OCTOBER 13, 2013

 

THE APOSTLE’S DEFENSE OF HIMSELF AND HIS OFFICE (PART I)

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

1.  As we learned from Paul’s own words in the closing chapters of his second Corinthian letter, he saw egotism (the disposition to bring forward one’s own self) as a disagreeable trait in a man’s character. It is particularly disagreeable when it is the leading feature in one whose very office as a minister of the Gospel requires that his mind be employed about the glory of God and the exaltation of Jesus Christ. It is incongruous in such a man to appear anxious to draw attention to himself His ambition should be to be a voice proclaiming, “Behold Him!    Behold Him!”

2.  But it is obvious that ministers of the Gospel may be placed in circumstances wherein they are required to speak more about themselves than they are disposed to do. Since a minister’s success requires the confidence of those to whom he ministers, no tactic has been more frequently employed by the enemies of Christianity than attempts to blast the reputation of its teachers.

3.  In this necessary though unpleasant work, we find the Apostle engaged in chapters one and two of the epistle to the Galatians. Soon after Paul left the churches he had planted in Galatia, false teachers came among them teaching that observance of the Mosaic Law was necessary to salvation, as well as faith in Jesus as the Messiah. Since these sentiments were directly contrary to the doctrine of the Apostle, they sought to pave the way for their reception by shaking the confidence of the Galatian converts in Paul’s authority and integrity. They charged that his doctrine was different form the other apostles, and that in his own teaching he was not consistent. At any rate, they said that he did not belong to the class of original apostles.

 

I.  THE APOSTLE ENDEAVORS TO PROVE THAT HE WAS A GOD-CALLED, GOD-TAUGHT APOSTLE WHOSE PURPOSE WAS TO PLEASE GOD AND NOT MEN. (VERSES 10-12)

 

A.  HE DEFENDS HIMSELF AGAINST THE CHARGE OF BEING A MAN-PLEASER. (VERSE 10)

 

1.  We may gather that in the tenth verse Paul is alluding to a charge made against him by false teachers which they used to prove that he was not true apostle.

2.  Paul answers the charge with these two interrogations: “For do I persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men?”, which are plainly the equivalent of a strong denial.

 

a)  Regarding the first question, since it is improper to speak of persuading God in the sense of convincing Him, it is better to understand the Greek word (piethos) as it is used elsewhere, as meaning to conciliate, or to court favor. (Matt. 28:14; Acts 12:20)

b)  This understanding goes well with the second question. “Or do I seek to please men?” Paul asserts that he was seeking God’s approbation and not man’s.

 

3.  He appeals to his conduct as a proof that his aim was not to please men. “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”

 

a)  It is certain that the man, whose master principle is a wish to please men, cannot be a consistent servant of Christ. “No man can serve two masters.” “The fear of man is a snare,” in that, it will induce to keep back a part of the truth, or pervert part of the truth. There are truths which must be preached, and which cannot be preached without displeasing some men, but then they cannot be withheld without displeasing Christ.

b)  However, the Apostle’s meaning here seems to be this: “If I were now a man-pleaser, as I once was, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Paul had been very ambitious to have the favor of his countrymen, and he had been quite successful, but, all that had been gain for him, he now counted as loss for Christ.

c)  Paul could appeal to the good sense of the Galatians. Did it appear to them that he was trying to be a man-pleaser? He had given up the very thing he was being accused of seeking after.

 

B.  HE ASSERTS THAT HIS DOCTRINE WAS NOT AFTER MAN, AND TELLS WHY THIS WAS SO. (VERSES 11, 12)

 

1.  The Gospel which Paul preached was not after man, i.e. not human but divine. (Verse 11)

              

a)  It was something that had never entered into the heart of man to conceive it.

b)  It was not human either in its substance or its form. It was a true account of the divine method of saving men. It was an accurate statement of a divine revelation. The Apostle’s Gospel was a direct revelation from heaven.

