Viewing the World through God's Word

Category: Galatians (Page 2 of 2)

God-Adopted (1)

O PreacherWe never considered adopting Anthony or Tina.  Just foster-parenting them.   But, we soon realized we couldn’t do even that.  Stress on our own three-child family and frustration with the byzantine bureaucracy became unbearable.

In Galatians 4:4-7 Paul tells us a happier story.  God redeemed us “so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5).
God’s redemption-aim was to adopt us!  We’ll unpack that next post.  For now, let’s follow Paul’s words as he concludes his argument against “the circumcision party” (2:13).  They were the Jews troubling the Galatia churches (Acts 13:13-14:48), insisting that circumcision and law-keeping (think:  Ten Commandments) must be added to faith in Christ to be justified.  No, cries Paul.   ‘ , , , if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law” (3:21).  Rather,  ” . . . the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith.”  Faith in Christ plus works of law?  No.  Faith in Christ alone.

Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.   [for] 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.  And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise (3:25-29).

Faith’s coming was an objective, historical event.  We can mark it, date and place.  We know that because Paul’s words in Galatians 4:4 are parallel to his words in 3:25—“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son . . . ”  When Christ came, faith came.  And when faith came, law’s supervision ceased.

I’d have expected Paul to write, “Now that faith has come . . . . you are all justified through faith in Christ Jesus.”  Wouldn’t you?  After all, justification has been his topic.  Instead, however, he writes, “Now that faith has come . . . you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 

Imagine a courtroom.  Now a family room.  That’s the difference between justification and adoption. In justification God grants us right “legal” standing before him.  He declares us “NOT GUILTY” for our sin.   He gavels the decision final. Justification is a courtroom word.  In adoption God makes us members of  his “household”.   He WELCOMES us home from our lost-ness.  His arms open to pull us close.  Adoption, therefore,  is a family word.   Even though Paul doesn’t use the word “adoption” until 4:5, it lies behind Paul’s announcement here:   “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”

Like justification, adoption comes by faith.  We express this faith in baptism, which, Paul writes, is like clothing ourselves with Christ.   Was Paul thinking of the prophet when writing that?  “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness . . .  ” (Isaiah 61:10).  By faith expressed in baptism, the Lord strips off the filthy rags of our “righteousness” and dresses us up in Christ’s.  His righteousness becomes ours.  

When I read this image I see the dozens and dozens I baptized as a pastor.  Every one I pulled up—whether in a lake, pool or baptistry—came back out dripping, covered with water.  By faith expressed in baptism, Christ covers us with himself.   He is the Son of God; we become sons of God.  Members of our Father’s family with Jesus as our older brother.  Jesus the “natural” Son, we the adopted, through him.

Suddenly our identity is changed.  Secondary now is our race, social standing, sex.  We’re still Jew or Greek or German or American.  Still free or a prisoner of an unjust economic system.  Still male or female.  But first we’re Christ’s.  The distinctions that divide us are swallowed up by the Son.

And this family is big.  Bigger than our church.  Bigger even than the world-wide church today.  We have brothers and sisters from all times and places, even way back to Abraham.  For ” . . .  now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and now all the promises God gave to him belong to you” (NLT).

I can think of two problems with all of this.

One, we’re sin-nature-wired not to believe.  Or, we’re sin-nature-wired to work.  It’s hard for us to trustingly accept the free gifts of justification and adoption.  Maybe it’s our pride.  Can I really be so lost that there’s nothing I can do to save myself?  We’re always wanting to tinker a bit with what God is doing, so we feel as if we’ve contributed.  But we have nothing to bring but our sinful selves.  All is God’s grace in Christ.

Two, God’s family seems insignificant in the grand scheme of things.  The church in American society is of no account.  Fellow believers aren’t always the cream of the crop.  But we are still waiting for our “adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).  Meanwhile, “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19).   Let’s not be fooled into thinking that what we see of God’s family now is all we’ll ever be.  There’s a day coming when the Son of God will come again.  Then we will all be like him, “because we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

Let’s end this on a majestic note.  Celebrate in praise with the video above!

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 


One Story: Abraham to Moses to Christ

O PreacherIn 1992 Daniel Fuller authored The Unity of the Bible to show that Genesis to Revelation tell one overarching narrative.  That’s often hard to see when we open that big 66 book Book.  It  can seem  rather disjointed, even contradictory.  Take, for example, the apparent disconnect  between promises to Abraham to believe and commandments to Moses to obey.  Well, which is it—faith or obedience?  Can we just pick and choose the passages we prefer?  Or,  is there an overarching narrative, a unity which we can trust?

