THE APOSTLE AND HIS MESSAGE PART 1
No Other Gospel • Sermon • Submitted
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· 9 viewsIntroduction to our new series on the Book of Galatians. We will be focusing on the historical occasion for this epistle by Paul, as well as the influence that this epistle had on the Protestant Reformation.
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On October 31, 1517 a German monk by the name of Martin Luther nailed a document which contained 95 thesis against the errors of the Roman Catholic Church to the wall of a chapel in Wittenburg, Germany. This event is often thought to be the beginning of what came to be called the Protestant Reformation.
Some of these theses read (in English) as follows:
1. When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, "Repent" ( ), he willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance.
2. This word cannot be understood as referring to the sacrament of penance, that is, confession and satisfaction, as administered by the clergy.
4. The penalty of sin remains as long as the hatred of self (that is, true inner repentance), namely till our entrance into the kingdom of heaven.
5. The pope neither desires nor is able to remit (cancel) any penalties except those imposed by his own authority or that of the canons.
6. The pope cannot remit any guilt, except by declaring and showing that it has been remitted by God;
10. Those priests act ignorantly and wickedly who, in the case of the dying, reserve canonical penalties for purgatory.
23. If remission of all penalties whatsoever could be granted to anyone at all, certainly it would be granted only to the most perfect, that is, to very few.
24. For this reason most people are necessarily deceived by that indiscriminate and high-sounding promise of release from penalty.
32. Those who believe that they can be certain of their salvation because they have indulgence letters will be eternally damned, together with their teachers.
33. Men must especially be on guard against those who say that the pope's pardons are that inestimable gift of God by which man is reconciled to him.
34. For the graces of indulgences are concerned only with the penalties of sacramental satisfaction established by man.
36. Any truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt, even without indulgence letters.
37. Any true Christian, whether living or dead, participates in all the blessings of Christ and the church; and this is granted him by God, even without indulgence letters.
What was it that led Luther to publish these decensions from the Roman Church? Among many other things, as a professor at the University of Wittenburg, he was asigned to teach the Psalms, Romans, and Galatians. It was while studying these books that the Holy Spirit awakened him from the dead, and thereby helped him to see the error of the teaching of the church. In particular it was a statement that was found in both , and that helped him in his understanding: “The righteous man shall live by faith.”
Luther was certainly not the first man to stand up for the defense of the gospel. The Book of Galatians, which was written as early as 48 A.D. was a defense of the true gospel. These churches, who were located in Asia minor, and vastly made up with gentile converts, were being hoodwinked into believing that the cross of Christ was not sufficient to secure their salvation. They were told that something more had to occur — these gentiles had to become Jews in a physical way — they had to be circumcised.
It amazes me at how quickly error crept into the infant church. Less than twenty years after the beginnings of the N.T. church error had already crept into it. It also seemed to amaze Paul as well, for he said in
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
This morning as we begin this new study we will begin by we will look at the historical context for this epistle, and then we will seek to define what the gospel is.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT
We first read of Paul in . Here he is referred to by his Hebrew name, Saul of Tarsus.
When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep. Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
But Saul began ravaging the church, entering house after house, and dragging off men and women, he would put them in prison.
When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” Having said this, he fell asleep. Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.
We again hear of him in Acts
Again in we read:
Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.”
Between Luke’s account in Acts, and Paul’s account in we begin to piece together a general timeline of events in the early Christian life of Paul. It appears that after his conversion and departure from Damascus he went to Arabia where he was instructed in the faith by Jesus by means of a revelation. After three years of instruction he returned to Damascus once again. It was not until after this point that he went to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Peter (). We will look at this in more detail in the weeks to come, since it is part of our text in Galatians.
Eventually Paul returned to his home in Tarsus, and presumably ministered there. In , after the door of ministry to gentiles was opened by the Apostle Peter, a church was founded in Antioch, which consisted of both Jewish and gentile converts. The apostles in Jerusalem sent Barnabas to help out with this new ministry. After a short stay in Antioch, Barnabas, who was aquaitned with Paul already, went to Tarsus in search of Paul, and brought him back to Antioch to help in this new ministry.
After an undefined amount of time in Antioch, while the church was going through a time of fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” And thus began Paul’s first missionary journey. The events of this journey are recorded for us in .
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 10: Romans through Galatians 2. Who Were the Galatians?
