KEY VERSE – It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. (Gal. 5:1)
SECONDARY THEME VERSES: “A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16); “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” (Gal. 2:21).
THEME: Salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone releases us from the yoke of the law, freeing us to live a life of love through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Legal (Imputed) Righteousness: We are justified by faith in Christ (Gal. 2:16). Imparted Righteousness: Immediate Moral Change at conversion (Gal. 6:15); Gradual Moral Change through the fruit-growing work of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22) which requires our cooperation (Gal 5:16-17, 25, 6:8). We cooperate by using CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection, Confession/Thanksgiving. Foundational verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14)
Good Teachers: (1) Constantly re-evaluate what they are doing; (2) Set large goals; (3) Ask – Does everything I do contribute to learning?; (4) Prepare well; (5) Check for understanding; (6) Like teaching; (7) Get results from their teaching; (8) Have perseverance. Don’t give up.
TEACHING GOAL: To understand clearly the various aspects of Paul’s conversion to Christ.
REVIEW
Refuting the Mormon claim that Jesus never taught salvation by grace alone …. Another effort to put Paul in conflict with Jesus:
“It is ironic that those who preach salvation by grace alone typically cite the Apostle Paul’s writings but ignore the teachings of Christ himself. While the Book of Mormon teaching that we are “saved by grace after all we can do” may conflict with the theology of some modern Christian groups, it is consistent with Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament.
The Savior spent three years teaching people the principles by which they should live their lives, never once mentioning grace. His principal message was “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” (which was the same message taught by John the Baptist.” (John A. Tvedtnes from the web)
1.) The Gospel of Salvation by Grace is an OT message. It is also the core of the salvation message taught by Jesus. 2.) We are not saved by grace + works. We are saved by grace alone. 3.) Paul received independently by revelation the Gospel message of Salvation by Grace, a Gospel message that is totally in sync with the teaching of Jesus.
TEXT FOR THE DAY:
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. (Galatians 1:13-17)
PAUL’S CONVERSION TESTIMONY
1. Pre-Conversion (13-14)
2. Conversion (15-16b)
3. Post-Conversion (16c-17)
INTRODUCTION
John Stott quotes one Lord Beaverbrook as follows: Paul was incapable by nature of understanding the spirit of the Master. . . . He did damage to Christianity and left his imprint by wiping out many of the traces of the footsteps of the Master. (Stott, 37)
Lord Beaverbrook is attacking Paul in a similar way he was attacked by the Judaizers. “Paul is intent on responding to the Teachers’ (Judaizers’) charge that, having gone to Jerusalem to get the true gospel from the Jerusalem apostles, he later adulterated it for the sake of quick and easy success as a pseudo-evangelist among the Gentiles.” (JLM, 156)
Paul, of course, did understand the spirit of Jesus and was sent by the Savior as an apostle to the Gentiles. And he did not adulterate the Gospel for quick and easy success.
The problem Paul is facing is “How can I prove to the Galatians the essentially supernatural nature of the gospel which I preached to them and which I still preach?”
Paul’s apostleship and the Gospel he preaches are under attack from the Judaizers. They are two sides of one coin and inseparable. How does he defend his apostleship? How does he defend the Gospel he preaches?
QUESTION: How does Paul start to build his case in Galatians 1:1-12?
Paul states his answer to those challenges in Galatians 1:1-12:
1:1-2 I am an apostle sent by God.
1:3-5 A short summary of the Gospel I preach
1:6-9 All, including myself, must not deviate from the Gospel
1:10 I am God’s servant, not a man pleaser
1:11-12 Paul’s thesis statement: My Gospel was received by divine revelation
From 1:13-4:31 Paul defends his position, e.g. builds his case for his apostleship and for much more, for the Gospel of Grace, the Gospel he preaches.
How does he build his case after he states his thesis? How does he defend his position? He starts by giving his testimony and then talking about his relationship with the church leadership in Jerusalem. Thus Galatians 1:13-2:21 is the biographical section of the letter.
Paul endeavors to show his independence from: (1) Human Teaching (1:13-17); (2) The Judean churches (1:18-24); (3) The Jerusalem “pillars” (2:1-10); (4) The Apostle Peter (2:11-21).
QUESTION: Is Paul’s personal testimony, experiences, an adequate proof of the authenticity of his apostleship and Gospel?
Paul uses his testimony / biography to prove his Gospel is from God. But he does not make his case based solely on his experience (testimony, biography). We will see that he also shows external proof for his thesis: (1) Agreement of the Jerusalem church leadership; (2) Old Testament verification of the Gospel he preaches. (See Cole, 45-47.)