Judaizers (professed Christian Jews who preached justification  with God comes through faith in Christ plus Jewish circumcision and law-keeping) were troubling the new Galatia churches (1:6,7).   Paul passionately pushed back.  Look at Abraham, father of the Jewish nation, he said.   He believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness . . . Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham” (3:6,7).  And  ” . . . we (Jews, descendants of Abraham) know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, 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” (2:16).   Justification comes by faith alone in Christ alone, as God’s covenant with Abraham (before circumcision and the law) reveals.

Brothers, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case (2:15).

Paul illustrates from the legal system of his day.  Once a man-made covenant was ratified it was unmovable and unchangeable, written (we might say) in stone.  So, says Paul, with God’s covenant with Abraham.  Righteous-standing with God comes by faith in God’s promises.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say,                                
“And to offsprings,” as of many; but it says, “And to your offspring,” that is, to one person,
who is Christ. My point is this: the law, which came four hundred thirty years later,
does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise;
but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.(2:16-18).

Even though God promised Abraham offspring as uncountable as the stars (Genesis 15:5,6), Paul pointedly uses “offspring” “to one person, who is Christ.”    (Check Matthew’s non-exciting genealogy that starts with Abraham and culminates in Christ–Matthew 1:2-16.)  Paul claims that when God made promises to Abraham, he made them also to his offspring, Christ.

Remember the Judaizers are trying to dump law-keeping into the justification mix.  So Paul makes his point about Abraham plain.  “My point is this:  the law, which came four hundred thirty years later (through Moses) , does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God (see Genesis 15), so as to nullify the promise.”  Righteousness/justification/right-standing with God– comes through God’s promise to Abraham culminating in Christ.

But why the law?  If the Scripture narrative is a unity and runs from promised justification through faith to Abraham to promised justification through faith in Christ, law seems to intrude and shatter the unity.  No, Paul insists.  The four-centuries-later law doesn’t annul God’s covenant with Abraham.

What, then, was the purpose of the law? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was put into effect through angels by a mediator.  A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one.  Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law.  But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.  Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed.  So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith (3:19-24).

Through Moses the law was added, the Ten Commandments forming                                                                                                           
the core (Exodus 20:1-17).  The Lord gave this preamble to Moses
on the mountain:  “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians,
and how I bore you on eagles’ wing and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:4-6).

Though the Lord had saved them from slavery by his grace, if the Hebrews were to live as his treasured possession they had to obey the law of the covenant.  Worse than telling a seven year-old child who’s been coddled and cuddled he has to start doing chores to be part of the family.  Abraham:  promises by faith.  Moses:  promises by obedience.

In this paragraph Paul explains critical distinctions about the nature of God’s law.  First, it was temporary.  “[The law] was added . . . until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.”    Second, “[The law] was added because of transgressions.”  By that I take Paul to mean, “The law was added so I might know my transgressions.”  This is what he wrote later in Roman 7:7— ” . . . if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.  For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’.”

Third, the law was “put in place through angels by an intermediary.”  The role of angels in giving the law appears to exalt the law.  But Paul means the opposite.  In some way God used angels to mediate the law to Moses who then announced it to the people.  But when God made his promises to Abraham, he spoke directly to Abraham.  Thus the promises hold a “holier” nature than the law.

Does the law, then, interrupt God’s narrative unity.  Is Moses an intruder?  Not at all.  God’s concern here is not to demand obedience to law but to “impart [a righteous, justified] life.”  Law cannot do that.  A lawfully-given speeding ticket may lighten my foot on the accelerator for a while, but soon I’m doing 60 mph in a 50 zone again.  And even when keeping the limit, my insides are frustrated by the ticket and crying, “Speed it up!”

Paul gives us two final purposes for the law.  Fourth, law “imprisoned everything under sin.”  “Imprisoned” suggests sin is a power we can’t overcome.  Prison bars restrain.  Lock us in.  No escape.  God gives Ten Commandments and, in almost no time at all, we realize we not only don’t keep them, we can’t. 

