Overview of Galatians

The Gospel of Grace in Galatians and the Fight Against Judaizing

My father we come to you as we've spent these past couple of months in this book of Galatians as you gave Paul such powerful words to speak knowing that salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ alone.

But the the the opposition uh that would attempt to add to the gospel to judaize the gospel to add works to the gospel needs to be opposed. We thank you for the power of this book as we've looked at it and that you allow pastor Jeff as he reviews it.

These these lessons would come fresh in our mind and the challenges at the very end of the book would speak to us as well. We pray in Jesus name amen amen. Yesterday while I was putting in a fence.

I pulled the cord on the the hole digger which is just like um boring machine and as I pulled it back I karate chopped the post that I had already put in and I was reduced to a puddle not crying but just ah just bruised this arm up.

One karate chop against a wooden post that felt like it was going to do me in the post one the post one. It didn't even move an inch let alone. I didn't cut right through it but it didn't break your arm.

It didn't break my arm. I'm still functional here. But I proved that I'm not the manly man you know I was. Oh it hurt it was just bone on wood. You're not Chuck Norris. Not Chuck Norris at all. Okay. But have you ever seen an action movie when the two people who are fighting are able to take one hit after another to the point where it's just completely unrealistic.

They're taking punches and getting hit with two by fours and then the next thing you know they fall over and pick up a set of nunchucks and hit each other with nunchucks and then they move on to swords and guns are taking bullets and yet they keep on going maybe with adrenaline.

That's somehow possible. But at some point it becomes unrealistic. Right. When I pictured the book of Galatians in total I pictured as a fight scene. It is the apostle Paul versus the Judaizers of the gospel.

These men have come in and are trying to take over a church that belongs to the living God. And Paul fights with nunchucks and swords and two by fours and anything he can get his hands on to fight these men off.

The reason for it is that he loves the gospel of grace and if he surrenders to the Judaizers the gospel itself is lost. And so what you have in the in the book of Galatians is Paul fighting tooth and nail.

And what we're going to do today is we're going to review the entire book because we don't want to just atomize the book and take little snippets and remember bits and pieces. But we also want to remember the swoop of the story the the grand theme that emerges.

And there are really two parts to the book. The book for the first five chapters and 12 verses is about Paul fighting off the Judaizers. And then from chapter 5 verse 13 to the end chapter 6 verse 18 we have Paul correcting for those who abuse grace.

So guarding against the opposite danger. Many people who preach grace fall into licentiousness and forget about the importance of living a holy life. And Paul guards against that in the second half. So what we're going to do today is a lot of reading.

Just let the word of God wash over us and the book of Galatians itself to remind us of all the important points. So the book of Galatians is about preserving the works free gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

We must adamantly reject any false prophet who attempts to Judaize the gospel with circumcision or any other work. What are some of the works that people have tried to use to Judaize the gospel. Church attendance.

How much money you give. How about sacraments. Roman catholic sacraments become means or works that someone must do in order to be saved. Any others that you've heard from different cults and religions.

Oh not necessarily christianity. Right. Secular humanism has adopted moloch worship as a sacrament. The killing of babies as their sacrament. But any work whether it be a cult that says you must be baptized in a certain way under a certain formula in order to be saved like the international church of christ you have to be calling on the name of Jesus for salvation in the moment of your baptism in order for it to be a valid salvation.

You have to believe you're being saved as you're baptized. Or else even a previous baptism doesn't count. Many of the oneness pentecostals believe you have to speak in tongues in order to be saved. Because that's a sign of salvation.

It's a smaller group that believes that that's required for salvation. But some really do. Many of the cults around the world add any number of works to the gospel. So let's begin. Would you be my first reader.

We're going to go through galatians and i'll give you a few verses from each section. And then remind us what that section is about. So galatians 1 1 to 9. Bob. Would you give us verses 6 to 9. Galatians 1 6 to 9.

I'm amazed that you are so quickly deserted. Him who calls you by the grace. Which is really not that which as we. So i say it again now if any man is preaching that indeed. So right from the beginning paul comes out swinging that sound that you'll hear they're setting up the tent for the the wedding on saturday.

