Galatians the Begining

Heading into a new series. Looking at Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.

Unearthing what Paul was saying within the book of Galatians.

This epistle is about understanding or unearthing the history, the people looking at the historical nature and the reasons for Paul writing, not giving into predispositions or even looking at want everyone else said it.

But looking right at the central idea of what Paul was writing about and the context in which he was saying it.

You will not find, in all of scripture a more powerful, influential and that carries as much weight and clot, especially when it comes to matters of the law.

Thank about this. When you talk about the law, the book of Galatians is going to come into the conversation.

I have had more conversations with Pastor’s, and teachers. and with so many Christians about the law, and everyone of them, have brought Galatians up.

The Mark that this book has left on Christianity is like no other book. Many even hold this book higher then that of the Gospels, and the life of Yeshua. It is that influential.

I would argue that this book, the book of Galatians is the most influential, but its also, get ready, the most controversial books.

I want share a quote from a commentary, of a well known apologetics

F. F. Bruce apologist who is no longer with us, I want to share something He said

“The traditional criterion in the canonical arrangement of the Pauline letters, as far back as it can be traced, appears to have been (in a) descending order of length”.

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In other words the larger books are first and the smaller books fall behind it. we see it in the Pauline letters, Go ahead and look at your bible, its the same today.

But wait, he goes on.

But Marcion, who about AD 140 was the first person (so far as is known) to compile a “closed” canon of Christian writings, deviated from this principle of arrangement by taking Galatians out of it’s sticometric sequence and giving it pride of place at the head of his Apostolikon.

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The Apostolikon is the original cannon of Christian scripture

I think I can safely say that the problems that keep most people from a proper understanding of Galatians started in all earnestness during the early second century with the rise of Bishop Marcion, from Sinop. a city on the shores of the black sea. in what is today Northeastern Turkey. He rejected the Hebrew scriptures and rejected what He called the “creator God” of the Old testament was fickel, ignorant, despotic and cruel. Marcion believed that there was another “God” who had remained completely hidden until he was revealed in the person of Yeshua, aka, Jesus Christ.

Later on, Marcion is announced as a heretic from the church, He taught a lot of interesting teachings, including the separation of law and gospels, He taught that the God of the new testament, was not the same God of the old testament.

Sound familiar?

What does this mean, well it means that Marcion took the book of Galatians out of its original place and took the traditional way of scripture placement and completely changed it and gave it The book of Galatians a more preeminence place in scripture .

F.F Bruce goes on to say:

Tertullian , our first witness of Marcion’s order, agrees with him to this extent, that he too holds Galatians to be “Primary epistle against Judaism”.

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The fact that Bruce tells us that Tertullian agrees with Marcion’s order is powerful.

Because Tertullian spent a lot of time and energy in priocouse writings rebuking Marcion. so that fact that here Tertullian agrees with him is powerful.

See we need to understand, these names are considered as the Fathers of Christianity as we know it.

Lets continue:

Marcion’s Placing of the epistle has not prevailed, but its primacy of importance among the writings of Paul has been widely, through not universally, acknowledged from that day to this.

Bruce, F.F. (1992). The Epistle to the Galatians: A commentary on the greek text. New International Greek Testament Commentary (1-2). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans pub. Co.

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The point is that the book of Galatians has been given a place of importance among the rest of scripture.

Martin Luther Says:

“The Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle; I have betrothed myself to it: it is my wife (Catherine)”.

- Martin Luther, Seekerdorf de Lutheran. L. 1 ss.85. p. 139 St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. A revised text with introduction, notes and dissertations. 1884 (J.B. Lightfoot. Ed.) Classic Commentaries on the Greek New Testament. London: Macmillan and Co.

That’s a very bold statement, especially knowing what we believe about marriages and our wives. Remember now Martin Luther again is considered one of the Father’s of Christianity. He spear headed the Reformation movement from the Catholic Church into Protestantism.

Martin Luther in this statement is conveying that the book of Galatians has a very special place in His heart.

Later on in his life, Martin Luther makes this statement:

“If they took my advice, they would print only the books containing doctrine like Galatians.”

Martin Luther, George, T. (1994 ) Vol. 30 Galatians. The New American Commentary.

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So when we look at history and we see these statements made, we can see how this book has been given preeminence above other scriptures and the placement for which its been give.

But I want us to look at Peter, and a warning that he gives to us:

2 Peter 3:15–18 (TLV)

15 Bear in mind that the patience of our Lord means salvation—just as our dearly loved brother Paul also wrote to you with the wisdom given to him.

