Sola Fide

SOLA FIDE Galatians 1:1-10 September 20, 2020 We are going to spend the next nine weeks in Paul's letter to the Galatians. That will take us all the way to Advent and Christmas time. Now, Paul only writes letters to problem churches. If everything is going well, you leave the church alone. Last week Alan had three buckets of employees. Bucket A was people who are self-motivated, capable, and require little or no supervision. If you have a church with a Bucket A pastor, and his or her theology is correct, you leave them alone. We don't have any letters from Paul to Bucket A churches. No letters saying, 'Wow! Everything you are doing is perfect. Stay the course and keep on keeping on'. Not a single letter like that in the New Testament. Bucket B was people who need direction and oversight. You don't do their job for them, but you continually check on their performance and progress. When Paul has a church like that, he finds someone he trusts, who is already traveling near that church, and asks them for an update. He sends some improvement instructions, and asks the traveler to consult and advise the church until they are back up to speed. The book of Acts and Paul's letter's allude to Bucket B churches. Then, Alan spoke about Bucket C employees. You don't trust them with anything important, and you constantly monitor everything they do. When Paul has a Bucket C church he writes a strong letter of correction, and usually sends a replacement pastor. Timothy and Titus were Paul's 'go to guys' for a Bucket C church. Galatia is a Bucket C church. In fact, they may be the very worst of the Bucket C churches. When Paul writes this letter he is angry.1 The church in Galatia has messed up big time. And, this letter of correction is significantly different than any of Paul's other letters. Paul has always been a big fan of tell them something good before you tell them something bad. Begin the letter with some kind of praise before you get around to explaining where they have gone wrong. When he writes to the church in Ephesus he praises their evangelism before he corrects their disunity in worship. For the church in Philippi he praises the way they have supported him in prison before he corrects their failure to pursue sanctification. But, with Galatia Paul opens the letter with a curse. In fact, it's a double curse. He doesn't mention anything they have done well. He goes straight into - Let God's curses fall on anyone, even on angels, if they change the theology I have taught you. I say it again, if anyone disagrees with the faith as I taught it to you, let them be cursed. This is the toughest letter Paul writes in the New Testament. Now, who exactly is he writing to? We don't know.2 He uses the word Galatians the same way we would use the word Texans. Galatia is a very large geographic area. And, Paul's letter is technically addressed to the citizens of that area, and not to the inhabitants of a specific church. On Paul's second missionary journey he started 5 churches in northern Galatia. If he's writing to one of these churches the letter is probably dated around 49 AD. And, that makes this the first letter Paul wrote. On his third missionary journey he started 2 churches in southern Galatia. If he's writing to one of these churches the letter is probably dated around 55 AD. Or, it is possible the entire region - the whole state of Texas - has gone Bucket C. That might explain why this letter is so much more caustic than any other. What's the problem? What are the Galatians doing wrong? When Paul started a church, he founded it on the concept of Sola Fide. That's Latin for faith alone. You want to go to Heaven? You must believe in Jesus. You must place your faith in Jesus alone. Now, there's a lot involved in believing in Jesus. You must believe he was real. You must believe the Resurrection really happened. You must believe Jesus is God. You must believe grace is real. You must believe there is no other way to Heaven except Jesus. Faith alone. The heart of Christianity is sola fide. There are men who have been following Paul's footsteps, about six months behind him. These men are Judaizers. The Galatians are Gentiles. And, the Judaizers hate Gentiles. They believe only Jews go to Heaven. They are convinced God hates all Gentiles as much as they do. They had several sayings, "God will judge Israel with one standard, and the Gentiles with another. Kill every snake, and kill every Gentile. God created Gentiles as fuel for the fires of Hell."3 And, listen to this - it is illegal to help a Gentile mother giving birth, because that would only bring another Gentile into the world. The Judaizers believe in Jesus. But, they believe Jesus only died and rose again to save Jews. So, if a Gentile wants to go to Heaven, he must become a Jew first. You must follow all the rules and laws in the Old Testament. And, if you are a male, you must be circumcised. These men are showing up at churches in Galatia, about six months after Paul, and they are convincing the churches to follow the Law and be circumcised. And, the Galatians are making the change. They are wholeheartedly embracing the Judaizer message. Why would they do that? Because it's easier.4 Jesus says - if you want to follow me you must love God, and be nice to people. That sounds simple, but it's hard. Which is easier? To show up at church on Sunday and throw $10 in the offering plate? Or, to show up at Pantry Express on Saturday morning, before the Sun comes up, when it's cold and rainy, and serve food to complete strangers? Option A satisfies Old Testament Law. Option B satisfies sola fide. What's easier when someone kills your son? To hunt him down and kill his son? Or, to forgive him, and leave judgment to God Almighty? The old way is easy. It is a lot easier to be a rule following Pharisee, than to be a loving Christian. The Galatians