Route 66: Galatians - Freedom in Christ

Hello church family.

Perfect segue, mike, All right.

So tonight we are looking at the Book of Galatians.

It is the fourth book as far as the canon order.

It's actually Paul's first book.

It's his first one.

He would write a total of 13 books.

And you've got Romans.

And you've got the two letters to Corinth preceding this letter, likely written in 49 AD.

Okay, shortly after Paul's first missionary journey and shortly before the Jerusalem Council.

Okay, and this is all covered in Acts 13, 14, and 15.

To whom is it written?

It is written to the churches plural churches in Galatia.

Galatia is a province, not a city.

It is largely a Gentile region.

Why did Paul write?

Well, apparently his brand new Christians have come under the influence of false teaching.

Well, apparently his brand new Christians have come under the influence of false teaching.

The teachers were undermining the central New Testament doctrine of justification by faith.

These agitators were described by Paul as false brothers.

They identified themselves as Jewish Christians and taught that the new Gentile converts needed to be circumcised and needed to follow certain ceremonial customs of the Mosaic law.

Paul rightfully saw this as a big problem.

The apostle needed to re-educate them in their understanding of the true gospel.

Anything added to the true gospel nullifies the gospel.

So he writes a persuasive letter in the form of an argument Paul is attacking.

Error.

It's Paul versus the agitators.

What is at stake is the gospel.

It's important to note here.

What is not at stake the souls of the Galatian believers.

They are scared and dwelled.

They are saved and they always will be.

However, as new disciples, their witness for Christ had to be true and accurate.

False witness will not grow the church.

Paul is well aware that this letter is going to be read aloud in a public forum, typically in a synagogue, a marketplace perhaps.

So not only are the new Gentile believers listening, but so are the agitators.

The primary theme here is justification by faith.

The secondary theme freedom in Christ versus slavery and obligation to the law.

Paul must convince the Galatians of one the dangers of legalism.

What is legalism?

It's a system.

It's a religious system of rules, regulations, traditions.

Adherence to the Mosaic law will cast them into religious slavery.

Adherence will take their focus off of the person and work of Christ.

And two, he must convince the Galatians that because they are spirit and dwell, they have freedom in Christ and unity in Christ.

There's five sections to the book.

The first three sections, an introduction, a narrative and a transition section set up the fourth and most important section of the book, which is the argument.

And lastly, there's a concluding section.

So before we open God's word, let's go to him in prayer.

Heavenly Father, we are so grateful to be opening your word.

Please illuminate your word for us.

Please help us to observe, interpret and, most importantly, father, help us to apply your precious word to our lives.

In Jesus' name, we pray Amen.

So the introduction is the first nine verses of the letter.

Let's look at verse 1-1.

Paul, an apostle, not from men or by men, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with him to the churches in Galatia, raised him in peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

To him be all the glory forever and ever.

Amen.

You guys notice anything missing here?

What is typical of a letter that Paul writes to the churches?

There's no commendation, there's no offer of thanksgiving to God the Father for the spiritual growth of readers.

Paul is going to plunge straight into the rhetoric, verse 6.

I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel.

Not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

But even if an angel, even if we are an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse, be on him.

As we have said before, I now say again if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, a curse, be on him.

Now.

Remember, this letter is going to be read in a public forum.

So with this shocking statement, paul is both shaming the Galatian believers and cursing the agitators.

In Paul's view, turning to a different gospel is tantamount to turning away from God himself.

One thing is for sure Paul has everyone's attention.

Next is our narrative section.

This starts in verse 111 and runs through verse 214.

So in the next 27 verses, paul provides one, a narrative account of what has happened leading up to this letter and two, an explanation of the nature of his argument.

In this section, paul presents his life and his actions as an example for the Galatians to imitate.

Let's look at verse 111.

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin, for I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul is saying I received the gospel from the Lord Jesus himself.

How could this message I conveyed to you have anything missing?

How could it not be 100% accurate and truthful?

In this section, paul is going to provide different types of behavior Behavior that he wants the Galatians to adopt and behavior that he wants them to shun, to avoid.

