Sunday, September 22nd 2019 | Galatians 5:1-15 Paul really shifts focus now! He urges his believing children in the faith to walk away from obedience to the Law and it’s outward symbol, circumcision, as a means of justification and spiritual walk. He tells them they’ve “fallen from grace”, not meaning they are spiritually unsaved, but […]
Sunday, September 15th 2019 | Galatians 4:12-31 Up to now Paul has confronted the Galatians with powerful and provocative, reasoned arguments to pull them away from Mosaic legalism and nomism. He now drops argumentation, having fired the full logical broadside at them, and switches to entreating them, appealing to their feelings with a sense of […]
Sunday, September 8th 2019 | Galatians 3:22-4:11 Why settle for the limited existence of a child under a hard-nosed, every-watchful guardian-slave, a kind of nose-to-the grindstone whip-master, externally dictating and enforcing behavior and morals, when you’re already a free adult and an heir to a great estate? Why wear the clothing of a kid who […]
Sunday, September 1st 2019 | Galatians 3:6-22 In chapter 3 Paul forms three interlocking arguments to prove to the Galatians that the Law is incapable of justifying a sinner before a righteous God. In vv1-5 he argues from their universal spiritual experience. In v6-9 he argues from Abraham’s justification by faith alone. In the remainder […]
Sunday, August 25th 2019 | Galatians 2:20-3:5 Getting your “I” put out! By virtue of his incorporation into Christ (cf. v. 17) and so into Christ’s death, Paul’s existence in relation to the Law has been decisively severed, the Law has ceased to have any claim on him (cf. Rom. 7:4, 6). But since the […]
Sunday, August 18th, 2019 | Galatians 2:19-21 Our text today is rich, and studded with detail and precious gems. To get the most of it we need to stop the train, get off and inspect it carefully. Pay attention, for here, in compressed form, are some of the most profound truths in all of Christian […]
Sunday, August 11th 2019 | Galatians 2:15-21 Paul continues his aggressive defense of his apostleship by Christ by showing that the mother church in Jerusalem had received him as such, and by his confrontation with a back-sliding Peter! The chapter concludes with a stark and oddly beautiful word picture about Paul’s relationship to the Law […]
Sunday, August 4th 2019 | Galatians 1:10-24 In this part of the Galatian letter, launches into a defense of the gospel of God’s grace, by defending the fact that he has been given direct, divine revelation, an entire systematic corpus of knowledge and doctrine, personally, by the living and resurrected Jesus Christ. This makes him […]
Sunday, July 28th 2019 | Galatians 1:1-9 Just a few short years after Paul planted the gospel in Southern Galatia, a small band of “Judaizers” led by one particular spokesman, have swayed the newly minted Christians away from the pure saving gospel of God’s grace to a perverted gospel! This group wants these Christians to […]