Galatians

Galatians

Introduction

Paul’s letter to the Galatians was addressed to a group of churches in Galatia, a region of present-day Turkey. Paul had preached the gospel in these churches. He wrote to counter those who taught that Christians must be circumcised in order to be accepted by God. Paul began with a defense of his apostolic authority (chs. 1–2), then made it clear that all believers, Jew and Gentile alike, enjoy complete salvation in Christ (chs. 3–4). In chapters 5–6 Paul showed how the gospel of grace leads to true freedom and godly living. Perhaps the central message of Galatians is “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (2:16). Paul wrote this letter sometime between a.d. 48 and 55.^[1]

Many scholars believe that Galatians was written in the late 40’s or the early 50’s. An approximate date of A.D. 50 is often given. It seems that Paul wrote this letter before the Jerusalem Council mentioned in Acts 15, because although he mentions several trips to Jerusalem, he makes no mention of the council. Because the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 dealt with the exact issues Paul writes about, it would seem strange if the Council had already happened, yet he made no mention of it. If it is true that Galatians was written around A.D. 50, then Paul would have been a Christian for about 15 years, being converted on the road to Damascus around A.D. 35.

1:1–5 The letter to the Galatians was written around ad 48–55 by the Apostle Paul, perhaps with contributions from some of his fellow missionaries (Gal 1:1–2).

Of Paul’s 13 letters, Galatians features one of the most elaborate openings (compare 1 Thess 1:1; Col 1:1–2). Here, Paul introduces the themes addressed throughout the letter: the divine origin of his calling as an apostle, which he affirms in Gal 1:1, and the gospel message, which he summarizes in v. 4. He then addresses the legitimacy of his apostleship, the gospel, and its implications (respectively discussed in chs. 1–2; 3–4; 5–6).^[2]

Introduction to Galatians

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul discusses what it means to be God’s people. Although many groups have special conditions for membership, the family of God is open to everyone. As Paul explains, there is incredible freedom in Christ—yet, at the same, His followers are called to live like Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus has set us free, and we are to use our freedom to love others (Gal 5:1).

Background

The opening verses of Galatians identify Paul and several of his traveling companions as the authors of the letter, although Paul was probably the main writer (1:1–2). The letter’s recipients are described as the churches of Galatia—which were planted by Paul during his missionary journeys—but these churches’ locations are debated.

Galatia was a region in central Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). According to one theory, the Galatians Paul addressed were in the southern part of Galatia, primarily in the cities Acts 13–14 records him visiting: Antioch in Pisidia, Lystra, Iconium, and Derbe (Acts 13–14). Paul would have written to these churches during ad 48–51—either before or shortly after the Jerusalem Council, held circa ad 49 (or 51).

Another theory places the Galatian churches in the northern part of the region, corresponding to the mentions of Paul visiting Galatia in Acts 16:6 and 18:23. In this case, Paul’s letter would have been written during his second or third missionary journeys (circa ad 49–57), but likely before he wrote Romans (mid-50s ad).

Regardless of their location, the Galatian churches consisted mostly of non-Jewish (Gentile) believers. Paul taught them that they were free in Christ and that they did not need to start following Jewish law once they became Christians. However, after Paul left the area, some outsiders arrived and disputed his teaching (Gal 1:6–7). According to them, it simply wasn’t possible to be God’s people without observing the Jewish laws. Much of Galatians is Paul’s response to this claim.

The debate about the letter’s recipients and date arises partly because of a connection to the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). At this critical meeting, church leaders settled the issue that dominates Galatians: deciding that non-Jewish Christians should not be required to keep Old Testament laws and regulations (outside of a few; Acts 15:22–29). In Galatians, Paul may be articulating the council’s decision. Paul could also be offering the same viewpoint, prior to the council; this would mean that Paul’s description of his time in Jerusalem and Antioch in Galatians 2:1–14 likely correlates with Paul’s time in Antioch (Acts 11:19–30), but not the events of Acts 15. (If this is the case, Paul visited Jerusalem an additional time not recorded in Acts.)

Structure

After a customary greeting (Gal 1:1–5), Paul challenges the Galatians’ movement away from the gospel he preached (1:6–10), and he defends his apostleship (1:11–2:21). Paul argues that those in favor of non-Jewish people practicing Jewish law have a flawed understanding of the gospel.

In the next major section (3:1–5:12), Paul aims to correct the misunderstanding by contrasting his gospel and the false teaching. Relying on the law to secure a place among God’s people is foolish, he says; that approach leads only to slavery. In the final part of the letter (5:13–6:18), Paul outlines the practical implications of his gospel. Believers are to live by the Spirit in freedom. If they do this, then sin and divisions will cease.

Outline

• Paul’s defense of his apostleship (1:1–2:21)
• Paul’s defense of his gospel (3:1–5:12)
• Application of his viewpoint (5:13–6:18)

Themes

In Galatians, Paul explains what holds the Church together as God’s people: accepting God’s grace and living in step with His Spirit. The good news Paul preaches is that Christ Jesus has reconciled us to God and thus freed us from having to keep Old Testament law (2:19–21).