 

2.  Paul did not receive his Gospel of men, and neither was he taught it by man. (Verse 12)

 

a)  Paul did not receive his authority of men, that is, the authority vested in him to preach the Gospel. Jesus Christ made him a minister; He directly and immediately invested him with apostolic authority.

b)  Paul was not taught the Gospel by men, but rather, “by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” He was not sent to the apostles to receive instructions. In the account of his conversion, nothing is said of him receiving instruction from Ananias, or the disciples. (I Cor. 11:23a)

 

II.  THE APOSTLE OFFERS THE HISTORICAL PROOF OF HIS DIVINE CALLING AND   COMMISSION. (VERSES 13-17)

 

A.  HIS FORMER LIFE AND CAREER AS A JEW IN THE JEW’S RELIGION. (VERSES 13, 14)

 

1.  His conduct and behavior in the Jewish religion was no secret. “Ye have heard of my conversation in the Jewish religion.” (Verse 13)

 

a)  Not that he had spoken much about it, but he was notorious a foe to Christianity.

b)  This vehement zeal against Christ continued until he was suddenly apprehended by the risen Christ Himself  of the Damascus Road. (Acts 9:1-6)

c)  Again, the event of his conversion was also well-known. When he related the experiences on at least two occasions, (Acts 22:3-16; 26:9-17) none questioned the report.

 2.  His advancement in the Jews’ religion was remarkable, so zealous was he for the religion of his fathers. (Verse 14)

 

 a)  He was an up and coming star in the Jews’ religion, out-stripping all of his peers.

 b)  Of this fact, he made reference on a number of occasions. (Acts 22:3; 26:4, 5; Phil. 3:4-6)

 c)  This fact adds the more weight to his argument, that he had been the object of a divine and supernatural intervention and calling. (Phil :7-9)

 

B.  HIS CONVERSION TO CHRISTIANITY AND CALL TO THE APOSTOLIC MINISTRY. (VS. 15)

 

1.  It is obvious that the Apostle did not learn his Gospel of men before his conversion; and it is equally plain that he did not learn it of them afterward.

2.  In the Apostle’s short account of his conversion, he describes it as a work of God. God called him by his grace. God revealed His Son in him. “All things are of God;” (II Cor. 5:18) and it is as true of everyone that is converted, as of Paul, that his conversion is the work of God.

 

a)  He speaks of being separated by God from his mother’s womb, and being called by his grace. (Psa. 22:9, 10; Jer. 1:5) That which God destined him for from birth, indeed form all eternity, He called him to at the appointed time. “Who called me by his grace.”

b)  It pleased this God “to reveal His Son” in Paul, “that he might preach Him among the heathen.”

 

(1)  God revealed His Son to Paul. But there is more than an outward revelation, there is an inward revelation.

(2)  Christ Himself, not merely the doctrine concerning Him, is the object of true preaching. The light must be in us that it might be diffused. (II Cor. 4:6)

 

C.  HIS CONDUCT IN CONSEQUENCE OF HIS CONVERSION. (VERSES 16, 17)

 

1.  He conferred not with flesh and blood. (Verse 16)

 

a)  The word “conferred” properly signifies to impose a burden. He did not burden anyone of mere flesh and blood by consulting with them.

b)  He neither consulted his own reason or inclination, nor did he seek instruction from others.

c)  He committed himself entirely to Divine guidance and teaching.

d)  He did not consult with any man; seek instruction from any man; asked the opinion of any man if that which was conveyed to his mind was correct; asked any man what he should preach.

e)  His only Counsellor was the Holy Spirit, and he immediately commenced speaking according to the Divine guidance and impulse.

 

2.  He did not go up to Jerusalem. (Verse 17)

 

a)  On his conversion, Paul immediately began to preach in Damascus. (Acts 9:19, 20)

b)  When he met with persecutions, he found it necessary to leave Damascus, but did not go up to Jerusalem, but went instead to Arabia. We know from Paul’s own accounting that there is an interval of three years between Verses 25 and 26 of Acts Chapter 9.

c)  He went to Arabia for the purpose, we assume, of solitude, meditation, and communion with the Lord. Although Saul had learned at the feet of Gamaliel, he, while in Arabia, was taught by the Divine Master Himself.

d)  After continuing for some time in Arabia, he returned to Damascus, which was then under Aretas, the king of Arabia. During all this time he had never met with any of those who were apostles before him. When he did go up to Jerusalem, he received neither instruction nor authority from them.

e)  That his eventual visits to Jerusalem did not involve receiving instruction from the other apostles, he will prove in our next lesson.

