The Gospel According to Galatians
Rev.
The Gospel According
to Galatians
I am delighted to inform you
that our next ‘Word of Encouragement’ series will be on the Apostle
Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians. This sermon will be
available on audio at Sermon Audio and on CD for you to
pick up in a few days!
As Christians, we need to be
constantly, moment-by-moment reminded of the good news or gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We all have a tendency of forgetting the truth and reality
of our union with Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, we regularly seek to
replace the righteousness of Christ that has been given to us with a
substitution of our own making, one of our own works.
As sinners saved by grace, a
constant temptation for us is to replace Christ’s righteousness with
“another gospel” – one of our own making! Instead of
living out our union with Jesus Christ by knowing we have been declared
righteous or justified all because of God’s grace given to us, we are
tempted daily to replace his righteousness with our own. We just
can’t seem to get it through our heads that God loves us, that we are no
longer slaves, and that we have been adopted as children of the living
God!
“Sons, not slaves! Sons, not slaves!”
Righteous before God not based on anything we have
done, or feel, but on what Christ has graciously done for us!
One of my favorite hymns of
the Church is “Not What My Hands Have Done” and we would be wise to
be reminded of these important truths:
Not what my hands have done
Can save my guilty soul;
Not what my toiling flesh has borne
Can make my spirit whole.
Not what I feel or do
Can give me peace with God;
Not all my prayers and sighs and tears
Can bear my awful load.
Thy work alone, O Christ,
Can ease this weight of sin;
Thy blood alone, O Lamb of God,
Can give me peace within.
Thy love to me, O God,
Not mine, O Lord to thee,
Can rid me of this dark unrest
And set my spirit free.
As the people of God, we are
often tempted as the younger son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son to find our
hope away from our Father’s goodness, provision and inheritance in Jesus
Christ and substitute this for a “far country” where we serve as
slaves with pigs. As the older brother in the same parable, we may not
have sought after the “far country” in the same way, but we seek
our own righteousness in our Father’s presence and begin to take his mercy
and grace for granted; we begin to think we somehow deserve what we get from
God in Christ!
This important parable
reminds us all that we can be just as far away from God’s righteousness
in our religious practice and church-going activities, as those who run far
away from God’s righteousness held out in Christ!
If you haven’t realized it yet when you have
read the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus is showing that we are all a little
bit like the younger- -as well as the older brother in seeking righteousness
away from our Father!
We all are tempted to seek
righteousness, or right standing before God (whether close or far away from
him) in what we do for God (or what we think we deserve from God) rather than
giving thanks to him for our life that is hidden in Christ Jesus all because of
his grace and mercy! If we ask “What would Jesus do?” before
we remind ourselves of the gospel and ask “What has Jesus already done
for me?” then we are in danger of substituting a righteousness of our own
making with Christ’s righteousness! (Think about it!)
We must constantly run to
the righteousness held out to us in Jesus Christ. It is his righteousness
that justifies us- -not our own! We live obediently and grateful for what
God has already done for us in Jesus Christ. And so we can
confidently say with the Apostle Paul:
… I
have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the
grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then Christ died for
no purpose.”- Galatians 2:20-21
This is why I believe it is
so important for us to study the Book of Galatians as our next ‘Word of
Encouragement’ series. Pray that God would empower and enable us by
His powerful Spirit to receive, believe, and rest upon the good news, or gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ that is found in the Book of Galatians. May God
give us wisdom and discernment to live obediently, confidently and graciously
from His righteousness alone- -and learn constantly to repent of our own (even
best!) righteousness! Amen.
When the gospel of grace is
preached, and when the people of God receive it, believe it, and encourage each
other with it- -by God’s grace- -powerful disciples and saints are
nurtured and matured for service that will literally change the world and build
the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ!
When the gospel of grace is preached,
and when the people of God receive it, believe it, and encourage each other
with it- -by God’s grace- -long lasting and juicy fruit is borne out of
gratitude for what God has done for us in Jesus Christ to the glory of God! (He
is the Vine and we are the branches. Jesus says: “Abide/Remain in
me and I in you…you will bear much fruit…fruit that will last!)
Here are some questions that
will be addressed and answered in the next few issues of ‘Word of
Encouragement’. If you’re using these ‘WOEs’ for small
group studies, I encourage you honestly to ask yourself and the group these
questions:
1) What is the Gospel of God’s Grace in Jesus
Christ?