The fifth purpose for the law flows from the helplessness of the fourth.  The law is a guardian.  The NIV translation above translates the Greek noun, paidagogos, as a verb to describe its function.  A paidagogos was a slave who conducted a freeborn boy to and from school.  The ESV translates, ” . . . the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.”  The law kept us reasonably on God’s right path.  It identified danger and sin.  It promised blessings and reward.  But it left us fallen short.  The road to right-standing with God wound up to a high and rugged holy mountain.  Our very nature rebelled against it (to say nothing of the devil stalking us every step of the way).

But note the narrative unity here.  God’s promises righteous by faith to Abraham and ultimately to Christ.  He gave us law so we could see our wretched transgressions against his holy and good will and to lead us to the only One who could put us in right-standing  with the holy God—Jesus Messiah.

 

So, you see, not only is the Bible one overarching narrative, so is the Gospel of our salvation.  It began when God gave his promises to Abraham.  Continued when he gave the law through Moses.  And it climaxed in the coming of Christ.  “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law . . . ” (3:13).  “And, if you are Christ’s then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (3:29).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dead and Alive (Jesus and Me)

O PreacherChristianity is a miracle faith.  It’s not just a set of doctrines or a moral code.  Christianity is marked by “extraordinary events manifesting divine intervention in human affairs” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary definition).

The Courtroom.

Paul refers to one of the greatest  in this next text of his Galatians letter; but he first concludes his teaching about justification by faith begun in his rebuke (1:6 and following).

We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’
know that a man is not justified by observing the law,
but by faith in Jesus Christ.
So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus
that we may be justified by faith in Christ
and not by observing the law,
because by observing the law no one will be justified.
(2:15,16)

“Justified” (Greek, dikaio-o) refers to one’s right standing before God–more a legal term than an experiential one.  Paul’s meaning is crystal-clear.  ” . . . a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.”  Jewish Christians (professed) visited the Galatian churches insisting that right standing with God required faith in Jesus Christ plus circumcision and adherence to the laws of Moses.  Paul responded by rebuking the Galatians for turning to a “different gospel” (1:6).

Since observing the biblical law of Moses doesn’t achieve justification, no other law or rule or system does either.  Being good, going to church,  helping the poor, praying regularly are all good behaviors, but they’re not meritorious.  Faith alone in Christ alone alone results in justification.

That’s both bad news and good.  Bad, because it punctures my ego (I can do nothing to merit being right with God!) and compels me to confess I’m a lawbreaker, a criminal according to God’s moral code.  So put me in an orange suit, shackle my ankles and lead me to my cell!  Good, because even a little child can trust.  The “faith-bar” is low.  About as low on the ground as a grain of mustard seed.

This is the gospel, full-of-wonder–the “courtroom” side of it.  A little more “legal” before the miracle . . .

If, while we seek to be justified in Christ,
it becomes evident that we ourselves are sinners,
does that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!
If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
(2:17-19)

That question may imply what the “Judaizers” claimed:  Justification by faith alone (and not good works) provides license to sin.  I imagine Paul writing “Absolutely not!” in all caps (and shaking his head at the ludicrous idea).  To add obedience to law is to rebuild a system of good works and prove yourself (again) a law-breaker, because you will inevitably break God’s law.  Paul knows the law condemns him.  So, as far as law is concerned,  he’s a dead man walking.  But God has a purpose in law’s death sentence:  “so that I might live for God.” 

The Miracle.

Now the great miracle and an explanation of how the law “kills” so we might live for God . . .

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me. The life I 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 could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing!
(Galattians2:17-21).

God’s law condemns me–a law-breaker–to death.  Christ, who never broke God’s law, died as a law-breaker in my place.  Thus, Paul writes, “I (the old “I” trying to earn right-standing with God) have been crucified with Christ and I (the old “I) no longer live.  Christ’s death for me was also my death (to justification by obedience) with him.  So “I” no longer live.  Now here comes the great miracle . . .

” . . . but Christ lives in me.”  Wait!  Stop!  Think!  How can the incarnate Christ, who ascended bodily to reign from heaven, live in me?  It’s not the incarnate Christ but the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit who indwells me.  All are one in the same.  In Romans 8:9, Paul writes . . .

Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ,
does not belong to Christ.

In other words, the internal mark of a Christ-belonger is the Spirit of Christ.  A person who belongs to Christ through faith in him, has the Spirit of Christ.  ” . . . Christ (the Spirit of Christ) lives in me.”  It’s the Spirit of Christ who enables faith in Christ.  It’s the Spirit of Christ who sanctifies.  It’s the Spirit of Christ who bears fruit.  It’s the Spirit of Christ who gives gifts.  The Spirit of Christ is Christ in the person of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, we live the Christian life by faith in Christ, like a little child trusting the One who loved us and showed it by giving himself for us.  This is the gospel of God’s grace.  Trying to religiously work for righteousness is anti-grace and an arrogant implication that Christ died for nothing.