 

OCTOBER 6, 2013                                                                                                                  

 

ANOTHER GOSPEL

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

1.  That man is a radically and totally depraved being the bias of whose nature is decidedly toward what is false is a principle which is frequently stated is Scripture. The admission of this assessment is forced upon us, first, by our own experience, and second, by our observation of the world around us.

2.  Notwithstanding the plainness of the revelation of the divine will regarding making men wise and good, how   rare are the instances in which its application is found effectual. Even when brought under divine influence,    how much ignorance and error still remain, simply because he is not completely subject to that influence. No man is “born again” until he is “born of the Spirit,” and no man ever does really understand and believe until he becomes the subject of the supernatural operation of the Holy Spirit.

3.  Even after one has been in a good measure enlightened in the knowledge of the truth, the human mind is prone to revert to its former beliefs, or to fall into new errors. Of this tendency we have a striking example in the history of the Galatian churches. They had removed themselves from Him Who had called them in to the grace of Christ, and had turned to a false, perverted view of the Gospel, which Paul calls “another gospel.”

4.  After a brief introduction, (Verses 1-5) the Apostle at once enters upon the great object of the epistle, by expressing his astonishment over their apostasy.

 

I.  THE FACT OF THEIR DEFECTION, AND THE GREAT CONCERN THAT IT WAS TO THE APOSTLE. (VERSES 6, 7)

 

A.  THAT ANY SHOULD EMBRACE THE TRUE GOSPEL AND THEN TURN FROM IT IS BOTH ASTONISHING AND GRIEVOUS. (VERSE 6)

 

1.  It filled the Apostle at once with the greatest surprise and sorrow. “I marvel…” John used the same word to describe his emotion when he saw “the mother of harlots” drunken with the blood of the saints. “I wonder with great admiration. (astonishment).” Paul was at the same time filled with sorrow. “…that you are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ.”

 

a)  The phrase “him that called you” might be thought to mean Paul himself, (Ch. 5:10) who was the human instrument of their calling. Though he is not likely referring to himself, as the human instrument of their calling, we can be sure that it pained him deeply to know that his faithful teaching was cast aside for the persuasions of Judaizing teachers. Every preacher of the Gospel can sympathize with those who experience this kind of rejection.

b)  Most likely, the phrase “him that called you” is referring to God, Who had called them out of  darkness into the marvelous light of the grace of Christ. Paul’s grief was the greater for sake of the God of all grace from Whom they had turned. Our sorrow at such times, though we do take it personally, is primarily for sake of “God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.”

 

2.  That they were “so soon removed” made it even more astonishing.

 

a)  In so little time they lost that relish and esteem for the grace of Christ, which they seemed to have.

    

(1)  This reference by the Apostle lends support for the view that the Galatian letter was one of his earliest. It was apparently written not long after, either he alone, or he and Barnabas first took the Gospel to that region.

(2)  Again, it is a concern to all who minister the Gospel, and rejoice in conversions, to see those who profess Christ soon lose their zeal for the faith, and revert back to their former loves and ways. (Luke 9:62)

 

b)  To fall in with those who taught justification by the works of the Law, as many of them did who had been brought up under the opinions and notions of the Pharisees, was an instance of their weakness. But that they embraced a corruption of the doctrine of Christ was a great aggravation of  their guilt.

 

B.  THAT THEY WERE REMOVED TO ANOTHER GOSPEL, WHICH YET WAS NOT ANOTHER, WAS INDEED FOOLISH. (VERSES 6c, 7)

 

1.  The phrase ‘another gospel” coming from the pen of the Apostle Paul immediately suggests an irony, which is very soon proven to be his intention.

2.  The Apostle represents the doctrine of these Judaizing teachers as “another gospel,” as it opens up a different way of salvation from that which was revealed in the Gospel which he preached.