2) What are “Other Gospels” that are
competing with the true Gospel of grace? Why do we believe in the counterfeits
so often?
3) How do we live as the Church, the Israel of God in
true unity today?
4) What is Justification by faith alone and why is it so
important for me to understand and believe it?
5) How do you live like you believe the gospel?
6) Do you think of yourself most of the time as
God’s slave or as his son or child?
7) What is “Reformed” Spirituality?
8) How do we keep in step with the Holy Spirit in our
daily lives?
9) What is the relationship of the Law of God and the
Gospel of Promise?
10) How can I better and more clearly and effectively
make known the gospel to myself, my family, neighbors and to the world?
By God’s grace, I will
try to address these questions in future studies!
Substitutes and Fakes
Not many of us like
substitutes, we want the real thing; we all desire authenticity! We want
to know a real person in all their authenticity, not “get to know”
or spend time with inauthentic, counterfeit people who are truly being
themselves but replacing their true selves with substitutes and counterfeits.
In fact, when we meet an inauthentic, counterfeit person, we call them a
“fake” usually. We often avoid substitutes of all kinds in
our lives because we long for the real thing. We avoid substitutes just
because they are not authentic, but are counterfeit. Try purchasing
something with inauthentic, counterfeit money from the game
‘Monopoly’ and you will see the importance of the real thing over
substitutes!
The Apostle Paul had
preached the “real thing” that is the real and authentic gospel to
the Galatian Christians. He had planted and established these
congregations probably on his first and second missionary journeys (cf. Acts
13-16; letter written, ca. AD 49-55). Even though they had received the
real and authentic gospel of God’s grace in Christ, they had quickly
turned to a substitute- -which was no gospel at all! The Galatian
Christians were turning to an inauthentic, counterfeit gospel.
What was this “other
gospel”? Essentially it was believing by faith in the grace of
Christ plus something else. The Apostle Paul quickly picks up his
pen under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to write to these congregations
and warn them of the dangers of substitute and counterfeit gospels- -which are
no gospels at all. He begins his letter to the Galatians as many letters
in the ancient world began. He writes:
Galatians 1:1-5
ESV Galatians 1:1-5: Paul, an apostle- not from men
nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him
from the dead- 2 and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches
of Galatia: 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, 5 to
whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
The counterfeit gospel
preachers were lying to the Galatians. They have been known in
interpretation history as “Judaizers”. Essentially the
Judaizers wanted to make new Gentile converts to faith in Jesus Christ to first
become Jews through observance of Old Testament ceremonies and rituals,
particularly insisting that they be circumcised. In the time between the
Apostle Paul’s first two missionary journeys to plant and establish these
congregations, the Judaizers had come along and added something else to the
pure and free authentic gospel of grace that Paul had preached- -and through
which they had been saved. But they were in trouble of exchanging the
real for a counterfeit or fake.
It was vitally important to
the spiritual lives of these Christians to understand that the Apostle Paul was
commissioned, called and sent specially and specifically by the risen Christ to
preach the only, true, real, authentic gospel!
The Judaizers were trying to
undermine Paul’s influence and reception by the Galatian congregations by
saying that he had no authority from the true twelve apostles from Jesus from
This was a serious error and
lie from the Judaizers; many of these new Gentile converts to the faith were
just babes in their understanding of Jesus’ grace. They had yet
learn to walk with Christ and had only recently been born again into the
covenant community of faith out of the darkness of heathenism. Those who
had believed Paul’s gospel of grace alone, were not being tempted to
believe in “grace alone, plus something else”! (Which
appealed to their sinful desires of “works righteousness”).
Therefore, Paul as their
spiritual father (Gal. 4:19), writes to them to warn them that he is preaching
to them the true, authentic, real and only gospel of grace - -and any other is
a counterfeit or fake. In fact, he says that if an angel from heaven
preached a different gospel from the one he had preached to them, or he himself
came back after a few days and said that he had another gospel different from
the one he had already declared to them- -not to listen to him! (Gal. 1:6-9).
ESV Galatians 1:8-9: But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel
contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As
we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you
a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
Paul begins the letter with
“Paul, an apostle not from men nor through man…” His purpose
in this is to show that he was not commissioned by mere men, nor was he sent on
his apostolic mission by mere men, but was sent by Christ himself.