Paul says that Christians have to choose between the law and faith (3:10–14). A person who relies on keeping the law has thrown away the need for Jesus. Being right with God doesn’t have anything to do with our own actions; salvation is all about Jesus—His sacrificial death for our sins and new life taking hold in us (2:19–21; 5:16–24).

The law did have a purpose, though. It guarded God’s people until faith was revealed in Christ (3:24–25). But now, God’s people have the Spirit. We are full heirs of the promise of salvation and true children of God, having inherited what was promised to Abraham (3:23–29; Gen 12:1–3). Now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are called to be there for one another and to do good for others (Gal 5:25–6:10).^[3]

Galatia (Γαλατία, Galatia). Territorial designation for central Asia Minor (also known as Anatolia, now modern Turkey). Roman province created by Augustus Caesar in 25 bc. Galatia covered a large territory that included ethnic Galatia as well as parts of Phrygia, Pisidia, Lyconia, and other regions in southern Asia Minor.

 “During the third century BC some Celtic peoples (or Gauls) migrated to this area and, after fighting with the people they encountered, they settled into the northern part of Asia Minor. In due course they came into conflict with the Romans, who defeated them, and from this time they remained under the authority of the Romans as a dependent kingdom. The name ‘Galatia’ covered the territory settled by the Gauls.” (Morris)

Overview

After Galatia was annexed into the Roman Empire in 25 bc, the Romans initiated an extensive urbanization program in both the northern and southern parts of the province that involved building cities, constructing roads, and establishing the imperial cult.

Northern Galatia

Shortly after Galatia’s annexation, new cities were established at Ancyra, Pessinous, and Tavium (Mitchell, Anatolia, 1.86). Anycra became the seat of the governor and capital of the province. Excavations have uncovered baths, stadium, theatre, temple to Augustus, and numerous other public buildings (Kadioğlu, et al., Roman Ancyra; Bennett, “Ancyra”). At Pessinous, there was an important cultic center for the worship of Cybele, the mother of the gods in the Anatolian pantheon, whose devotees (called galli) were reputed to have castrated themselves (Strabo 12.5.1–3; Roller, In Search, 227–232, 341).

Elliott (Cutting Too Close, 253–57) connects Paul’s rhetoric against circumcision in his letter to the Galatians with the self-castration practices of the galli. Martyn (Galatians, 16) posits that Paul wrote his letter to churches in Ancyra and Pessinous, while de La Vallee Poussin argues that he wrote it for churches in rural areas in the north of the province. He might have gone there to enjoy the benefits of thermal springs in the area (de la Vallee Poussin, “Paul’s Illness,” 104).

Southern Galatia

The most notable Roman colony in Southern Galatia was at Pisidian Antioch, a city built in the third century bc. The imperial sanctuary and nearby Tiberia plateau were excavated early in the 20th century (Mitchell and Waelkens, Pisidian Antioch, 25–30). Recent field work has revealed the layout of the streets (Ossi and Harrington, “Urban Infrastructure”), the aqueduct system (Owens, “Water Supply”), the theater (Mallampati and Demirer, “Architecture”), and the nearby sanctuary of the Anatolian god Mên Askaênos (Raff, “Architecture”).

Other colonies were established along similar lines at Lystra and Apollonia, and later, during the time of Claudius, at Iconium (Mitchell, Anatolia, 1.95). Acts depicts Paul and Barnabas passing through several of these cities in the late 40s ad. Breyenbach (Paulus und Barnabas) utilizes recent archeological discoveries combined with the testimony of Acts to defend the hypothesis that Paul passed through these South Galatian cities.; Rothschild, however, argues that the depiction of Paul in Pisidian Antioch in Acts is a literary construction of the author (Rothschild, “Pisidian Antioch”).

Roads

The most important road in Galatia was the Via Sebaste, which was built in 6 bc to connect the various colonies and help pacify the south. Numerous milestones are still standing that indicate the route and extent of the road as it cut across the south of the province (French, Roman Road-system, 707; Levick, Roman Colonies, 39; Mitchell, Anatolia, 1.70). If they traveled as recorded in Acts 13 and 14, Paul and Barnabas would have traveled on the Via Sebaste when journeying in the province from Pisidian Antioch to Iconium, to Lystra, and back again (Mitchell, Anatolia, 2.11; Wilson, “Route,” 482).

Imperial Cult

Impressive temples devoted to the worship of the emperor and other members of the imperial family have been excavated at Ancyra, Pessinus, and Pisidian Antioch. The temple at Ancyra, dedicated to Augustus and the goddess Roma, was built between 10 bc and ad 20 (Mitchell, Anatolia, 1.103). The antechamber is still preserved today and contains a large Latin inscription recording the achievements of Augustus (Kadioğlu et al., Roman Ancyra, 92–93). At the temple in Pessinous, built shortly after the death of Augustus, only the foundations remain (Strubbe, “Imperial Cult,” 108). The temple at Antioch, probably erected during the lifetime of Augustus, was in a distinctively Roman style (Mitchell and Waelkens, Pisidian Antioch, 113–173; Rubin, Ruler Cult).