3.  In fact, it taught a system of salvation by works and not by faith in Christ. Since this was totally contrary to the doctrine of the Gospel, it could not be thought for a moment to be literally another gospel, because such teaching is not good news. (Rom. 1:20-28; John 3:18, 36; Acts 4:12)

4.  Paul immediately exposes the irony of his terminology.

 

a)  The word “another” in our English Bible may be one of two different Greek words. ‘Heteros’  means another of a different or opposite kind. ‘Allos’ means another of the same kind.

b)  In Verse 6 the word is ‘heteros’ but in Verse 7 the word is ‘allos’. They were turned to another gospel, of a totally different kind, and certainly not of the same kind as the Gospel of the grace of Christ.

c)  They had turned to another gospel, i.e. a false gospel, a perverted gospel. It was most assuredly not another gospel in the true sense of being good news.

d)  A false gospel is worse than no gospel, because it gives folks a false security.

 

5.  Thus, the Apostle endeavors to impress upon these Galatians a due sense of their guilt in forsaking the Gospel. However, at the same time he pleads with them as victims of the art and industry of some that troubled them. His hope was to bring them back to the truth; to see them restored to the true faith.

 

II.  THE FACT OF THE TRUE GOSPEL, AND THE GREAT CONFIDENCE THE APOSTLE HAD THAT HE HAD PREACHED IT. (VERSES 8-10)

 

A.  SO CONFIDENT WAS HE THAT HIS WAS THE ONLY TRUE GOSPEL THAT HE PRONOUNCED AN ANATHEMA ON THOSE WHO PREACHED ANY OTHER GOSPEL.(VERSE 8)

 

1.  Paul did not use such strong language against everyone who differed on matters less vital. No such curses were pronounced against those at Corinth who held wrong views about the spiritual gifts and other things. He did correct their mistaken beliefs, for no truth is unimportant, and no wrong practice is to go unreproved. However, his anathema is reserved for those heretics who so pervert the Gospel as to make if not a gospel at all. That which is no gospel is not only not the source of life, it is deadly. Such gospels along with their proponents must be denounced in the strongest of terms. They are under the curse of God, and we must make their case known.

2.  We must not take Paul’s thundering anathemas here as justification for pronouncing a divine curse on all who hold differing views than our own. Scripture that is intended to denounce fundamental heresy is sometimes used to condemn those whose views may differ on non-essentials. (Example – Isa. 8:20)

B.  TO AFFIRM THAT CURSE WAS NOT PRONOUNCED RASHLY OR WITHOUT CAREFUL THOUGHT, HE REPEATED IT. (VERSE 9)

 

C.  TO FURTHER ESTABLISH THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE CHARGE, HE USED EXTREME ABSURDITY TO MAKE THE POINT. (VERSE 8)

 

1.  Should he himself come preaching any other gospel, he would bring himself under that same curse. Who could imagine that Paul, who so suffered for the true Gospel, would ever be heard preaching any other doctrine? Yet if such an unthinkable event should ever occur, he, the greatest of the Apostles, would be cursed of God.

2.  Should an angel from heaven come into their midst preaching any other than the everlasting Gospel of grace, he would be accursed. Not as if it were possible for an angel of God to be the messenger of  a lie, but the absurdity strengthens what he is about to say.

3.  If they were to have any other gospel preached to them by any other person, under his name, or under color of having it from an angel himself, they must conclude that it was a false gospel, and the messengers of it were accursed.

4.  Clearly, the Apostle is using absurdity to impress upon the Galatians the fact that there is but one gospel, and should a man abandon it for another, he will be facing the most woeful of consequences. “Let him be accursed!”

 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2013

 

INTRODUCTION TO GALATIANS

 

It is not surprising that this explosive epistle became Luther’s best-loved book of the Bible. He spoke of it as “my own epistle to which I have plighted my troth. To it I am wedded. It is my Katherine, my Katie von bora.” It has been called “the battle-cry of the Reformation,” “the great charter of religious freedom,” “the Christian Declaration of Independence.” Paul’s passionate defense of the true Gospel against its corrupters and detractors was most relevant to the situation in Luther’s day. The Gospel of justification by faith apart from the works of the law and the traditions of men can, in the words of the great Reformer, “never be taught, urged, and repeated enough.”

