INTRO
Why do we want to teach Galatians?
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Relevance to our church.
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Unique book in terms of our journey.
·
Like many Christians, we begin our walk with
Jesus as a prodigal, but all too quickly we become the “older brothers” in
God’s family.
·
Paul uses the letter to Galatia to tackle this
problem head-on.
Overview
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Author:
Paul
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Date:
50’s
·
Audience:
Galatia (some discrepancy over the northern or southern cities, but Paul
appears to visit both on his journeys, so he could be writing to both).
·
Style:
Rebuke or Deliberative Rhetoric… wanting a change in the individual’s or
group’s behavior
·
Reason:
other missionaries (probably after Paul’s first journey) were entering Galatia
and requiring the Christians there to adhere to specific Jewish laws (like
circumcision). This matter had been settled at the council of Jerusalem, but
the Galatian churches were believing that they must now follow the “law” to
become fully “righteous” and gain the full benefits of the people of God.
Other key texts to be familiar with (Homework J):
·
The story of Abraham (Genesis 12:1-25:18)
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Paul’s Journeys (Acts 13-18)
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Other New Testament references to Galatia?
o
2 Timothy 4:10 – sends one of his workers back
there
o
1 Peter 1:1 – sends his letter to Galatia
o
1 Corinthians 16:1 –teaching on giving
Other things to note:
·
Paul is writing a letter to a church. It is not a letter of well-wishes, but it is
also not a letter written to those whom he doesn’t know. As an apostolic
leader, Paul is writing to correct a specific way of thinking that would be
detrimental to the personal and corporate growth of their church (or of any
church for that matter which is why it’s sent to all the churches of Galatia).
·
Gentiles
in its original form was just a term for “nations.” By the time of Jesus, the
Jewish people had determined that all nations other than their own were bad for
their way of life and, in fact, hindered them following the law. Paul is not
only taking on cultural & religious prejudice, but he is opening the door
for all “nations” to believe, receive and live-out the real gospel.
·
Galatian is a GRACE v. LAW argument. Presented by Paul in the legal (almost
lawyer-like) style of his day. So, each chapter we will present as an argument
to diffuse any possible lingering of a “false gospel.”
This will be our
schedule:
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Week #2 - August 4 - JUSTIFIED: Faith v.
Works
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Week #3 - August 11 - IDENTITY: Righteous
v. Cursed
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Week #4 - August 18 - THE PROMISE: Kids v.
Orphans
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Week #5 - August 25 - YOUR NATURE: Freedom
v. Slavery
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Week #6 - September 1 - ACTION: Grace v.
Effort and wrap up
This is, of course, a goal. We may have to combine some
weeks or take longer on some difficult sections.
What are other sources saying?
·
(Mirror
131) “Paul contrasts the futility of the law of works in its clumsy effort
to improve human behavior with the amazing revelation of the life of our design
redeemed in us, in Christ! He uses the words: law, flesh, and works vs. grace,
spirit, and faith to give reference to the dynamic of the success of the
cross.”
·
(Be Free
INRTO)
o
We often feel like we have to earn God’s love or
do something that makes us deserve what Jesus went through on the cross. Yet
these feelings contradict the clear teaching of the Bible that God’s love is
unconditional and that our salvation is free. But we sure struggle with that
don’t we?
o
What makes salvation good news is that it is
free.
o
The truth that God’s grace and love being free
and unconditional is just too good to be true. Because of our conditioning, we
feel compelled to do something to earn them.
o
True salvation is free of works and totally
dependent upon God’ grace. And once you get this, once you allow the truth of
the real gospel to penetrate your heart, you begin to live in freedom. Freedom
from fear of losing God’s love, freedom from guilt, shame and condemnation when
you do something that doesn’t measure up, freedom from the frantic urge to
perform for God, so He will love you more. The gospel is the good news, and the
good news is that God is for you, not against you, that God loves you right now
as much as He will ever love you, and that salvation is a free gift that He
makes available to anyone who will receive it by faith. This is Paul’s gospel, and
this is truly good news!
·
And just
to bring it into a Vineyard context, listen to what Wimber wrote over 25 years
ago (1987).
POWER HEALING by John Wimber
Let us look now at the central and root act that God does to
restore our spiritual life.
Our salvation is
initiated in a one-time event in which we are born again by turning away from
our sins and toward Christ. This “born-again” event produces many changes in
our lives and is the basis for our spiritual healing. The clearest description
of these changes is found in the first 8 chapters of the book of Romans. In the
first four chapters Paul teaches that we are justified through faith in Christ (that is, our sins are
forgiven and we are declared righteous
by the Father): Romans 3:22-24
“Justification by faith,” as
theologians call this cardinal truth of the Christian life, has 2 parts. First,
God forgives the sins that we have committed, so we no longer have to live in
bondage with guilt and fear; second, God declares us righteous with the same righteousness as that of His own
Son.
The remarkable
quality about our justification
is that it is free: Romans 5:8. This is difficult for many to accept, because
there is something in us that wants to earn eternal life; we want to do it our
own way, in out own strength. But God’s gifts
of grace and mercy cannot be earned; they can only be received.