ESV Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle- not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ
and God the Father, who raised him from the dead-
ESV Galatians 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.
ESV Galatians 1:16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him
among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone…
Paul says “Not by
man” in order to make clear his apostolic authority to speak God’s
word to the people.
Paul’s
“Road to
You may recall the Apostle
Paul’s glorious conversion on the Road to
With blood still fresh on
his hands from the death of Stephen, Paul rushes to apprehend more of those who
opposing the religion of his Jewish fathers (cf. Gal. 1:13-16), and bring them
to their death! He is set on not only persecuting Christians, but
destroying the
ESV Galatians 1:13-14: For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the
In the midst of his madness
and sinful misunderstanding, the risen Jesus Christ appears to Paul and tells
him that he is not only persecuting the Church, you’re persecuting
me! “I am Jesus who you are persecuting,” the risen Christ says
to him (Acts 9:4). Paul immediately bows to the risen Christ’s
lordship and realizes by God’s grace and powerful penetration of
God’s Spirit and removal of the veil that is over his heart and eyes (cf.
2 Cor. 3:14-18) that this is Messiah that was promised in the Old Covenant, the
very Seed of Abraham!
Christ calls and commissions
Paul to preach his gospel of grace primarily to the Gentiles, and to suffer
with Christ in order that he might experience joyfully Christ’s
resurrection after his mission is complete (cf. Phil. 3:7-16).
Paul had been obedient to go
with the authority of Christ himself to proclaim the gospel to the Roman
Province of Galatia, particularly to the Galatian congregations in Pisidian
Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium - -and by grace alone in Christ alone, they
had been gloriously saved and converted from heathenism (Acts 13:1-15:6).
Many had believed the authentic and true gospel and now their hope in Christ is
threatened because they are ready quickly to exchange the gospel of grace, with
the counterfeit and fake “gospel plus something else”,
particularly a belief in Christ plus an obedience to the Old Covenant Law of
Moses in order to be saved.
Paul writes to reestablish
and declare his authority from Christ. This is important because if his
authority from Christ is undermined, his gospel from Christ is
undermined! This is what is at stake here. No, he didn’t get
his call through the twelve apostles, but he did uniquely get his call from the
risen Christ. Paul calls these Judaizers literally
“trouble-makers” or “agitators” (Gal. 1:7; 5:10-12)
because they were threatening the life of these congregations by denying the
true and authentic gospel of grace.
ESV Galatians 5:10-12: I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than
mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty,
whoever he is. 11 But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why
am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been
removed. 12 I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate
themselves!
It is interesting how the
Judaizers wanted to undermine Paul’s authority in order to undermine the
authority of Christ and thus HIS gospel. It is my experience that this is
often how the evil one undermines the preaching and proclamation of God’s
Word, as well as the growth and maturity of Christ’s congregations.
Calvin wrote in his
commentary: “The false apostles, who had deceived the Galatians to
advance their own claims, pretended that they had received a commission from
the apostles. Their method of infiltration was to get it believed that they
represented the apostles and delivered a message for them. But they took
away from Paul the name and authority of apostle….In attacking Paul
they were attacking the truth of the gospel.”- Calvin, Galatians.
The evil one seems to
attempt to constantly undermine the authority of the messenger in order to
discount Christ’s authority, and ultimately his gospel. We must
reminded of this threat and temptation especially in an age when all authority
is suspect.
Now don’t get me
wrong, Paul’s authority was unique. In fact, like the other twelve
apostles, he was called specifically by Christ and sent as an apostle (which
“sent one” is essentially what ‘apostle’ means).
Paul’s call was unique like the twelve apostles and so his authority from
Christ, his call and commission from Christ was unique like the twelve.
Paul was a special “Apostle to the Gentiles” called to preach
particularly to the Gentiles.
“Descriptive”
and “Prescriptive” Interpretation of the Apostle Paul
Let us pause for a moment in
our study to consider an important hermeneutic principle when interpreting the
life of Paul particularly and any narrative in scripture more generally.
When considering the life of the Apostle Paul we want to remember two words to
help us in our interpretation, because some today will think the Apostle
Paul’s call and commission, as well as his experiences will be
experienced by all Christians. The two words to consider are
“descriptive” and “prescriptive” when looking at the
life of Paul in order to interpret and apply it to our own today.