 

As the Galatian Epistle was relevant to the situation of Luther’s day, so has it been to the conditions of every generation. Religious men are ever want to add various kinds of works, ceremonies, and rituals to the Gospel of grace, thus creating “another gospel, which is not another.” While the Roman Catholic Church holds to many forms and rituals similar to those found in the ceremonial Law, along with many others of their own inventions, they are certainly not the lone corruptors of the Gospel of Christ. They must share the anathema with countless other false religionists.

 

At the other end of the spectrum is another danger which much be avoided. On the one hand religious teachers seek to bring us back into bondage making salvation to be a matter of grace plus the works of the Law. On the other hand, some will insist that the liberty of which Paul speaks in this book makes us free from any obligation to the Law, regardless if it be ceremonial or moral. While the Apostle denounces all legalism, he most certainly does not promote antinomianism. While it is true that by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified (Rom. 3:20, 28), it is also true that genuine saving faith is made manifest in the works of the Law. (James 2:14-26)

 

It is therefore vitally important that we carefully study and understand the Apostle’s warnings and teachings (his warnings are also teachings) in this book. We must not tolerate any additions to the pure Gospel of the grace of God. But neither can we allow any subtraction from it that would lead to antinomianism. By a proper understanding of this book we can avoid both of these pitfalls.

 

THE PERSONS TO WHOM THIS EPISTLE IS ADDRESSED

 

Galatia, or Gallo-Graecia, is a large district in Asia Minor situated between Bithynia and Cappadocia. It was a Roman province made up of descendants of three tribes of Gauls who immigrated soon after the death of Alexander the Great about 300 B.C. and secured a settlement in the Asiatic regions. During the reign of Augustus, Galatia was converted into a Roman province. In the course of time, they intermingled with the Greek inhabitants, and thus got the name Gallo-Graecia. Like the other inhabitants of Asia Minor, they generally spoke the Greek language. They were generally idolaters, worshipping the Grecian gods, though it is likely that the traditional superstitions of the original settlers were also mixed in. Also, in this region, as it was throughout Asia Minor, there were many Jews, and a large number of proselytes to Judaism.

 

Such was the state of Galatia when the Apostle Paul appeared in it, preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ to its inhabitants. It was through the instrumentality of Paul that Christianity was introduced in this province, and a number of Christian churches founded. (Ch. 4:13-19) It is certain that Paul was at least twice in Galatia. (Acts 16:6; 18:23) It may be, as some suppose, that his initial evangelizing of Galatia occurred soon after his first visit to Jerusalem, (Acts 9:26; Gal. 1:18) when he went to his native country Cilicia, which was not far from Galatia. He spent a number of years in this region before Barnabas came and brought him to Antioch. Others believe that the churches of Galatia were planted by Paul and Barnabas on their first missionary journey, after they had been set apart and sent out to preach the gospel among the Gentiles. (Acts 13:1-3) Although Galatia is not specifically mentioned in the record of that missionary tour, it is recorded that they preached the Gospel “in the regions that lie round about Laconia,” (Acts 16:6) and clearly that description may include Galatia. In the book of Acts we read of the Apostle being in Galatia on two occasions, (Acts 16:6; 18:23) but it is plain that on both occasions he found churches already established. At whatever period he first came to the Galatians, his labors were remarkably successful. Though he apparently came to them in much suffering, they received him as an angel of God, and with affection most remarkable. (Gal. 4:15)

 

THE OCCASION OF THE EPISTLE

 

It appears that not very long after their conversion to Christianity, the Galatian churches were visited by some false teachers who professed to be Christians, but who insisted that, even Gentile converts must submit to the rite of circumcision and observe the Mosaic rituals in order to be saved. As this doctrine was in direct opposition to the Gospel which they had heard of Paul, these false teacher did everything in their power to shake their attachment to their spiritual father, intimating that he was no true apostle, but merely a preacher sent out by the churches at Jerusalem or Antioch. They said that he was not consistent in his teaching respecting circumcision and the Law of Moses.

 

These unprincipled assertions seem to have been attended with all too much success. In order to stop the progress of this defection, and to bring back the simplicity of the faith of Christ, the Apostle wrote this epistle.