Yes not your hearing. I thought i had tinnitus like really bad tinnitus. I think they're drilling down um tent pegs. So it's going to probably go on for this hour. Sorry about that. So the gospel is of grace all of grace.

So it must be kept that way without any addition of works. Less grace no longer be grace. And notice how paul at first in the first five verses comes in gently with greetings. But then it turns into a very aggressive fight.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of christ for another gospel. And he says if anybody brings this other gospel let him be a curse. Then he repeats himself again says let him be a curse.

What does it mean to be a curse. Anathema is the word of the greek. And what does that mean. Sent to hell. Could there be any stronger rhetoric to begin with than to say if anybody's preaching this other gospel.

Let him go to hell. Are we certain of that that anathema means yeah yeah that control. I mean oh yeah people don't literally and they don't mean it literally. So when we take a word like anathema.

Well he would certainly want them to repent. In fact in chapter five when he turns back to this theme he calls them not to be cut off from christ not to fall away from grace not to go after these teachings under threat of going to hell.

So the strength of this warning is actually a real judgment. It's a real warning. Listen the gospel is what keeps you from going to hell. And if these people bring another gospel which is no gospel at all they're taking people to hell with them.

So he's using that strong language as a warning every individual he would want them to come back to saving faith. But he's pronouncing that strong of a judgment. Yes. It means that anathema cursed hell.

It means the judgment of god. Because what these false teachers are doing is worse than what the palestinians did to israel. They killed physical life and that's that's horrible. And it we get this rage in our hearts against what they did to those innocent people that weren't expecting to be attacked.

But a theological attack which leads people to hell puts someone in eternal damnation. Do you see the severity here. Yeah. So we're gonna try to do it. Damn right. Yes. Let them be damned. Yep. Okay. Yeah.

Hey and if you don't believe that paul speaks that way just buckle up. It's all through this book which we're going to review. So listen. He he repeats himself. So you don't miss the strength of it. In verse 9 i say it again as if the first time you think i just spoke out of passion or didn't mean to say it i'll say it again if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you receive let it be a curse.

Strong start. Okay this is all verbal. But i get the impression that he would like to actually physically. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I don't necessarily get that. And i'll tell you why.

I mean i look at jesus he even said that the pharisees for the people to to follow the pharisees but don't do their hypocrisy and he actually passed judgment on the pharisees but he didn't damn them they were damned by their inability right to come and humble themselves to.

Right to this new thing what he's not saying is if you just if you don't accept the gospel. Right. Right. It's not his own personality. Yeah. So what you're saying is right in a sense because what you're pointing out is that he has love for the individual.

He's not wanting them to go to hell he's not against them. He's fighting their ideology the the gospel the false gospel that these people bring will send people to hell. And he is fighting with every fiber of his being.

He's fighting what sends people to hell. Now he would want these people to repent. Even the the judaizers who introduced it to galatia. He he's wanting them to repent as well. Right. But he's fighting them because they're the ones all.

Right. Ken i'm going to bring you the second section here. The second section is from 110 to 210. If you just glance in your bible before we read a few of the verses here is where paul establishes that the gospel he got is actually god's gospel not his own.

And you'll have three lines of argument. First his own reception of it came directly from god wrote to damascus direct revelation from jesus himself. He didn't even consult the apostles. But then there were two trips that he made to jerusalem to confirm that what he was preaching is the same as what the apostles were preaching.

And in one of those cases he had to rebuke peter. For basically well that comes at verse 10 chapter 2 verse 10. For in a sense giving support to the judaizers. So ken i'm just going to ask you to read from chapter 2 verse 1 through 3 that after 14 years of taking time but even very good.

So here what we have in the second section is paul bringing evidence positive evidence that the gospel of grace that he preaches actually came from god. The first part in chapter 1 was a direct revelation from god.

Here he says he went and confirmed it with the apostles. And he even brought titus remember this titus the test case because titus was uncircumcised. And if the apostles allow him to go on in the grace without requiring circumcision that is proof that that's not part of the gospel and it never was.

