Category: Galatians

Does God Have Authority in the Life of the Believer?

Using Galatians 1:1-5 as reference, the Apostle Paul gives an example of how the authority of God’s calling on our life should be protected and expressed.

 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.  (Galatians 1:1-5 ESV)

From a position of defending his call, the Apostle Paul gets right down to business and begins defending himself in the epistles salutation. He had a lot of ground to cover, and truth be known, so do men that are called of God into the ministry. A person that does not have the call of God to minster the Gospel, would never understand.

Paul declared to those looking to destroy his witness, that his calling and commission as an Apostle came from God and God alone; “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) (Galatians 1:1). His apostleship was not voted on by other apostles as was the case with Matthias, but his came from his Damascus Road experience, where Jesus personally called Paul, just as he had called Peter, Andrew, James, John and the others. The only difference was Paul’s calling came from the resurrected Christ.

My personal calling into the ministry, was established and commissioned by God and Him alone. It was His prompting that I heard, not the voice of man. He hand was moving on my life and I made the decision to follow Jesus as a minister. My calling was just as true and sure as the Apostle Paul’s.

Just being around the Apostle Paul convinced believers, that the he was God’s man. The change in Paul was the greatest argument for his calling. Everywhere Paul went, there was no question that the man, who previously was charged by the Jewish leaders to bring Jewish converts of Christ to the Temple for trial, was now in the enemies camp, a committed follower of Jesus Christ.

For me, this is a daily focus of my life; that others would see Jesus in me by the works that Jesus does through me. I should show fruit for people to see and by doing so, they will know that I am a man of God.

Even though Paul was slandered, ridiculed and not trusted, he wept, prayed and cared for them as a true shepherd. God gave him the fertile ground of Galatia in which to work, and Paul pastored his flock. All his flock, the good, the bad and the worst, did not keep him from completing the task that God set before him.

As a pastor, it is heartwarming to see through the eyes of Paul, as he shepherds his flock. His example is a tribute to God’s grace. That is my goal as well; to love the hard to love and those that would persecute, say evil things against me or to falsely accuse me. I want to show the same love that Christ did on the cross as He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” That is the heart of Christ, and Paul “got it” from the beginning of his ministry. That is a great comfort to me and great examples of shepherding a flock.

Paul never backed away from giving the Gospel of Christ. The cost of his ministry was summed up in his epistle to the church at Corinth:
But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. (2 Corinthians 11:21-28 ESV).

Paul’s example of continuing the course that God had placed before him, no matter what the circumstances, is a great example to me as well. While I have not been imprisoned, shipwrecked, stoned, cold, hungry or destitute, it is my desire to proclaim to the world the mighty salvation and work of Christ. To this end, Jesus has called me and to this end I will go.

While this blog has concerned the walk of the Apostle and the Pastor, it is also a great comfort to every believer. God has called us to become a “new man” in Christ. No one can take that away. The creator of the universe, cares so much for you that Yahweh sent His Son to die in your place. For the believer, our task is sure:

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28:18-20)

Does God have authority over your life today?

What did the Apostle Paul believe concerning the Gospel of Grace as the only means of Salvation?

It is very important to understand the history of Paul. In his own words, he describes himself as: “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as ye all are this day. And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women. As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.” (Acts 22:3-4).

Paul was not just a follower of Judaism; he was trained as a Pharisee and persecuted anyone that was not a devout adherent. This gives Paul great insight into the religion as well as describing his education. He was an enforcer of the Law. And yet now, he fully embraces salvation by grace as the only means of salvation.

Paul was God’s chosen vessel to proclaim grace to humanity and especially to the Gentiles. By his own words, it was by God’s grace that he was chosen for salvation and to be God’s messenger (Galatians 2:9).

Paul’s salvation (Acts 9) is well established by his first missionary journey in which he proclaimed the Gospel and started churches. His message of salvation is only by faith, by the Grace of God becomes the main point in all his writings.

The Apostle Paul, from the outset of the epistle to Galatia, is dealing with the heresy of adding requirements to the Gospel of Grace by faith. There is a great difference in believing that the grace of God is all that is required for salvation and those that would add works to salvation (circumcision in this case).

The Greek word for grace is charis. It is only found 13 times in the Gospels, but over 144 times in Paul’s writing. Paul’s epistles always use grace doctrinally, in connection with the dispensation of Grace.

The Apostle Paul goes so far as to proclaim; “Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.” (Galatians 5:4)

Paul never said it was wrong for Jews to be circumcised. He never said that it was wrong to keep the Law or to observe the Jewish festivals. He said that these have nothing to do with salvation. While customs and practices may differ, salvation never differs. There is only one way to be saved and that is by the Grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

What is the Major Purpose for the Book of Galatians?

The Apostle Paul wrote at least 13 books of the New Testament (many theologians believe he also wrote the book of Hebrews). Some of his epistles (letters) were written to individuals (Timothy and Titus), and the rest to churches.

The epistle of Galatians was written to the churches scattered throughout Galatia (a portion of modern Turkey). It is one of the most important writings of Paul in establishing the importance of Grace compared to the Law.

The main purpose of the Book of Galatians is to vindicate Paul’s call by God and the Gospel of Grace. “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-7)

Paul and salvation by grace alone were under attack by those in the churches of Galatia. Galatian churches were a mix of Jews and Gentiles. Some of the Jewish believers still held to the Jewish Law and traditions, called Judaizers. The term Judaizer, comes from the Greek word meaning “to live according to Jewish customs.” Their teaching states that God’s grace and human effort were required for salvation. Paul considered this theology heresy and those that teach it as false teachers, even though they professed to be followers of Christ. The problem hinged on two points: 1) If they were going to continue to keep the Law as part of their salvation, then they adhered to a belief that a person was partly saved by faith and partly by works. 2) To continue following the traditions and practices of Jewish custom, they taught that the spiritual growth of the person was partly by faith and partly by their own effort. For the Judaizers, a belief in Christ also meant following the main ritual of religion, specifically around circumcision, while adding works, such as, observing all the ceremonies, traditions and rituals of Judaism. This was a heavy burden for the Gentile converts.

Their teaching was in contradiction to the Apostle Paul’s teaching. Paul writes that salvation is by Christ and Christ alone. Paul taught that the message of God’s grace, of pure grace is salvation by Christ alone. A person cannot win, earn or deserve salvation, it is a gift of God and not of works. (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Therefore, the Judaizers charged that the Gospel that Paul was teaching was deceitful and that his apostleship was a false claim of his own making. They reasoned that he could not be a true minister or Apostle of the Lord as he claimed, by his own statement of his beliefs. They reasoned that by cutting out or minimizing the Law that he could not be a true, God called, minister of the Law.

Paul’s defense of the Gospel and his calling is the main focus of the epistle to the churches in Galatia.