Date
There is debate, off and on, as to who are the recipients of this letter, which has an impact on the timeline. My position is that it was written between the first and second missionary journey. It was most likely written between A.D. 48-50. Many commentators believe that this was the first inspired epistle that Paul penned. Understand that the books of the N.T. do not necessarily appear in the order that they were written. Paul’s epistles occur in our Bible in descending order from longest to shortest. A second question regarding the date is whether this epistle was written before or after the Jerusalem Council. The event of this council is recorded in , and its occasion is very similar to the occasion for the writing of Galatians which will be discussed in a few moments. Some believe that refers to the Jerusalem Council, while others believe that it was a separate visit to Jerusalem; perhaps one that is not documented in the Book of Acts. Presently I take the position that Galatians was written prior to the Jerusalem council, but I could easily see the argument that it was written afterwards as well.
Recipients & Location
The name Galatia is derived from the barbaric Gauls, or Celts, who settled in Asia Minor after several centuries of plundering the Greek and Roman empires. Under Roman rule, the original region of Galatia was made part of a larger province by the same name in central Asia Minor (modern Turkey). (John MacArthur, 1987, Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL, pg. xi).
During the first missionary journey Paul and Barnabas founded churches in four of the cities that were considered to be part of the Galatian province — Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. My belief is that these churches were the recipients of this letter. If I am correct in my understanding, then Paul is writing to churches that are within the region of southern Galatia, rather than to ethnic Galatians who inhabited the northern area of Galatia.
Occasion & Purpose
We will frequently talk about the occasion for the writing of this book since it has so much to do with its contents. A group of legalistic Jewish believers were going behind Paul’s back, so to speak, and teaching the gentile believers that Paul’s gospel was incomplete. In addition to believing the message of the cross of Christ, they also had to practice the rights that were inherit to Judaism. Specifically they taught that gentiles had to be circumcised and follow the Law of Moses in order to become part of the nation of Israel; that is, in order to inherit the future blessings of Christ. In other words, justification by faith plus works.
These false teachers attacked Paul’s credentials, if you will. They claimed that he was not truly an apostle, as he claimed that he was, since Paul was not one of the original twelve. Further, they claimed that Paul received his gospel from men rather than from Christ himself. They also claimed that Paul watered down the true gospel by teaching the doctrine of free grace. Throughout this letter to these bemused churches Paul defends himself and his gospel message.
Philip Graham Ryken, in his commentary on Galatians (PR Publishing, 2005, Phillipsburg, NJ; pg. 6) wrote:
[Paul] was not merely being defensive. He understood that his opponents were making a personal attack in order to advance a theological error. They were devaluing Paul to disparage his gospel. If they could show that he was an impostor rather than an apostle, they could discredit his message of grace.
One scholar has noted that: “The fundamental question addressed by Galatians thus is not ‘What is wrong with Judaism?’ but ‘What is wrong with humanity that Judaism cannot remedy?’” (Douglas Moo, 2013, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, MI, pg. 31).
Let’s turn our attention to what the true gospel is.
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL
The term “gospel” is used in various ways. It is used in reference to the first four books of the N.T. It is used in reference to the story of redemption which really begins in . And it is used of the message regarding two events, the crucifixion of Jesus, and His resurrection from the dead. It is this last way that the term is used in Galatians, at least for the most part.
Paul wrote of this elsewhere —
Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
Some commentators have noted that in the Letter to the Galatians Paul refers to the resurrection of Christ before he refers to His substitutionary death. Notice . One commentator speculated that this may be because Paul first encountered Christ as the resurrected Lord.
The cross of Christ, and or crucifixion, stands central to the message of this epistle.
John Bunyan wrote:
"The cross, it stands and has stood from the beginning as a way-mark to the kingdom of heaven. Are you inquiring the way to heaven? Why, I tell you Christ is the way; into Him you must get, into His righteousness to be justified; and if you are in Him, you will presently see the cross; you must go close by it, you must tit, nay, you must take it up, or else you will quickly go out of the way that leads to heaven, and turn up some of those crooked lanes that lead down to the chambers of death."
;
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then the stumbling block of the cross has been abolished.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
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Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Stuart Townend wrote:
I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
Do you know that very thing? Has Christ death on the cross paid your ransom?
If you answer that you do not know any such thing, then I invite you to contemplate the cross of Christ. Think about how He was placed on the cross, not because of His sin or wrongdoing, but because of your sin and my sin. Think about the satisfaction of the cross — in that Jesus’ death satisfied the Father in regards to payment for our sin. Think about the sufficiency of the cross — in that it is the only act that could bring about our salvation, and that nothing else need be added to what Christ has done. Think about His resurrection from the dead which sealed our salvation. Then go beyond thinking and embrace these things as your hope of salvation.
Believer, rest in the knowledge that Jesus has paid it all, and that all to Him you owe. In view of God’s great mercy, offer yourself to Him as a living sacrifice, for you have been crucified with Christ. And the life you now live in the flesh is to be lived by faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for you and for me.
Let’s pray.
Closing Song: How Deep the Father’s Love For Us