For some of us, the miracle of “Dead and Alive (Jesus and Me)” blows right over our head.  We don’t ponder it deeply, so Galatians 2:20 becomes little more than an empty religious chant.  For others, the miracle is too familiar.  We’ve known it since childhood when we “asked Jesus into our heart.”  No longer do we stand in awe of the wonder.  Christ lives in me!

Above is a video.
A simple song to sing.
Scripture-words to ponder.
An affirmation of faith to repeat.
An offering of praise to make.
To the Christ who died for us
that he might live in us
and transform us
from one degree of his glory to another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gospel Preserves

O PreacherI wish I could begin this blog with a story of how my mother preserved some summer crops for winter eating.  But, alas, no basement shelves of fruit-stuff jars.  Just paper bags from Safeway.  However, here’s a gospel-preserves story from the apostle Paul that’s true.  And we might wonder where we’d be without it.

Spoiler Alert!

This text isn’t an edge-of-your-chair nail-biter, although one commentator introduces this section: “Things get really interesting with this passage. From it we can derive much about ecclesiastical politics in relation to the defense of the gospel” (Commentary on Galatians, Vincent Cheung).  Hmmm.  Nothing like “ecclesiastical politics” to get the juices flowing.

Story Summary.

Anyway, here’s the story summary.  Paul’s new converts in Galatia are being led astray by Jews who insist circumcision and Moses’ law must be added to faith in Christ.  Apparently they charged that Paul’s justification by faith came from the Jerusalem apostles.  In Galatians 1:18-24 Paul argued that he visited Peter and James in Jerusalem for only 15 days three years after his Damascus road Christ-revelation.

Now 14 years later he, with Barnabas and Titus, visit Jerusalem again “in response to a revelation.”  Opinions differ on what that revelation was and how this visit fits with the Acts narrative.  Neither matters much.  Here’s the text . . .

The Text.

Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.  I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.  Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you. As for those who seemed to be important– whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance– those men added nothing to my message.  On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews.  For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.  James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews.  All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.  When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong.  Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.  The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.  When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?” (Galatians 2:1-14).

Summary Points.

  • Paul privately told the Jerusalem church leaders the gospel he preached “for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain.”   It seems to me, though again opinions differ, that Paul wanted to be sure the Jerusalem apostles and he were preaching the same gospel and not working at cross-purposes with one another.
  • The Jerusalem apostles didn’t force gentile Titus, who had come with Paul, to be circumcised.  Thus they showed agreement on justification by faith, not faith plus Jewish circumcision, which the “false brothers” demanded.
  • The Jerusalem leaders added nothing to Paul’s gospel, instead extending “the right hand of fellowship” to Barnabas and Paul, having “recognized the grace given to [Paul].”

The Action.

Now, finally, comes a little drama.  The scene shifts to the Antioch, Syria church.  Peter is visiting.  At meals, he eats with Gentiles.  (Not allowed by Jewish law.  But, since Christ has “cleansed”these Gentiles by faith, Peter knows he’s free to eat with these new brothers.  Soon “certain men came from James” (the leader of the Jewish Christian Jerusalem church).  And Peter now eats only with Jewish Christians.  His actions move Barnabas to do the same.  Paul calls it hypocrisy and argues “they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel.”  So in front of everybody, Paul confronts Peter:  “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. (by eating with Gentiles before).  How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs”  (by now staying away from Gentile believers)?

Before this Antioch affair, Paul explained that “his” gospel (justification by faith, no circumcision or Jewish law) and that of the Jerusalem apostles was one.  The “circumcision party” could have said, “Aha!  Paul is just mouthing Jerusalem’s ‘gospel’!  But when Paul publicly rebukes a Jerusalem apostle, they have to admit Paul is no Peter-puppet.

So What?

After all that excitement, time to ask what all this means to us.  Back to the highlighted clause above:  so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.”  That’s what this is all about.  Paul being sure that he and the Jerusalem apostles are on the same gospel-page.  Paul bringing the uncircumcised Gentile believer Titus with him.  Paul refusing to cave to the “circumcision party” at the meeting.  Paul publicly opposing Peter to his face over his hypocrisy.  It was all about saving the truth of the gospel of justification by faith alone from corruption.