God forgives us in
Christ and declares us righteous.
He adopts us as his sons and
daughters. He changes us into his likeness.
So complete is our
death in Christ that we are now a new creation: Romans 6:6-7. This is what
being “born again” means: we have new
natures, new hearts, ones that now want to please and obey God.
“If anyone is in
Christ,” Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “he is a new creation; the old has
gone, the new has come!” The key to our spiritual healing—and the one point
that must be understood and experience for the rest of what I write in this
book to make any sense—is becoming new creations in Christ and living our lives
as fully forgiven and reconstructed people. In this regard our initial “healing
of spirit” is more like a heart transplant operation, for God does not bring
new life to an old heart so much as create a new heart in us with new desires
and capacities to know him. This is the fulfillment of Gods promise found in
Jeremiah 31:33.
Paul makes the same
point in Ephesians 1:4-6.
Under Roman law an adopted son was recognized in
the same way as a natural son. In fact, at the time of the adoption all records
of the adopted son’s previous life were destroyed, indicating he was a new
person and that he had all the privileges of a natural son, including inheritance rights. That is what
being a Christian is like: we are no longer tie to our old inheritance of sin
and sinful desires; we are new creations (see also Colossians 3:1-11 and 1John
3:6-7).
I used to tell
people that “I was just a sinner saved by grace.” But I no longer say that.
True, I once was a sinner who repented and believed, and as a result was saved
by grace. But now I am a child of God,
healed of my spiritual sickness: Romans 6:18. That is to say, my fundamental identity is that I am a child of
God, a new creation.
Galatians 1
GOSPEL: Real v. False
Greeting
·
Read 1:1-5
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(KEY) 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us
from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
·
Already he is laying the groundwork for this is
about God and not us… grace and not law.
Gospel
·
Read 1:6-10
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KEY VERSES
o
1: 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly
deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a
different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who
trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
o
Adhering
to law is deserting Jesus and his plan.
o
1:10 If I were still trying to please man, I
would not be a servant of Christ.
o
You
cannot please both men and Christ.
·
Defining the gospel
o
The gospel story is the story of Jesus.
o
The good news is the blessing of what we (God’s
kids) received because of the gospel story!
·
Romans
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
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1Corinthains
15 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which
you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you
hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I
delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died
for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he
was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he
appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five
hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have
fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of
all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of
the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church
of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was
not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was
not I, but the grace of God that is with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they,
so we preach and so you believed.
·
Ephesians
1:13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your
salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
o
We will focus on the authentic because then it’s
easier to spot the counterfeit.
§
Loved – The gospel of grace declares that God’s
love is greater than your sin and that there is nothing you can do to earn it.
All you can do is receive it by faith.
§
Forgiven – the gospel is not an invitation to
engage in soul-searching and faultfinding. The gospel is the emphatic
declaration that you have been completely and eternally forgiven through the
blood of the Lamb.
§
Saved – The gospel is not just a promise of a
ticket to heaven and a distant salvation. The gospel is the power of God to
bless you with his saving and abundant life here and now.
§
Union – For those who believe it, the gospel is
the joyful declaration that right now and forever more, you are in perfect
union with Jesus. In Christ you have ALREADY found eternal rest.
§
Accepted – The gospel is not an invitation to
accept Jesus; it is the stunning announcement that HE accepts you!
§
Holy – Many Christians still struggle with sin
despite their best efforts to avoid it… they are patients who won’t leave the
hospital. The gospel is the definitive announcement that in Jesus you are holy
and whole.
§
Righteous – The gospel is not a list of things
you must do to inherit eternal life. It is the blessed announcement that the
righteousness you need to enter the Kingdom of heaven – the righteousness that
exceeds that of the Pharisees – comes to us as a free gift through faith.
§
Died – The gospel is not a reform program for
bad people; it is the liberating declaration of new life for those who have
already died. On the cross the “old” went and now the new has come. Religion
says die to self… gospel says you’re already dead.
§
New – the gospel is not a half-baked hope that
you can extend your old, broken life indefinitely. The gospel is the joyful
announcement that in in Christ the old has gone and the new has come.
§
Royal – the gospel is not a vague notion that
you get to rule and reign after you die. It is the glorious announcement that
the reign of the King is right here within the reach of faith. The Kingdom of
God is at hand now!
·
We mustn’t desert God’s grace for our effort.
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God’s grace is what saves us and sustains our
Christian life.
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The gospel is ALL about what God did for us!
God Calls Paul
·
Read 1:11-24
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(KEY) 1:12 For I did not receive it from any
man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus
Christ.
·
Man’s Revelation v. God’s Revelation
·
Refer again to 1 Corinthians 15
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Paul and the gospel
o
God did the work.
o
God did it by grace.
o
God did it through Christ.
o
God did it for the sake of others.
o
God did it for His glory.
Parallel Passages in Galatians
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Galatians 2:2, 2:5, 2:7, 2:14, 3:8, 4:1
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