PropositionThis passage lays the ground of liberty for the Galatian churches — establishing both Paul's God-given authority as an apostle and the grace by which believers stand — the very things the Judaizers were undermining.
Both source documents are merged in full below: the written outline (Sellers) and the spoken teaching transcript. Nothing has been trimmed, condensed, or silently corrected. Where something reads as an error, a slip of the tongue, or a call the requester may want to make personally, it is left exactly as delivered and set in bold, underlined text for review.
Background
Written outline (title)
Galatians Introduction
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Galatians is a very interesting book, and we're going to look at the introduction first so we'll know something about it. Remember that we're just in the book of Acts, and this book is tied up with the book of Acts very closely. Paul was in Antioch; he went on his first missionary journey — I'm going to cover some of this a little later — but he went on his first missionary journey, then he came back, went down to Jerusalem, the famine visit, chapter 11, and then from there came back to Antioch, and apparently there is where he wrote the book of Galatians. And then later on went down to Jerusalem again for the conference that really settled the situation in Galatians, the whole problem, and even wrote a letter to the churches saying, this is what we decided. So all of that is background for the book of Galatians.
I. The Writer — Paul
Written outline
I. Writer – Paul
A. Writer calls himself Paul: 1:1; 5:2
B. Historical references can be harmonized with Acts. We will see them as we proceed.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, Paul is the writer. There's no question about that. Sometimes you say, well, did Paul write that, especially the pastorals? Paul didn't write them. They were written in 2 A.D., 200 A.D., no. Anyway, no problem with Galatians. The writer calls himself Paul in 1:1 and in 5:2. So it was the apostle Paul. And the historical evidence there can be harmonized with the book of Acts. And we'll see that as we go along.
II. The Recipients
Written outline
II. Recipients – (see map of territory)
A. North Galatia
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the recipients It just says Galatia. Now, is it talking about the northern Galatia? You see up at the top there, there, or down the lower part of Aisa Minor. And it makes a difference because if Paul was running to the Galatians in the northern part, then he didn't go there until the second missionary journey. And that means he could not have written the Galatian epistle until later on, as far as 53-54. So that makes a difference.
B. South Galatia – to the cities of the first journey
Written outline
There are many reasons for choosing South Galatia. The main reason is that there is no mention of the Jerusalem Council. Since the problem in Galatians is the problem that was settled at the Jerusalem council, {i.e. Gentiles do not have to keep the Law for salvation or sanctification.} you would expect Paul to use that information to prove his case. Since he did not do so, we may assume that Galatians was written before the council convened. End of discussion.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
My understanding is that he wrote to the churches in South Galatia, the churches that he visited on the first missionary journey. The main reason for that is that the problem in Galatia was what do the Gentiles have to do? Is salvation by grace through faith only salvation or is it also Christian living? And the Judaizers were hounding Paul's steps all the time and after Paul left they had a heyday. Oh, no, you have to do this and this and this. You have to keep the law. If you don't keep the law, then you're not saved. So Paul had to write back to them about that. So it's that issue that Paul was trying to settle with them.
It seemed to me if the council of Jerusalem which happened between the first and second missionary journey. If that council had been already done, Paul would just say, here, I'm going to send you a letter. Here's the letter that James wrote about this issue. And the issue was settled. You don't have to do any works. You don't have to keep the law. That's what I'm saying. So that settles it for me. No mention of the Jerusalem council. So I think that Paul is writing to that South Galatian people where he had been before. With me, that ends the discussion.
Though, when I teach this on an academic level, I have two or three pages of notes that talk about what the Galatian people, what back and forth. But to me, that's it. If you want more, I have more there in our course on Romans and Galatians. Again, borrow the DVD, take a look at it.
III. Date of Writing — A.D. 48
Written outline
III. Date of Writing – AD 48
A. The famine visit
A. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to carry monetary help during the Jewish famine. Acts 11:29-30
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the date of writing, that means then that the date would be A.D. 48. This would be Paul's first epistle. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to carry some monetary help. He went down to Jerusalem to take money for the famine that was there. That visit is spoken of also in Galatians 2:1-10.
B. Return to Antioch
B. They returned to Antioch from the 1st Missionary journey.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
So then they returned to Antioch from the first missionary journey.
C. Reports reach Paul
C. Reports of the Judaizers in Galatia reach Paul.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And then the reports of the Judaizers in Galatia reached Paul. They said, Look, these people are really ravaging the churches.
D. Paul writes
D. Paul writes The Epistle to the Galatians – AD 48
Spoken teaching (transcript)
So Paul writes then the book of Galatia to the Galatians AD 48 and the Jerusalem Council convened after that.
E. The Jerusalem Council convenes
E. The Jerusalem council convenes, Acts 15 – AD 49/50
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And that may have been the reason for it. Paul wrote this thing and we've got to get this thing settled. You may not have noticed, but James was on the other side of this issue with Paul prior to the Jerusalem Council. He was convinced and he later wrote the letter and said, No, the Gentiles do not have to keep the law. So that Jerusalem Council in A.D. 49 or 50 and Acts 15, that settled the issue.
IV. Place of Writing — Antioch in Syria
Written outline
IV. Place of writing – Antioch in Syria
Spoken teaching (transcript)
So the place of writing then would be Antioch, Antioch in Syria, where Paul was working for probably many years, three or four years, prior to going on his first missionary journey. So when he came back there to his home church, that's when he wrote that letter.
V. Characteristics of Galatians
Written outline
V. Characteristics of Galatians –
A. Contrasts in feelings
A. Contrasts in feelings – love for the Christians – hate for the Judaizers.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, some characteristics of this letter, there's a contrast of feelings. Paul was a very feisty guy. He had a great love for the Christians. That guy, he really loved those believers there in Galatia. He had spent a lot of time there. He had been probably killed. in Lystra, remember, and they took him out and left him for dead. Luke, the doctor, says, Yeah, he was dead. Well, we assume then he spent a lot of time working and being beaten and he has a love for these people. They're his children born out of his tribulation.
In fact, he hates the Judaizers just as much as he loves the Christians. He says a little later on, and we'll see it, that remember they wanted the Christians to be circumcised and he says and this is I'm sorry this is what it says I wish they were cut off put your own understanding on that one but that's what he was saying he was very firm with that they want to start cutting I wish they were cut off you know that's all he hated the Judaizers a godly hate for such a thing
B. The only group epistle
B. Except for Ephesians, it is the only group epistle.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
But then in except of Ephesians This is the only group epistle. When you see the early manuscripts, it's just to the blank. It doesn't say Ephesians. Ephesians got it, and the name stuck, I guess. But they went around the cycle there in Asia Minor. This is also a group to at least the four churches in South Galatia.
