STUDY IN GALATIANS
SESSION 1
GALATIANS 1:1-12
1) Background
a) Two Major Theories on the Date of Galatians
i) Northern Galatia
(1) After Third Missionary Journey
(2) Around 55/6AD
ii) Southern Galatia
(1) Following First Missionary Journey
(2) Prior to Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) – 49AD
b) The Later Would Seem More Reasonable
i) In light of internal context
ii) In light of no knowledge shown of Council of Jerusalem Outcome
c) General Date – circa 49AD
d) Held by FF Bruce, Richard Longenecker, John Stott, Colin J Hemmer
2) Circumstance
a) Advent of the Judaizers
i) Circumcision required for Salvation
ii) Obedience to the Law required for Salvation
iii) Work of Christ Partial – not complete in itself
iv) Paul not really an Apostle – see definition in Acts 1:21/2
3) St. Paul Begins His First Letter
a) Paul, an Apostle
i) Sent from God the Father and Jesus Christ - not from men (Judaizers claimed to be sent from James, John and Peter (Jerusalem))
ii) Paul had not been a witness to the Resurrection
iii) The Resurrection is key to Paul’s claim of Apostleship
iv) Paul had met the glorified Christ face-to-face on the road to Damascus
v) THE KEY – St. Paul is speaking in the Name of God as he had been commissioned by God to do
vi) And if St. Paul is so speaking, even if our minds do not agree with St. Paul, we have no right to change an apostolic teaching – St. Paul claims being divinely inspired and taught
b) To the Churches in Galatia
i) First Missionary Journey
ii) Churches of Psidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra
4) Galatians 1:3-5
a) Grace
i) God’s special favour
ii) God’s active participation in the lives of human beings
b) Peace
i) Not simply peace from outward strife
ii) The Peace of God that passes all understanding
c) Jesus Christ – the only route through Whom Salvation can be received as a free gift
d) Rescued from this “evil age” TO the Will of God our Father
e) St. Paul is reminding the people of the Churches of Galatia of the Gospel of unmerited and unrequited Salvation in the free gift of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
5) Galatians 1:6-9
a) St. Paul’s personal affronted by their turning from the One True Gospel
i) NIV = astonished; NKJV = marvel; NASU = amazed
ii) Such a quick desertion of Jesus Who called them through His own Grace
(1) A turning away from both Paul and Jesus
(2) Same word used for deserting soldiers
iii) That to which they have turned is really no Gospel at all – the gospel of Works is no gospel (good news) at all
iv) The Judaizers have the goal of changing and/or adding to the pure Gospel of Salvation in Jesus Christ alone.
v) Also, the Judaizers wish to glory in the flesh of their “converts” and not in Jesus alone – the purpose of “troubling/disturbing/throwing into confusion” them
vi) Verse 8
(1) Angels cannot change the Gospel
(2) Even those who originally preached the message cannot change it
(3) Those who do or would change it are to be “eternally condemned/accursed!”
b) Verse 9
i) If anyone, in any age, seeks to pervert or change the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
ii) Let them be eternally condemned/accursed
c) This is serious matter:
i) The Gospel of Salvation is wrapped up in the merit and work of Jesus Christ alone
ii) Human Salvation can only be found in total giving of allegiance and dependence to Jesus Christ and the resultant receipt of His Free Gift
iii) To place any other condition on Salvation (the earning of Salvation through works and/or the physical act of circumcision) is anathema
iv) Anyone or any being attempting such teachings involving the
insufficiency of Christ alone and the changing of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as
taught by the Apostles and received by the original Christians is to be ETERNALLY
CONDEMNED!
v) As this was applicable to the Galatians – how much more is it
applicable to the Church today – both the leadership and those in the pews?
6) Galatians 1:10-12
a) No one should preach the Gospel to try to win the approval of
mankind
b) It will not happen
c) Mankind as a whole will always take the side of refuting the Will of
God in Favour of the Wisdom/Will of humankind
d) No person who undertakes the Gospel teaching or perverts the Gospel
teaching to please man is a servant of Jesus Christ! OUCH!!!
e) The Gospel is not something that man made up:
i)
Bishop Benison of Philadelphia
recently stated concerning the Holy Scriptures, “We wrote them in the first
place; we can now change them!”
ii) St. Paul (2 Timothy 3:16) and St. Peter (2 Peter 1:20f) both witness
to the Divine Inspiration of Holy Scripture
iii) Jesus testified to the sacred nature of the Old Testament in St.
Matthew 5:17ff
f) Further, St. Paul did not receive His teaching from human sources
but from the Crucified/Resurrected/Ascended/Glorified Jesus Christ
g) St. Paul further had a special revelation of the Gospel that was to
be brought outside of Judaism to the Gentiles.
7) In short, to deny St. Paul’s teachings or to add to or subtract from
these teachings is to change God’s special revelation to humankind through the
auspices of His special Servant St. Paul
a) As he himself cannot alter what he has taught is anathema
b) So for anyone else to attempt to do the same is to walk toward one’s own destruction
8) I don’t know about you; but as for me, I will remain within the pure teachings of the Holy Scriptures as revealed through the Holy Spirit sent from God the Father and God the Son!
NEXT SESSION:
Galatians 1:13 - 2:10
