Galatians 1:6-10

Galatians 1:6-10

The Rebuke Begins

The Purpose of the Law: to overcome sin practices until salvation came in Messiah.

See: Galatians 3:19; 2 Timothy 3:14-15

The Opposition: Judaizers

• In order for a Christian to truly be right with God, he/she must conform to the Mosaic Law. o Specifically, men must be circumcised.

• At the Jerusalem Council (see: Acts 15) a group of Judaizers opposed Paul and Barnabas. Paul made the case that, in Christ, there was no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile, for God had purified the hearts of the Gentiles by faith.

• Paul’s point: To add anything to the completed work that Christ did for salvation is to negate God’s grace.

  2 Contemporary Groups similar to Judaizers: 

  Hebrew Roots Movement and the Roman Catholic Church

• Hebrew Roots Movement –

  o Jesus said he did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.
  o Therefore, followers of Jesus should include the practices of the Law, as Jesus did.

• Roman Catholic –

o Catholics have always held that the sacraments are necessary for salvation.

o At the Council of Trent in the 16th century, the Roman Catholic Church explicitly denied the idea of salvation by faith alone.

o Vatican II (1962-1965) – “For it is through Christ’s Catholic Church alone, which is the universal help towards salvation, that the fulness of the means of salvation can be obtained.”

o Yet, the Bible is clear...we are not saved by the church or by our works but by God’s grace

– “It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Galatians 1:6-7a – The Rebuke

“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.

• “Deserting” – verb tense indicates that the Galatians are in the middle of the process...the final outcome was still in question

Point: Paul’s amazement is that the Galatians are repeating a sin of the past.

Galatians 1:7b – The Charge

Galatians 1:7b – “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.”

2 Purposes of False Teaching:

1. Confusion in the body – “Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion...”

“Confusion” = literally: to stir up or agitate (see: John 5:4)

figuratively: to disturb, distress or confuse (see: John 11:33; 1 Peter 3:13-15) 

 

2. Redefining the Gospel – “...and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” 

Point: Satan’s plan is to question everything of God...to create doubt or distress.

 Galatians 1:8-9 – The Condemnation

• “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! 9As 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!”

Ways People Pervert the Gospel Today:

Weakening – calling historical events myths or contextualizing truths

Diluting – teaching half-truths and moral relativism instead of moral absolutes.

Misrepresenting – ascribing attributes to God and the Gospel that make it more acceptable.

Syncretism – blending the Gospel with other religious activities

Falsifying – flat out mis-teaching of the Bible...usually for personal gain.

Galatians 1:10 – The Motivation

** Paul’s Critics accused him of... 

1. ...watering down the Gospel.

a. By omitting the Law as a means of salvation. 

2. ...easy “believism”.

a. He did not include the Law as necessary for salvation. 

3. ...playing to the crowd to make salvation popular.

a. Paul was allegedly trying to please men and not God.

Point: You must choose: the gospel of grace Paul preached or the “gospel” of works preached by perverters.

Kirk McCormick · Galatians 1:6-10

Galatians: Introduction and 1:1-5

Introduction

Setting

1. The History of “Galatia"

• Founded by Celts - from British Islands – who invaded and conquered Greece in the early 3rd Century BC

• “Galatia” comes from the Latin, Gallo which is the equal to the Greek: Keltai (“Celts”)

  
  
  
  
  
  

2. Specifically, in 230BC, Attalus I, king of Pergamum, defeated the Celts, restricting them to a small area around modern day Ankarra (capital of Turkey)

3. In 189BC, Rome conquered the region.

4. By 25BC, “Galatia” expanded and referred to the region from modern day Lebanon, along the Mediterranean up to and including Turkey.

Authorship: Paul...no dispute at all! Date: Likely around 52AD

• Written sometime between the Council of Jerusalem (48-49AD) and Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem where he was arrested and taken to Rome (58AD).

• “Galatians” was written while Paul was in Corinth (~52AD), making it a “twin” with the letter to the church in Rome (aka: “Romans”)

Themes:

1. Freedom vs. License in Christ

   Freedom means the constraints of the Law are no longer paramount because our hearts are now constrained by a higher authority: Jesus.

2. Compromise: Obedience to the Gospel vs. Adding the Law (i.e.: Grace + Works = Salvation)

   Paul’s main point: Grace does not lead believers away from the Law into “nothing”, but into Christ.

3. “Blasphemy”: Embracing the full Gospel vs. Attributing a False Teaching to God

   Some were teaching an entirely “different Gospel” – which was not the Gospel at all. But they were teaching it as if it came from God though it contradicted

   
   

   The “Certainties” of Paul’s Authority

1. Paul is certain that God commissioned him to this ministry to the Gentiles.

Galatians 1:1 – “Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father...”

Note: Inherent in this certainty is another: Paul is certain that God had spoken to him.

2. Paul is certain that the Gospel is centered in Grace that leads to Peace with God through Jesus Christ.

Galatians 1:3 – “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ...”

Philippians 3:4-6 – “If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.”

3. Paul is certain that Grace does what the Law cannot do: Rescue us from Sin!

Galatians 1:3-4 – “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age...”

The Point: Any other teaching is contrary to the Gospel!

Application Questions:

1. Will the church fight to defend God’s revealed Word? 

• Antidote: Expect resistance and persecution.