C. No thanksgiving in the salutation
C. It is the only Pauline Epistle that omits “thanksgiving in the salutation.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Also, this book does not have anything about thanksgiving. I'll talk a little bit more about that later, but no Thanksgiving. Remember what Paul said in the Philippians? I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. No Thanksgiving here. The problem is there, and they were, they're being led astray by these things. They're following these false teachers. And so Paul has nothing to be thankful for there.
D. The most autobiographical epistles
D. Galatians and II Corinthians are the most autobiographical of Paul's Epistles.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And then Galatians and 2 Corinthians are Paul's most autobiographical epistles. You can learn more about Paul's personal doings and goings and comings by these two epistles.
E. Parallel with Romans
E. Galatians is similar to Romans. They both teach about justification by faith: Romans tells what it is; Galatians tells what it is not.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And then Galatians is like Romans. They both talk about the justification by faith. I don't think that's the total topic of Romans, but it's there. Justification by faith. But Romans tells what it is. This is what justification by faith is. Galatians says this is what justification is not this is the false way Romans has the positive side
F. A unique ending
F. It has a unique ending – large letters or large epistle?
Spoken teaching (transcript)
and then it has a unique ending we'll get there down the road at the end he says talks about large letter large letters actually was he talking about large letters this is a huge epistle no it's only about six chapters one of the smaller ones well maybe he's talking about he wrote in large letters And I think we'll see that because of his eyesight. He wrote in larger letters when he signed his name, when he put his final thing on it, somebody else wrote the **** while from his dictation. All right, so that's the characteristics of it.
VI. The Judaizers
Written outline
VI. The Judaizers
A. Their message
A. Their Message
1. In the Gospels – Salvation is by the Law. Circumcision is necessary for salvation.
2. Epistles – Sanctification is by the Law. Keeping the Law is necessary for Sanctification.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the Judaizers, who were the Judaizers? Well, their name, that's what they look like. That's exactly what they look like, I'm sure of it. See that? We're right, you're wrong. That's it right there. So their message was, in the Gospels, salvation is by the law. That's what they call it. Salvation is by the law. And circumcision is necessary for salvation. The Gospels had that kind of a thrust. Then in the Epistles, the thrust is more sanctification is by the law. Keeping the law is necessary to please God and to live a holy life. Now, that's their message.
B. Their appeal
B. Their Appeal
1. They had Scriptures on their side.
2. Natural sympathetic appeal, Jew to Jew.
3. Their message appealed to man's religiosity.
4. They came from the “Mother church” Jerusalem. Paul came from Antioch, a Gentile church
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, their appeal, imagine this, their appeal is they had the Scriptures on their side. If you were living in that time and you wanted to prove something, you wanted to prove that salvation is by grace through faith, where would you go? Well, not much in the Old Testament, some, but not a lot. Well, let's go to the New Testament. Well, good luck with that one. We have two books written by this time, James and maybe Matthew. I'm a priority of Matthew man. Some people see Mark as priority. I think Matthew's priority. In any case, one of the Gospels, one other book, James. And James has a little problem. He's not wrong. He just says it in a way that is a problem. We've already discussed that.
All right, the scriptures were on their side. They would just say, oh, look, it says here you have to be circumcised. You have to keep the law, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, all that. So they had the Scriptures on their side. And then there was a natural sympathy, Jew to Jew. These were Jewish people. They had a good appeal. Hey, look, now we're both Jews here. Here, look at the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. I'm reading to you out of the law. Don't you believe the law? Well, that's pretty convincing, I think.
And then their message appealed to one thing that it appeals to today. Man's religiosity. Man wants to do something. People, you're going to see them laughing and say, What? Do you mean to tell me all you have to do is believe? That's impossible. Everybody knows you have to work, work, work, you know, because man wants to work. That's the religious part of man. I want to do things so that I can go to heaven. Not true. That appeals to man, and it appeals to people today. Give them something to do. Give them rituals to follow. I give them all kinds of things that they have to do in order to either keep their salvation or get their salvation or please God, whatever. Give me some rules. I like rules. Well, sorry, no rules there. By grace, through faith, in our living as well.
And then these people also came from the mother church, Jerusalem. Well, where does Paul come from? Well, Paul's from that church in Antioch. That's a Gentile church. What do they know about the law? We're from Jerusalem. And I think that John, when he says, they went out from us because they were not of us. If they'd been of us, they would stay with us. To show that they were not of us, they went out. I think that that's what he's talking about, Judaizers, when he said that. So they say, oh, we're from the mother church. Well, sorry about that. You came out without the mother church doctrine. That's the book. That's the kind of thing we're going to run into here. And we ought to remember those things as we read a verse here or a verse there. Remember where we are and let that be our rule of interpretation.
Exposition — The Ground of Liberty (Galatians 1:1–5)
Written outline
Exposition - Galatians 1:1-5
I. Introduction:
A. The Ground of Liberty – 1:1-5
1. The Writer — “Paul” (1:1)
Written outline
1 The Writer – “Paul” – 1:1
“Paul, an apostle” - He is an Apostle, ἀπόστολος. It means one who is sent. The question in Paul's case is, “Sent by whom?”
This question anticipates the direct purpose of the Epistle - To demonstrate that Paul is a real apostle?
Does his message have the authority of the apostles in Jerusalem?
In fact, Paul stops right here to make sure that the Galatians, esp. the Judaizers, know that he is a spokesman for God.
He says parenthetically, (“not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead”),
“Not through men” –
Not through any group of men:
Not the apostles in Jerusalem or the leaders in Antioch Not through any single man:
Not Ananias who helped him in Damascus.
Not Barnabas who was responsible for bringing Paul down to teach in Antioch. (Paul will return to this topic in 1:10)
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, in the text, if you've been looking out, Where is he? Where is he? Well, I'm on chapter 1, verse 1. Now, the ground of liberty is the first part of this outline. That's the main topic here in the first five verses. And he starts off by saying, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul. Paul's the writer. That's why I say, no question who wrote it, Paul.