So he's making a historical argument here that it was always all of grace. And then he talks about the time times that he did visit another time in the remainder of that section. So what we're having here is a convergence of witnesses direct revelation the apostles and the unity that that the gospel was built on when it first was revealed.

Okay. So that's a positive argument. He's he starts in with this thesis statement in galatians 1 6 to 9. And that's against the judaizers. And now he begins to lay his positive argument. So dom if i if i could ask you to read chapter 2 verses 11 to 14 and this serves as a piece of the third section which goes to verse 21.

So if you'll just read 11 to 14 but when cephas came to antioch i opposed the condemn for certain men came from james then the rest even barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when i saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel i told cephas in front of everyone a jew lived like a gentile and not like a jew.

How can you compel gentiles to live like jesus. Okay.

Peter had not come out and taught the judaized gospel he had not required circumcision for salvation at the beginning. Of course he did not with the titus test case paul's trips down to jerusalem. But something did go awry.

When peter was visiting antioch he was getting along great with the gentile believers eating with them carrying on hey we're all together. But when the circumcision party came up he withdrew from the gentiles and would only dine with them as one of the jews.

He didn't say anything wrong but he implied by his actions that there was something lacking in the gentile faith that the jews had almost like a deeper or higher spirituality. Or maybe even the true gospel could be implied from them.

Because peter did no would no longer eat here and even barnabas got caught up in this and they would only eat at the cool kid table the judaizing table. So even though he didn't say anything he was implying some lack in the gentile faith because they weren't circumcised and paul took this as a direct affront to the gospel.

Here again this time he grabs the nunchucks and he brings them out against peter himself. Now again it is toward reconciliation. And clearly they do reconcile. After this it's implied that peter receives the rebuke.

But paul is strong against anything that threatens the gospel of grace alone. These gentiles hadn't done anything wrong. They just weren't living under the law of moses the ceremonial circumcision they were trusting in grace alone and peter's actions were implying that there was something short in them some some shortcoming.

But that was an affront to the gospel because the gospel listen the finished work of christ paid for their sin completely. They did not need circumcision to be justified before god. And so paul confronted it boldly.

And that's that third section. So you have the thesis statement. In the first part you have paul's positive case direct revelation meeting with the apostles titus the test case. Then here you have a confrontation.

Paul brings it up not to embarrass peter about a mistake he made in the past but because it highlights the importance of grace alone and that the judiazers had nothing to add to this gospel make sense all right.

Next section. Yeah john one of the powers of.

This section here that you just read there is a there's a difference between perceiving of shortcoming and a brother. In which case you go to the matthew yes approach but in verse 13 it's clear that what has happened has had a public impact and the rest of the jews acted hypocritically and so therefore the the rebuke needed to be public because he says that i i said deceivers before them all.

Yeah so good. There's a difference. Yep yep that is such an important point. Did he go.

To him privately first doesn't seem to be. I don't think so. It says i opposed him and it actually says in the presence of them all paul wanted to address this publicly because everybody was being affected by it.

It wasn't just a private dispute it was something that publicly affected the church. Yeah.

What amazes me is that paul talks uses things like and i think those of you rick you know he's years after three years. You know sometimes i think that we can paramentalize these things that as if we could just say well this is the way it is and this is it.

I know it's deviating yet in order to see deviation it's kind of like missing the mark. Yeah. And i need to agree you might be off just a fraction but you're going to end up way over here. Yep. And i think it's sometimes years of growth and years like in a church it takes years.

It's not something you say oh you're you know he's off target. You don't know it. That is such a good point. Yeah the smallest.

Error earlier on it develops traditions that lead to greater and greater error farther divergence.

Over time. Yeah. And you bring up another important point is that should should our church have developed a an approach a a belief system without ever challenging. Where stands it written that you could be.

Then measuring true behavior off of our traditions. This is how we do it. That's a danger right. Gotta go back to scripture. Yeah. Where stands it written. Soul of scripture. That's the one.

Justification by Faith Before Circumcision

Rule of faith because tradition it verges over time. All right. Judy would you read chapter three.