The apostle explains his former life as a Jewish zealot entrenched in the customs and traditions and rituals of Judaism.

This behavior is to be shunned.

He then writes of his commission to preach to the Gentiles, as well as his actions over a three-year period.

This is the behavior to be adopted, to be imitated.

What was Paul doing during this three-year period?

He wasn't consulting with the other apostles or the leaders of the Jerusalem church.

He wasn't listening to people.

Paul was in a barren wilderness.

Paul was preparing himself for ministry with no distractions being made.

Ready to be a messenger to the Gentiles by the Lord Jesus himself.

Did Paul get the gospel right?

Verse 123,.

They simply kept hearing he who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith he once tried to destroy.

And they glorified God because of me.

Yeah, he got it right.

14 years go by, paul, barnabas and a Greek named Titus go up to Jerusalem to meet with the leaders of the church.

Why the same problem had arisen in Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas were pastoring the church.

Why the same problem had arisen in Antioch, where Paul and Barnabas were pastoring the church.

Let's look at verse 2-2.

I went up according to a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those recognized as leaders.

I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running in vain.

But not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

This matter arose because the false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us.

But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.

Now.

This is obviously an example for them to adopt.

Don't give in.

Don't give in.

Then did the leaders of the Jewish Christian church compel Titus, the newly converted Gentile, to get circumcised?

No, so neither should they.

Paul is showing him that these men who are claiming to be Jewish Christians are nothing but agitators, spies, infiltrators.

They are false.

Don't listen to their distorted gospel.

Don't add works to faith.

Don't add to their distorted gospel.

Don't add works to faith.

Don't add anything to the gospel of saving grace.

The last part of this narrative section presents a shocking story that takes place in Antioch, verse 2, 11.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned, for he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James.

However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself because he feared those from the circumcision party.

Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy.

But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone if you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?

Cephas is Peter, the Apostle.

That is his Greek name.

Let's take a step back here.

Okay, this is Peter.

This is arguably the leader of the apostles.

When we read the Gospels, whose name is first Peter?

Okay, paul is going right after Peter.

Paul certainly doesn't feel inferior to Peter, Not at all.

So at first Peter shows unity and fellowship with the Gentiles.

But when the Torah observers show up, he ditches the Gentiles and joins them.

The circumcision part.

Is Peter a good witness for Christ?

No, the Apostle Peter has been entrusted with the gospel message for the Jews.

His actions are in conflict with the character of his calling.

His actions are an example of what the Galatian believers are to shun, to avoid, to steer clear of.

So Paul opposes him to his face.

Paul wants the converted Gentiles to not be afraid to confront these false teachers, to not only reject the agitators but confront them to their face.

If Paul wasn't afraid to confront Peter, they shouldn't be afraid to confront the agitators.

Next we have our third section, which is the transition.

It's only seven verses.

It begins in 2.15.

So the next seven verses sum up the content in the previous section and they look forward.

They look forward to the verses, the central theme, okay, which is justification by grace, through faith.

And let's go to verse 215.

Verse 215.

We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.

And yet, because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Christ Jesus, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus.

This was so we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.

What do we observe in this passage?

Justified three times Faith in Christ juxtaposed with works of the law.

There it is Justified, not guilty, saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.

Nothing more needs to be done.

Now Paul gets personal.

Let's look at verse 219.

Verse 219, for through the law I die to the law so that I might live for God.

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live the life.

I now live in the body.

I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Paul dies not only to the law but to the customs and traditions he had previously served.

The apostle is saying here that in order for him to live for God, he had to die to the law.

Paul is saying Jesus died for me.

He wants them to see the intimacy of the connection between the Savior's death and the believer's life.

It is Paul's complete and total identity with Christ that must be imitated by the Galatian believers.

Section 4.

This is the argument in seven parts.

This is going to encompass chapters 3, 4, and 5, as well as half of chapter 6.

So part one of the argument an appeal to the faith of Abraham.

In the next 18 verses, paul introduces his audience to the following very important words for this entire argument Spirit, righteousness, son, heir, blessing, seed, promise, covenant and inheritance.

