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LESSON 5 • The Letter to the Galatians
“That You Might Believe and Have Life In His Name” (John 20:31)
Preparation for New Testament Survey, March 5, 2006
The Letter to the Galatians
INTRODUCTION
This letter to the Galatians was penned by the Apostle Paul. Galatia, which is located in the interior of Asia Minor, had its beginning in the third century B.C. Galatia was self-governing until the death of Amyntas in 25 B.C. Amyntas gave the kingdom to the Roman Empire, who then made it into a province adding the southern districts of Lycaonia, Pisidia, and parts of Phrygia and Cappadocia. .
When doing research on this letter, the question arises whether this letter was addressed to the descendants of the Gauls in the northern part of the province (North Galatian Theory) or to the people in the southern part of the province (South Galatian Theory). Most scholars prefer the second theory recognizing that Paul evangelized this area on his first missionary journey with Barnabas (Acts 13 & 14).
Paul had established churches in theGalatia area. The central issue that Paul addresses in this letter is that some had begun to preach “another gospel” than the one Paul preached and were causing some in the church to fall away from the all-sufficient gospel centered upon faith in Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:6-9).
Paul’s letter to the Galatians was probably written while similar controversies raged at Corinth; and just prior to Paul’s writing of his letter to the Romans. Why is it not surprising that in the midst of this crisis that Paul had to vigorously attack those who questioned the legitimacy of his work?
Exactly who the opposition was is open to some discussion. There have been four possibilities offered:
* Local Jews who were winning them over to the synagogue.
* Jewish Christians who were causing the trouble and insisting “grace plus circumcision.”
* Gentile Judaizers who were preaching the gospel of slavery.
* Gentile perfectionists who thought they were super-spiritual and were above the law.
It is evident that the churches of Galatiahad been subjected to teaching that either made the gospel secondary to the law of Moses or merely an appendage thereto.
MONDAY
The importance of this letter, sometimes called the “Magna Charta of Christian Liberty” is hard to overestimate. So serious were the issues at hand that Paul dispenses with his usual thanksgiving and commendation and begins immediately to attack the issues. Merrill Tenney captures the spirit of this letter when he says, “the tone of this book is war-like.”
This letter was written to:
* prevent these Christians from falling away from Christ;
* highlight the superiority and sufficiency of their Christian faith;
* Contrast Christianity with any other system, Mosaic or otherwise;
* Evidence the relationship between their faith in Christ and the promises God had given to Abraham.
The contention was being made by false teachers that for one to become a child of God he must conform to the former law meaning: undergo the rite of circumcision (5:2; 6:12); keep the Sabbath and other Jewish days (4:10, 21); and observe the other ceremonial laws of the Old Testament.
This was not a minor crisis. Much was at stake.
There is one other introductory consideration. The circumstances of Galatians 2 and Acts 15 seem so closely parallel that both would seem to be describing the importantJerusalem Conference.
In the historical part of the letter (chapters 1 & 2) Paul tells the story of his conversion and commission as an apostle. Both the gospel message and his apostolate came not from men but from God – facts which theJerusalem church and the original apostles recognized (1:10-24). Furthermore, the leaders of the mother church at Jerusalem expressed formally their approval of his evangelistic work among the Gentiles (2:1-10). To illustrate that his authority as an apostle was unchallenged, even by one of the older apostles, he adds an account of his rebuking Peter at Antioch (2:11-21).
TUESDAY
Identify all of the verses in Galatians where the word “gospel” is used. These are decisive texts and highlights the fundamental problem is not the Galatians’ rejection of Paul or his apostleship, but their alteration of the gospel.
In light of the issues at hand, why do you think Paul took time and referred to his personal conversion (1:13-17)? If you had to argue for the reality of the Gospel by giving an example of how you have changed, what would you share?
The earliest disciples did not make a total and clean break with Judaism. This was a process that took time, effort, consultation, and patience. There were inevitably tensions that existed between the Jewish brethren and the Gentile brethren. It was of vital importance to the welfare of the Greek churches at that time to avoid a breach with the disciples in Jerusalem.
The book of Acts records five visits by Paul to Jerusalem after his conversion:
* Acts 9:26-30; Gal. 1:18-20;
* the famine visit (Acts 11:27-30);
* the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-30);
* the end of his second missionary journey (18:22);
* his final visit before imprisonment (21:15-23:35).
Research and discover all you can about Barnabas (Acts 4:36, 37; 9:27;11:23-25; 15:36-39). Titus was a Gentile Christian probably fromAntioch. He became a trusted and reliable helper for Paul (2 Cor. 2:12; 7:5-9). It seems that Paul’s decision to take an uncircumcised Greek toJerusalem was to demonstrate his determination not to let the Judaizers have any case at all.
Why was Paul so adamant about Gentiles not having to follow Jewish customs? How might the church be different today if Paul ignored this situation?