Verse one yeah. Okay. Verse one yeah. Oh. Foolish relations. Yes. And here the rhetoric is strong.

So again he's he's got a clenched fist and he's going all in. He calls them foolish. He's trying to snap him out of the wrong thinking. And what he'll do in chapter three is he'll remind them that the law never brought them anything but a curse because they couldn't keep it.

And they were under the curse because they could not obey the law in full. But the gospel brought them freedom. Why would you exchange the freedom of the gospel to go back under the curse of the law. That's a foolish transaction.

Who bewitched you who who cast a spell on you and and got you to think this way. He's trying to jar them out of this misunderstanding. He uses marriage as an analogy. He uses abraham as an analogy and abraham and his family will become an important part of this analogy.

But the key point in chapter three is that abraham was justified by faith before circumcision even came into the picture. Genesis 15 7 came before circumcision was given to israel. So he was justified by faith before there ever was circumcision.

Let alone moses who brings the law which only increased the transgression. So faith has to be the means of justification not the law. That's the argument of chapter three. Chapter four. We'll move on to candy.

Would you read for me the first. Uh let's do the first three verses. Very good. Here he's showing.

That the law was like a steward for an appointed period of time under that dispensation. But when christ came and fulfilled the law in his flesh a new covenant was offered. And what was once a steward for a time was no longer in effect in the same way because it brought the child to maturity.

The son even though he is a son while he is young is under the stewardship of another and he's treated like he's a slave. But when the fullness of time comes and he's a man and he's independent in that way he no longer needs that guardian.

The law is this way. It was a guardian that brought people brought the church forth. And now in the fullness of time in this dispensation we are no longer under law in the way that that old testament israel was.

There's been a development and it's really a development from what slavery to freedom. That's the analogy also. Works to grace. Works to grace. Well yes in a sense yes. He's pointing out that it's not what you can do.

Right. It's accepting what has been done for you. Yes. And but under old testament israel were they justified by works or by grace. No they were justified by grace. But the works were what demonstrate faith in the same way.

So the the dichotomy here is that there was an immaturity of the son. So the genuine son the genuine israelite in the old testament it's as if he's a slave but he's truly a son by faith. Abraham was justified by faith before the works came.

Does that make sense. But in the fullness of time there's now a maturity in the holy spirit the spirit of life that we're no longer under law as we used to be. So that's the analogy. It's coming in to realize who you are in christ.

But remember justification is always by grace from old testament to now. The important point here i think what you're catching on to is that in the old covenant they were looking forward to a messiah who had not yet come.

So they don't have the the content of faith that we have. They only trusted that there would be a messiah the seed of the woman would come. They're trusting in him. Like looking at a shadow whereas we have the fullness.

So we have faith in his shed blood. In christ's shed blood we know who he is and what he's done. But justification was always by grace through faith. Now there's just a greater maturity in the new covenant to see how this all fits together.

Does that help. Yeah. And i wonder how many jews still are looking forward. Oh right. Yeah. Yeah. And and there are many jews that are not actually sons not true israel because they're trying to justify themselves by works by circumcision and the law.

But they've not come to faith in the son of god. And in the old testament they didn't have faith either even though they were um of the flesh. You know what i've been feeling.

Fine and fast the name to the nation. So in order to be right with god one would have to come. You know they did. That's why the ethiopian was reading isaiah. Sure about. They did. But and the new covenant was not made to gentiles it was made to the jewish people.

It's right jeremiah says. Well the mystery.

Revealed in visions three is that that god it was a mystery that that means something that was hidden for a time but now being made known which which is that the gentiles are included in my.

Understanding that but i'm saying if you read in jeremiah yeah at that point it's still mystery. Maybe a new covenant with the people of israel doesn't save the world but it does affect the world just as israel always even in order to be to be saved one would have to people like ruth.

Yeah like yeah. Come and find children. A great way to picture. It is old testament. Israel was a lighthouse that drew the nations in queen of sheba comes up from africa. The world is is to be drawn to israel to know the true god because but in the new covenant the the salt and light is scattered out to the ends of the earth go into all the nations to tell them and proclaim this god.

It's.

