Galations 1:1-5

The Man and His message

1. How do we diminish the Man and His message? as well how do we or does the enemy diminish the message which is actually a direct assault on who God is and the person of Christ. “Did God really say?”

2. how so we subtly abandon the authority of scripture?

3. Why was Paul so harsh on the Galatians compared to other churches and individuals?

4. Are we really “big fans” of scripture?

5. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3

Notes:

a. Galations may be very well the 1st letter in the NT era

b. possibly establishes the foundation of Christian doctrine and addresses false teaching

c. was Paul the true 12th Apostle? vs. Matthias?

d. are there capital A apostles and lower case a apostles?

e. is barnabas called an apostle in Acts 14:14 ? What about Romans 1:5

f. Acts 1:21-22

D. A Carson

It’s possible for us to believe that Scripture is God’s word, and therefore our authority, and yet subtly reduce the authority it actually exerts over us. Here are 10 ways:

1. Only listening to some parts of Scripture

2. Feeling embarrassed about some parts and therefore avoiding them or apologising for them

3. Publishing content that argues for things which are against Scripture

4. Insisting that the Bible isn’t clear on a topic, so people can agree to disagree

5. Letting your current theology shape how you read a passage so much that it changes what the passage says.

6. Not reading the writings of past generations and centuries of Christians, so we stay stuck in our cultural blindspots

7. Not holding tightly to both the overall view that Scripture is authority, and also to the specific teachings of Scripture themselves. Both these things matter, and denying one leads to denying the other.

8. Becoming obsessed with the technical side (e.g. commentaries, Greek etc) of studying the Bible, or ignoring the technical side.

9. Trusting the current philosophies of the world too much.

10. Not trembling before God’s word, along with anything that reduces our trembling before it.