Let's look at verse 3-1.

You foolish Galatians who cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.

I only want to learn this from you Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard?

Are you so foolish, after beginning by the Spirit and now finishing by the flesh, do you experience so much for nothing?

If in fact it was for nothing, so then does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?

The point of this appeal is that Paul takes the reception of the Holy Spirit as irrefutable evidence that God has accepted these Galatian believers, these Galatian Gentiles.

In other words, you have the Spirit indwelling you.

Why are you thinking of submitting to the Mosaic law?

Verse five just like Abraham, who believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness?

What is true of Abraham is true of the Galatians?

Right standing with God comes through faith alone Verse 7,.

You know that that those who have faith, these are Abraham's sons.

Now, the scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaim the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying all the nations will be blessed through you.

Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

So in this passage, in the next several, he's going to go to the Old Testament seven times.

Paul uses Abraham to make the positive point that the Galatians already received and will continue to receive the divine blessings, the divine blessings they need on the basis of faith, just as Abraham did.

Let's look at verse 14.

The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised spirit through faith.

Part two, an appeal to family ties.

You're a son and an heir.

Let's look at verse 319.

Why then was the law given?

It was added for the sake of transgressions, until the seed to whom the promise was made would come.

Paul is saying that the law served as a temporary measure to set apart God's chosen people.

The purpose was to keep them under custody until the arrival of Jesus the sake of transgressions.

What does that mean?

Ultimately, the law will cause everyone who is subject to it to recognize their inability to keep it.

This negative effect of the law should convince the transgressor, the rebel, the sinner, of their need for God's mercy, their need for a savior Verse 322.

A Savior Verse 322.

But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin's power so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ for those who believe.

Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.

The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith.

But since faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for through faith, you are sons of God in Christ Jesus.

So this designation in Christ Jesus, so this designation sons of God, was seen in Jewish circles as something that should be solely predicated for Israel, israel alone.

They were the physical descendants of Abraham, making them sons of God.

Okay, the point that Paul is making in this passage is that the Gentiles.

The Gentiles can now enjoy a title that was exclusively for the Jews, and this status as sons of God is solely based on faith in the finished work of Christ.

Look at verse 4-4.

When the time came to completion, god sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law so that we might receive adoptions as sons.

And because you are sons, god sent the spirit of the son into our hearts, crying Abba Father, so you are no longer a slave but a son.

And if a son, then God made you an heir.

Notice the word sent, the word sent.

Sending of the Son and sending of the Spirit of the Son were two parts of one purpose.

Both are part of God, the Father's saving grace.

Both, in both instances, the Father is the sender, the Holy Spirit is the one who forms Christ in the believer.

The Holy Spirit conforms the believer to the image of the Son, because the believer is an adopted son, like the begotten son.

The believer is part of the family, not a slave, but a son, and if a son an heir, and if an heir an inheritance awaits.

Part three, an appeal to emotions.

Let's look at verse 4-8.

But in the past, since you didn't know God, you were enslaved to things that by nature are not God's.

But now, since you know God, or rather have become known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elements?

Do you want to be enslaved to them all over again?

You are observing special days, months, seasons, years.

I'm fearful for you.

So perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.

Fear is perhaps the most powerful motivator.

Paul is telling the Galatians that conforming to Jewish customs is as worthless as their former worship of pagan gods.

It will enslave them again Two times.

In this part of the argument, paul shames the Galatians.

Let's look at verse 11 again.

Perhaps my labor for you has been wasted.

Let's go down to verse 20.

Verse 20.

I'd like to be with you right now and change my tone of voice, because I don't know what to do about you.

So, mixed in with these negative emotional appeals, he has a positive appeal.

Verse 12,.

I beg you, brothers and sisters, because, as I am, become as I am, for I also have become as you are, you have not wronged me.

Paul is emphatically calling on the new believers to imitate him.

Imitate him.

It's an appeal to unity.

Like Paul, they must reject the seduction of the agitators.

Without unity between Paul and the churches of Galatia, the unity in the Galatian churches will disintegrate.

