GALATIANS - INTRODUCTION - The Hammer of The Reformation
GALATIANS – “The Hammer of The Reformation”
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom
Sunday evening Service, July 26, 2009
There is such a Holy Passion in Paul’s words to the Galatians; we can sense his rage or outrage. It appears he was boiling when he penned these lines. Paul’s enemies were vicious and they were out to dis-credit him not only as an Apostle, but to discredit the Gospel of justification by Faith plus nothing.
There were Jewish teachers (false Christians) who followed Paul, waiting for the right moment to move among his converts with enslaving doctrines. They were called Judaizers. Their ideas, if accepted by believers, cancelled Christian liberty and placed God’s sons in bondage under Jewish laws.
The Judaizers:
This name is given to those Jews who outwardly “accepted” Christ, but wanted Christianity to remain as a branch of Judaism. They didn’t see how something established by God through Moses, and which had endured for 1400 years, could suddenly be replaced with anything as simple as faith in Christ. How could the towering giant of Judaism be instantly outmoded by a movement started by a group of fishermen commissioned by a Carpenter-rabbi?
The Judaizers, therefore, were jealous for the Jews’ religion, insisting the only way a person could become a real Christian was to become a Jew first. After a man was circumcised and embraced the Law of Moses, then he would have access to the Messiah. But apart from that, they felt there was no salvation. Consequently the Judaizers were unsaved.
Since the first Christians were nearly all Jewish, such an idea posed no real problem for them. They were already circumcised in infancy. All that remained was embracing Christ as the long awaited Messiah. They were raised in the old traditions and it was natural for them to continue in them without adding them to faith. For the Gentiles, though, it was a different story. They had not been circumcised, neither had they been raised in such traditions. To tell them they had to be circumcised and come under the Law of Moses, meant that faith in Christ was not enough, that there was more to salvation than believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If they had to be circumcised, then faith in Jesus was not the only ground of justification.
PAUL EXPLODES:
A volcano of fury erupts within him. There’s no time to lose. He knows the fickle character of his Galatian Christians. The new idea of circumcision could easily appeal to them. If he doesn’t act swiftly, they might all be swept from the truth of the Gospel into a corrupted form of Christianity.
He writes this letter under authority, power and anointing. It is to be circulated among the leaders and read to the congregations. As angry as he is, the words are penned under the unction of the Holy Ghost.
The Galatians are very different from his converts elsewhere. They have to be handled differently.
Yes, the Galatians were a peculiar breed. They were wandering Gauls until they settled down to become a Roman province in A.D. 25. Their background made them that way. In origin, they were fighting men, professional soldiers. They’d fight for either side, the cause didn’t matter. This tended to make them a fickle people---extremely fickle. Paul knew by experience just how fickle they were. For when he first came to their area, they embraced him as a god. Their love for new ideas, particularly in religion, caused them to flock to him. They swarmed to his message, drawn by the novelty of it more than its truth. They had a built-in readiness to run to any teacher with new ideas. Hence their stand for the Gospel was vulnerable. No one knew this more than Paul.
Others have told us about the character of the Galatian people. Pagan literature is full of references to their impulsiveness, their readiness for new ideas. They became known for their eagerness to embrace a teaching on the basis of novelty rather than truth. Therefore when they were approached by men who contradicted the word of Paul, the new twist of ideas appealed to them. They went for it in wholesale fashion. While such a practice is safe enough in matters of philosophy, it is deadly when it comes to the Gospel of Christ. Fickleness is fatal for Christians. So he is enraged.
Paul insisted that Jesus belonged to the world, not merely to the Jews. For the sake of the Gentiles, he did his best to strip Christianity of its Jewishness. That’s why his enemies (who no doubt came from Jerusalem) hated him so. When they had gained entrance into the Galatian churches they insisted on adding the rite of circumcision to faith in Christ. Thus they sought to destroy the very means by which Christ’s death brings eternal life to men. The mixing of anything with faith cancels the simplicity needed for salvation. By adding ceremonial requirements, feast days, and washings to the Gospel, these Judaizers annulled the doctrine of salvation by faith.
In order for the Judaizers to advance their teachings, they had to discredit Paul. Otherwise it would simply be a matter of his word against theirs. So, they attacked his credentials, claiming he did not represent the church; neither was he an official minister of Christ. He may be a disciple of the apostles, they said, but he is not one himself. Therefore Paul had to deal not only with the doctrinal error the false teachers were foisting upon the Galatians, he also had to defend his authority as an apostle.
SO PAUL WRITES:
You can feel the force of his two-fisted attack upon the Judaizers. He has to counteract their deadly influence, and at the same time win back the fickle affections of his misled Galatians. How can a man vent rage upon evil and woo back loved ones at the same time? This is spiritual warfare at its best. Paul has to do both in his letter. He must use harsh, severe language in denouncing the false teachers dealing with a religious spirit. At the same time show fatherly sympathy for his disaffected Galatians—in other words, “Be angry and sin not.”
Paul does it masterfully and we know by the power of the Holy Ghost. In fact, the strange mixture of severity and gentleness he puts in this letter is perfect for the Galatians. They will be overawed by the authority he assumes over the false teachers, and won by his fatherly pleading. The approach ideally suits their temper and character. A different kind of Paul is presented to the Galatians in this letter and they were drawn to the novelty of it.
