A Heritage of Holiness: Pauls Passion

Introduction:

I get a lot of emails and some of them will say “Congratulations, you have been selected to win a $1,000 dollar gift card or something else like that. Now that sounds great but something like that is always a scam. It takes something that sounds good and twists it.

Has anything like that every happened to you? I am sure it has. Where someone presented something good to you but it ended up not being as how it first appeared

This is what Paul is facing at the Church in Galatia. There were some people in the Church who were sharing a different Gospel that what Paul was sharing.

The Lexham Bible Dictionary Galatians

Galatians. Paul’s opponents in Galatia appear to have been Jewish, but it is unclear whether they came from within the congregation or from without. After Paul left the area, these opponents demanded that the Galatians be circumcised (Gal 6:12) and keep special days (Gal 4:10).

• Howard and Hurd see these opponents as Judaizers from Jerusalem who were forcing the Galatians to keep the law and be circumcised (Gal 5:2–6; 6:12; Howard, Crisis; Hurd, “Reflections”).

• Barnett suggests the opponents—a group of Jews led by an individual—emerged from within the Galatian churches and were urging the Galatians to be circumcised (Gal 2:12; 5:10, 12; Barnett, “Opponents”).

• Munck proposes that the opponents were some of Paul’s converts (Munck, Paul).

• Nanos suggests the opponents were unconverted Jews (Nanos, “Intruding”).

I. PAULS GOD SENT (1:1)

I. PAUL’S GREETINGS (1:2–5)

A.To the saints in Galatia (1:2): Paul sends greetings from himself and the Christians he is with.

B.From the Savior in glory (1:3–5)

1.Who died to save us (1:3–4a)

2. Who lives to sanctify us (1:4b–5)

II. PAUL’S GRIEF (1:6–10)

A. The apostle’s concern (1:6–7): He grieves that the Galatians have turned from the gospel of grace to the bondage of the law.

B. The apostle’s curse (1:8–10): He pronounces God’s severe judgment on those who dare pervert the gospel message.

APPLICATION:

Who is an Apostle Paul in your life?

Do you struggle with following the authority that God has placed in your life?