Most importantly, their unity through their love of Christ becomes totally compromised.

Adding works of the law to saving grace dilutes grace Works, weaken the believer's love for Jesus.

Also, it would be detrimental to their loving relationship with Paul.

Let's look at verse 19,.

Verse 19.

My children, I am again suffering labor pains for you until Christ is formed in you.

This is called rhetorical impersonation.

He is presenting the Galatians as his children and himself as his mother, as their mother, who gave them spiritual birth.

He wants the Galatians to understand just how much he cares for them.

His labor pain should have ended when they accepted the gospel and were born again, but due to their confusion, he has to go through these labor pains all over again.

Part four an appeal to freedom.

An appeal to freedom, verse 421.

Tell me, you who want to be under the law, don't you hear the law?

For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave and the other by a free woman.

Here Paul is going to reach back into the Old Testament again.

Using figurative language, he contrasts two covenants the Mosaic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant.

The child of Hagar the slave woman represents slavery under the law, which is the foundation of the Mosaic covenant.

The child of Sarah, abraham's wife, represents freedom through the promise, which is the foundation of the Abrahamic covenant.

Paul is stressing to the Galatians that they received the promise and the inheritance in the same way that Isaac did, through divine intervention, not by submitting to the law.

Paul has identified the agitators in Galatia with Hagar the slave woman, and himself with Sarah the free woman.

Let's take a look at verse 431.

431.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of a slave, but of the free woman.

431.

This secondary theme of freedom versus slavery has been well announced and introduced.

Now Paul's going to pursue this.

Paul must explain what freedom amounts to in the Christian life, how freedom should be used, and we're going to see this in part five.

Part five All you need is love and appeal to the law.

Well, because Jesus fulfilled the law, let's look at five.

One For freedom.

Christ set us free.

Stand firm, then.

Don't submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Take note I, paul, am telling you that if you get yourself circumcised, christ will not benefit you at all.

Again, I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to do the entire law.

You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ.

You have fallen from grace, for we eagerly await, through the spirit, by faith, the hope of righteousness.

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything.

What matters is faith working through love.

What's Paul's message?

Don't listen to these men who are trying to make you Jewish.

Jewish customs and rituals don't matter.

What matters Faith working through love.

The consummation of faith is found in doing loving works of charity, servitude, sacrifice.

These loving works are evidence of salvation, not the means of it.

Let's look at verse 13, 513.

For you will call to be free, brothers and sisters, only don't use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.

For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement love your neighbor as yourself.

And who is the greatest example of this?

The Lord Jesus, christ himself.

The life and teaching of Christ is the ground of Paul's teaching.

At this juncture of the argument here he is saying to the believers Jesus fulfilled the entire law.

Focus on him, follow his example, love like he loves.

Love like he loves.

Part six, an appeal to the Holy Spirit.

Verse 516.

I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will certainly not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Paul's greatest fear, his greatest fear, is that the Galatians are in danger of submitting to the Mosaic law.

They're right on the cusp, which is why this letter is so incredibly urgent.

The apostle is saying here that they don't need the law to marshal their behavior.

Why?

Because the spirit indwells them.

The spirit will guide you, but only if they yield to the spirit.

In the spirit-led battle against the sinful inclinations of the flesh, the Galatians have all the direction they need with the spirit.

They simply need to yield.

In verses 19 through 23, we have the 19 vices that Paul refers to as the works of the flesh, contrasted with the nine virtues that Paul calls the fruit of the spirit.

Let's look at verse 24.

Let's look at verse 24.

Now, those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

If we live by the spirit, let us also keep in step with the spirit.

Paul is saying you belong to Christ, bear his image, yield to the spirit.

The spirit will empower you and you will not capitulate to the desires of the flesh.

Let's look at verse 18.

Let's go back to verse 18.

But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.

In other words, walk in the spirit.

Model Jesus.

He has already fulfilled the law.

And then, lastly, an appeal to the law of Christ.

The law of Christ, verse 6-1.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you, who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit, watching out for yourselves, so that you also won't be tempted.