These buildings, which were the largest buildings in Roman Galatia, indicate “the purely physical impact that emperor worship had on provincial cities” (Mitchell, Anatolia, 1.107), and they evoke patterns more fully defined in documentary evidence and remains found elsewhere in the province. Kahl describes how the imperial cult worked its way into every aspect of life for Roman subjects in Galatia, forming the backdrop to understanding Paul’s letter to the Galatians (Kahl, Galatians Reimagined, 182–88).^[4]

Paul’s 1^st letter according to DeFazio. Or 1 Thess. Late 40’s written to Paul’s own church plants. Acts 13-14.  Logical argument for our beliefs, very passionate. Starts out in fighting mode. 

Chapters 1-2 Biographical defense of the gospel

Chapters 3-4 Comparative defense of the gospel

Chapters 5-6 Practical defense of the gospel

^[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ga.

^[2] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Ga 1:1–5.

^[3] John D. Barry et al., Faithlife Study Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012, 2016).

^[4] John A. Egger, “Galatia,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

“Galatians is a defense of Gospel freedom.

In Christ we are saved by grace through faith.  Rejoice, be at peace, be free.” DeFazio

Greeting

1 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,

Peace is what Paul is trying to accomplish, Shaloam, and he attempts this by grace. Sin causes conflict. We are made for Shaloam but we are not experiencing it.  Only through God can we experience this but the Gospel, what Jesus did for us on the cross. 

Paul used the word grace more than 100 times in his writings. Among all the other writers of the New Testament, it is only used 55 times. Paul was truly the apostle of grace.

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 Gospel of Paul.  Peace by grace according to Christ.

Jesus gave. We know from John 3:16 that God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Yet God the Father was not the only giver; Jesus also gave. Jesus is a loving, giving God and a loving, giving Savior.

Jesus gave the greatest thing anyone can give – Himself. One might debate if it was more a gift for the Father to give the Son (as in John 3:16) or if it was more of a gift for the Son to give Himself. But that is like discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Jesus gave the greatest gift He could; He gave himself. There is a sense in which we do not even begin to give until we give ourselves.

But in Galatia, there is a new gospel.  For Gentiles the law of Moses is also needed.  Paul just gave them half of the story.  A false gospel.

“Galatians is a defense of Gospel freedom.

In Christ we are saved by grace through faith.  Rejoice, be at peace, be free.” DeFazio

No Other Gospel

Missing here are the expressions of thanks or praise that Paul often wrote in the beginning of his letters. Romans 1:8-15, 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Philippians 1:3-11, Colossians 1:3-8, and 1 Thessalonians 1:2-10 are each examples of Paul giving thanks and praising the churches in his opening words. But he did not do this with the Galatians and the directness of his approach indicates the severity of their problem.

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— False doctrine was a real problem among the Galatian churches, and their false doctrines robbed God of some of the glory due to Him. By emphasizing the rightly recognized glory of God and His plan, Paul hoped to put them on the right path.

They were turning away from a Person (from Him who called you) as they turned to a false idea (to a different gospel). To turn away from the true gospel is always to turn away from the Person of Jesus Christ.

⁷ not that there is another one,

The word gospel literally means “good news.” Paul meant, “There is no ‘good news’ in this message. It is only bad news, so it really isn’t a ‘different good news.’ It is bad news. This is not another gospel at all.”

but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. · The gospel offends our pride. It tells us we need a savior, and that we cannot save ourselves. It gives no credit to us at all for our salvation; it is all the work of Jesus for us.

• The gospel offends our wisdom. It saves us by something many consider foolish – God becoming man and dying a humiliating, disgraceful death on our behalf.
• Third, the gospel offends our knowledge. It tells us to believe something which goes against scientific knowledge and personal experience – that a dead man, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead in a glorious new body that would never die again.

⁸ 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.

¹⁰ For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Paul Called by God

¹¹ For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 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.

The Gospel is not Paul’s or ours, it is by Jesus Christ.  Parallel vs. 1.  Key truth.

The Gospel is not discovered, not deduced, but revealed.  This is not something we should fight over.

Paul’s own relationship to this gospel was unique. Most everyone hears the gospel from someone else; this is God’s most common way of communicating the gospel (Romans 10:14-15). But Paul was not normal in this respect. He received the gospel in a dramatic, direct revelation when He encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus.

1. Acts 9:1-9describes this remarkable incident: The Lord Jesus spoke to Paul directly on the Road to Damascus, and then Paul spent three days without sight, before a Christian named Ananias came to him. It was probably during this time – either on the road or during the three days – when Jesus brought His gospel to Paul. Paul certainly had the gospel right away, because he was both saved and began to immediately preach the message Jesus gave him (Acts 9:20-22).