He starts this section, Galatians 1:13-17, with a short testimony that can be divided into: Pre-Conversion, Conversion and Post-Conversion information.
I. PRE-CONVERSION
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.
Previous Way of Life in Judaism
The term Ioudaismos, “Judaism,” was coined in the Hellenistic period to refer to the religion of the Jews as distinct from the religions of other peoples … This term is only found in Gal. 1:13-14 in the NT. … a cognate expression which means to live in a Jewish manner is found in 2:14. …. In this letter Paul speaks explicitly and plainly about Judaism as a religion. (JLM, 154)
“The term Judaism was used in Jewish literature for (the Jewish religion from which springs) “the Jewish way of belief and life” as contrasted to the way of life in Hellenism. In other words, the distinctive Jewish beliefs and customs which established the boundary between the Jewish people and the rest of the Hellenistic world were of supreme importance to Paul before his conversion, but they were of no importance after his conversion. Jewish identity markers such as circumcision, kosher food and Sabbath observance were Paul’s primary concern before his conversion.” (Hansen, 43; Fung, 55)
The Traditions of My Fathers
The “traditions of the Fathers” is the same as the “traditions of the elders” that Jesus refers to in the Gospels. Paul may be referring to the special ancestral traditions that were held by the Pharisees, Paul’s religious party. These traditions were expounded in Pharisaic schools and included 613 prescriptions (248 positive, 365 prohibitions). For Paul the written law, the Torah and the traditions represented the basis for life. The “traditions” (which were, around 220 AD, recorded in the Mishnah and later included in the Gemara, which together formed the Talmud) expanded over hundreds of years since the time of Ezra (536 BC) and became so detailed and expansive that even the most learned rabbinical scholars could not master them, either by interpretation or behavior. The totality of the traditions defied comprehension. (Fong 57, MacArthur 27, Hansen 44, Cole 89)
In later days the rabbis would say, “The Scriptures are water; the Mishnah, wine: but the Gemara, spiced wine.” (Cole 89)
Advancing Beyond Many Jews of My Own Age
Jewish identity markers were of prime importance to Paul before his conversion. Some of the key ones were circumcision, observation of food laws, Sabbath observance.
“If religion be seen as a race, a kind of competition, then Paul was well ahead in the lead; NEB well translates as ‘outstripping many of my Jewish contemporaries’”. (Cole 88)
Zealous for the Traditions of the Fathers
It may be that Phinehas in the Torah, because of his zeal, was a person Paul sought to emulate.
The Israelites, before entering the Promised Land and while staying near Moab began to indulge in sexual immorality with the Moabit women. Moses commanded, at the Lord’s direction, to kill in broad daylight all those that were involved.
READING: Then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and into the woman’s body. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.
The LORD said to Moses, “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” (Numbers 25:6-13)
What concerns Paul is that he has turned from his extreme devotion to and zeal for Judaism to focus on Christ; the Galatians were turning from Christ to focus on Judaism.
I Persecuted the Church of God & Tried to Destroy It
. . . how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. (1:13)
The Persecution was very intense
QUESTION: What key words in the following verses describe the ‘intensity’ of Paul as he persecuted the church. Look for power verbs and powerful adjectives.
But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. (Acts 8:3)
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. (Acts 9:1-2)
I persecuted the followers of this Way to their death, arresting both men and women and throwing them into prison, as also the high priest and all the Council can testify. I even obtained letters from them to their brothers in Damascus, and went there to bring these people as prisoners to Jerusalem to be punished. (Acts 22:4-5)
And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I even went to foreign cities to persecute them. (Acts 26:10-11)
. . . I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man , . . . (I Timothy 1:13)
“intensely” has been translated violently, savagely, beyond measure.
We can see “beyond measure” descriptions in the above verses: destroy, dragged, breathing out murderous threats, voted for their death, arresting, throwing into prison, force them to blaspheme, obsession against them, a violent man.
“Paul was obsessed with destroying the church. The word he uses for ‘destroy’ is eporthoun It is the word that the Greeks used for sacking a city. John Chrysostom (c. 350-407) said it signified “an attempt to extinguish, to pull down, to destroy, to annihilate, the Church.” Paul’s goal was nothing less than the total extermination of Christianity. He was such a fanatic that no one would have even attempted to change his mind.: (Ryken, 34)
ILLUSTRATION: In Indonesia today is a group called the “Islamic Defenders Front.” They are a mixture of religious zealots and criminals who are bent on opposing anything Christian and oppressing the church. They are presently training para-military units in Bekasi, a suburb of Jakarta. Recently an elite housing development put up a statue, at some cost of three Indonesia women. This group was opposed to the statue because it was not Islamic enough, protested and forced the development to tear down the statue. Of course they oppose Christian churches and activities in every way possible.