Carry one another's burdens.

In this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.

What Paul has in mind here is that Jesus is the ultimate burden bearer.

A pattern of burden bearing and self-giving is seen as the essence of what our Lord was all about.

This is at the heart of what Paul means when he speaks of the law of Christ.

To bear one another's burdens was a fulfillment of Christ's law.

Why?

Because this amounted to taking up one's cross and following the pattern of Christ's life, in other words, being a good disciple, heeding his teaching, self-sacrificial behavior.

Verse 9.

Verse 9.

Argument complete.

Now for Paul's summary.

There's no final greeting here, no prayer requests, no expression of joy.

This was not a friendly, lighthearted letter.

It was a polemic.

It was an attack.

It was an attack against false teachers.

It was an attack against hypocrites Verse 13,.

For even the circumcised don't keep the law themselves, yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about their flesh.

It is interesting to note in Paul's concluding message, there is no mention, no mention at all, of the two themes that ran throughout the entire argument Justification by faith and freedom versus slavery.

So what are Paul's parting words going to be?

Verse 14.

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The world has been crucified.

To me through the cross and I to the world.

For both circumcision and uncircumcision mean nothing.

What matters instead is a new creation.

What matters instead is a new creation.

The apostle wants the Galatians to envision Christ hanging on the cross for them.

Paul believes that the death and resurrection of Jesus changed the world.

The new age has dawned, the age of grace.

What matters is that new creation.

The Holy Spirit that indwells them testifies to it.

Adherence to Jewish customs is the past.

It is irrelevant.

It's a new age.

Job once asked the question how can a person be justified before God?

Every false religion has the same wrong answer Human effort.

Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians to attack this falsehood.

About 1500 years later, a Catholic priest, an Augustinian monk, named Martin Luther, would come to salvation.

While teaching the book of Galatians, luther knew he was a sinner.

While teaching the book of Galatians, luther knew he was a sinner.

He failed at every attempt to please God through his own efforts.

Believing in church tradition, he had become a religious slave.

Purgatory was his future, if that exists.

Feelings of depression were his present reality.

One day, while teaching Galatians, the most famous reformist uncovered the answer to Job's question.

We are justified by God's grace through faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For Luther, good news at last.

He would write this the epistle to the Galatians is my epistle.

I have betrothed myself to it.

It is my Katie.

Katie was his wife's name.

Luther would lecture on Galatians many times throughout his life.

In 1535, he wrote this we have taken it upon ourselves, in the Lord's name, to lecture on the epistle of Paul to the Galatians once more.

This is not because we want to teach something new or unknown.

It is because, as I often warn you, there is a clear and present danger that the devil may take from us the pure doctrine of faith and may substitute for it the doctrines of works and of human traditions.

The clear and present danger that Luther speaks of is ever present today.

Sadly, in spite of Paul's efforts and the efforts of so many throughout the centuries, the true gospel is not the message that is being preached in most pulpits.

Today, we, as Christians, are truly blessed.

Today we, as Christians, are truly blessed.

God saw to it that the gospel of saving grace somehow, in some way, got to us.

We received it and everything changed.

Like Paul, we were crucified with Christ.

We no longer live, but Christ lives in us through the spirit of Christ.

We no longer live, but Christ lives in us through the spirit of Christ.

So let's do as Paul suggests.

Let's walk in the spirit, by yielding to the spirit.

This will enable us to follow the example of Christ, to love like Jesus loved, to bear each other's burdens.

This will show the heart of Jesus to a lost world that truly needs to experience him.

Let's pray.

Oh Father, thank you for your word, thank you for Paul, thank you for his servitude, thank you for all of his letters, thank you for this amazing letter that we could so easily apply to our lives.

Father, there are so many out there.

Our ministry field, our missionary field, is right outside this door.

Help us, father, please open doors for us so that we could share the gospel with so many that are just stuck in this religious slavery that Paul and Luther speak of and knew.

So, father, please help us.

Help us to be bold and share the gospel.

Be with us, father, as we go out into the world.

Help us to be salt and light.

In Jesus' name, we pray.

Amen.