“The Cross, God’s path to new life”
Review Outline for Paul’s letter to the Galatians
I. Paul Possessed the Correct Divine Credentials 1:6-2:21
A. Reacted to such a quick departure from the gospel of grace vs 6-7
B. Condemned anyone distorting the gospel of grace vs 8-9
C. Affirmed his personal commitment to the gospel of grace vs 10
D. Confirmed the divine origin of the gospel of Grace 1:11-2:21
1. Adamant assertion “Gospel received from Christ 11-12
2. Life Before Christ 13-14
3. Initial experience with Christ 15-17
4. Discipleship and Training
a. Three years in Arabia & Damascus 1:17
b. Trip to Jerusalem (15 days) 1:18-20
c. Fourteen years in Syria and Cilicia 1:21-24
d. Return to Jerusalem 2:1-10
e. Encounter with Peter 2:11-14
II. Paul Proclaimed the Correct Concept of the Gospel of Grace 2:15-4:31
A. The Gospel of Grace Introduced 2:15-21
1. Stated emphatically 15-16
nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified. Galatians 2:16
2. Argued Strongly 17-20
3. Held strenuously 21
"I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." Galatians 2:21
B. The Gospel of Grace argued and illustrated 3:1-6
1. Faith argued by clarifying interrogation 3:1-6
2. Genuine faith illustrated by Abraham 3:7-29
a. God blessed Abraham on the basis of faith 3:7-9
b. The Law condemns all who don’t fully keep it 3:10-12
c. Christ was cursed so we could be blessed 3:13-14
d. The promised blessing is unconditional and eternal 3:15-18
e. God gave the law for a specific purpose 3:19-20
f. The law is good but limited 3:21-24
g. We, like Abraham, are blessed by faith in Christ 3:25-29
1). We are no longer under law now that faith has come
2). We are sons of God through faith in Christ
3). We bear the likeness of Christ through identification with Him.
4). We are united with Christ
5). We are heirs according to God’s promise
4. New life Illustrated through Sonship 4:1-20
a. Slavery verses sonship 4:1-11
b. Passionate personal appeal to truth 4:12-21
c. Children of the flesh verse children of the promise 4:22-31
C. The Gospel of Grace applied 5:1-12
1. We were freed to live in freedom 5:1
2. Trusting law keeping keeps you from Christ 5:2-4
3. The true Christian live by faith 5:5-6
4. God will judge the false teachers 5:7-12
III. Paul presented the Correct conduct of life in Christ 5:13-6:10
A. The Spirit walk serves not swallows one another 5:13-15
B. The Spirit walk lives by submission to the spirit not the flesh 16-26
C. The Spirit walk Restores the fallen 6:1
D. The spirit walk bears the weak 6:2-5
E. The Spirit walk sows to the spirit by sacrificial sharing 6:6-10
1. A principle to guide
2. A promise to grip
3. A practice to observe
a. Share all good with those who teach
b. Do good to ALL men
Sowing to the spirit can be as practical as faithfully giving to ministers and ministries
Sowing to the spirit can be as practical as faithfully doing good to all men. A life of sowing to the flesh can be as practical as spending the bulk of your God-given resources for personal gain and comfort. Those who walk by the energy of the spirit focus on giving there personal resources whether it be your time or money, or physical presence to benefit others.
Conclusion to the Letter to Galatian church
Paul finishes his letter to the Galatians with some final potent words about the problems they were encountering with the legalists. He formally addressed the problem earlier in his letter. Now he finishes with some final words which really identify the core of the whole issue. Do you struggle with guilt and continual attempts to find your acceptance with God through the keeping of certain rules and regulations? We know from this letter and many other places that by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified before God. We are justified by grace through faith apart from law keeping. Because of the nature of the fallen condition, everyone comes under the condemnation of the law. The law emphatically declares that the soul that sins dies. What does this all mean in practical terms? This means that everyone is under a sentence of death. Can I make up for lost time by keeping the law now?
No, there is only one way to get out from under the condemnation of the Law. Jesus Christ became a curse for us. We must identify with Him. Only His death and resurrection can rescue a condemned prisoner of sin living on death row. He came to take our place. All of the sin and guilt of every offense against a Holy God fell on Him.
Isaiah 53 most powerfully spells it out for us.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Both salvation and sanctification are all grace. To ascribe merit to the work of sinful man in any discussion of the completed work of the righteous Christ is like adding arsenic to a luscious piece of apple pie. It completely pollutes the pie. Even though the amount of poison is minimal compared to the piece of pie, the whole pie becomes poison.
Listen to these verses.
Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Romans 3:19-20
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. Romans 3:28
"I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." Galatians 2:21
Why the Law then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the seed should come to whom the promise had been made. Galatians 3:19
For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4
Colossians clearly states that submission to laws and decrees have no value against fleshly indulgence. The answer is clinging to Christ. If you focus on cultivating relationship with Christ the rest will naturally follow. The issues is your focus. Trying to keep laws in order to be accepted. Cultivating relationship with Christ based on an acceptance already granted by his work on the cross. The issue is not law keeping but love cultivating. The law is not eliminated but enabled through the work of Christ. Before, the law cold only stand between restored relationship. The law imposes a penalty on all those who violate it.
until the penalty is paid, relationship with the law giver is blocked. Jesus came in order to remove the law as a barrier to relationship. Now the issue becomes cultivation of relationship with the law giver. How do we do that? The law is the expression of the very character of God. Part of my character is to be civil to other people. House rule not to put people down or call names. That “law reflects my values.