And he is an apostle. Now, the word apostle, apostello, means to send, or a sent one, or one who is sent. Now, sent is no problem. Paul was sent. They wouldn't argue with that. But the question they would have is, sent by whom? Who sent you? You are an apostle, in a sense. You're an apostle of this person. I'm sent by this person to tell you this. But here, by whom was he sent?
Well, this question really anticipates the purpose of the epistle. Is Paul really an apostle? That was a big thing that haunted Paul. Wherever Paul went, they said, Well, he's not an apostle. You know, what happens is, if you can't argue facts with a person, you do a little character assassination. They couldn't answer Paul's doctrine. His doctrine was laid out very beautifully. And this book is one of the most easily outlined books in the New Testament. He was that way, he would go, This and this and this, boom! That's my answer. What are you going to do with that? What they did was character assassination. They argued about who he was, he was, everything.
And so Paul says, I am an apostle. Well, the question is then, who's an apostle? Who made you an apostle and all that? And he's going to answer that later on in the book. Now, another question, does his message have the authority of the apostles of Jerusalem? The apostles of Jerusalem, they're real apostles. Is Paul an apostle? So, in fact, Paul stops right here. It's not his subject, but it's not. Paul an apostle. He stops and says, I want you to know something, that I am an apostle, and I am a spokesman for God. And look what he says in the parenthesis, 1:1. He says, parenthetically, Not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Just in case you wondered, he knew what they were talking about him. He knew what they were saying.
And so he says, Let me tell you something, that I am not an apostle of men. I didn't go through any group of men. The apostles in Jerusalem didn't do anything. He's going to say it later on. They didn't add anything to my doctrine. They just said, Okay, go. But they did not make me any apostle. I'm not an apostle of Jerusalem. I'm not apostle of the leaders of Antioch. I am no man's apostle, not through any single man. You might think, well, maybe Ananias, maybe Ananias is one who gave him the apostleship. After all, Ananias was there and the Lord said, after he got on the road to Damascus, he said, You go to Ananias, he'll tell you what to do. Well, maybe that's it. Maybe he's an apostle of Ananias. No. Not that. Barnabas, remember Barnabas went up to Tarsus and brought Paul down to Antioch and Paul taught there? Well, maybe he's the one. No, not him. No man. And so Paul is going to return to this topic in 110. We'll get to that in a couple of weeks.
2. The Readers — Churches (1:2)
Written outline
2. The Readers – Churches (plural) – 1:2
Assuming the South Galatia view, the churches are: Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch (in Pisidia)
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the readers. Who are the readers? The readers are the churches, and that's plural, to the churches, that's why I say it's a group epistle. So assuming South Galatia, which I do, then the churches would be Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, those churches. And what they would do, they would either pass it around to Rerin or they'd make copies, eventually make copies. Those are the readers, the readers of South Galatia, those four churches, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch. That's Antioch in Pisidia, not Antioch in Syria. Antioch in Syria is where Paul's home base was but this Antioch in Pisidia is over there
3. The Greeting (1:3a)
Written outline
3. The Greeting – 1:3a
This is Paul's normal greeting. However, it does not have the usual added feature of praise and thanksgiving that is found in most of the other epistles. The pastoral epistles have an added feature – Mercy, probably because pastors need mercy.
a. Grace – “Grace to you” – χάρις – Greek greeting.
We think of salvation when we hear the grace, especially when Paul is fighting such a battle against the Judaizers. But, grace in the context of this greeting is not at all for salvation, but the unmerited favor of God which is sufficient to sustain us in living the Christian life which is honorable to God.
b. Peace – “and peace” – Jewish greeting
εἰρήνη – שָׁלוֹם לָכֶם - Shalom, peace.
This refers to a positive wholeness or wellness that a man enjoys when he is right with God, positionally and experientially. Only a believer can have that kind of peace. And, only a believer, living under grace can be an instrument of Divine grace. The Judaizers, though they may have been believers, were not living under grace. Worse than that, they were trying to bring others out from under the grace of God for daily living into the bondage of the Law. This greeting is one strike against that now the greeting in the text, verse 2 and Paul's normal greeting grace and peace and so forth but he doesn't have the praise and thanksgiving I mentioned that before he had a lot to thank the Philippians but not about Galatians the pastoral epistles are different you know The pastoral epistles he says grace, mercy, and what? Grace and peace and mercy. That's because the pastors need mercy. Those three pastoral epistles have the word mercy added to it.
Now, here he says, grace to you. It's a grace greeting. This is from the Greek. This is a Greek way of speaking. So he speaks to the Greeks, grace to you. We see grace, we think, at least, I think, salvation, grace, salvation. Well, that's good, nothing wrong with that, but that's not what he's saying here. He's saying, in the context, it's not all about salvation, but it's about unmerited favor of God sufficient to sustain us in living the Christian life which is honorable to God. That's it. That's the grace he's talking about. Grace to you. to be able to serve the Lord, to live the kind of life that commends yourself and your message to other people.
And then peace. You know peace, you know shalom. Shalom lekom. Shalom means peace. And it refers to a positive wholeness and wellness. It's the same kind of positive wellness and wholeness that a man enjoys when he's in a right relationship with God, positionally and experientially. And only a believer can have that. You know, you can't have the peace of God until you get peace with God. So only a believer can have that. And only a believer living under grace can be an instrument of divine grace. Unless you are a believer, you don't have a chance on grace or peace. If you're a believer, and then you are living that grace kind of life, then you are able to give this grace and peace blessing. Of course, the Judaizers didn't have a chance because they weren't living under grace. I think, perhaps, some of these Judaizers, even though they were teaching a false doctrine, were believers. They may well be, I don't know. But if they believed on Jesus, they had what? eternal life. And so if they get off into some heresy of doctrine, well, that's between them and the Lord. But I'm not saying they aren't believers. What I'm saying is, if they're not living under the grace element, they cannot give a greeting of grace to anyone.
Remember our goal in life: Let us hold fast to grace that we may serve God acceptably. We can't do it, otherwise. And you can't give a greeting of grace apart from that.
4. The Source of the Greeting (1:3b)
Written outline
4. The source of the Greeting – 1:3b
“from God {our} Father and {our} Lord Jesus Christ,”
Where the word “our” should go is a question, but it makes little, if any, difference. God is our Father and Jesus is our Lord Jesus Christ. [See the next verse]. It is interesting to note that God is not only the Father of Jesus- He is also the Father of us.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the source of this grace greeting is from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you're looking at your Bible, which most of you aren't, you might see in the King James, King James 2, there's that hour. It's either our Father or our Lord Jesus Christ, one or the other. It doesn't really matter. God is called our Father in any case. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ, I have no problem with that. It's just somebody made a mistake and put it in there.