¹³ For you have heard (seems everyone knew about Paul) of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. Acts 8:1-3 (:1-2 ¹⁴ And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵ But when he who had set me apart before I was born, Jeremiah and who called me by his grace, this was much better than what he deserved.  ¹⁶ was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, Isaiah prophecy I did not immediately consult with anyone; ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, Elijah

Paul did not travel to what we would call Saudi Arabia. The area known in that day as Arabia in his day extended all the way to the city of Damascus. Paul probably lived in some quiet desert place outside of Damascus.

and returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then after three years

Paul proved here that he did not learn the gospel from the apostles, because he had been a Christian for three years before he even met the apostles Peter and James.

I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) ²¹ Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³ They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.

Paul’s conversion story.  The result was praise.  At one time, Paul thought the law was supreme.

Prophet drops.  Jeremiah, Isaiah, Elijah

In this whole section, Paul showed that there was enough contact between him and the other apostles to show that they were in perfect agreement, but not so much that it showed that Paul got his gospel from them instead of God.

“Galatians is a defense of Gospel freedom.

In Christ we are saved by grace through faith.  Rejoice, be at peace, be free.” DeFazio

“Galatians is a defense of Gospel freedom.

In Christ we are saved by grace through faith.  Rejoice, be at peace, be free.” DeFazio

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. Remember Paul’s point from Galatians 1. He demonstrated that his gospel came by a revelation from Jesus and not from man, not even from the apostles in Jerusalem. Two visits to Jerusalem over 14 years demonstrated that Paul did not sit at the feet of the disciples of Jesus to learn the gospel.

Traveling with Paul to Jerusalem were both Barnabas (who was well respected among the leadership in Jerusalem according to Acts 4:36-37 and 11:22) and Titus (who was a Gentile convert).

1. Tituswas a remarkable man and associate of the Apostle Paul. A surprising number of passages show us that Paul loved and trusted Titus and regarded him as a valuable associate.

• In 2 Corinthians 2:13, Paul referred to Titus my brother, and says how he had no peace when Titus was absent.
• 2 Corinthians 7:6says how Paul was comforted… by the coming of Titus.
• 2 Corinthians 8:6shows how Paul trusted Titus to receive a collection from the Corinthians.
• 2 Corinthians 8:16says that Titus had the same earnest care that filled the heart of Paul.
• In 2 Corinthians 8:23, Paul said If anyone inquires about Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker concerning you.
• In 2 Corinthians 12:18, Paul spoke again of Titus, and how he shared Paul’s heart: Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not walk in the same steps?
• In Titus 1:4, Paul called Titus a true son in our common faith.

² I went up because of a revelation (of famine in the area) Acts 11:27-30, and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. (Unity, wants Jewish Jerusalem Christians support but does not need it.)

³ But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Paul’s point is that the leadership in Jerusalem accepted Titus (a Gentile convert) even though he was not circumcised in accord with the Mosaic Law. This shows that the Jerusalem leadership accepted the gospel of grace as Paul understood it.

⁴ Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— (maybe it would have been easier to just give in?)⁵ to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. “If they had asked for it on the plea of brotherly love, Paul would not have denied them. But because they demanded it on the ground that it was necessary for salvation, Paul defied them, and prevailed. Titus was not circumcised.” (Luther)

 ⁶ And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. ⁷ On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸ (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹ and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. Different mission fields but same Gospel.

Going to Jerusalem?  What event is Paul talking about? Debated.  Acts 11? Converted in Acts 9 and then goes to Jerusalem and it doesn’t work out too well.  Paul and Barnabas.  Famine in the Jerusalem area.  Don’t get lost in the details.  Why is Paul making such a big deal about Jerusalem?  Jewish center of the world.

Unity is found in the Gospel message.  1^st 2 chapters are Paul’s Biographical defense of the Gospel which was received by Revelation, but now saying it is supported by “Jerusalem.”

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹ But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. ¹³ And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

We see that the flesh was still present in Peter. Salvation and the filling of the Holy Spirit did not make Peter perfect; the old Peter was still there, just seen less often.

Though Peter was previously in agreement with welcoming Gentiles into the church without bringing them under the Law of Moses, when Peter came to Antioch (Paul’s home church), it was another story. He refused to associate with Gentile Christians once certain Jewish believers from Jerusalem came.

Peter had known that God did not require Gentiles to come under the Law of Moses for salvation. He learned this from the vision God gave him in Acts 10:10-16. He learned this from the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Gentiles who believed (apart from being circumcised) in Acts 10:44-48. He learned this by the agreement of the other leaders of the church in Acts 11:1-18. Now, Peter turned back on all that he had known about the place of Gentiles in the church, and he treated uncircumcised Gentiles as if they were not saved at all.