No big deal?  Just imagine where we’d be without Paul’s gospel-preserving purpose.  We’d put our faith in Jesus.  Have to be circumcised.  And take on the yoke of Old Testament law.  All the sacrifices, all the commandments, all the laws.  All added to our faith in Christ.  We’d be weighted down with demands we couldn’t keep and would never be right with God.

So my mother never preserved peaches.  And this text would be rough to read for devotions early in the morning.  (Yawn!)  But without Paul’s faithfulness (stubbornness?) to the gospel of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, we’d be lost.

 

 

One Man’s Revelation

P.AllanDonald Trump attacks his opponents personally.  He charged former Florida governor Jeb Bush with being “low energy”.  He calls Senator Cruz “lying Ted”.  The apostle Paul could identify.  Trying to win over the Galatian churches to their doctrine, Jewish Christian teachers attacked Paul They might have said something like this . . .

“His gospel is just man’s gospel.  He’s trying to please the Jerusalem apostles.  After all, what he preaches, he learned from them. And they got it wrong.  Yes, we’re justified by faith in Jesus Christ.  But we also have to be circumcised and devote ourselves to keeping Moses’ law.”

So what difference does that long-ago battle make in my life?

Suppose we discovered that a group of men fabricated the Bible?  That somehow they convinced people their book was true?  That generations passed with belief growing stronger with each?  But now we learn it’s religious fantasy.  Would we think any differently about those writers and the “Bible” they produced?  I don’t know about you, but if it was proven beyond doubt, I’d realize I’d been building my life on a lie and burn all my Bibles.  It makes a life-changing difference, then, whether Paul’s gospel came from men or Jesus himself.

In Galatians 1:10-24 Paul begins a defense with two important points . . .

I Had Limited Contact with Jerusalem Church Leaders.

Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.  I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.  For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.  I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.  But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased  to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man,  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.  Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter and stayed with him fifteen days.  I saw none of the other apostles– only James, the Lord’s brother.  I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.  Later I went to Syria and Cilicia.  I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.

The bold face font highlights Paul’s limited contact with the Jerusalem church  Over the course of three years he spent only 15 days with Peter and James.  Hardly enough time to learn the depths of the gospel!

I had a Revelation of Jesus Christ.

The second point of Paul’s defense frankly makes me uneasy.  It has echoes of the Muslim claim that Allah revealed himself to Muhammad (http://www.allahsquran.com/quran_divine_book.phpand that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to young Joseph Smith alone in the woods to reveal the true teachings of Mormonism (http://josephsmith.net/article/the-first-vision?lang=eng).  Paul’s claim went like this . . .

I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:11,12).  I think Paul was referring to his Damascus road experience (Acts 9)If so, his authority as an apostle preaching Christ’s gospel was rooted in Jesus actually, historically appearing to him after his resurrection.

Furthermore, he claims, “God . . . set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me . . . ” (Galatians 1:15,16a).  Paul contends that from birth God had acted to set Paul apart for his purpose.  And that, in the Damascus road revelation, God called him by his grace (no merits on Paul’s part).

Already in his greeting, Paul had summed up his defense to the charge that his gospel had a man-source:  “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father—who raised him from the dead” (Galatians 1:1).

* * * * *

See what this means?  I’m staking my life on Paul’s claim to a revelation from Jesus Christ.  Can I trust that what he writes he received from Jesus?  I don’t know Paul.  I only know what I read that he said and did.  Is that enough for me to regard his words as Christ’s?

Yes.  Because Paul saw the risen Lord.  To be an apostle one had to have been a witness to his resurrection (Acts 1:21,22).  Paul claims he did (on the Damascus road).   Paul was accepted by the Twelve on that basis (Galatians 2:7-9).  And was willing to die to be true to that gospel (2 Timothy 4:-8).

The gospel we believe isn’t a spiritual fairy tale conceived by men.  Nor was it given in a private spiritual vision.   Nor did its founder die (and stay dead).  Muhammad died in the evening of the twelfth of Rabi’ al-Awwal (June 8, 632 A.D.) at the age of sixty-three.  He was buried the next day (http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/death.html).  Joseph Smith died June 27, 1844.  He was killed while in jail, charged with destroying the facilities of a newspaper which revealed Smith as a polygamist who intended to set himself up as a theocratic king (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/Death_of_Joseph_Smith).