All right, so the word our then should go either one, doesn't matter. It's interesting to me to note that God is not only the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He is my Father. It's easy to say, well, Jesus is my stay. I love Jesus. I'm with Jesus. He's with me. Holy Spirit indwells me. But the Father is also my Father, and He's just as interested in me as Jesus or the Holy Spirit in my life here. So He's our Father. We speak, you know, the Lord's Prayer was given to the disciples. Our Father. So Jesus didn't say, My Father, Our Father. So He's talking to the believers.
5. The Basis for the Greeting — His Sacrifice (1:4a)
Written outline
5. The basis for the Greeting – His sacrifice – 1:4a
In keeping with the grace principle, Paul describes Jesus as the One, “who gave Himself up for our sins,”
He took care of the sin problem that separated us from the Father and made salvation possible. The active verb “gave” shows that the death was voluntary. The reflexive pronoun “Himself” shows that His surrender to the Father's will was personal and total.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the basis of the reading here is the sacrifice of Christ. Grace and peace come to you only through the sacrifice of Christ. This is in keeping with the grace principle that Paul describes Jesus as the one who gave Himself for us, gave Himself for our sins. Now, He took care of the sin problem then. On the cross, the sacrifice took care of the sin problem. Then that made our salvation possible. Now, again, he died for our sins. All of our sins, past, present, future, all of our sins were paid for on the cross. There's no sin that has to be paid for since then. So when I believed, I get the entire forgiveness of my sins. past, present, and future, I won't face my sin anywhere down the road while sin is taken care of. The question is not the sin question now, the question is the son question. Do you believe on Jesus? It's a son. What have you done with Jesus? That's it.
His sacrifice took care of our sin, he says. I noticed two things here. There's an active verb, He gave Himself. he gave himself this shows that it was a voluntary death remember he said I lay down my life no one takes my life from me I lay down myself so he gave himself and then there's a reflexive pronoun here himself shows that his surrender to the father's will was personal and total he gave himself himself this whole person everything that He was, not just okay I'll die, this body, I don't need it anyway, I'll come back up there later. No, it's not that. He gave Himself the whole, whole person for the sin of mankind.
6. The Purpose of That Sacrifice (1:4b)
Written outline
6. The purpose of that sacrifice – 1:4b
“that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”
The salvation was not just a ticket to heaven. It is that. We will be delivered from this evil age when He returns and judges the world and delivers His people. There is also the deliverance from the evil in this life. In Jesus' high priestly prayer (John 17: 15-17) He prayed,
“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
As he often does, Paul breaks into a doxology of praise because of the wonderful truth he has just written, “to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen”
That is our destiny, ascribing glory to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not be alone. We will be joined by all the ones in heaven, in the earth, and under the earth. The confession we make will involve the words, “Lord Jesus Christ” - Philippians 2:8-11
But Galatians 1:5 says it will be to the Glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:11 says:
“and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, …to the glory of God the Father.”
There is no jealousy in the Godhead. The Father will rejoice in the worship of His Son.
Paul will come back to this theme of oneness for the church in Chapter 6.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And then, the purpose of that sacrifice then is that He might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. No, see that's salvation. is not just a ticket to heaven. But it is that. It's that. It's not just that, but it is that. You know, people really bother me at times when they say, Oh, you think that if you believe you have a ticket to heaven. Yes, I do. That's what the Bible teaches. It's that. But it's not just that. That's the key. We'll be delivered from this evil age totally when the Lord comes back and puts down all evil and sin and delivers His people. That's the end product. But there's also, there's a deliverance from this evil age in this life. That's what He's talking about here. Sanctification, deliverance from the evil that's there. And so He gave Himself up for us to deliver us from this present evil age now and in the future.
In Jesus' high priestly prayer, in John 17, he prayed this, I do not pray that you should take them out of this world. These are believers. These are my ones, believing ones. I don't ask that you take them out of this world. That would be so much easier, wouldn't it? Great, as soon as you get saved, go on. I think you'll get more people saved that way, all kinds of strange things. But he's saying, I don't ask you to take them out of this world, but then you should keep them from the evil one. Not just the evil, as some versions, but keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. That's it. He took all our sin away, and eventually we're going to be taken out of this evil world, but while we're here, We're supposed to be separated from it. And that's what he died for us to do. And his death made it possible.
Now, as Paul often does, he breaks out into a doxology. You know, if Paul were preaching here, he'd probably have a couple of doxologies right here. Start singing. I love some I see on TV sometimes some of these preachers and they're preaching and they're really going at it and they stop and start singing that's it that's what Paul's doing a great doxology here he says to whom be glory forever and ever amen yeah that's a wonderful doxology glory to God now that's our destiny ascribing glory to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ we won't be alone either not just us we're going to ascribe glory to God to the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ remember that's what Philippians 2 says it says that we'll be joined by all those in heaven all those in the earth all those under the earth everybody is going to say Lord Jesus Christ and then Galatians 1:5 says All of this will be to the glory of the Father. In 2 Thessalonians 1, he says, That will be to the glory of God the Father. We'll all say, 'Lord Jesus Christ, glory to God, that every tongue should confess, Lord Jesus Christ, wow, to the glory of God the Father.
You'll notice there's no jealousy in the Godhead. The Son comes, He gives His life and points everybody to the Father and He says, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and He's going to help you while I'm gone. All working together in the Godhead. And then the Father then rejoices when we worship the Son. And the Son rejoices and says, All glory should go to the Father. And the Holy Spirit says, Amen. That's what he's working toward. He's pointing men to Jesus. That's what his job is. So what I'm saying to you is that it's one thing to say we want to glorify God. It's another thing to say, oh, I like the way you glorify God. I like the way you're doing your job. I like the way we're all together in concert glorifying God by our lives, by our work, by everything that we do.
Now, we previewed the Epistle to the Galatians. And Paul's going to seek to prove his gospel, faith alone in Christ alone, not only for salvation, but also for sanctification. That's his point. That's what he's going to do. Read it over. If you have a study Bible, it'll probably have an outline there, shows how the reasons Paul gives to show that sanctification is by grace alone.