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First I want you to notice something that Peter is doing, He calls Paul a brother, this is powerful, and its Peter way of bearing witness to Paul as one of the faith. He is giving Paul the right hand of fellowship. This is critical when you have people who are anti Paul, believe it or not, those who are anti Noam, Anit law, do not like Paul. This is significant because Paul has Peters support.

2 Peter 3:16 (TLV)

16 He speaks about these matters in all of his letters. Some things in them are hard to understand,

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These teachings are hard, Paul was a very intelligent person. some even say for the new testament writers and Apostles probably one of the most intelligent.

Now remember who is talking here. This is Peter in which Paul later on will call along with James and John a pillar of the faith. That means that our faith at one point rested on these men. and that they were the ones that protected it.

He is warning the Gentiles about the teachings of Paul, He goes on:

2 Peter 3:16b

..which the ignorant and unstable twist (as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures)—to their own destruction.

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Ignorant in what? By definition the word ignorant from Websters means:

“lacking knowledge or comprehension of the thing specified”

Merriam-Webster online Dictionary

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Peter is warning us of those who are unlearned and ignorant of the teaching of Torah who will come in and twist the scriptures to their own destructions.

2 Peter 3:17–18 (TLV)

17 Since you already know all this, loved ones, be on your guard so that you are not led astray by the error of the lawless and lose your sure footing.

18 Instead, keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity! Amen.

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See Peter is telling us, Look be on your guard, lest they come in and twist the truth. Beware. Danger. They are going to come in, they are going to twist the scriptures for their own destructions. don't follow them.

See it does matter what you believe. It does matter whether you follow torah or not. or how you are interpreting the letters of Paul.

So as we go into this letter of Paul we are going to take heed, amen.

Lets answer a few important questions when it comes to the book of Galatians:

Who - What - When - Where - Why?

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The first question we need to answer and this is huge.

Who wrote this Epistle?

Galatians 1:1(TLV)

1 Paul, an emissary (sent not from men or by man, but by Yeshua the Messiah and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),

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Now what you are going to see is what is called internal evidence. We see that its Paul who wrote the book, however in the early century's, there were imposters. Theses were Agnostics who used Paul's name in their writings to get people to believe falsely.

So we have his name, but what else do we have: Well one of the biggest tell tale signs that scholars would look at is the writing style, does this match other writings that were proven to be Paul of Sardis? Writing style is like leaving DNA at a crime scene.

Not only that we also have external evidence that proves this is of Paul:

Lets look at J.B. Lightfoot:

The Epistle to the Galatians is found in all the known Cannons of Scripture proceeding from the Catholic Church in the second century. It is contained in the SYRIAC and OLD LATIN versions, completed, it would appear, some time before the close of the century. It is distinctly recognized also in the Canon of the MURATORIAN FRAGMENT (probably not later than 170 AD)

J.B. Lightfoot, St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians.

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The Muratorian Fragment is a list of books that were considered inspired that was just discovered a couple century’s ago. Galatians is in that book. That is powerful.

Beyond dispute Paul is the Author.

Next:

To whom was the book of Galatians written?

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This is an easy one, would anybody care to guess?

Galatians in Galatia!!!!

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Galatians 1:2 (TLV)

2 and all the brothers with me. To Messiah’s communities of Galatia:

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When was this written?

It’s been estimated between 49 Ad to 50 Ad.

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When we see this date there are a couple of things that are of impotence: 1) 30 Ad, Messiah was crucified and resurrected

2) 70 Ad, what happens....Destruction of the Temple

and smack dab in the middle, you have Paul teaching to Galatia.

Look at how the gospel has spread throughout the world.

Why did Paul write this Epistle:

Lets go write into the answer:

Galatians 1:6–7 (TLV)

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from the One who called you by the grace of Messiah, to a different “good news”—

7 not that there is another, but only some who are confusing you and want to distort the Good News of Messiah.

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So the reason that He is writing them, is because Paul has sown much into the Galatians. And now, someone is coming in and teaching them something that is false. Teaching the another gospel. What is this gospel. What is this.

Well one must know what the gospel really is to know what it isnt. We will get into that later.

Paul wants to pull them out of the fire of deception and back into the truth of what He taught.

Now we've looked at the Who, Where and the Why, and now we shall look at the What

What is this epistle all about.

What is the perverse teaching that they have accepted? What truth has been compromised?

Before I get into that I would like to show you what others have answered this question in the traditional light.

This is from the Marcionite prologue, The marcionite prologue was these little introductions/commentary's before the epistles appeared.

Now I want to be super clear here, all of those who disagree with Marcion, do agree with all of his prologues. So Keep this in mind as we go thru with this. Many scholars even today, agree with these and use them in their study’s

The Galatians are Greeks. They at first recieved the word of truth from the apostle, but after his departure they were tempted by false prophets to turn to the law and circumcision. The apostle calls them back to the true faith, writing to them from Ephesus.