In the account of the life
of Paul, what happens to him can be either descriptive or prescriptive.
Paul’s unique call and commission by Christ on a road called
Why is this important? If
you don’t make this distinction between descriptive and prescriptive you
might end up saying something like this: “In 1996, I had a ‘Road to
The Apostle Paul begins his
letter with his name, his authority, his call, his commission, and his
Christ! He wants this congregation to grow up and mature and for Christ
to be formed in them! (Gal. 4:19). He does not want them to substitute
the true, real and authentic gospel for a fake. He wants the congregation
to know that it is only by the grace of God through the will of God delivering
up Christ for our sins (Gal. 1:3-5), that we have hope of being rescued from
our sins and this present evil age! This truth of the gospel of Jesus
Christ is plus nothing else!
The Judaizers were not
realizing that a great redemptive-historical shift had occurred with the coming
of Christ in the fullness of the times (Gal. 4:4). The Old Covenant that
was passing away and becoming obsolete (2 Cor. 3:7-18; Hebrews 8:13) was giving
way to the reality that it pointed forward to in Christ and the New
Covenant.
With that redemptive-historical shift came
continuities and discontinuities between the Old and New Covenant. There
was going to have to be new God-given wine skins that could hold the new wine
of grace! The old wine skins could not hold the wine of the glory of God
poured out in the full revelation of Jesus!
Paul writes the Letter to
the Churches of Galatia (Gal. 1:2b) in order to communicate the importance of
the gospel of God’s free grace in Christ alone. He writes to teach
how we are justified by faith alone apart from any additions, pluses or works
of the law. We are saved by grace plus nothing- -and if anyone adds
anything- -it is not gospel-good news and they are to be accursed (Gal.
1:6-11). This was serious business and the Apostle Paul addresses it
under the inspiration of the Spirit of God so that Christians then and
Christians now can grow up and be sons of the living God and no longer slaves
to law!
Calvin wrote: ‘Paul
had faithfully instructed [the Galatians] in the pure gospel, but false
apostles had entered in his absence and corrupted the true seed by false and
corrupt dogmas. For they taught that the observance of ceremonies was
still necessary. This might seem trivial, but Paul fights for it as a
fundamental article of the Christian faith. And rightly so, for it is no
light evil to quench the brightness of the gospel, lay a snare for consciences
and remove the distinction between the old and new covenants. He saw that
these errors were also related to an ungodly and destructive opinion on the
deserving of righteousness….”
Grace…Plus
Nothing; Christ Plus Nothing
As we close today’s
study, think about how you personally exchange the good news of the gospel of
grace for righteousness of your own making. I am fairly sure that you
don’t insist on yourself and new Christians being circumcised in order to
be true Christians and understand the “full gospel”.
However, the principle here
in Galatians is that something is added to the gospel that has already been
declared completed, fulfilled, and given to you by faith alone in Christ
alone!
What do you add to the glorious gospel of grace?
Do you have right standing
before God when you believe in the good news of Christ’s grace plus what
you can give to him, do for him, work for him? Then you are
falling into the same error in principle of the Judaizers.
Do you insist on other
Christians doing certain works in order to gain their right standing before
God? Do you say if you’re a good and obedient son of God to your parents,
then you’ll have right standing before God? Do you say that if you go on
one more mission trip, you will have right standing before God? Do you say that
you must have longer prayers, long quiet time, longer this, more that, before
you will have right standing before God?
You see we are constantly
struggling just to believe the simple message of the gospel of grace plus
nothing! Does this tempt us to say “Since it is all of grace
then I can live any way I please?” Well, if you are really asking
that, then you might be close to understanding the true and authentic gospel of
Paul. In Romans 6, Paul says “Shall we go on sinning so that grace
might increase?” His question is one that is prompted when you
truly understand grace plus nothing. But then Paul responds with:
“God forbid- -may it never be!!!!” Why? Because we are no longer
slaves to sin.
For Paul in Romans as well
as what we will find in our study on Galatians wants us to understand that
salvation is in Christ alone, by faith alone, through grace alone plus
nothing. We respond as grateful sons in obedience to who we
already are, as we understand ourselves in union with the risen Christ, and
that we are no longer slaves but sons- - children of the living God (Gal.