Both source documents are merged in full below: the written outline (Sellers) and the spoken teaching transcript. Nothing has been trimmed, condensed, or silently corrected. Where something reads as an error, a slip of the tongue, or a call the requester may want to make personally, it is left exactly as delivered and set in bold, underlined text for review.
Background
Written outline (title)
Galatians Introduction
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Galatians is a very interesting book, and we're going to look at the introduction first so we'll know something about it. Remember that we're just in the book of Acts, and this book is tied up with the book of Acts very closely. Paul was in Antioch; he went on his first missionary journey — I'm going to cover some of this a little later — but he went on his first missionary journey, then he came back, went down to Jerusalem, the famine visit, chapter 11, and then from there came back to Antioch, and apparently there is where he wrote the book of Galatians. And then later on went down to Jerusalem again for the conference that really settled the situation in Galatians, the whole problem, and even wrote a letter to the churches saying, this is what we decided. So all of that is background for the book of Galatians.
I. The Writer — Paul
Written outline
I. Writer – Paul
A. Writer calls himself Paul: 1:1; 5:2
B. Historical references can be harmonized with Acts. We will see them as we proceed.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, Paul is the writer. There's no question about that. Sometimes you say, well, did Paul write that, especially the pastorals? Paul didn't write them. They were written in 2 A.D., 200 A.D., no. Anyway, no problem with Galatians. The writer calls himself Paul in 1:1 and in 5:2. So it was the apostle Paul. And the historical evidence there can be harmonized with the book of Acts. And we'll see that as we go along.
II. The Recipients
Written outline
II. Recipients – (see map of territory)
A. North Galatia
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the recipients It just says Galatia. Now, is it talking about the northern Galatia? You see up at the top there, there, or down the lower part of Aisa Minor. And it makes a difference because if Paul was running to the Galatians in the northern part, then he didn't go there until the second missionary journey. And that means he could not have written the Galatian epistle until later on, as far as 53-54. So that makes a difference.
B. South Galatia – to the cities of the first journey
Written outline
There are many reasons for choosing South Galatia. The main reason is that there is no mention of the Jerusalem Council. Since the problem in Galatians is the problem that was settled at the Jerusalem council, {i.e. Gentiles do not have to keep the Law for salvation or sanctification.} you would expect Paul to use that information to prove his case. Since he did not do so, we may assume that Galatians was written before the council convened. End of discussion.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
My understanding is that he wrote to the churches in South Galatia, the churches that he visited on the first missionary journey. The main reason for that is that the problem in Galatia was what do the Gentiles have to do? Is salvation by grace through faith only salvation or is it also Christian living? And the Judaizers were hounding Paul's steps all the time and after Paul left they had a heyday. Oh, no, you have to do this and this and this. You have to keep the law. If you don't keep the law, then you're not saved. So Paul had to write back to them about that. So it's that issue that Paul was trying to settle with them.
It seemed to me if the council of Jerusalem which happened between the first and second missionary journey. If that council had been already done, Paul would just say, here, I'm going to send you a letter. Here's the letter that James wrote about this issue. And the issue was settled. You don't have to do any works. You don't have to keep the law. That's what I'm saying. So that settles it for me. No mention of the Jerusalem council. So I think that Paul is writing to that South Galatian people where he had been before. With me, that ends the discussion.
Though, when I teach this on an academic level, I have two or three pages of notes that talk about what the Galatian people, what back and forth. But to me, that's it. If you want more, I have more there in our course on Romans and Galatians. Again, borrow the DVD, take a look at it.
III. Date of Writing — A.D. 48
Written outline
III. Date of Writing – AD 48
A. The famine visit
A. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to carry monetary help during the Jewish famine. Acts 11:29-30
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the date of writing, that means then that the date would be A.D. 48. This would be Paul's first epistle. Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to carry some monetary help. He went down to Jerusalem to take money for the famine that was there. That visit is spoken of also in Galatians 2:1-10.
B. Return to Antioch
B. They returned to Antioch from the 1st Missionary journey.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
So then they returned to Antioch from the first missionary journey.
C. Reports reach Paul
C. Reports of the Judaizers in Galatia reach Paul.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And then the reports of the Judaizers in Galatia reached Paul. They said, Look, these people are really ravaging the churches.
D. Paul writes
D. Paul writes The Epistle to the Galatians – AD 48
Spoken teaching (transcript)
So Paul writes then the book of Galatia to the Galatians AD 48 and the Jerusalem Council convened after that.
E. The Jerusalem Council convenes
E. The Jerusalem council convenes, Acts 15 – AD 49/50
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And that may have been the reason for it. Paul wrote this thing and we've got to get this thing settled. You may not have noticed, but James was on the other side of this issue with Paul prior to the Jerusalem Council. He was convinced and he later wrote the letter and said, No, the Gentiles do not have to keep the law. So that Jerusalem Council in A.D. 49 or 50 and Acts 15, that settled the issue.
IV. Place of Writing — Antioch in Syria
Written outline
IV. Place of writing – Antioch in Syria
Spoken teaching (transcript)
So the place of writing then would be Antioch, Antioch in Syria, where Paul was working for probably many years, three or four years, prior to going on his first missionary journey. So when he came back there to his home church, that's when he wrote that letter.
V. Characteristics of Galatians
Written outline
V. Characteristics of Galatians –
A. Contrasts in feelings
A. Contrasts in feelings – love for the Christians – hate for the Judaizers.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, some characteristics of this letter, there's a contrast of feelings. Paul was a very feisty guy. He had a great love for the Christians. That guy, he really loved those believers there in Galatia. He had spent a lot of time there. He had been probably killed. in Lystra, remember, and they took him out and left him for dead. Luke, the doctor, says, Yeah, he was dead. Well, we assume then he spent a lot of time working and being beaten and he has a love for these people. They're his children born out of his tribulation.
In fact, he hates the Judaizers just as much as he loves the Christians. He says a little later on, and we'll see it, that remember they wanted the Christians to be circumcised and he says and this is I'm sorry this is what it says I wish they were cut off put your own understanding on that one but that's what he was saying he was very firm with that they want to start cutting I wish they were cut off you know that's all he hated the Judaizers a godly hate for such a thing
B. The only group epistle
B. Except for Ephesians, it is the only group epistle.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
But then in except of Ephesians This is the only group epistle. When you see the early manuscripts, it's just to the blank. It doesn't say Ephesians. Ephesians got it, and the name stuck, I guess. But they went around the cycle there in Asia Minor. This is also a group to at least the four churches in South Galatia.