This was also serious because it involved the issue of eating together. Before the certain men came from James, Peter would eat with the Gentiles. Yet once they came, Peter withdrew and separated himself. This separation was probably at the church potluck dinner, which they called “the agape banquet” or the “love feast.” They would also remember the Lord’s death at this dinner and take communion together. Therefore, it is possible that Peter turned these Gentile Christians away from the communion table.

Paul first reminded Peter that he himself did not live under strict obedience to the Law of Moses. “Peter, you eat bacon and ham and lobster. You don’t keep a kosher diet. Yet now, before these visitors, these certain men… from James, now you act as if you keep these laws all the time.”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵ We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶ yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, This is Paul’s first use of the great ancient Greek word dikaioo (justified, declared righteous) in his letter to the Galatians. “It is a legal concept; the person who is ‘justified’ is the one who gets the verdict in a court of law. Used in a religious sense it means the getting of a favorable verdict before God on judgment day.” (Morris) so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷ But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! As the men from Jerusalem saw it, the idea that we are made right before God by faith in Jesus alone wasn’t “real” enough. After all, Christians still struggled with sin. How could they have the “accepted by God” issue settled if they still battled sin? In their thinking, this made Christ… a minister of sin, because Jesus’ work of making them right with God apparently didn’t make them right enough.

¹⁸ For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹ For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 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 righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

How is it a sin to build again a way to God through the Law of Moses? In many ways, but perhaps the greatest is that it looks at Jesus, hanging on the cross, taking the punishment we deserved, bearing the wrath of God for us, and says to Him, “That’s all very nice, but it isn’t enough. Your work on the cross won’t be good enough before God until I’m circumcised and eat kosher.” This is a great insult to the Son of God.

Of course, this is the great tragedy of legalism. In trying to be more right with God, legalists end up being less right with God. This was exactly the situation of the Pharisees that opposed Jesus so much during His years of earthly ministry. Paul knew this thinking well, having been a Pharisee himself (Acts 23:6).

How did Paul die to the law? I through the law died to the law. The law itself “killed” Paul. It showed him that he never could live up to the law and fulfill its holy standard. For a long time before Paul knew Jesus, he thought God would accept him because of his law-keeping. But he came to the point where he really understood the law – understanding it in the way Jesus explained it in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) – and then Paul realized that the law made him guilty before God, not justified before God. This sense of guilt before God “killed” Paul, and made him see that keeping the law wasn’t the answer.

It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me: Since we died with Christ on the cross we have a different life. Our old life lived under the law is dead. Now we are alive to Jesus Christ and Jesus is alive in us (but Christ lives in me).

Zoom Bible Study 12.5.2023

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Zoom Bible Study 12.7.2023

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_______________________________________________________________________________________

Michael DeFazio OCC Professor

“Galatians is a defense of Gospel freedom.

In Christ we are saved by grace through faith.  Rejoice, be at peace, be free.” DeFazio

Received by Revelation

Supported by Jerusalem

Sustained in Conflict

Chapter 3&4 are a Comparative argument.  Two contrasts.   A or B?

Paul uses the mind to get to the heart.

Content

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— 6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. 8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” 9 So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Ga 3:1–9.

3 O foolish Galatians!

The strong words were well deserved. Phillips even translated this, “O you dear idiots of Galatia.” In calling the Galatians foolish, Paul did not mean they were morally or mentally deficient (the ancient Greek word moros had that idea and was used by Jesus in parables such as in Matthew 7:26 and 25:1-13). Instead, Paul used the ancient Greek word anoetos, which had the idea of someone who can think but fails to use their power of perception.

The principles Paul referred to are things the Galatians knew, things they had been taught. The knowledge and understanding were there, but they were not using them.

Who has bewitched you?

Bewitched has the idea that the Galatians were under some type of spell. Paul didn’t mean this literally, but their thinking was so clouded – and so unbiblical – that it seemed that some kind of spell had been cast over them.  But Paul knows this didn’t happen.

It is wonderful to have a soft, tender heart before God. But some people have softer heads than hearts. Their minds are too accommodating to wrong, unbiblical ideas, and they don’t think things through to see if they really are true or not according to the Bible. This is a sign of spiritual immaturity, even as a baby will stick anything into its mouth.

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

The idea behind clearly portrayed is something like “billboarded,” to publicly display as in setting on a billboard. Paul wondered how the Galatians could have missed the message because he certainly made it clear enough to them.

When they left the message of Jesus and Him crucified, they left the message Paul preached. Paul’s preaching was like setting up posters of Jesus all over town – if you saw anything, you saw Jesus.

Before whose eyes: Paul didn’t mean that they literally saw the crucifixion of Jesus or even that they had a spiritual vision of it. He meant that the truth of Jesus and Him crucified and the greatness of His work for them was clearly laid out for them so clearly that they could see it. Actually watching the death of Jesus on the cross might mean nothing. Hundreds, if not thousands, saw Jesus dying on the cross and most of them only mocked Him.

² Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

It worked like this: A Gentile was told he must come under the Law of Moses or God would not bless him. This meant he must be circumcised according to the Law of Moses. So he has the operation and as soon as the cut is made, the Holy Spirit is poured out upon him. Of course, this is not how it works. We receive the Holy Spirit by faith and not by coming under the works of the law.

³ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

The Galatians were deceived into thinking that spiritual growth or maturity could be achieved through the works of the flesh, instead of a continued simple faith and abiding in Jesus.

Another way to say Paul’s message is like this: “You received the greatest gift – the Holy Spirit of God – by faith. Are you going on from there, not by faith, but by trusting in your own obedience under the Law of Moses?”

This lays out one of the fundamental differences between the principle of law and the principle of grace. Under law, we are blessed and grow spiritually by earning and deserving. Under grace, we are blessed and grow spiritually by believing and receiving. God deals with you under the covenant of grace; we should not respond on the principle of law.

 ⁴ Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

We know that Paul did suffer persecution in this region. Acts 14 makes it clear that Paul and his companions were persecuted vigorously (Paul even being stoned and left for dead) by the Jews when they were among the cities of Galatia. Surely some of this persecution spilled over to the Christian congregations Paul left behind in Galatia.

Perhaps a better translation of this phrase is “Have you had such wonderful spiritual experiences, all to no purpose?” This may fit the context better. Paul wondered if all the gifts of the Spirit they had received would amount to no lasting value because they tried to walk by law, not by faith.

⁵ Does he who supplies the Spirit to you Who supplied the Holy Spirit? Obviously, the Spirit was given as a gift from God.

and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—

God supplied the Holy Spirit in response to faith. Miracles are wrought by faith. Yet the Galatians were deceived into thinking that real spiritual riches lay in pursuing God through a works relationship.

Paul repeated the phrase from Galatians 3:2 because he wanted to emphasize there was a choice to be made. Which will it be? Do you believe you will be blessed by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Will you earn and deserve your blessing from God, or will you believe and receive it?

⁶ just as Abraham Among the Galatian Christians, the push towards a works-based relationship with God came from certain other Christians who were born as Jews and who claimed Abraham as their spiritual ancestor. Therefore, Paul used Abraham as an example of being right before God by faith and not by faith plus works.

“believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

Paul here quoted from Genesis 15:6. It simply shows that righteousness was accounted to Abraham because he believed God. It was not because he performed some work and certainly not because he was circumcised, because the covenant of circumcision had not yet been given.

This quotation from Genesis 15:6 is one of the clearest expressions in the Bible of the truth of salvation by grace, through faith alone. It is the gospel in the Old Testament, quoted four times in the New Testament (Romans 4:3, Romans 4:9-10, Romans 4:22 and here in Galatians 3:6).

Romans 4:9-10 makes much of the fact this righteousness was accounted to Abraham before he was circumcised (Genesis 17). No one could say Abraham was made righteous because of his obedience or fulfillment of religious law or ritual. It was faith and faith alone that caused God to account Abraham as righteous.

Believed God: It wasn’t that Abraham believed in God (as we usually speak of believing in God). Instead, it was that Abraham believed God. Those who only believe in God, in the sense that they believe He exists, are only as spiritual as demons are (James 2:19).

⁷ Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. Since Abraham was made righteous by faith and not by works, Abraham was therefore the father of everyone who believes God and is accounted righteous.   Sons=”real Abrahams” huioi 

This was a strong rebuke to the Jewish Christians who tried to bring Gentile Christians under the law. They believed they were superior because they descended from Abraham and observed the law. Paul said that the most important link to Abraham was not the link of genetics and not the link of works, but it is the link of faith.

This would have been a shocking change of thinking for these particular opponents of Paul. They deeply believed that they had a standing before God because they were genetically descended from Abraham. At that time, some Jewish Rabbis taught that Abraham stood at the gates of Hell just to make sure that none of his descendants accidentally slipped by. John the Baptist dealt with this same thinking when he said, Do not think to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father.” For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones (Matthew 3:9). Paul knocked down their blind reliance on genetic relation to Abraham and showed that what really mattered was faith in Jesus.

It’s the same today when people believe God accepts them because they come from a Christian family. God is a Father, not a grandfather; everyone must have their own faith in God.

Replacement theology vs fulfilled theology.  Romans 11:25 hardening until fullness of gentiles…

⁸ And the Scripture, Paul spoke from the Scriptures. He had already spoken from his personal experience and from the experience of the Galatian Christians themselves. But this passage is even more important, because it shows how Paul’s teaching is correct according to the Bible itself.

foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” Paul observed that even back in Abraham’s day it was clear that this blessing of righteousness by faith was intended for every nation, for Gentiles as well as Jews, because God pronounced that in you all the nations shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3).

The intention was to destroy the idea that a Gentile must first become a Jew before they could become a Christian. If that were necessary God would never have said this blessing would extend to every nation, because Gentiles would have had to become part of the Israelite nation to be saved.

⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. The blessing we receive with believing Abraham is not the blessing of fantastic wealth and power, though Abraham was extremely wealthy and powerful. The blessing is something far more precious: the blessing of a right standing with God through faith.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁰ For all who rely on works of the law

Paul here addressed those who thought that their law-performance could give them a right standing before God.

are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” The Christians from a Jewish background who believed Gentiles should still live under the Law of Moses thought that it was a path to blessing. Paul boldly declared that instead of blessing, living under the works of the law put them under the curse.

It isn’t hard to see how these Christians believed that living under law brought blessing. They could read in the Old Testament many passages that supported this thinking. Psalm 119:1 says, Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who walk in the law of the LORD! Psalm 1:1-2 says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night.

We must understand how the Law can bring blessing. First, we see that the word law is used in two senses in the Bible. Sometimes it means “The Law of Moses, with all its commands, which a man must obey to be approved by God.” Sometimes it means “God’s Word” in a very general sense. Many times when the Old Testament speaks of the law, it speaks of it in the general sense of God’s Word to us. When Psalm 119:97 says Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day, the Psalmist meant more than just the Law of Moses; he meant all of God’s Word. Seeing this, we understand how the Bible is filled with praise for the law. Secondly, we are blessed when we keep the law because we are living according to the “instruction manual” for life. There is an inherent, built-in blessing in living the way God says we should live, in fulfilling the “manufacturer’s recommendation.”

When Paul said that as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, he didn’t mean that the law was bad or the Word of God is wrong. He simply meant that God never intended the law to be the way we find our approval before Him. He knew we could never keep the law, and so God instituted the system of atoning sacrifice along with the law. And the entire sacrificial system looked forward to what Jesus would accomplish on the cross for us.

Paul’s point is heavy; it weighs us down with a curse. If you are under the works of the law, the only way you can stand approved and blessed before God by the law is to do it, and to do it all. If you don’t, you are cursed.

Cursed is a word that sounds strange in our ears. Yet in the Bible, the idea of being cursed is important, and frightening – because it means being cursed by God. Not only cursed by our own bad choices, not only cursed by this wicked world, not only cursed by the Devil – but especially cursed by God. He is the one Person you don’t want to be cursed by.

¹¹ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” Paul had already proven this point in the Scriptures by examining the life of Abraham (Galatians 3:5-9). Now he brought in another passage from the Old Testament, Habakkuk 2:4, which reminds us that the just live by faith and not by law.

The Jews themselves sensed that because none could keep the law perfectly, salvation could not come through keeping the law. This is why they placed such emphasis on their descent from Abraham, essentially trusting in Abraham’s merits to save them because they sensed that their own merits could not.

This brief statement from the prophet Habakkuk is one of the most important and most quoted Old Testament statements in the New Testament. Paul used it here to show that the just live by faith, not by law. Being under the law isn’t the way to be found just before God; only living by faith is.

If you are found to be just – approved – before God, you have done it by a life of faith. If your life is all about living under the law, then God does not find you approved.

1. The just shall live by faith: Every word in Habakkuk 2:4is important and God quotes it three times in the New Testament just to bring out the fullness of the meaning.
2. In Romans 1:17, when Paul quoted this same passage from Habakkuk 2:4, the emphasis was on faith: “The just shall live by faith.”
3. In Hebrews 10:38, when the writer to the Hebrews quoted this same passage from Habakkuk 2:4, the emphasis was on live: “The just shall liveby faith.”

iii. Here in Galatians 3:11, when Paul quoted this passage from Habakkuk 2:4, the emphasis is on just: “The just shall live by faith.”

¹² But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” The quote from Leviticus 18:5 is clear. If you want to live by the law, you must do it. Not try to do it, not intend to do it, and not even want to do it. No, it is only the man who does them who shall live by them.

1. It is very easy to comfort ourselves with our good intentions. We all mean very well; but if we want to find our place before God by our works under the law, good intentions are never enough. A good effort isn’t enough. Only actual performancewill do.
2.  
3. This passage from Leviticus 18:5is another often-quoted principle from the Old Testament. Nehemiah (Nehemiah 9:29) quoted it in his great prayer for Israel. The LORD Himself quoted it through the prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 20:11, 13, and 21). Paul also quotes it again in Romans 10:5).

iii. The effect of Paul’s use of Scripture in Galatians 3:10-12 is overwhelming. We understand that we don’t actually do the law. We understand that we don’t actually do all the law. And we understand that this put us under a curse. Galatians 3:10-12 is the bad news; now Paul begins to explain the good news.

¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— ¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Because we didn’t actually do it and do it all, the law put us under a curse. But now Jesus has redeemed us from the curse of the law. Redeemed has the idea of “buying back” or “purchasing out of.” It isn’t just rescuing; it is paying a price to rescue. Jesus bought us out from under the curse of the law.