2. Will Christians fall into the traps of Compromise and/or Contradiction?

• Antidote: Live according to God’s revealed Word...nothing else! ... not philosophies, feelings, arguments or opinions

Kirk McCormick · Galatians - Introduction and 1:1-5

Psalm 130 - A Communion Meditation

“The way to cover our sin is to uncover it by confession.” 

Richard Sibbes

- 16th Century Anglican Theologian

Cry of Repentance (vs. 1-2)

 

Psalm 130: 1-2 “Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.”

 

“Mercy” – the bridge that spans the Pit and God

 

·      Psalmist acknowledges he is asking for what he does NOT deserve – Mercy.

·      Yet he knows his God...who is rich in mercy.

 

Ephesians 2:4-5 – “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”

 

“Repentance” = Activator of Mercy’s restoration

 

·      Psalmist admits he’s in the “depths”

o   “Out of the Depths” = the natural consequence (most common expression) that sin leads us

 

·      Usually associated with Death or a Grave Situation...

 

...sometimes caused by other people...

...sometimes the result of our sin.

 

Holman Commentary – “When confession of sin and repentance are real, they will not be mumbled in a casual, halfhearted manner. True repentance always has an element of brokenness, a feeling of guilt that must be cleansed. His cry for mercy is a confession of sin, seeking forgiveness from God.”

 

App: As we come to the Table tonight, we come because God is merciful... 

 

...not wanting to give us what we deserve...

 

...but willing to show us his grace.

 

Cry of Forgiveness (vs. 3-4)

 

Psalm 130: 3-4 “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.”

 

Application: Too often we blame other people or things for our “depths”.

 

Genesis 3:12 – The man said, “The woman you put here with me - she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

 

** Good News...God keeps no record of sin!

 

·      Psalm 103:12 – “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.”

·      Psalm 130:3 – the rhetorical “if” ... “If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness.”

 

Cry of Anticipation (vs. 5-6)

 

Psalm 130: 5-6 – “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

 

“Wait” = connotes active anticipation.

 

Point: The assurance of forgiveness frees the Psalmist to actively seek the blessings of God.

 

App: Stuck in bondage? ...not feeling free?

 

...You are likely not fully assured of forgiveness!

 

Cry of Confidence (vs. 7-8)

 

Psalm 130: 7-8 – “O Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.”

 

** “Waiting” has its fruit = Hope (i.e.: confidence)

 

** What is our Hope?   From the Heidelberg Catechism

 

Question 1: What is your only comfort in life and death?

 

Answer 1: That I am not my own, ¹but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, ² to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. ³ He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, ⁴ and has set me free from all the power of the devil. ⁵ He also preserves me in such a way ⁶ that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; ⁷ indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. ⁸ Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life ⁹ and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him. ¹⁰

 

1. 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.

2. Romans 14:7-9.

3. 1 Corinthians 3:23; Titus 2:14.

4. 1 Peter 1:18, 19; 1 John 1:7; 2:2.

5. John 8:34-36; Hebrews 2:14, 15; 1 John 3:8.

6. John 6:39, 40; 10:27-30; 2 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Peter 1:5.

7. Matthew 10:29-31; Luke 21:16-18.

8. Romans 8:28.

9. Romans 8:15, 16; 2 Corinthians 1:21, 22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13, 14.

10. Romans 8:14.

Kirk McCormick · Psalm 130 - A Communion Meditation

Lessons from the Wilderness - Week 8

 

“Lessons about Death”

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

“Man is born with his fists clinched, but dies with his hands open.”

- Talmud

Premise: To truly live we need to have confidence about death.

Lessons about Death Lesson #1 – In death, we are neither alone nor lonely.

Deuteronomy 34:1 – “Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab...and the LORD showed him the whole land.”

NOTE: God promises to be there with us -

Hebrews 13:5 – God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

** Jesus said - “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, I will return and bring you to myself so that where I am you may be also.” – John 14:2

Point: In death, God escorts us through the process.

Lesson #2 – God leaves no task undone.

Deuteronomy 34:4 - Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over into it.”

Point: God does not take us prematurely.

Job 14:5 – “Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.”

Ephesians 2:10 – “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Lesson #3 – Death opens the door to the ultimate blessing.

Deuteronomy 34:5 – “Then Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, at the LORD’S command.”

Jude 9 - Even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

1 Corinthians 13:12 – “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” (NLT)

Point: God’s purpose in death is to reward his own.

Lesson #4 - Mourning has its place in God’s purpose.

Deuteronomy 34:8 – “The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days; then the period of mourning for Moses was ended.”

Joshua 1:1 – “After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD spoke to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying, ‘My servant Moses is dead. Now proceed to cross the Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the Israelites.’”

** Elizabeth Kubler-Ross: Six Stages of Grief

1. Denial.  2. Anger.  3. Bargaining. 4. Depression. 5. Acceptance. 6. Hope.

Point: Purposeful mourning expresses hope...enables us to live supported by faith.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 – “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.”

Lesson #5 - While on earth, build an eternal legacy.

Deuteronomy 34:9 - “Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him; and the Israelites obeyed him, doing as the LORD had commanded Moses.”

Point: To build an eternal legacy, invest in people.

 

Kirk McCormick · Lessons about Death