C. No thanksgiving in the salutation
C. It is the only Pauline Epistle that omits “thanksgiving in the salutation.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Also, this book does not have anything about thanksgiving. I'll talk a little bit more about that later, but no Thanksgiving. Remember what Paul said in the Philippians? I thank my God upon every remembrance of you. No Thanksgiving here. The problem is there, and they were, they're being led astray by these things. They're following these false teachers. And so Paul has nothing to be thankful for there.
D. The most autobiographical epistles
D. Galatians and II Corinthians are the most autobiographical of Paul's Epistles.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And then Galatians and 2 Corinthians are Paul's most autobiographical epistles. You can learn more about Paul's personal doings and goings and comings by these two epistles.
E. Parallel with Romans
E. Galatians is similar to Romans. They both teach about justification by faith: Romans tells what it is; Galatians tells what it is not.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And then Galatians is like Romans. They both talk about the justification by faith. I don't think that's the total topic of Romans, but it's there. Justification by faith. But Romans tells what it is. This is what justification by faith is. Galatians says this is what justification is not this is the false way Romans has the positive side
F. A unique ending
F. It has a unique ending – large letters or large epistle?
Spoken teaching (transcript)
and then it has a unique ending we'll get there down the road at the end he says talks about large letter large letters actually was he talking about large letters this is a huge epistle no it's only about six chapters one of the smaller ones well maybe he's talking about he wrote in large letters And I think we'll see that because of his eyesight. He wrote in larger letters when he signed his name, when he put his final thing on it, somebody else wrote the **** while from his dictation. All right, so that's the characteristics of it.
VI. The Judaizers
Written outline
VI. The Judaizers
A. Their message
A. Their Message
1. In the Gospels – Salvation is by the Law. Circumcision is necessary for salvation.
2. Epistles – Sanctification is by the Law. Keeping the Law is necessary for Sanctification.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the Judaizers, who were the Judaizers? Well, their name, that's what they look like. That's exactly what they look like, I'm sure of it. See that? We're right, you're wrong. That's it right there. So their message was, in the Gospels, salvation is by the law. That's what they call it. Salvation is by the law. And circumcision is necessary for salvation. The Gospels had that kind of a thrust. Then in the Epistles, the thrust is more sanctification is by the law. Keeping the law is necessary to please God and to live a holy life. Now, that's their message.
B. Their appeal
B. Their Appeal
1. They had Scriptures on their side.
2. Natural sympathetic appeal, Jew to Jew.
3. Their message appealed to man's religiosity.
4. They came from the “Mother church” Jerusalem. Paul came from Antioch, a Gentile church
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, their appeal, imagine this, their appeal is they had the Scriptures on their side. If you were living in that time and you wanted to prove something, you wanted to prove that salvation is by grace through faith, where would you go? Well, not much in the Old Testament, some, but not a lot. Well, let's go to the New Testament. Well, good luck with that one. We have two books written by this time, James and maybe Matthew. I'm a priority of Matthew man. Some people see Mark as priority. I think Matthew's priority. In any case, one of the Gospels, one other book, James. And James has a little problem. He's not wrong. He just says it in a way that is a problem. We've already discussed that.
All right, the scriptures were on their side. They would just say, oh, look, it says here you have to be circumcised. You have to keep the law, bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, all that. So they had the Scriptures on their side. And then there was a natural sympathy, Jew to Jew. These were Jewish people. They had a good appeal. Hey, look, now we're both Jews here. Here, look at the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. I'm reading to you out of the law. Don't you believe the law? Well, that's pretty convincing, I think.
And then their message appealed to one thing that it appeals to today. Man's religiosity. Man wants to do something. People, you're going to see them laughing and say, What? Do you mean to tell me all you have to do is believe? That's impossible. Everybody knows you have to work, work, work, you know, because man wants to work. That's the religious part of man. I want to do things so that I can go to heaven. Not true. That appeals to man, and it appeals to people today. Give them something to do. Give them rituals to follow. I give them all kinds of things that they have to do in order to either keep their salvation or get their salvation or please God, whatever. Give me some rules. I like rules. Well, sorry, no rules there. By grace, through faith, in our living as well.
And then these people also came from the mother church, Jerusalem. Well, where does Paul come from? Well, Paul's from that church in Antioch. That's a Gentile church. What do they know about the law? We're from Jerusalem. And I think that John, when he says, they went out from us because they were not of us. If they'd been of us, they would stay with us. To show that they were not of us, they went out. I think that that's what he's talking about, Judaizers, when he said that. So they say, oh, we're from the mother church. Well, sorry about that. You came out without the mother church doctrine. That's the book. That's the kind of thing we're going to run into here. And we ought to remember those things as we read a verse here or a verse there. Remember where we are and let that be our rule of interpretation.
Exposition — The Ground of Liberty (Galatians 1:1–5)
Written outline
Exposition - Galatians 1:1-5
I. Introduction:
A. The Ground of Liberty – 1:1-5
1. The Writer — “Paul” (1:1)
Written outline
1 The Writer – “Paul” – 1:1
“Paul, an apostle” - He is an Apostle, ἀπόστολος. It means one who is sent. The question in Paul's case is, “Sent by whom?”
This question anticipates the direct purpose of the Epistle - To demonstrate that Paul is a real apostle?
Does his message have the authority of the apostles in Jerusalem?
In fact, Paul stops right here to make sure that the Galatians, esp. the Judaizers, know that he is a spokesman for God.
He says parenthetically, (“not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead”),
“Not through men” –
Not through any group of men:
Not the apostles in Jerusalem or the leaders in Antioch Not through any single man:
Not Ananias who helped him in Damascus.
Not Barnabas who was responsible for bringing Paul down to teach in Antioch. (Paul will return to this topic in 1:10)
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, in the text, if you've been looking out, Where is he? Where is he? Well, I'm on chapter 1, verse 1. Now, the ground of liberty is the first part of this outline. That's the main topic here in the first five verses. And he starts off by saying, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ. Paul. Paul's the writer. That's why I say, no question who wrote it, Paul.
And he is an apostle. Now, the word apostle, apostello, means to send, or a sent one, or one who is sent. Now, sent is no problem. Paul was sent. They wouldn't argue with that. But the question they would have is, sent by whom? Who sent you? You are an apostle, in a sense. You're an apostle of this person. I'm sent by this person to tell you this. But here, by whom was he sent?
