 1 Thess 2:5 Never, in fact, have we used flattering words, as you know; never have we had greed as our motive, God is a witness to it.
From all the above, we note that theapostle therefore comes historically to his ministry and to the question of whether man entered for something in this ministry. His gospel was not according to man, for he had not received it from any man; it had not been taught by man. What he possessed came directly through the revelation that Jesus Christ had given him. And when God, who had set him apart from the womb of his mother and had called him by his grace, wanted to reveal his Son in him, revelation had at the moment all its power as such. The apostle did not consult anyone. He did not enter into a relationship with the other apostles, but he immediately acted independently of them, as being taught directly from God. The assemblies of Judea knew him no face; only they glorified God for the grace he had received. For what was intended to be preached is different; but there is no good news apart from what he preached. Thus, out of love for souls, the apostle could anathematize those who turned the Galatians away from the perfect truth he had announced. It was the gospel of God himself; everything else was satan’s. For if Paul himself brought something other than the gospel he had once preached, let him be anathema. The whole pure Gospel was already proclaimed and claimed in the name of God its rights against everything that claimed to associate with it. Did Paul seek to please men in his gospel, or to please men? Not at all; he would not have been Christ’s servant if he had. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may be shining in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby watering point to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Paul in Jerusalem.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.