 

THE SUBJECT OF THE EPISTLE

 

The subject of this epistle is materially the same as the Roman epistle. He presses home the ground of a sinner’s acceptance with God. He establishes the divine method of justification. But though the substance of the two epistles is essentially the same, the circumstances with which the Apostle had to deal were different. In the Galatian epistle he dealt not with Jews rejecting Christianity, but with Jews professing to embrace it. They did not reject Jesus as Messiah; they insisted that there must be the observance of the Law of Moses. In opposition to this, the Apostle taught that the Mosaic institution in all its extent never was capable of justifying any person, nor was in ever intended for that purpose. The whole ceremonial system was now entirely done away. To go back to it was not only lost labor, but was a renunciation of the grand truth of Christianity, which is that men are restored to divine favor entirely on the ground of Christ’s merits, and entirely by means of faith in Him.

 

THE INSCRIPTION OF THE EPISTLE (CH. 1:1-5)

 

A.  THE AUTHOR. (VERSE 1)

 

1.  His name:  It is likely that the Apostle, from his infancy, had two names: “Saul,” a Jewish, and “Paul” a Roman name. Paul seems to have used his Roman name exclusively after his solemn separation to the ministry of the Gentiles. His object might have been to show that he had freed himself of all Jewish prejudices, and to gain for himself that respect which Gentiles were more apt to show to one whose name implied that he was a Roman citizen.

2.  His office:  Paul described himself as “an apostle.” The term precisely means messenger, however, in the New Testament it is ordinarily employed as the appropriate appellation of the highest order of Christian ministry. One distinguishing mark of this high office was a direct call and commission from Jesus Christ. He was ‘an apostle not of men (as to the source of the call) neither by man” (as an intermediate agent). The apostolic office was not an      ordinance of man, neither was it bestowed through any human mediator. He was, in opposition to being an apostle of men or by man, an Apostle by Jesus Christ (the Messiah, Who is God manifest in the flesh) and God the Father Who raised Him from the dead. Note the contrast: He was not an Apostle of man but of God; he was not an Apostle by man, but by Jesus Christ. God the Father is the fountain of all grace, and Jesus Christ Whom He raised            from the dead is the Mediator of all grace.

3.  His associates:  He includes with himself “the brethren which are with me.” (Verse 2) by ‘the brethren” he most likely means the evangelists who accompanied him. Sosthenes, Apollos, Timothy, Titus, Silvanus, Tychicus, Epaphroditus, Onesimus. (Comp. Phil 4:21)

 

B.  THE PERSONS ADDRESSED. (VERSE 2b)

 

1.  Paul addressed this epistle to “the churches of Galatia.” The letter was to be shared by all of the churches of that region.

2.  The New Testament recognizes local independent churches. No hierarchical system is found there. Thus, as Baptists we speak not of “the Baptist church” like some other denominations. We speak of Baptist churches, each of which is an autonomous body.

 

C.  THE GREETING. (VERSES 3-5)

 

1.  A prayer (Verse 3):  “Grace be unto you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the same as saying, “May you be the objects of the kind favor of God the Father and of the Lord JesusChrist; and may you receive from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ all that is necessary for your happiness both here and hereafter.”

2.  A statement (Verse 4):  Having mentioned the Lord Jesus Christ in the benediction, the Apostle was led to state one of the most important truths of the Gospel, “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world.” Christ voluntarily by His sufferings and death made atonement for our sins – He offered Himself a sacrifice for our sins. (I Tim. 2:6; Tit. 2:14; Eph. 5:2) He here states the doctrine that is the very cornerstone of the Gospel. Christ voluntarily gave Himself to die for our sins, that He might deliver us, and separate us from among the great body of mankind, who are bound in ignorance, vice, and wickedness, and make us His peculiar people. (Tit. 2:14) this Christ did “according to the will of God and our Father.”  “God and our Father” does not suggest two difference persons, but the meaning is “our God and Father.” God is the God of  believers. He treats them as His people. Christ’s death for us, i.e. in our place, was according to the eternal purpose and decree of God the Father. He chose us in Christ, and by Him gives us all spiritual blessing. (See Eph. 1:3-7)

3.  A doxology (Verse 5):  This concise but complete account of the Christian salvation is concluded by an ascription of praise to it gracious Author. “To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” This glorious salvation is all of  God; it is His work from beginning to end. TO HIM BE ALL THE GLORY!!