The Judaizers attempted to answer this question of the law and the Gospel by opting for a legalistic system. Their argument was subtle and rational. If a Jew became a Christian, naturally he must bring Judaism with him into the Christian faith. Was not the Jew there first? Was not the law from God? It was so simple. A Jew must always remain a Jew. On the other hand, if a Gentile wished to become a disciple of Christ, he had to become a Jew to qualify.
Christianity, like Judaism, was for Jews only. This was a new kind of slavery, worse than the old. It also faced man with demands he could not meet and drove all love for God and man from his heart.
What hopes the poor Gentiles had were dashed to pieces. In some way, each issue of the epistle has something to do with this theme. The purpose of the letter is knotted to the theme. Paul wished to combat legalism and the Judaizers. Legalism always has, and always will, take the heart out of Christianity and transplant a heart made of stone. Only the Spirit gives life.
Let the law do the honorable work of showing a man his sin, but do not let it save man from sin. The Judaizers were not only teaching coercion to the Mosaic law, but also a work righteousness Gal 5. Paul wished to keep the new Christian converts true to the Gospel of freedom which Christ had taught and confirmed on the cross.
His letter to the Galatians, as it did in Galatia, has blocked the path of many a man who since then would change Christianity into a new paganism or another type of Judaism. It stands as a challenge to all men who would take away the grace of God, the truth of the Gospel, and joy and freedom that goes with it! Contents and outline. This is not just a theological or polemical essay which, like a Gr.
The subject matter of this treatise of the Gospel involves every man and his eternal salvation or judgment. He divided his wrath between the Judaizers for preaching such heresy and the Galatians for believing it. It is not only that the Galatians would lose their liberty; they would lose their God and His eternal salvation in Jesus Christ. Justification by faith rather than by works must stand at all costs.
The letter begins with the normal greetings to the readers. There is no indication of the thrust of the Word to come. The best way to illustrate his point is to relate his own activities and show that the Gospel came by revelation from God and not from Paul or even the other apostles, for if one apostle can be attacked, all may be attacked. He sets forth his doctrine of justification by faith to refute the Judaizers and as a vehicle of the Spirit to bring the Galatians back from their apostasy.
The Galatians themselves knew they did not receive salvation by keeping the law—few of them had ever followed any law. The same is true, Paul says, of the great heroes of the OT, particularly Abraham, the father of the Jews. The purpose of the law was never to save, but to convince man that his salvation is from God.
Have you not opened the very floodgates of sin and human desire? If there is no law and every man is free, will not immorality, hate, murder and every other human passion run wild so that the last situation is worse than the first?
Good works do not make a good man, but a good man does good works. This is true liberty—doing the will of the Spirit of God from the compulsion of the Gospel. There are, Paul says, many fruits of the flesh, but the Christian is under grace and empowered by the Spirit of God Himself, to do good, a much greater power than any human attitude or desire.
At the end of the letter the apostle takes the pen from the scribe and attests the truth of the document by inscribing his own name in his own hand.
Theme: Freedom of the Christian man—the doctrine of justification by faith alone vs. Not F vs. W, but: F vs. Characteristics and special features. For a clear understanding of Christianity there is no better introduction than Galatians.
It is highly doctrinal but yet extremely personal. Almost a third of the Gospel is a statement of personal biography. Paul himself was an object lesson of the Gospel and often uses this method cf. The epistle is a sharp defense of the Christian faith. It fairly crackles with indignation though it is not the anger of personal pique but of spiritual principle.
The letter is also highly emotional. Words run like a torrential mountain stream. He begins sentences which he does not have time to finish; he quotes his words to another apostle but then flies aloft in a soliloquy as he dwells on what Christ had done for his own person.
He talks to his readers as if he were on a great stage and his readers personally before him. One time he can be angry and heated, at other times pleading and conciliating. He speaks of the glory of Christ and His doctrine, but also of the beauty of the fruits of the Spirit.
He asks question after question which he proceeds to answer himself. He speaks of love fulfilling the whole law and walking in the Spirit as in a peaceful verdant valley. The letter to the Galatians shows beautiful eloquence and deep pathos. It manifests wrath against false teachers, tenderness with respect to the erring, and urgent pleading to the faithful.
The heart of the Gospel is found in its substance and in the life of freedom it advocates. The letter is most valuable for the full understanding of the Word of God. No presentation of the Gospel can equal this letter in the force with which it presents the powerful claim of the pure grace of God. Another special feature of this great letter is that it deals directly with basic concerns of man in his relationship to God and his life on earth.
Bibliography M. Luther, A Commentary on St. Thiessen, Introduction to the New Testament ; M. Stammand; O. Marxsen, Introduction to the New Testament These false teachers suggested that to live by grace and in freedom meant to live a lawless and therefore degenerate life.
And so in the final chapters of the letter, Paul made clear that justification—an act of grace through faith—need not result in a sinful lifestyle. Because Christians have been freed from bondage to the sinful nature, we now have the path of holiness open to us. Unfortunately, the false teaching brought to the Galatian churches by the Judaizers has been extremely difficult to root out even today.
We must walk a fine line—on one hand, we do not want to fall into the legalism that the Galatians struggled with, but on the other, we cannot just live as if anything goes. Too often we lose ourselves at the extremes, ending in a legalistic attempt to earn our salvation or a devil-may-care attitude about our sin.
He was active in parish and student ministry for twenty-five years. He was a consulting editor to the International Bible Society now Biblica for The Books of the Bible, an edition of the New International Version NIV that presents the biblical books according to their natural literary outlines, without chapters and verses.
His Understanding the Books of the Bible study guide series is keyed to this format. He was also a consultant to Tyndale House for the Immerse Bible, an edition of the New Living Translation NLT that similarly presents the Scriptures in their natural literary forms, without chapters and verses or section headings.
He has a B. View all posts by Christopher R Smith. I agree that both options are possible, so it is good to mention both. And it does make a difference in how some aspects of Galatians is understood, depending on whether it is early or later. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. He teaches that people are not justified by the works of the law of Moses but by faith in Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3—4 Paul defends the gospel message. He teaches that Abraham was an example of a person who was justified by faith and not by the works of the law of Moses. Through the Atonement, Jesus Christ redeemed mankind from the curse of the law. Galatians 5—6 Paul calls upon the Saints to remain firm in the gospel covenant offered by Christ. We reap what we sow. New Testament Seminary Teacher Manual.
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