--Marcionite prologue

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So what is the analysis from this, that the Gentile believers were turning back to the law and circumcision, both!!

This is our conundrum today. In most churches today, the things being taught are things that were passed down. However we now are in a place were we can study and research our self, and find that like this traditional belief does not align to scripture proof.

Here is another:

Some of the Jews who believed, being held down by the prepossessions of Judaism, and at the same time intoxicated by vain-glory, and desirous of obtaining for themselves the dignity of teachers, came to the Galatians, and taught them that the observance of circumcision, Sabbaths, and new moons, was necessary, and that Paul in abolishing these things was not to be borne...

-John Chrysostom, 1889 Commentary of St. John Archbishop of Constantinople, on the Epistles of Paul

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Notice What He says they were teaching: That they were to observance of circumcision, sabbaths and new moons was necessary. However this is not what the bible actually says. We will dive into that later.

Notice how they place some truth among false statement. That is how a lie is believed. You tell a lie with some truth to fit your narrative, and you tell it enough that people will soon think that the entirety is truth.

Notice also the last statement: And that Paul in abolishing these things.....

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When we begin to look at the little details we can see the narrative beginning to develop over the centuries.

With that I want to take us over to the earliest Latin commentator of the Book of Galatians:

The sum of the letter is as follows: The Galatians are going astray because they are adding Judaism to the gospel of faith in Christ, observing in a material sense the Sabbath and circumcision, together with the other works which they received in accordance with the law.

Bruce. F.F. (1982) The Epistle to the Galatians: C. Marius Victorinus Afer, In Galatas, introd.

It goes on:

Disturbed by these tendencies Paul writes this letter, wishing to put them right and call them back from Judaism, in order that they may preserve faith in Christ alone, and receive from Christ the hope of salvation and of his promises, because no one is saved by the works of the law. So, in order to show that what they are adding is wrong, he wishes to confirm (the truth of) his gospel.

Bruce. F.F. (1982) The Epistle to the Galatians: C. Marius Victorinus Afer, In Galatas, introd

again this is what they saw, was that the Gentiles were returning to the law,

Now lets look at Martin Luther again:

The Galatians had been brought by St. Paul to right Christian belief, from the law to the gospel. But after his departure there came the false prophets, who were disciples of the true apostles, and turned the Galatians back again to believe that they must attain blessedness through the work of the law, and that they were sinning if they did not hold the work of the law, as according to Acts 15 certain highly - placed people in Jerusalem insisted.

Luther’s Werke, Wa: Die deutche Bibel,7 172f 1962 Bruce. F.F. (1962) Commentary on the Greek New Testament

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When we look at the commentary, it gives us a more insight than we had before, especially when it comes to what we know tend to believe and why. It all the same throughout the generations. Historically they all believed the problem was the turning back to Torah.

Let me ask you the Big Questions: Was that the problem?

You have to ask that question:

The Torah is very careful in sharing wisdom with us, and about not following the crowed simply because they are the majority or have a conviction about something they believe. You have to ask, that with all of the commentaries and analysis, is that accurate, Can it stand the test of scripture? Is it safe to say they are the mark.

See if you identifying the problem in Galatians, you will unlock unbelievable doors in scriptures. Most people who are growing in their faith, in Messiah, and Torah, Who are experiencing revelation like never before, it started because they see what the problem really is. It makes everything make sense.

So we are going to go thru this and challenge Church history, not with opinion, or presupposition but with Scripture.

Now as we kick this off, I am not a fan of the name of this letter. The title it, the book of Galatians, but I disagree. because, it really is not the first letter. What we will see in the next few moments, and understanding this will begin the journey of truth.

The letter we have in our new testament is not the first letter to the church of Galatians. this is not some crazy agnostic commentary. Its not some crazy thought of idea to prove a point. The evidence is found in our own new testament.

So as we look at Acts ,

We must understand that there are believers in Antioch, the church was growing.. Antioch of Syria was a strong hold of the faith, it was a sub-hub of Jerusalem, there were prophets, pastors teachers. It was a major city of believers.

Now Paul and Barnabas are here. And they were called out by the Holy spirit for a job that the Lord had for them to do. So we pick up in Acts 13:4

Acts 13:4 (TLV)

4 So, sent out by the Ruach ha-Kodesh, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

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Take a look at the map.

Now lets jump over to chapter Acts 14:21

Acts 14:21 (TLV)

21 After proclaiming the Good News to that city and making many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch.

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Why did they do this why go back. Well the bible tells us:

Acts 14:22 (TLV)

22 They were strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to persevere in faith, and saying, “It is through many persecutions that we must enter the kingdom of God.”