have given up on Paul's teaching, and they are going for the easy path offered by the Judaizers. Worse yet, the Judaizers are telling lies and deceptive truths about Paul, and the Galatians seem to be buying in. First off, they say Paul isn't really an Apostle.5 The definition of an Apostle should be one of the 12 guys who spent three years being taught by Jesus himself. Paul never spent time with Jesus. Oh sure, he talks about meeting Jesus on the Damascus road. And, he says he received his theology straight from Jesus himself. But, come on - do you really believe that? And, Paul only teaches things that will make you like him. It's difficult to be a Jew. Paul doesn't make you become Jews because he thinks it's too hard for you. And you won't like him anymore. By the way, a Leopard can't change his spots. You are what you are.6 Wasn't Paul the biggest persecutor of the Christian church? Didn't he arrest Christians and send them to their deaths? Now, all of a sudden, we're supposed to believe he's on our team? Not a chance. And, you know Peter and Paul don't agree on how to treat Gentiles. They had a big argument about this. Who are you going to believe Paul the murderer, or Peter the real Apostle? And, finally, we think we remember a time when Paul used to preach that Gentiles had to be circumcised to become Christians.7 Not 100% sure, but we think we heard that somewhere. Listen, Paul isn't anyone you want to take advice from. He certainly isn't anyone who can tell you how to get to Heaven. Listen to us. Follow the hundreds of rules in the Old Testament. Get circumcised. Let us re-baptize you into Judaism. Believing in Jesus isn't enough. You need more. All of this together has made Paul angry. He is furious. The letter to the Galatians is Paul's jaw-clenched, hands-fisted, leaning forward response to bad theology and personal attacks. In this letter he comes out blasting. Paul says (v15) I was called by God to be his servant when I was in my mother womb. I was born for ministry. He uses an interesting word - ektrōma.8 It can mean abortion or miscarriage. Paul uses it to mean born into the wrong faith. I was born as a Jew. I'm not ashamed of my Jewish race. But, the Jewish religion is wrong. You want to become a Jew and follow the old ways, then you are not saved. You are not going to Heaven. I am an Apostle. Deal with it. Jesus himself made me an Apostle. And, by the way, I have a list of people who agree that I am an Apostle. Guess what - that includes Peter, and Jesus' brother James in Jerusalem. Explain that! When I came to you a short time ago I taught you sola fide. Salvation by faith alone. The Law doesn't save anybody. The Law proves that you are not saved. The purpose of the Law is to tell us what is, and isn't, sin. The Law is how you know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, you are a sinner. Whether Jew or Gentile, God should not love you. The Law drives you into the arms of grace. The Law proves that only through faith in Jesus do you have any chance of eternal life. And then, Paul says something we still debate today. Can you be saved, and then lose your salvation? Is it possible to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then - later in life - give up on faith and no longer be a believer? Is it possible to be saved and going to Heaven, then lose your salvation? Or, is the problem that you never were saved to begin with? You didn't really accept Jesus into your heart. You were just faking it? We don't save ourselves, God saves us. And, we are not able to undo anything God has done. So, if we're not saved now, we must not have been saved before. Which is it? Paul brings this up in verse 6 when he says, "I am astonished that you so quickly deserted the grace of Christ and turned to a different gospel." Paul implies the Galatians are not saved. They are not going to Heaven. He offered them Heaven, he offered them Jesus, and they have turned away. And, that's when he double curses anyone who teaches any theology different than his. Sola fide - faith alone. Not faith and becoming a Jew. Not faith and being circumcised. In salvation there is no 'and'. Have you made salvation harder than it needs to be? Have you added some 'ands' for yourself or others? You must believe in Jesus and be in church every Sunday. You must believe in Jesus and not smoke. You must believe in Jesus and not drink alcohol. You must believe in Jesus and be Methodist, and not Catholic. You must believe in Jesus and be Baptist, and not Methodist. You must believe in Jesus and only be married once. I think most of us add rules to our salvation. We feel like we need to do more. So, Jesus and. I think it's very natural for us to add rules because they are easier. Loving God and being nice to people is hard. Jesus says loving God and being nice to people is how he can tell if we really believe or not. Whether we really have faith or not. We want something easier. We want and. The Apostle Paul says, don't make me angry. It's sola fide. Faith alone. 1 NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016), 2043. 2 R. C. Sproul, general editor. New Geneva Study Bible (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995), 1845. 3 William Barclay, The Letters to the Galatians and Ephesians (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 5. 4 R. C. Sproul, 1848. 5 Beverly Roberts Gaventa, "Galatians 1 and 2: Autobiography as Paradigm," Novum Testamentum, 28 no. 4 (October 1986), 309-326. 6 William Barclay, 9. 7 Frank Matera, New Interpreter's Study Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), 2081. 8 George W. E. Nickelsburg, "An Ektrōma, Though Appointed from the Womb: Paul's Apostolic Self-Description in 1 Corinthians 15 and Galatians 1," Harvard Theological Review, 79 no. 1 (January-July 1986), 198-205. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ 2