Well, this question really anticipates the purpose of the epistle. Is Paul really an apostle? That was a big thing that haunted Paul. Wherever Paul went, they said, Well, he's not an apostle. You know, what happens is, if you can't argue facts with a person, you do a little character assassination. They couldn't answer Paul's doctrine. His doctrine was laid out very beautifully. And this book is one of the most easily outlined books in the New Testament. He was that way, he would go, This and this and this, boom! That's my answer. What are you going to do with that? What they did was character assassination. They argued about who he was, he was, everything.
And so Paul says, I am an apostle. Well, the question is then, who's an apostle? Who made you an apostle and all that? And he's going to answer that later on in the book. Now, another question, does his message have the authority of the apostles of Jerusalem? The apostles of Jerusalem, they're real apostles. Is Paul an apostle? So, in fact, Paul stops right here. It's not his subject, but it's not. Paul an apostle. He stops and says, I want you to know something, that I am an apostle, and I am a spokesman for God. And look what he says in the parenthesis, 1:1. He says, parenthetically, Not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. Just in case you wondered, he knew what they were talking about him. He knew what they were saying.
And so he says, Let me tell you something, that I am not an apostle of men. I didn't go through any group of men. The apostles in Jerusalem didn't do anything. He's going to say it later on. They didn't add anything to my doctrine. They just said, Okay, go. But they did not make me any apostle. I'm not an apostle of Jerusalem. I'm not apostle of the leaders of Antioch. I am no man's apostle, not through any single man. You might think, well, maybe Ananias, maybe Ananias is one who gave him the apostleship. After all, Ananias was there and the Lord said, after he got on the road to Damascus, he said, You go to Ananias, he'll tell you what to do. Well, maybe that's it. Maybe he's an apostle of Ananias. No. Not that. Barnabas, remember Barnabas went up to Tarsus and brought Paul down to Antioch and Paul taught there? Well, maybe he's the one. No, not him. No man. And so Paul is going to return to this topic in 110. We'll get to that in a couple of weeks.
2. The Readers — Churches (1:2)
Written outline
2. The Readers – Churches (plural) – 1:2
Assuming the South Galatia view, the churches are: Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch (in Pisidia)
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the readers. Who are the readers? The readers are the churches, and that's plural, to the churches, that's why I say it's a group epistle. So assuming South Galatia, which I do, then the churches would be Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch, those churches. And what they would do, they would either pass it around to Rerin or they'd make copies, eventually make copies. Those are the readers, the readers of South Galatia, those four churches, Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Antioch. That's Antioch in Pisidia, not Antioch in Syria. Antioch in Syria is where Paul's home base was but this Antioch in Pisidia is over there
3. The Greeting (1:3a)
Written outline
3. The Greeting – 1:3a
This is Paul's normal greeting. However, it does not have the usual added feature of praise and thanksgiving that is found in most of the other epistles. The pastoral epistles have an added feature – Mercy, probably because pastors need mercy.
a. Grace – “Grace to you” – χάρις – Greek greeting.
We think of salvation when we hear the grace, especially when Paul is fighting such a battle against the Judaizers. But, grace in the context of this greeting is not at all for salvation, but the unmerited favor of God which is sufficient to sustain us in living the Christian life which is honorable to God.
b. Peace – “and peace” – Jewish greeting
εἰρήνη – שָׁלוֹם לָכֶם - Shalom, peace.
This refers to a positive wholeness or wellness that a man enjoys when he is right with God, positionally and experientially. Only a believer can have that kind of peace. And, only a believer, living under grace can be an instrument of Divine grace. The Judaizers, though they may have been believers, were not living under grace. Worse than that, they were trying to bring others out from under the grace of God for daily living into the bondage of the Law. This greeting is one strike against that now the greeting in the text, verse 2 and Paul's normal greeting grace and peace and so forth but he doesn't have the praise and thanksgiving I mentioned that before he had a lot to thank the Philippians but not about Galatians the pastoral epistles are different you know The pastoral epistles he says grace, mercy, and what? Grace and peace and mercy. That's because the pastors need mercy. Those three pastoral epistles have the word mercy added to it.
Now, here he says, grace to you. It's a grace greeting. This is from the Greek. This is a Greek way of speaking. So he speaks to the Greeks, grace to you. We see grace, we think, at least, I think, salvation, grace, salvation. Well, that's good, nothing wrong with that, but that's not what he's saying here. He's saying, in the context, it's not all about salvation, but it's about unmerited favor of God sufficient to sustain us in living the Christian life which is honorable to God. That's it. That's the grace he's talking about. Grace to you. to be able to serve the Lord, to live the kind of life that commends yourself and your message to other people.
And then peace. You know peace, you know shalom. Shalom lekom. Shalom means peace. And it refers to a positive wholeness and wellness. It's the same kind of positive wellness and wholeness that a man enjoys when he's in a right relationship with God, positionally and experientially. And only a believer can have that. You know, you can't have the peace of God until you get peace with God. So only a believer can have that. And only a believer living under grace can be an instrument of divine grace. Unless you are a believer, you don't have a chance on grace or peace. If you're a believer, and then you are living that grace kind of life, then you are able to give this grace and peace blessing. Of course, the Judaizers didn't have a chance because they weren't living under grace. I think, perhaps, some of these Judaizers, even though they were teaching a false doctrine, were believers. They may well be, I don't know. But if they believed on Jesus, they had what? eternal life. And so if they get off into some heresy of doctrine, well, that's between them and the Lord. But I'm not saying they aren't believers. What I'm saying is, if they're not living under the grace element, they cannot give a greeting of grace to anyone.
Remember our goal in life: Let us hold fast to grace that we may serve God acceptably. We can't do it, otherwise. And you can't give a greeting of grace apart from that.
4. The Source of the Greeting (1:3b)
Written outline
4. The source of the Greeting – 1:3b
“from God {our} Father and {our} Lord Jesus Christ,”
Where the word “our” should go is a question, but it makes little, if any, difference. God is our Father and Jesus is our Lord Jesus Christ. [See the next verse]. It is interesting to note that God is not only the Father of Jesus- He is also the Father of us.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the source of this grace greeting is from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you're looking at your Bible, which most of you aren't, you might see in the King James, King James 2, there's that hour. It's either our Father or our Lord Jesus Christ, one or the other. It doesn't really matter. God is called our Father in any case. And of course, the Lord Jesus Christ, I have no problem with that. It's just somebody made a mistake and put it in there.