Acts 14:23 (TLV)

23 When they had handpicked elders for them in every community, and prayed with fasting, they placed them in the care of the Lord—in whom they had put their trust.

In other words what were they doing? They were establishing churches, this is powerful, you are seeing the gospel being spread.

Acts 14:24–27 (TLV)

24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphyllia.

25 After speaking the message in Perga, they went down to Attalia.

26 From there they sailed back to Antioch (where they had been entrusted to the gracious care of God for the work now completed).

27 When they arrived and gathered together Messiah’s community, they began to report all that God had done in helping them and that He had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.

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Now notice vs. 27 how God had opened a door of faith, that's belief to the gentiles

See the testimony of what God was doing. This is not what their Jewish brothers were expecting. They were expecting the complete opposite. Synagogues torn upside down, But the very opposite happens, the Gentiles beg Paul and Barnabas to stay and teach them. Their was an insurrection by the gentiles there was a revival.

The impact was so big that nearly the entire city came to hear the words of Paul. It was powerful.

You got to see the impact. No Jew would have ever thought that this would happen. A gentile coming to faith. no way. In the First century it was not even a concept. The Torah even commanded that they be separate from the Pagans and have absolutely nothing to do with them.

Thank about the transition that was going on. A transition of John Baptism of Water to a baptism of fire. From remission of sin by way of sacrifice, to forgiveness thru Yeshua. This was an incredible time.

So now we go into vs. 15 Acts 15:1

Acts 15:1 (TLV)

1 Now some men coming down from Judea were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”

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D o you want to know what was going on in the book of Galatians? What was Paul addressing that was creeping in to the body of Messiah. This is it!!

You want to know what the problem in Galatia was, Well welcome to the problem!!! That in order to be a christian on must under go circumcision.

From the very beginning of Galatians to the very last verse this letter, this epistle of Paul is about circumcision. If you understand this, it will impact your understanding of not just Galatians but the rest of his epistles Paul is in perfect harmony with not only His letters but the rest of scriptures. That includes the Torah and the Prophets.

You need to understand the number one issue in the first century was that Gentiles where coming to faith in Messiah and weather or not they should or shouldn't be circumcised.

So how do Paul and Barnibus handle this. I mean they have never dealt with this before, what are they todo? Their own bothern have come down and said this.

Acts 15:2 (TLV)

2 When Paul and Barnabas had a big argument and debate with them, the brothers appointed Paul and Barnabas with some others from among them to go up to Jerusalem to the emissaries and elders about this issue.

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These Jewish believers came down from Judea and declared, that gentiles were not saved unless they were circumcised. It got so bad, it turned into a pretty good argument. notice the language, one translation say: that they had no small dissension and dispute with them.

Nether party would budge, so what are they to-do. The decided to go to Jerusalem to the Apostles (Emissaries and Elders) and let them decided. Take it to the highest court.

See this was the highest court this was the supreme court of the Land at the time. They decided what and how. If a dispute rolled up it was taken to them, and their decisions was law and it was binding!!

This was the instructions of Torah:

Deuteronomy 17:8–9 (TLV)

8 “Suppose a matter arises that is too hard for you to judge—over bloodshed, legal claims or assault—matters of controversy within your gates. Then you should go up to the place Adonai your God chooses,

9 and come to the Levitical kohanim and the judge in charge at that time. And you will inquire, and they will tell you the sentence of judgment.

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Who was in Jerusalem, James and John the pillars of the faith. These were the men that everything was left to. They were the ones leading the entire movement. They were the supreme court, they were with Yeshua, when He ascended on high.

They were to solve the matters of faith.

Look at what Messiah told Peter.

Matthew 16:19 (TLV)

19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will have been forbidden in heaven and what you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven.”

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This was not about what many believers think it was today. This was Yeshua giving Authority to Peter that what ever decisions you made would be binding, it was spiritual authority over the church. They could bind, legal terms, or loose, let off.

Deut 17 God established the Rule of law to be governed by the Sanhedrin, and what ever they decided was law, and if you didn't follow it you were killed. Go home and read that.

Yeshua now establishes and new form of governing body, when He tells this to Peter. That now He has that authority Peter and the other Apostles could bind and loosen and everyone in that argument new it.

We need to feel the weight of this. As we continue into next week. What ever that councils renders will be law. Not just established here, but it was bond in heaven as well.

We Will continue next week as we look at the decision of the council in Jerusalem.

I know we did not cover a lot of the book of Galatians, but we will. We are setting a foundation to help understand the fullness of what is happening in Galatia.