Describe how you picture the situation referred to in chapter 2:11-14 where Paul confronted Peter?
What was the fear (2:12) Peter felt and why did Paul so strongly condemn his and Barnabas’ “hypocrisy” (2:16, 18)?
WEDNESDAY
Galatians 2: 15-21 is a crucial section of this letter. “Justify” is a forensic term borrowed from the law courts. It means “to declare righteous or innocent.” The opposite of “to justify” is “to condemn” or “to pronounce guilty.”
Faith is the channel or means and not the source of justification.
In the doctrinal part of the letter (chapters 3 & 4) the apostle argues that it is faith and not the Mosaic law that brings a man into right relation with God.
How does the addition of law and works set aside or discount the grace of God?
Recognizing that the Jews relied so heavily on the law of Moses and also looked with great respect and awe toward Abraham, Paul showed that Abraham was made acceptable before God according to the same plan, in principle, by which men are made acceptable by Christ. God approved of Abraham by and through a system of faith (3:6). It is by a system of faith that all men will be justified through Christ (3:7, 26, 29). It was obvious that Abraham was not made acceptable by the law given through Moses, because the law came 430 years after God’s promise was given.
Furthermore, Paul showed that the law was not the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise (3:17, 18). Drawing upon the binding nature of even a man-made covenant, Paul argued that God’s promise and covenant with Abraham was not disannulled by the coming of the law of Moses (3:17), nor was it fulfilled by it.
One of the key questions addressed in this letter is, “What then is the purpose of the Old Testament law?” Paul’s answer was (1) to make men realize that sin is a transgression of God’s commandments (3:19, 20); and (2) “the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ” (3:24). It served a valuable purpose during a given period of time as the rule and guide for Israel until such time “faith is come” (3:25). Thechurch of Jesus Christ is the new Israel of God, the eschatological community, inheriting the promises of God given unto the Old Testament fathers.
THURSDAY
Besides referring just to the history of Abraham, Paul speaks in allegorical terms in using an illustration from the Old Testament to show the primacy of faith over works. He reminds his readers that Abraham had two wives, one a slave (Hagar) and the other a free woman (Sarah). Sarah, a freewoman and mother of Isaac, is used to represent the “Jerusalem that is above” or the faith of Jesus Christ. Hagar, a bondwoman and the mother of Ishmael, is used to represent the Mosaic law, the system that dominated Jerusalem at that time. As was done to Hagar, “cast out the handmaid and her son” (4:30), so must be done with the Mosaic system.
In Galatians, we learn the nature of “saving faith.” The faith that saves is the faith that obeys what is commanded (3:26, 27; 5:6, 7). Man is not saved by “faith alone” nor was Abraham. He was justified by a system of faith that necessitated obedience to the Lord’s will. Galatians 3: 26, 27 stand as a crucial passage in this letter:
“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus., for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Baptism is an initiation into the Messiah’s life (3:27).
In chapter four, Paul moves to the contrast between slavery and freedom. Both Jews and Gentiles were like slaves before the coming of the Messiah. As children under the guardianship of the law, the Jews were no better off than the pagans who were subject to cosmic forces (4:1-4, 8-9).
In the third part of this letter (chapters 5 & 6), Paul warns against the misapplication of his teaching on freedom. Christian freedom is not a license to indulge the desires of the flesh. It involves moral obligations that are fulfilled through love for the brethren (5:1-15). God has given Christians the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit should control their lives, producing “the fruits of the Spirit”(5:22-23).
The harvest principle of sowing and reaping is stated with clarity in this epistle. It settles once and for all any controversy that might arise over the responsibility of people for their conduct. It insists upon the justice and propriety that we bear the consequences of the course of life we live.
FRIDAY
The Spirit is the source, power, and the norm for life before God (5:25). The source of life determines the shape of life. Self-aggrandizement (living according to the flesh) is always part of the human predicament before God’s rule is finally established (5:21).
There is conflict (slavery to sin) between the “flesh” and the “Spirit.” God moves us from “outward restraint” (law) to “inward strength” (the indwelling of the Holy Spirit) as a means by which men may overcome the temptations and desires that constantly assail them. The gift of God’s Spirit requires a life lived for others rather than oneself.
Paul concludes his letter with practical counsel concerning the obligation of Christians to help one another (6:1-5); to support their teachers, and to “do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (6:10).
A postscript is added, in the apostle’s own handwriting, in which he sums up the main points of the letter (6:11-18).
“Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:15-16). Why did Paul identify Christians as being the new “Israel of God”?
In your mind, what are marks “of a new creation”?
Paul’s white-hot rebuke of the Galatian heresy was very effective. From all we know, there was no comparable resurgence of this problem in any of the congregations established by Paul.
© 2006, Pleasant Valley Church of Christ
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