All right, so the word our then should go either one, doesn't matter. It's interesting to me to note that God is not only the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He is my Father. It's easy to say, well, Jesus is my stay. I love Jesus. I'm with Jesus. He's with me. Holy Spirit indwells me. But the Father is also my Father, and He's just as interested in me as Jesus or the Holy Spirit in my life here. So He's our Father. We speak, you know, the Lord's Prayer was given to the disciples. Our Father. So Jesus didn't say, My Father, Our Father. So He's talking to the believers.
5. The Basis for the Greeting — His Sacrifice (1:4a)
Written outline
5. The basis for the Greeting – His sacrifice – 1:4a
In keeping with the grace principle, Paul describes Jesus as the One, “who gave Himself up for our sins,”
He took care of the sin problem that separated us from the Father and made salvation possible. The active verb “gave” shows that the death was voluntary. The reflexive pronoun “Himself” shows that His surrender to the Father's will was personal and total.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
Now, the basis of the reading here is the sacrifice of Christ. Grace and peace come to you only through the sacrifice of Christ. This is in keeping with the grace principle that Paul describes Jesus as the one who gave Himself for us, gave Himself for our sins. Now, He took care of the sin problem then. On the cross, the sacrifice took care of the sin problem. Then that made our salvation possible. Now, again, he died for our sins. All of our sins, past, present, future, all of our sins were paid for on the cross. There's no sin that has to be paid for since then. So when I believed, I get the entire forgiveness of my sins. past, present, and future, I won't face my sin anywhere down the road while sin is taken care of. The question is not the sin question now, the question is the son question. Do you believe on Jesus? It's a son. What have you done with Jesus? That's it.
His sacrifice took care of our sin, he says. I noticed two things here. There's an active verb, He gave Himself. he gave himself this shows that it was a voluntary death remember he said I lay down my life no one takes my life from me I lay down myself so he gave himself and then there's a reflexive pronoun here himself shows that his surrender to the father's will was personal and total he gave himself himself this whole person everything that He was, not just okay I'll die, this body, I don't need it anyway, I'll come back up there later. No, it's not that. He gave Himself the whole, whole person for the sin of mankind.
6. The Purpose of That Sacrifice (1:4b)
Written outline
6. The purpose of that sacrifice – 1:4b
“that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,”
The salvation was not just a ticket to heaven. It is that. We will be delivered from this evil age when He returns and judges the world and delivers His people. There is also the deliverance from the evil in this life. In Jesus' high priestly prayer (John 17: 15-17) He prayed,
“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.”
As he often does, Paul breaks into a doxology of praise because of the wonderful truth he has just written, “to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen”
That is our destiny, ascribing glory to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ. We will not be alone. We will be joined by all the ones in heaven, in the earth, and under the earth. The confession we make will involve the words, “Lord Jesus Christ” - Philippians 2:8-11
But Galatians 1:5 says it will be to the Glory of God the Father.
Philippians 2:11 says:
“and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, …to the glory of God the Father.”
There is no jealousy in the Godhead. The Father will rejoice in the worship of His Son.
Paul will come back to this theme of oneness for the church in Chapter 6.
Spoken teaching (transcript)
And then, the purpose of that sacrifice then is that He might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father. No, see that's salvation. is not just a ticket to heaven. But it is that. It's that. It's not just that, but it is that. You know, people really bother me at times when they say, Oh, you think that if you believe you have a ticket to heaven. Yes, I do. That's what the Bible teaches. It's that. But it's not just that. That's the key. We'll be delivered from this evil age totally when the Lord comes back and puts down all evil and sin and delivers His people. That's the end product. But there's also, there's a deliverance from this evil age in this life. That's what He's talking about here. Sanctification, deliverance from the evil that's there. And so He gave Himself up for us to deliver us from this present evil age now and in the future.
In Jesus' high priestly prayer, in John 17, he prayed this, I do not pray that you should take them out of this world. These are believers. These are my ones, believing ones. I don't ask that you take them out of this world. That would be so much easier, wouldn't it? Great, as soon as you get saved, go on. I think you'll get more people saved that way, all kinds of strange things. But he's saying, I don't ask you to take them out of this world, but then you should keep them from the evil one. Not just the evil, as some versions, but keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. That's it. He took all our sin away, and eventually we're going to be taken out of this evil world, but while we're here, We're supposed to be separated from it. And that's what he died for us to do. And his death made it possible.
Now, as Paul often does, he breaks out into a doxology. You know, if Paul were preaching here, he'd probably have a couple of doxologies right here. Start singing. I love some I see on TV sometimes some of these preachers and they're preaching and they're really going at it and they stop and start singing that's it that's what Paul's doing a great doxology here he says to whom be glory forever and ever amen yeah that's a wonderful doxology glory to God now that's our destiny ascribing glory to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ we won't be alone either not just us we're going to ascribe glory to God to the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ remember that's what Philippians 2 says it says that we'll be joined by all those in heaven all those in the earth all those under the earth everybody is going to say Lord Jesus Christ and then Galatians 1:5 says All of this will be to the glory of the Father. In 2 Thessalonians 1, he says, That will be to the glory of God the Father. We'll all say, 'Lord Jesus Christ, glory to God, that every tongue should confess, Lord Jesus Christ, wow, to the glory of God the Father.
You'll notice there's no jealousy in the Godhead. The Son comes, He gives His life and points everybody to the Father and He says, I'm going to send the Holy Spirit and He's going to help you while I'm gone. All working together in the Godhead. And then the Father then rejoices when we worship the Son. And the Son rejoices and says, All glory should go to the Father. And the Holy Spirit says, Amen. That's what he's working toward. He's pointing men to Jesus. That's what his job is. So what I'm saying to you is that it's one thing to say we want to glorify God. It's another thing to say, oh, I like the way you glorify God. I like the way you're doing your job. I like the way we're all together in concert glorifying God by our lives, by our work, by everything that we do.
Now, we previewed the Epistle to the Galatians. And Paul's going to seek to prove his gospel, faith alone in Christ alone, not only for salvation, but also for sanctification. That's his point. That's what he's going to do. Read it over. If you have a study Bible, it'll probably have an outline there, shows how the reasons Paul gives to show that sanctification is by grace alone.