Paul died too.  But the One whose gospel he preached lives . . .

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,  and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also . . . ” (1 Corinthians 15:1-8a).

 

 

Let Him Be Damned!

O PreacherGalatians1:6-9 is one of the most politically incorrect texts in the New Testament.   Offends everyone, except (hopefully) Bible-believing Christians.

In it, Paul is clearly shook up.  No warm greeting to the converts made and churches planted.  No from-the-heart thanksgiving and prayer for them..  So stunned by events in the Galatian churches, he slams right into the subject.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! 

I see two politically incorrect points  in Paul’s words . . .

THERE IS ONE GOSPEL:  “JUSTIFIED BY FAITH”.

Soon after Paul and Barnabas left their newly-planted churches in Psidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (Acts 13:13-14:28). itinerant Jewish Christian preachers showed up.  According to Paul, they were “throwing [the new converts] into confusion and trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”  Consequently, many were “turning to a different gospel–which [was] really no gospel at all.”

Later in the letter, two texts make clear what this “different gospel” was . . .

We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’  know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:15,16).

Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all (Galatians 5:2).

There’s the difference.  These itinerant preachers insisted justification (being declared righteous before God) required faith in Jesus plus circumcision and devotion to Jewish law.  For Paul, not only was circumcision unnecessary; it made Christ valueless.  They were deserting God who had called them “in the grace (unmerited favor, undeserved love) of Christ”.  Attempting to be justified by faith plus law. they were losing the very justification they had by grace through faith.

The false preachers’ equation looked like this . . .

FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST + CIRCUMCISION + LAW-KEEPING = JUSTIFICATION

The gospel Paul preached—the one gospel—looks like this . . .

FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST + NOTHING = JUSTIFICATION

Or, to say it another way . . .

GOD’S GRACE IN CHRIST ALONE + (OUR) FAITH ALONE = JUSTIFICATION

The second politically incorrect point I see in this text  is  . . .

The Preacher of a Different Gospel:  “Be Damned”.

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! 

Politically incorrect.  Not only does Paul insist on one gospel; he damns the preachers of another.  “Damned” is my synonym for “eternally condemned”, which is the NIV’s translation of the Greek anathema.  Let him come under God’s curse!  Let God pour out his wrath on him!  Let him be eternally condemned!

Not a breath of tolerance!  Paul is so agitated and this doctrine so foundational,  he wishes its opponents condemned forever.  But since this is Holy Spirit-inspired writing, it can’t be just Paul’s anger; it must be God’s too. His gospel must be uncorrupted.  His adopted children must be protected.  Therefore, gospel-corrupters and child-abusers must be condemned.  It’s the height of political incorrectness.

Offensive Christians.

I’ve met a few obnoxious Christians over the years   By their attitude, word choice and demeanor, they seem to delight in offending.  I’m not talking about them here.  By “offensive Christians” I mean Christians who offend  because they believe and speak and practice the politically incorrect gospel.

To say there is one gospel of justification by faith offends because popular “gospels” claim many roads to God.  And because our prideful sin-nature insists we can “work” at rituals or commandment-keeping or something (in addition to believing) to be right with God.

A gospel so narrow that it damns preachers of “a different gospel” offends the popular mantra that chants “God is love, God is love; he won’t send anybody to hell.”  Surely we can be tolerant of other belief-systems!  D. C. Carson (Reformed theologian, author and research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) titled one of his recent books, The Intolerance of Tolerance.  In it he argues that the old tolerance (respect everyone’s right to hold their own beliefs) has been swallowed up by the new tolerance (everyone’s belief is true for them and debate with them is intolerant.)  In other words, the new tolerance is actually intolerant toward all who reject their definition!

We may mock “political correctness”, but must take care that we don’t surrender to it.  None of us wants to be branded or shunned.  But let’s face it:  the gospel of Jesus is politically incorrect.  If we let ourselves be “corrected” by another “gospel”—a gospel that preaches faith in Christ plus any meritorious efforts on our part—we will have a different gospel, “which is really no gospel at all.”

Remember my swimming buddy Ernie who panicked in deep water and thrashed about on top of me?  We would both soon drown.  Ernie needed the lifeguard to save him.  There was nothing he could do to save himself.  And once the lifeguard came, there was nothing he needed to do.

 

 


 

 

The House Is On Fire!