Very jewish because paul fulfilled what the jews did not fulfill that in the time of christ. Yeah it was one of the chapters was given to the pharisees that you make. You know you make cycles of hell in your religion.

Yeah. Instead they were supposed to be a light to the nation right. Like they never heard that way went out to the gentiles and became a jewish representative. Describe the gospel. And peter was very jewish.

So i always go back to those jewish roots and judea samaria because i think that in some ways it unlocks the way dom i think that's good. And.

Right. Because you're gone. Yeah. In romans 11 we're not supposed to over the ones from. From that olive tree from which we sprung we were grafted in. Yes and that was the original vine. And that's god.

Right. Yeah. I think that's god centered. Oh in the old times god that's where god spoke. Yeah. Yeah. That's where the tablet. That's where the shekinah was. Right. Today i guess the shekinah is kind of in the believers.

Yeah. Yeah. So i think we have to be a little bit careful on this and that if you go to genesis 12 we're going to talk about this next week. Uh how god promised abram that through you all nations shall be blessed.

And it doesn't say that after they become jews it says all nations shall be blessed. And if we go into the book of jonah there's no indication that the people of tarshish became jews before god showed mercy on them.

But it is clear that that through the promise given to abram that he would be a blessing to the nations and through him all nations would be blessed there's clear evidence that it was god's economy to promote his truth through the nation of israel.

There's no no denying that. And it's all. And it's all. God and forgive me i'm not going to share in my these are how. These are thoughts. Not. Yeah. These are not conclusions these right thoughts. But the thought is that it is god.

And god chose to speak through abraham isaac and jacob people. Yeah. Then in this day god chose chooses to speak his word through his body his church. Yes. And sue can i call on.

You to pick us up again at galatians 5 1 2 4 so in this section and paul's about to wrap up. But the the scrapping this this battle royale that's happening in this book using strong rhetoric it gets to fever pitch in chapter 5.

Okay. So the enemy in this analogy has come into galatia with another gospel. The judaizers are preaching a way to be saved that is not grace alone. It's that you must be circumcised in order to be saved.

Paul is fighting them from a positive argument. Examples from peter the life of abraham as an example of faith abraham's analogous family. Remember that how he he talked about how hagar represents enslavement and the earthly jerusalem is enslaved under the law.

But the heavenly bride is the heavenly jerusalem which sarah represents and she is free. Paul has made these strong arguments. Now he is going to deliver the knockout punch. He warns them. Remember galatians 1 6 to 9 the teacher who's preaching a false gospel let him be accursed.

Now he warns the galatians if you take their view of salvation the judaized view of salvation that you must be circumcised to be saved. You're severed from christ. You are cut off. You have fallen from grace because you are seeking to justify yourself by the law.

If you take that gospel it is a gospel that cannot save. You will be lost. Now listen this is the earlier point. This is an act of love on paul's point part because that strong rhetoric is the very thing that will keep the genuine believer from falling away.

When you preach christ crucified and the all-sufficient merit of his blood. And you remind people that it's this christ that can save you. And if you take this other partial christ who can only partially save you will be lost.

The genuine believer will hear this and god will use that warning as a means to hold his own. It will be the means that god uses to hold his own. Now those who were never truly sheep will gather with the false shepherds those judaizers.

There's no evidence they ever repented. And surely there were many from galatia that went with them. But john will warn those who go out from us show that they were never truly of us. So here's what you have in galatians 5.

You have eternal security of the believer. That's not sacrificed here but a true warning that if you follow the judaized gospel you will be lost. You will go to hell. And that's spoken to believers. People who are gathering in the galatian church you're assuming they're saved.

Some of them are not saved. There are wolves among the sheep and there are goats among the sheep. The wolves are the false teachers galatians 1 6 and 9. The goats are those who will ultimately be lost because they reject the gospel of grace.

So that's what's happening in galatians 5 1 to 4. Now this rhetoric continues. And it reached i said it reaches fever pitch with the most drastic thing that paul ever said in verse 12 i wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves.

He's pointing out that their hope and circumcision is such folly that he wishes they would go go all the way and emasculate themselves. That's strong language. But it's the knockout blow. It's the final punch that paul throws in this book.