The Persecuted Churches were Law-Observing Churches.
In Deuteronomy 23:2 we read of “the assembly of the LORD”, that is the congregation of Jehovah. The Christians after Pentecost considered themselves the “new” “Congregation of Jehovah.”
It is important to remember that these Jewish “Congregations of Jehovah” that Paul was persecuting were “law-observant” congregations.
Was Paul mainly concerned that this new faith, the “Synagogue of the Nazarene” posed a threat to the supremacy of the law?
When Paul made his last journey to Jerusalem he was warmly received by James and the other leaders. They said to Paul, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law.” (Acts 21:20) It seems that the Judean churches in Jerusalem and out-lying areas were law-observant churches. Paul was not persecuting these churches because they failed to keep the law.
The Persecution was Due to the Believer’s Identification of the Crucified Jesus and the Jewish Messiah
There was no line of messianic expectation in Judaism that looked forward to a Messiah who would be subjected to execution as a criminal. A crucified Messiah was an “incomprehensible absurdity.”
“. . . . anyone hung on a tree is under God’s curse . . . . . Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” (Deut. 21:23, Gal. 3:13)
“In the collision between the crucified Jesus (killed as a criminal) and the Law . . . . there was no doubt at all as to where God stood. God stood on the side of the Law. Hence Jesus, the Law-cursed criminal, could not be God’s Messiah, and the church that venerated Him as such could not be the church (congregation) of God.” (JLM, 163)
Paul was absolutely certain that God could not possibly be active in a messianic sect whose members confessed as God’s Messiah, a criminal put to death by crucifixion. (JLM, 164)
“The crucifixion at once rendered it unnecessary to give any serious consideration to the question of Jesus’ messiahship: Jesus had been condemned not only by the court of Judaism, but by the high court of heaven itself; hence, his disciples’ claim that he was the Messiah could only be blasphemy worth of death (cf. Lev. 24:16). Their further claim that he was risen could not be treated as anything but criminal deception.” (Fung, 59)
It seems that there is really only one question: Who is Christ?
You have groups of people claiming that Jesus never existed. In fact there is even a website www.jesusneverexisted.com. There are all kinds of websites like this. In fact there were major philosophers in past centuries that held this position.
ILLUSTRATION: I received an email from a Muslim that was quoting a book written in 1922 explaining that Jesus never existed. My answer: You should not be quoting books from the last century that hold theories that have been debunked. It would be better for you to read some recent apologists like Lee Stroebel and Gary Habermas the prove the case for the Jesus of history.
ILLUSTRATION: I just completed reading The Historical Jesus (Gary Habermas) that deals with the explanations challenging the existence of the historical Jesus going back 200 years. Gary Habermas is a world class historian. He writes his whole book on the proof of the historical Jesus apart from depending on the Gospel records. His claim is that there is more proof for the historical Jesus than there is for any other person in ancient history.
If we admit to the evidence that Jesus did exist, then the big question is, “So what?” or “Who is He?”
Here are some opinions:
Nicene Creed Fully God, Fully Man, Son of God, Savior, Second Person of the Trinity, Jewish Messiah
Arianism: Divine being created by God, inferior to the Father.
Baha’i Faith: Man, manifestation of God, superseded by Muhammad
Judaism A first century Jewish teacher
Buddhism Wise and enlightened man
Christian Sc. Wise man
Gnosticism God
Hinduism Wise man, incarnation of God, like Krishna
Islam Prophet, superseded by Muhammad
JW An archangel, God’s first creation
LDS Man, originally one of the spirit beings like all humans
Theosophy Great teacher
Unitarian Great teacher, faith-healer, incarnation of God’s love
Universalism Man, a great teacher
In the light of the above Peter’s confession is of great interest:
“But what about you?” he [Jesus] asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. (Matthew 16:15-17)
All religions and all people have some opinion on who Jesus is. For Paul Jesus was a Jewish imposter and not the Messiah. Therefore the Nazarene sect that confessed Jesus as Christ, the Messiah, had to be destroyed by whatever means.
In Galatians 1:15-16 Paul shares his conversion and how he had to completely revise his worldview when he discovered Jesus was the Messiah.
SO WHAT???
1. The Gospel of grace that Paul preached is an Old Testament message and is also the central message of salvation taught by Jesus in the Gospels.
2. The veracity of Paul’s apostleship and Gospel is of great importance to us as Christians.
3. It is difficult to break away from law-observance and function only on the principle of grace.
4. What separates the Biblical Christian from every other religion is our identification of the person of Jesus as the Jewish Messiah.
5. If we accept Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, the Second Person of the Trinity, the Son of God then our worldview will be vastly different from that of the majority world.