NOVEMBER 27 Galatians

November 27, 2014

Galatians

This is Paul’s toughest letter to the churches in the central region of Asia Minor, the very area where Jews had once (or more than once) stoned Paul and left him for dead. Here is where Judaism would attempt to reign in Christianity from the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and make it little more than a Jewish sect. To put it simply, the “Judaizers,” as they have been called, were demanding that Gentiles be circumcised and become Jews BEFORE they became Christians. This, in essence, would have created a salvation by works, rather than by grace through faith. Paul wrote to combat this.

He begins by saying, “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.” (1:6) Paul affirms “justification by faith,” not by works (2:15f), then asks, “After beginning by the Spirit, are you now trying to achieve your goal by human effort?” (3:3). 

He reviews some of the same points he made in Romans, quoting Habakkuk 2:4, “The righteous shall live by faith.” He confesses his fear that he has labored in vain (4:11). And encourages them to “walk in the Spirit,” rather than the flesh (5:19-24). Only then are we able to “bear one another’s’ burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (6:2).

Tomorrow is Ephesians.

Your fellow traveler through the New Testament,

Pastor Gary