God’s laws reflect His values. So, if we want to cultivate deeper relationship with Him we will pay attention to his values communicated through his laws. We don’t keep laws to escape judgment. We seek to understand God’s laws to expand relationship. The point of Paul letter is to correct the false view that one can find salvation and become spiritually mature on the level of a fleshly attempt to keep laws. Paul makes it clear that just as our salvation is by faith apart from any merit on our apart so our growth in Christ comes by faith in the completed work of Christ and the supernatural work of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Paul concludes this brief but brawny letter with several pointed sentences.
• Comments on his penmanship
• Exposes the motives of the Judaizers
• Commits to stand on the cross alone
• Centers on the truth of the new creation in Christ
• Pronounces a blessing on those who live by the cross
• Asks for relief from trouble makers
• Offers a benediction of grace
Penmanship
See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. Galatians 6:11
Two choices Large letter in regard to length. Large individual letters of the alphabet.
Most likely Paul is writing this closing part in his own handwriting. He usually used a scribe to write for him.
Judaizers
Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh. Gal 6:12-13
Here Paul exposes some of the underlying motivations of the Judaizers for their continual insistence that these Galatian Christians embrace Judaism and follow Jewish law.
1 – they are trying to look good “put on a good face” to other Jews.
2 – they hoped to avoid persecution from the strong Jews.
Two basic motivations in life.
• Desire for approval and gain.
• Fear of rejection and loss.
The fact is, says Paul, they who bore the mark of a keeper of the law did not even keep the Law themselves. They wanted to look good to other Jews by boasting about how many converts they had. So much of our life is driven by the desire to please other people. The Jewish community continually looked for the approval of men.
Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God. John 12:42-43
It is a lonely position to stand alone. Not only don’t get the accolades of men but often experience the ridicule.
Commitment
But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14
Paul had no interest in making a name for himself among men. Paul expresses here a profound commitment that he would never boast except concerning the work that Jesus Christ accomplished through his death on the cross. He found the secret of not falling prey to the temptation of fame and approval. Temptation to compare with others. Seek a sense of worth through approval and recognition among men. Paul determined in the core of his being to limit his boasting to the work of Christ. Christ’s glorious work on the cross cause all other possible achievements to fade into it light. I brought people to Christ. I taught hundreds of people. I did this. I did that.
Paul committed to boast only in what Jesus did not anything he did. He realized that without the cross there is no boasting. The cross is the central issue. It is there that we face our own sinfulness. It is there that we encounter indescribable love. Whole denominations have insisted in adding things to the work on the cross. The cross is the central issue that alone deserves boasting. Paul states God’s intention in his letter to the Corinthians.
For Christ didn't send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speeches and high-sounding ideas, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.
I know very well how foolish the message of the cross sounds to those who are on the road to destruction. But we who are being saved recognize this message as the very power of God. As the Scriptures say, "I will destroy human wisdom and discard their most brilliant ideas."
So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world's brilliant debaters? God has made them all look foolish and has shown their wisdom to be useless nonsense. Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never find him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save all who believe. God's way seems foolish to the Jews because they want a sign from heaven to prove it is true. And it is foolish to the Greeks because they believe only what agrees with their own wisdom. So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended, and the Gentiles say it's all nonsense. But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the mighty power of God and the wonderful wisdom of God. This "foolish" plan of God is far wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God's weakness is far stronger than the greatest of human strength. 1 Cor. 1:17-25
Until upon the cross I saw
My God, who died to meet the law
that I had broken; then I saw
My sin, and then my Savior.
Unknown Author
We need a perspective change concerning what is foundational and what is valuable. It is not our work that counts, it is His. It is His work that should be the focus of our values. Paul extends this commitment to a foundational principle that looks at the manward side of boasting.
New Creation
For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation. Gal 6:15
Paul declares that the external signs are not the point. It is not baptism, not circumcision, not church attendance, not activities, not adherence to laws and traditions of the church or denomination but a new life, a new creation that really matters. What really matters is that Christ has transformed a dark heart to one on which he continually writes his law.
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephes. 2:8-10
Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Cor 5:17
New life in Christ. You see, Christianity is more than trying to live better. It is more than acknowledging a few truths.
You are not a Christian because you said a few choice words.
You are not a Christian because you say so or because you parents were.
You are not a Christian because you were baptized.
You are not a Christian because you do or don’t do certain things.
You are not a Christian because you go to church and hang out with other Christians.
You are a Christian only when God makes you a Christian and transforms you by his Word.
You are a Christian only when by his gracious supernatural act you become his workmanship created in Christ Jesus on the basis of your faith in the work of Christ on the cross.
That initial work then is the basis of a lifetime of continuous poetry produced by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul affirms that it is the Holy Spirit that bears witness to our reborn spirit that we are children of God. Your entrance into eternal fellowship with God rests solely on the fact of this transformation. I wouldn’t count on some ritual. Because the only thing that matters is a new creation, a supernatural core change.
Blessing
And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. Galatians 6:16
Paul pronounces a blessing on those who understand an conduct their lives by this principle. Those who focus on the cross and the fact that they are a new creation will find peace and experience mercies new every morning.
Petition
From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus. Galatians 6:17
Paul expressed a desire to be free from the petty persecutions of the Judaizers who continually tried to deceive his converts through false teaching.
Benediction
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. Galatians 6:18
God’s enabling grace be evident in the core of their being.
Lessons from Galatians
Focus on Jesus.
Salvation comes through faith in the promise of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Growth comes through faith in the promise of God and the work of the Holy Spirit.
Walk by the power of the Spirit
Remember.
The only thing that has true value is the work of Christ on the cross.
the only thing that matters is a new creation which comes by faith in the work of Christ on the cross.
Remember the cross. Glory in the work of Christ on the cross.
The cross reminds us of our sinful self.
The cross reminds us of our sinless Savior.