He has been building an argument and he set the terms for the galatians. The apostle has told them if you take a different gospel other than grace alone through faith alone in christ alone you are losing your salvation because you never had it.

You will be lost. You will be cursed. You'll be under the curse of the law unable to keep all of it and therefore cursed. Cursed is anyone who does not continue to do everything written in this law. You try to earn your way by circumcision.

You're cursed. You'll go to hell. It doesn't say put your hope in the finished work of christ. You're safe. You're forgiven. That's paul's whole point. It's consistent from galatians 1 1 to 5 12. And now there's a transition word here in verse 13.

Bob would you read verse 13. Key verse of chapter 5. Galatians 5 13 the the hinge point here where he moves to a different point. Thank you. So that that word rather or only for you were called to freedom brothers.

That's the point of that's a summary of the first five chapters that we've been reading right now halfway through this fifth chapter he says only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.

And what continues for the rest of this section until the concluding matters at the end. Galatians 6 11 is about the christian life. You're set free from having to justify yourself by the law. But you're not free to just go and do whatever the flesh wants to do.

You're free and you're filled with the spirit of the living god. So learn to walk in the spirit keep in step with the spirit be led by the spirit. That's what the rest of chapter 5 is about. And when you're filled with the spirit he's he's filling you and leading you.

That's the spirit of life. And a tree doesn't have to strain really hard to pop an apple out or to push an orange out. Right. It's not by effort. It's just the fruit that comes from the tree when you're born again when you're living in the spirit.

And step with the spirit. Love joy peace patience kindness goodness faithfulness gentleness self-control that will come from your life by the spirit in you. And that's what it means to be born again to live in freedom.

Freedom is not the choice. Oh today will i sin. Or today will i obey. That's to be caught in the lurch. That's to be in a stronghold and entangled. Yes. Yeah. This is probably a silly question but i'm here thinking about.

Oh yes that's such a good point. So what was happening with the judaizers. It because of the patriarchy like the the way it was a masculine system. Right. It wouldn't only have that one application. Paul is seizing on the the judaizers teaching as a metonym one small thing that symbolizes the whole so a woman could be trying to be justified by any of the other laws even though circumcision wouldn't be the one anything that a woman would be trying to do to justify herself adding to the gospel.

It's the same principle. So that's that's just used as one stark example. And he paul is addressing it because that's what the judaizers were sent. That's how you were initiated into judaism. And then the family would.

Kind of go the way of the husband right. Um you put it. You could have used an example of how horribly the pharisees misapplied uh the the doctrine of the sabbath. And if i keep the sabbath this pure this holy i'm obviously accepted by god.

Yeah. That's gender neutral. Yeah. And. And just he used the circumcision. It's it's met the metonym. But there are many other ways that the pharisees over just overdid it. Yeah now when you think about go back.

To the pharisees who did god speak that we spoke of man. Yeah. And it's not. That's not what the issue is here. That's not the problem. But i'm yeah i'm bringing that the idea that yeah god looks at the man first.

Sure. Yeah. So you got to answer for your wife as well. Yeah there is something of the created order in that. Let me conclude. I'm sorry we can talk after we're going to finish up now all right. So in chapter 6 we move on to the last section verses 11 to 18.

And sandy we didn't make it to our last two readers. I'm sorry. Um chapter 6 verses 11 to 16. Sandy would you just do 11. See with what large letters i am writing to you. Okay paul i think what john taught last week is correct that he was probably using in an amanuensis up until this point.

And now paul takes the the pen in his own hand and he really emphasizes this point again. And what of course does he said in the following verses he reminds them about this issue of judaizing the gospel.

So he's back to the original point because he's summing up the letter and he's driving home this point that he's been fighting for verse 14 far be it for me to boast except in the cross of our lord jesus christ by which the world has been crucified to me and i to the world.

And then he says. For neither circumcision counts for anything verse 15 nor uncircumcision but a new creation. There's a great summary statement of the of the whole book. And then and as for all who walk by this rule peace and mercy be upon them and upon the israel of god.