P.AllanSometimes the situation is so urgent, but . . . Well, listen to Bob Deffinbaugh’s story:

“Several years ago a friend of mine was working in his garage.
He was the kind of person who did not like to be interrupted
while engaged in a project.
Knowing this, his wife walked into the garage
and stood quietly at his side for several minutes,
waiting for the proper time to speak.
At last her husband looked up, the signal
that she was free to say what was on her mind.
Very calmly, and without a trace of panic, she said,
‘The house is on fire’”
(Galatians:  The Gospel and God’s Grace).

In the churches of Galatia (recently planted by Paul and Barnabas), “the house is on fire.”  Time to interrupt whatever’s going on and shout, “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed” (Galatians 1:9).   But let’s go back and begin at the beginning.  (For a general introduction read theoldpreacher.com/circumcision-confrontation/ ).

Throughout Paul’s ministry, starting here in the Galatian churches of Psidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, Paul was typically attacked on two fronts.  One, his authority as an apostle.  Two, the substance of his gospel.

With a succinct response to that two-front attack, Paul begins his letter . . .

Paul, an apostle– sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead– and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the 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 whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (1:1-5).

Apostolic Authority. 

Does Paul have it, or not?

“Paul, an apostle– sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead . . . ”

It’s an extravagant claim.  An apostle not sent by the first apostles or the Antioch church, but sent by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.  “God sent me” just a funny movie line today.

It’s also an extreme claim.  We no longer associate authority with God.  He’s a helper or moral guide, but certainly not the Sovereign.  Yet, when Paul refers to him as God who raised Jesus from the dead, he is pointing  us to the authority and power of God, even over death.

Consequently, the risen Christ declared . . .

“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18)

Paul later wrote about . . .

” . . . the immeasurable greatness of his power . . .
that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead
and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,
and above every name that is named, not only in this age,
but also in the one to come.”
(Ephesians 1:19-21) 

And when the Lord sent his hesitant disciple Ananias to blind Saul, he told him . . .

” . . . he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name
before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.”
(Acts 9:16).

This was Paul’s claim to authority.  Believe it or not.  Just remember this:  if Paul was right, all other claims are false.

Substantive Gospel.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the 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 whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen (1:3-5).

Paul wastes no time getting to the heart of his Gospel.  Greeting the Galatians he identifies Jesus Christ as the one “who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,  to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

That Christ “gave himself for our sins” implies we are sinners before the holy God.  We transgress his laws and disobey his commands.  It also implies a substitutionary sacrifice was possible and that the sacrifice was Jesus Christ.  No effort of ours–whether Jewish circumcision, Old Testament law-keeping, or any other credit-gaining work is needed.  The Gospel announces a most-costly, life-changing gift received by faith . . .

“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.”
(Galatians 2:20).

The purpose of Christ’s self-sacrifice extends far beyond sins-forgiven:  ” . . . to rescue us from the present evil age.”  This present age is “evil” because it’s under the dominion of “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4) and so humans worship the creature rather than the Creator (Romans 1:25).  Because of this, God’s wrath is coming (Romans 2:5).  But, we who trust our lives to Christ, are rescued.

When I was about 15, some of my church buddies came to swim at the lake near my house.  Ernie and I swam out to a deep part of the lake.  Suddenly, he panicked.  Grabbed my neck and shoulders.  Smaller than him, I found myself trapped under his weight under water.  About then  the lifeguard showed up in a rowboat and dragged Ernie back to shore.  Apparently he though I could save myself; Ernie couldn’tSimilarly, we can’t do anything to rescue ourselves from sin and God’s wrath; we are rescued by Christ alone through faith alone.

Rescued from God’s wrath  to what?”  Eternal life in the new creation of the new age to come.  It’s an age that  began when Jesus was raised.  Already then, by the Holy Spirit,  we enjoy a  taste of it.  Already the new age has come by the Spirit, but not yet has it come fully.  Paul refers to this in 1 Corinthians 10:11 when he writes . . .

These things happened to them as example
and were written down as warnings for us,
on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.
(1 Corinthians 10:11)

[God]made us alive with Christ
even when we were dead in transgressions–

it is by grace you have been saved.
And God raised us up with Christ
and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

 in order that in the coming ages
he might show the incomparable riches of his grace,

expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:5-7).

House On Fire!

On this Good Friday, a cacophony of “other gospels” are babbled about—some secular, some religious, some even in Jesus’ name.  The biggest church in America preaches a false gospel.  The American Dream is the greatest—that’s a false gospel.  You can be anything you want to be is a false gospel.  Jesus forgives your sins but you have to do your part is a false gospel. Listen!  When ideas contrary to Christ subconsciously stick in our minds from mindless reruns, the “house is on fire.”  Get the fire out!

