THE GOSPEL IN GALATIANS- A STUDY.
Why should we study Galatians?
The human heart longs for salvation. Though we are good at numbing this desire with comfortable housing, prestigious jobs, and pleasurable distractions, in our most honest moments we are certain that things are not right. Life is not as it should be. This has always been mankind’s dilemma. The history of humanity is one on bended knees and outstretched arms; we’ve been busy trying to invoke, appease, and satisfy whoever and whatever we deem as god.
The Christian message offers truth and hope to the human despair. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that eternal life with the only true God is available. God’s good news is an offer of eternal life with him. It comes by his grace through faith in Jesus Christ as a gift to be received. However, it’s only available on his terms. God alone determines how he will be pleased. Only then is his holiness upheld.
Yet, another dilemma remains and plagues Christianity across the globe. Why are Christians prone to live as if God’s gift of salvation is insufficient? Why do we act as if we must purchase his ongoing love? Why do we drift into living the Christian life as though acceptance before God can be earned? We affirm that salvation comes from him alone, but our daily walk suggests his gift is incomplete until we step in. We think he needs us to finish the job. Sadly, too many Christians live as though God can be bought with actions—it’s as though he is continually for sale. The Christian must live responsibly and morally because God desires this lifestyle. Going to church, taking communion, and tithing are God-honoring Christian practices, but not if we think they earn us favor before him. Living the Christian life as if God can be satisfied by a combination of faith in Jesus plus good works signals an ignorance or rejection of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
This is an old problem, which the letter of Galatians dealt with a long time ago. The gospel according to God had been under attack among the churches of Galatia, that is, among Christians. It is the same today. Too many believers live life as though Christ’s work on the cross is not enough. We accept the gospel of God’s grace, yet mix it with our own merits. However, God will not accept this and Galatians makes it very clear. We long for God but despite our repeated attempts, he cannot, and need not be bought, bribed, or earned.
The book of Galatians clearly defines God’s gospel terms. In doing so, we are offered much needed guidance on how to live the Christian life. Let’s now explore this work together. We will not only learn what the gospel is but also how to live it out as God intended.
What is the background to our story?
It is essential for us to do a brief study of the history of humanity and its tendency to add to the gospel. This will highlight for us how ancient this dilemma is and it will set us up for understanding its manifestation in Galatians.
Mankind’s longing for salvation has always been matched by attempts to attain it on our own. Our efforts at self-salvation run deep, as early as the account of our first ancestors Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. When the first man and woman sinned, they instantly became aware of their condition and tried to cover their shame by stitching a few leaves together. Moreover, their son Cain was no different. He thought he could satisfy God with a basket of fruit despite the condition of his heart.
When it was time, Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. But Abel brought of the firstborn of his flock. And the LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering but with Cain and his offering he did not look with favor. So Cain became very angry and his face was downcast. (Genesis 4:3-5)
The greatest example of this self-saving mindset was sustained for centuries by God’s chosen people, Israel. They lived as if they alone, among the nations, deserved God even though he called and rescued them from bondage by his grace. God granted them the law, the feasts, and the sacrificial system but these were gifts that were to remind Israel to live by faith in him. They wrongly used these as though by them they earned a right to God. It was a mindset that assumed God’s salvation could be earned, impressed, and satisfied by man’s own efforts or good deeds. God had reached out by grace to save a powerless humanity. However, the Israelites came to believe that through their religious efforts they had the power to buy life with God. It appeared as if God rewarded man’s lifestyle with salvation. God did expect Sabbath observance, circumcision, and obedience to the law in Israel but only as expressions of a heart of faith in anticipation of the Messiah.
The law is but a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and therefore is completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered up continually, year after year, to make perfect those who draw near to worship. (Hebrews 10:1)
For the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins. (Hebrews 10:4)
And every priest stands daily ministering, repeatedly offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. (Hebrews 10:11)
In the New Testament, the Gospels also testify to man’s longing for deliverance as well as his tendency toward self-salvation. Jesus walked in a Jewish world that understood that only a religious lifestyle would satisfy God. It was believed that perfect obedience to the law made one a good Jew—one who could hold his head high before God. Non-Jews or Gentiles could be right before God as well, but only by becoming Jews!
Who wrote this book?
The apostle Paul wrote the letter of Galatians. The authorship of the letter is so well established that it is often used by scholars as a gauge to determine whether other epistles are from Paul.
The apostle played a significant role in the early church. God used him like no other man in the spread of the gospel to gentile lands as God stated in Acts 1:8. He was also the divine instrument chosen to interpret and explain all that was previously promised by God in Scripture and the way it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Paul was first introduced in the Bible as Saul. He was a Jew born in the gentile city of Tarsus; a Pharisee trained by the best teacher, Gamaliel, and a man unmatched regarding his zeal and devotion to the Jewish faith. In God’s sovereign providence however, Christ called him when on route to persecute the church in the city of Damascus. From that point on, he devoted his life to Christ with even greater zeal and passion. The law-abiding Pharisee was reborn and eventually became known as the apostle Paul. His life is a perfect example of the message he sought to communicate in the letter to the Galatians.
What was going on at the time?
The Christian church sprung from Jewish roots in the first century. Once Christ came, Christianity emerged as the natural offspring of a Jewish faith awaiting his arrival. As the gospel of Jesus Christ spread from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth, the church transitioned from a predominantly Jewish to a Jewish-Gentile constituency just as God had desired. It was a period of excitement and some confusion as a baby church learned about life with God within the framework of a new age.
Acts 13–14 record the account of Paul’s first missionary journey with Barnabas. They traveled throughout Cyprus and into the southern areas of Asia Minor in modern day Turkey. Visiting town after town, they preached the gospel and planted churches.
Upon return to their home church in Antioch, Paul received news that other teachers had visited these churches after him. They confused the Gentile believers with a different message. These false teachers proclaimed a gospel with Jewish conditions attached—after all, Christianity had Jewish roots. The law had played a major role in the history of God’s dealings with man so far. These Judaizers argued salvation was incomplete if one did not embrace the Jewish lifestyle. They taught that faith in Jesus was essential, but only in partnership with adherence to the law—particularly circumcision. These Judaizers would even quote the Hebrew Scriptures to support their position. To advance their point, Paul’s character and credibility was undermined. These false teachers claimed Paul left the Galatians only partly evangelized! Their strategy was effective. The Galatian believers were rapidly deserting Paul and his gospel. This false teaching set human works on equal footing with God’s work in Jesus Christ on the cross. It was a subtle deviation from the true gospel coated in biblical language; a contemporary expression within the church of that age-old tendency for man to try to save himself. Even in the early days of the church, the tendency toward self-salvation quickly emerged. Paul knew this was insulting to God and dangerous for man