As we study this book, boil with Paul, feel his fury. His weapon of warfare is the hammer of the Word of God. No doubt about that in pouring out his feelings against the Judaizers, Paul gives us one of the strongest documents on Christian freedom ever written. No other book sets forth the truth of justification by faith other than Romans as clearly and as convincingly. His phrases sizzle with conviction. The gloves are off. The crisis he faces forbids any double talk, or roundabout language commonly referred to today as Christianeeze. Paul forges about silky words and goes to the heart of the matter with straight talk. Those who love the truth of justification by faith plus nothing, can turn to this book to refute all man-made theories of salvation by works or any other theory of salvation.
Do we have Judaizers today? Yes!!! The teachings may vary but we have those who would add to the simple truth of the gospel, thereby destroying the very essence of Christianity. The corrupting principle is the same, only the requirements vary. Christians satisfied that salvation comes by faith plus nothing, do well to master the weapon of warfare of Galatians. Who knows what attacks are yet to be made upon the truth of salvation, by faith alone, as the days become more evil?
This book has been fittingly called the Magna Charta of Christian liberty. In the hands of Martin Luther and other brave leaders of his day, it proved to be the “Hammer of the Reformation.” So---when anyone tells you that faith alone in Christ is not enough, get mad---and read Galatians. You’ll be in just the right mood to share the feelings of the apostle Paul.
C.S. Lovett from Lovett’s Lights on Galatians published by Personal Christianity, Baldwin Park, California.
Galatians 1: 1 & 2: Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ , and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:
The false teachers denied Paul’s apostleship. So his letter opens with a strong defense of his divine appointment. He would rather call himself “a bond slave of Jesus Christ,” but now with his authority challenged, he must pull rank. Some claimed Matthias was God’s replacement for Judas the defector; that Paul could not be counted as of the twelve (Acts. 1:26). But Matthias didn’t meet the one condition needed for true apostleship---he was not commissioned by the Lord Jesus directly. Paul’s name was not pulled out a hat (by men). He was ordained by heaven itself and “not by any human agency” as was Matthias. Jesus commissioned Paul after God raised him from his bed of affliction. (Acts 9:6) Matthias had no such commission from the Lord. I like to believe that Matthias always served the Lord in the capacity of his true calling.
Paul reinforces his letter by saying the Christians (“brethren”) with him were sending their “amen” with his words. Thus it is more than Paul’s word against the Judaizers. He is joined by the other churches around him, who accept his apostleship. The Galatian churches would therefore be making themselves renegades by following teachings contrary to that of Paul.
Notice the absence of any words of praise which usually mark the opening of his letters.
(Vs. 3) Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Peace is a by-product of God’s grace. Grace must always precede peace. This is the order of all of Paul’s salutations. No one can know genuine peace until first he experiences the grace of God. They will need God’s grace should they be deceived into forfeiting their liberty in Christ to enter the bondage of ritualistic Judaism. Though their souls are secure in Christ, they stand to lose their joy and intimacy with the Lord, should they seek to make their lives conform to the Jewish rules.
(Vs. 4 &5) Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus was both the Offering and the Offerer. He was the Giver, and also the gift. He offered Himself to God as a sacrifice to obtain our release from Satan’s evil kingdom, this world. The devil owns this world (1 John 5:19) “And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in wickedness.” (2 Cor. 4:4) “In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”
Apparently the sacrificial death of Jesus was Satan’s price (ransom) demanded for our release. Paul is building a case against those who would introduce works into the salvation truth. How could man hope to add worth to the person of Christ so that His offering would be more acceptable to God? Paul’s point is, when it comes to our salvation, this is something Jesus accomplished by Himself.
Before salvation we are members of satan’s kingdom. We cannot escape by ourselves. Christ’s death effected our release. (Col. 1:13, 20)
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins…And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now has he reconciled.”
Our deliverance is two-fold:
(1) deliverance from fellowship with the world to fellowship with Christ.
(2) deliverance from the world’s fate---hell. Satan tried to dissuade Jesus from going to the cross by offering an alternate plan (Matt. 4:8, 9). But Jesus refused; electing to follow the predetermined plan of God instead.
Our son ship in the divine family is the result of His obedience. The glory therefore is God’s alone, for he conceived the redemption plan, executing it without any help from man at all.
A sinner cannot make himself righteous. If he could, the glory would not belong entirely to God. Man would have to be credited for his part.
(Vs.6& 7) “I marvel that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel; Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.”
Paul is shocked at two things:
(1) That they would so quickly forsake freedom in Christ to follow teachers who want to place yokes about their necks, and—
(2) That they would willfully embark on a course sure to take them from Christ.
He uses the term “different gospel" only because the false teachers called their corrupted approach to salvation “the gospel”. How could man possibly come up with a substitute for something God has provided. The addition of anything to the Gospel of Christ destroys it.
(vs. 8& 9) “Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that you have received let him be accursed.”
Paul pronounces one of two New Testament curses on all who would corrupt the Gospel of Christ. The other curse is in the Book of Revelation (22:18). Personalities don’t count when choosing between truth and error. Now we see why he doesn’t name the Judaizers. A contest of personalities is not the issue. Paul says even an angel from heaven would be condemned, so don’t bring the list of whose who to me. As the blessing which comes from presenting the true Gospel is the greatest of all---eternal life---so is the curse which comes from distorting the Gospel sure to be the greatest of all..
Next Sunday morning coming, I will start on Galatians 1:9.
Rev. Robert Steele will be preaching at the Sunday evening Service, August 2, 2009.
I will be teaching in Ecclesiastes Tuesday, July 28, 2009.
Taught by: Carolyn Sissom
Scripture from K.J.V. bibliography, C.S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Galatians.
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