3:26-29). According to the Apostle Paul, we truly understand grace when
we see our identity and Christ and draw our positional standing before God only
in Christ- -not in what we are doing, or not doing for God!
Judaizers or
“Proto-Semi-Pelagians”?
What should be sobering
about the teaching of Galatians, and what may yet wake the modern evangelical
church today from its un-dogmatic slumbers, is that is seems the Judaizers
believed in the “essentials” of the Christian faith doctrinally
such as Christ’s deity (Paul doesn’t have to argue for it up front
in the letter), the supreme authority of Scripture (particularly the Old
Covenant), and they also believed in the resurrection.
However, Paul still writes
this controversial polemic because the message of the gospel, or good news of
this risen Christ has been ‘nullified’ by adding something to it,
namely man’s obedience or cooperation with the grace of God.
What must be
understood about the Judaizers (contrary to popular evangelical opinion) is
that they were not denying the essential doctrines of Christianity, neither
were they wholly putting their trust in their own works as in legalism, or what
would later be called in Church history “Pelagianism”.
What the Judaizers were doing was affirming the essential
doctrines of our most holy faith, while adding to the grace of God in Christ.
They did not put their trust in works alone, but they
were putting their trust in the work of Christ and their works too! In
other words, Judaizers were proto-Semi-Pelagians, or proto-Arminians.
They believed that man’s obedience or cooperation with the grace of God
was essential to be a true Christian!
We will close this study
with Paul’s comment in Galatians 2. He says that if we add anything
to the gospel, we nullify it.
ESV Galatians 2:20-21: 20 I
have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who
lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not
nullify the grace of God, for if justification were through the law, then
Christ died for no purpose.
What does
“nullify” mean? Two
important definitions for us to consider:
|
1. |
to render or declare
legally void or inoperative: to nullify a contract. |
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2. |
to deprive (something) of
value or effectiveness; make futile or of no consequence. |
How do you nullify the grace
of God in your daily thinking and practices? Christ died for you and for the
purpose of saving you from God’s wrath and making you his children.
Do not add to something already complete in Christ! Remember you have
died and your life is hidden with God in Christ and you have been seated with
him in the heavenly places- -already NOW! (Eph. 2:5-8; Col. 3:1-4).
Become who you already are in Jesus Christ!
Do not nullify the gospel of
grace- -if you do you have bought into a counterfeit- -a real fake!
The hymn “Not What My
Hands Have Done” continues beautifully:
Thy grace alone, O God,
To me can pardon speak;
Thy pow'r alone, O Son of God,
Can this sore bondage break.
No other work, save thine,
No other blood will do;
No strength, save that which is divine,
Can bear me safely through.
I bless the Christ of God;
I rest on love divine;
And with unfalt'ring lip and heart
I call this Saviour mine.
This cross dispels each doubt;
I bury in his tomb
Each thought of unbelief and fear,
Each ling'ring shade of gloom.
I praise the God of grace;
I trust his truth and might;
He calls me his, I call him mine,
My God, my joy, my light.
'Tis he who saveth me,
And freely pardon gives;
I love because he loveth me,
I live because he lives.
Next Study: Galatians
1:6-17: “Gospel 101 and Another Gospel”
Sermon Audio:
CRB
© 2006-2007 A Place for
Truth.
Bibliography for Further
Bruce, F. F. Paul:
Apostle of the Heart Set Free.
_________. The Epistle to
the Galatians (New International Greek Testament Commentary)
Calvin, John. The
Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and
Colossians, trans. T. H. L. Parker.
Fung, Ronald Y. K. The
Epistle to the Galatians (New International Commentary on the New
Testament-New Edition).
Gaffin, Richard B., Jr. By
Faith, Not by Sight: Paul and the Order of Salvation.
Hendriksen, William. Galatians
and Ephesians (Baker New Testament Commentary).
Lenski, R. C. H. The
Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, Ephesians, and
Philippians.
Lightfoot, J. B. The
Epistle of
Luther, Martin. A
Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians.
Machen, J. Gresham. Notes
on Galatians (Edited by John Skilton).
Ridderbos, H. N. The
Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia. (New International Commentary
on the New Testament).
________. Paul: An
Outline of His Theology.
Stott, John R. W. The
Message of Galatians (The Bible Speaks Today)
Ancient Christian
Commentary on Scripture, Volume
VIII: Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians (edited by Mark J. Edwards).
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