Category: Galatians

Up to this point in Galatians, we have seen that there is some theological trouble with the church and it is still what Paul is dealing with in our passage today. Paul, in our passage, is showing the Galatians that righteousness comes by faith, not by works. At some point, there must have been some false teachers that persuaded the Galatians that the only way to obtain righteousness was by good works. 

If I can be honest, don’t many of us think this way? Even if we know that righteousness comes by faith, there are often times where we think, “God will like me more if I do this” or “God doesn’t like me because of what I have done”. That could not be any further from the truth. God’s love is unconditional; it does not change based upon how good or bad we have been lately. Paul could say to us, “O foolish Christians!”

And so, we need to be thankful that righteousness comes by faith and not by keeping the works of the law. Paul provides us with a great example of righteousness by faith: Abraham. In the Old Covenant, God’s people were to keep the Law. The problem is that nobody could keep the Law perfectly (v. 10). So Abraham was not righteous because he kept the law; instead he was righteous because he listened and obeyed God. For us then, righteousness comes through faith in Jesus (v. 13). 

Today, if you have a relationship with Jesus, be reminded that you are righteous because of Jesus Christ. God does not love you any more or any less because of the things you do. Instead, when He sees you, He sees you clean because you have been covered by the blood of Jesus.

By: Brice Stockton — Student Ministry Apprentice

Church conflicts are not fun. For pastors, leaders, members and attenders. It’s not fun for the body of Christ and it’s not good as a witness to a lost world around us. I remember serving at a church that had 6 multi-campuses where one of the campuses met in a large church building with only ¼ of the people filling up the sanctuary. Several of those people refused to give up their seats when half the sanctuary was blocked by curtains. Several of those people literally sat behind the curtains, not seeing the preacher, band or the rest of the congregation! Again, church conflicts are not fun. But as long as we live in a fallen world with fallen people, we will have them. We see one such conflict in verses 11-14.

In verses 13-14, we see how Peter was hypocritical concerning the gospel and how his conduct was not in step with the truths of it. Peter was telling the gentiles that they needed to continue to practice Jewish customs. This is why the apostle Paul tells this church that he opposed him face to face in verse 11. We need to remember that sometimes this is needed. In the church, we need to be willing to graciously call each other out with Gospel matters. Although conflict will happen, we must face it when we’re protecting the life-changing gospel message. Verses 15-21 show this even more. Paul shares how Christ died for us and we died with Christ and that we can’t save ourselves but are only justified through Jesus. We now live in Christ. We don’t have to live for the law, but trying to obtain salvation through the law goes against the grace given in the gospel (v. 21). That is a part of the purpose of the Gospel and why we must fight for it, even in uncomfortable conflicts concerning it.

By: Erik Koliser — West Campus Pastor

In today’s passage, we see Paul join the ranks of the apostles. We see Paul get radically saved in Acts 9, and then we don’t see much of him again until Acts 13. Paul got radically saved, and his salvation changed everything. He refocused his zealousness of the things of Judaism to the things of Christ. At the end of the chapter 1 we see that he started proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ shortly after his conversion. He had the reputation of: “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” (1:23)

But in verse 1 of chapter 2, we see that it was another 14 years before Paul came and interacted with the other apostles. What you see so far in Galatians is Paul’s razor sharp focus on the true gospel. He desired to protect the integrity of the gospel and persuade others to see the truth of the gospel for themselves.

He also highlights how the gospel impacts how we view people. Multiple times in the book so far, we have seen evidence that Paul viewed people in a certain way. He says in verse 6: “And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me.” He also says in chapter 1 verse 10: “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Paul loved people and wanted to see them come to know the truth of the gospel, but he did not seek to please them and he was not affected by how others viewed them; he was more concerned with God viewed them.

One of the affects of the gospel in your life is to be so consumed with God that you no longer have the bandwidth to seek approval from others, seek to please others, or to separate people in your mind based on their perceived worth by others. This does not come naturally to us. Our predisposition because of our sin is to want to use others not love them; use them to help us feel a certain way about ourselves or help us get something we desire. Like Paul, may the gospel free us to truly love others selflessly.

By: Graham Withers — Pastoral Ministry Associate

Paul, in Galatians, is seeking to remind us of the beauty of the gospel of Jesus as the gospel is being perverted and people are wavering (1:6-10). The gospel of Jesus is what drives everything (or should) for us as followers of Jesus. If we lose the gospel we lose everything. 

So Paul in verses 11-24 is reminding us of some things. 

1) THE GOSPEL IS NOT MAN-MADE… THE GOSPEL IS GOD-SENT (v.11-12)

This is something that is so relieving to me because it recenters my reality. To live in the reality that God, through Jesus, offered us salvation is joyous. We do not have to fear that this is something that is man-made, a game of some kind, a marketing ploy. This is TRUTH. And Paul tells us that here.

2) THE GOSPEL BRINGS LIFE-CHANGE… (v.13-17)

As a defense that the gospel was not man-made but God-sent Paul reminds us of his life before he was in a relationship with Jesus. He persecuted the church. He killed Christians. (v.13) He was the best of the best and was advancing above all others… but even this could not earn his salvation (v.14) But GOD set him apart and made him holy through Jesus because God had a plan for his life (v.15-17). God brought life change in Paul just like he does in us… through Jesus.

“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” // 2 Corinthians 5:17-21

3) PROCLAIM THE LIFE-CHANGE THE GOSPEL BRINGS (v.18-24)

Paul went on to preach the gospel of Jesus. People were encouraged by him. He was an apologetic or defense for the trueness of Jesus. If Jesus could save him… Jesus could save anyone. Look at verses 23-24…

“They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.” // Galatians 1:23-24

The truth is the fact that any of us are in a relationship with Jesus is a miracle of God. God has taken us from death and brought us to life. Use your story… Use the life-change that Jesus has brought… Proclaim to others and bring glory to God. He is worth it.

Questions:

1) How has Jesus changed you since you put your faith in Him?

2) How can you use this for others to see the trueness of Jesus & glorify Him?

By: Nick Parsons — Pastoral Ministry Associate: College