Good Friday.  Sin’s debt was paid.  Jesus endured God’s wrath due us.  “It is finished!” he said (John 19:30).  All that remained was resurrection, by which he would inaugurate the new age for new creatures.  That would come Sunday. 

 

it is finished jesus photo: It is FINISHED ItisFinished.jpg

 

Circumcision Confrontation

O PreacherMight the Jewish rite of circumcision create conflict for us who are right with God by faith?

The Writing of Galatians.

When Paul and Barnabas finished their first missions trip
they sailed to Antioch, Syria.  “And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had  done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.  And they remained no little time with the disciples” (Acts 14:27,28).

It may have been during the “no little time” that Paul learned of trouble in the churches he and Barnabas had just planted in Galatia province—the churches of Psidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.  Jewish teachers had visited those churches arguing that these Gentile converts to Christ must be circumcised to be saved  (This was the issue prompting the soon-to-be-held Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-35–-https://theoldpreacher.com/critical-council/).

In response, inspired by God the Holy Spirit, Paul wrote the Letter to the Galatians.  The year was probably 48 A.D.  That letter God has sovereignly preserved for us in the New Testament.  (By the way, if maps aren’t your thing, just ignore them.  But they help me get a better picture of events.)

An “Occasional” Document.

I find it noteworthy that God chose to reveal himself to us through what scholars called “occasional” documents like Galatians.  “Occasional” here means this letter, which is God’s Word to us, was occasioned by a real-life situation in the mid-first century A.D.  In fact, much of the Bible is like that.  A majority of the Old Testament is a God-inspired record of how God revealed himself among Israel.  (This includes the prophets who spoke to Israel in real-time history.)  This contrasts with Islam, for instance.  Muslims claim Allah revealed himself to Mohamed, who then wrote down those revealed words.  Notice, too, that God the Son revealed himself to us in real space-time (see Luke 1:1-4).   Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension comprised God’s supreme self-revelation.  We have that recorded in the Gospels.

I find this remarkable.  Rather than dictating words to a “holy man” in a cave somewhere, God revealed himself in real-life human situations and inspired men to write what he said and did.  Our God came and worked among us to make himself known to us.

All that to briefly step away from the Acts chronology (we’ll get back to it soon) to read through Galatians at the historical point Paul wrote it (that is, probably at the time described in Acts 14:27,28).  This will help us better understand  this short but profound letter.

The “Trouble” of Circumcision.

As I explained above, the “trouble” for the Galatian churches was the false teaching that Gentiles had to add circumcision to faith in Christ to be saved.  Ancient issue, right?  Not exactly.  How many of us, for example, subconsciously assume that our right standing with God is shaky this week because we’ve lied, lost our temper, looked at pornography, ignored our neighbor’s need, etc.?  If behavior like that is our normal way of life, of course we should question our standing with God.  But if we’re talking about occasional sins, let’s remember that our justification (right standing with God) is by faith not works.  And let’s remember nothing can separate us from his love to us in Christ Jesus.  At times I’m his very disobedient child, but still his child.  My behavior may call for discipline, but he disciplines those he loves (Hebrews 12:6).

The Opposite “Trouble”.

Oddly, the opposite can spell “trouble” for us, too.   We (rightly) believe we can’t add “works” to faith, but we may be so nonchalant about our faith that it’s dead and we don’t even know it.  A person with “nonchalant” faith like that (actually faith on life-support) usually has no righteous works.  Because “faith without works is dead”.  Works (obedience as the direction of life) spring from living faith.  The absence of works as a life-direction is actually a sign of dead faith.  We probably have as many professed Christians dealing with this trouble as those in the former category (those trying to add works to their faith so they see obedience as meritorious for salvation).

A Supernatural Faith.

Paul will make clear in this letter a Good News truth we must always keep on the front-burner of our mind.  It lies at the very heart of the Good News . . .

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.
(Galatians 2:20).

Christianity, you see,  is a supernatural faith.  Christ loved us and gave himself for us and now lives in us who live by faith in him.  That’s a life-transforming miracle.

We need not and must not add anything to that miracle.
And, if we understand and ponder that miracle,
we may be so captivated by it
our heart will be kindled with warm devotion
for the One who loved us and gave himself for us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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