Redemption is an important idea. “Redemption points to the payment of a price that sets sinners free.” (Morris) Redemption came from the practices of ancient warfare. After a battle the victors would often capture some of the defeated. Among the defeated, the poorer ones would usually be sold as slaves, but the wealthy and important men, the men who mattered in their own country, were held to ransom. When the people in their homeland had raised the required price, they would pay it to the victors and the captives would be set free. The process was called redemption, and the price was called the ransom.

The image took root in other areas. When a slave had his freedom purchased – perhaps by a relative, perhaps by his own diligent work and saving – this was called “redemption.” Sometimes the transaction took place at a temple, and a record was carved in the wall so everyone would forever know that this former slave was now a redeemed, free man. Or, a man condemned to death might be set free by the paying of a price, and this was considered “redemption.” Most importantly, Jesus bought us out of defeat, out of slavery, and out of a death sentence to reign as kings and priests with Him forever.

It stops us in our tracks to understand that the price He paid to buy us out from under the curse of the law was the price of Himself. It didn’t just cost Jesus something, even something great – it cost Jesus Himself. We know that men cursed Jesus as He hung on the cross; but that compares nothing to how He was cursed by God the Father. He made Himself the target of the curse, and set those who believe outside the target.

When did Jesus pay this price? The principle of Deuteronomy 21:23 shows that Jesus received this curse upon Himself as He hung on the cross, fulfilling the Deuteronomy 21:23 promise of a curse to all who are not only executed but have their bodies publicly exposed to shame.

Hangs on a tree: In the thinking of ancient Israel, there was something worse than being put to death. Worse than that was to be put to death, and to have your corpse left in the open, exposed to shame, humiliation, and scavenging animals and birds. When it says hangs on a tree, it does not have the idea of being executed by strangulation; but of having the corpse “mounted” on a tree or other prominent place, to expose the executed one to the elements and supreme disgrace.

Jesus received this curse, which we deserved and He did not, so that we could receive the blessing of Abraham, which He deserved and we did not. It would be enough if Jesus simply took away the curse we deserved. But He did far more than that; He also gave a blessing that we didn’t deserve.

The blessing of Abraham is what Paul already described in Galatians 3:8-9: the blessing of being justified before God by faith instead of works.

The phrase in Christ Jesus is important. The blessing doesn’t come because they are Gentiles, any more than the blessing of being right with God comes to Jewish people because they are Jews. It comes to all, Jew and Gentile alike, who are identified in Christ Jesus and not by their own attempts to justify themselves.

The Law and/or the Promise

¹⁵ To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. ¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. ¹⁷ This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. ¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

In Genesis 22:18, God promised Abraham that in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. Paul observes that the singular for seed is used, not the plural. The point is clear: “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. God is referring to one specific descendant of Abraham, not all his descendants in general

So as the Law was meant to prepare us for the work of the Messiah, it was given till the Seed (Jesus) should come. It isn’t that the Law of Moses is revoked when Jesus came (Jesus said that He came to fulfill the Law, not destroy it in Matthew 5:17). Instead, the Law of Moses is no longer our ground of approaching God.

If the inheritance offered to Abraham was on the basis of law, it might not be permanent – because it would depend, at least in part, on Abraham’s keeping of the law. But since the inheritance was offered on the basis of promise, God’s promise, it stands sure.

The word gave here is the ancient Greek word kecharistai, which is based on the Greek word charis – grace. God’s giving to Abraham was the free giving of grace. The word is also in the perfect tense, showing that the gift is permanent.

¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary. ²⁰ Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.

Part of the reason the law was given was to restrain the transgression of men through clearly revealing God’s holy standard. God had to give us His standard so we would not destroy ourselves before the Messiah came. But the law is also added because of transgressions in another way; the law also excites man’s innate rebellion through revealing a standard, showing us more clearly our need for salvation in Jesus (Romans 7:5-8).

According to ancient traditions – true traditions, according to Paul – the Law was delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai by the hands of angels. Angels were the “go-between” or mediator for Moses when he received the Law from God.

²¹ Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not!

The law is not something evil, opposing God’s promise. The problem with the law is found in its inability to give strength to those who desire to keep it. If the law could have given life, then it could have brought righteousness. But the Law of Moses brings no life; it simply states the command, tells us to keep it, and tells us the consequences if we break the command.

For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. ²² But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Only faith can break us out of our confinement to sin. The Law of Moses can show us clearly our problem and God’s standard, but it cannot give us the freedom that only Jesus can give. The freedom is given to those who believe.

²³ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian (tutor-until the time that a student can proceed on their own.) until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

Romans 5-8, esp. 7 a good thing, righteous and holy.  It exposes our our sins.  Swim rules, are the rules bad or is the action bad.  Kitchen cleaners warning.

We moved from promise through the law to get to the Messiah.

²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. ²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. ²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

The promise precedes the law and doesn’t cancel out the law.

Why then do we have the law? An important but temporary function.  Moves people to Christ.

Comparative defense contrasting law and faith.

Theme is covenant. Paul uses this theme even if he doesn’t state it.  Godfather and Mafia.