Galations Intro

Okay, we're going to be studying the Book of Galatians. And I don't know... I've been chosen. Actually, I suggested to Roger that I go ahead and introduce it. So that's what we're going to do today, the introduction to the Book of Galatians. What is Galatians all about? The book of Galatians actually revolves around the council at Jerusalem in Acts 15. I don't know how familiar you are with that, but if you know what's going on with the council of Jerusalem, then you have a good idea of why Galatians was written.

If you're not familiar with it, we'll be looking at it this morning. Before we get into the book of Galatians, we're going to spend some time in the book of Acts. This is best introduced when Paul and Barnabas had finished their first missionary journey in Acts chapter 15. They finished it in Acts chapter 14, but in Acts chapter 15, verse 1, we read, Some men came down from Judea, which is Jerusalem.

You notice they came down. They were going north, but they came down. Here in the United States, when you think of going down, you think of going to Colorado Springs. You don't think of going up to Longmont. But remember that Jerusalem set higher up in the mountains, and just about any time you left Jerusalem, you would be going down somewhere, whether it was north, south, east, east, or west.

So some men came down from of Jerusalem and began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Many Jewish believers and unbelievers alike held that in addition to the faith in Christ, you also needed to be circumcised and follow the law of Moses for your salvation.

And this didn't come from just outside the church. There were people inside the churches that were actually teaching this and pushing. There were actually believers who felt this way. I believe they were saved. I just believe that they were babes in Christ and didn't have the knowledge that we have today. Of course, today there's a lot of us, a lot of our churches today that don't even have that knowledge. Like I just said, this attack on the gospel is just as prevalent today as it was in the early church.

We read in Galatians 1.7, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

And Paul responds to that in Galatians 3.11, And now that no one is justified by the law before God is evident, for the righteous man shall live by faith.

And this is a quote from the Old Testament in Habakkuk. A lot of the Jews wanted people to be saved by works, but all through the Old Testament, not just the New Testament, not just the future, not just the millennium, not just the law of Moses, not just Abraham, not just Adam, not just Noah, the way to be saved is by faith. The righteous shall live by faith. And this is what Galatians is all about. The big controversy as to whether are we saved just by faith or do we have to follow the law as well.

In our introduction, we're going to look at three points. I'm from an old school. I like to, whenever I teach, it's in an outline form. So we're going to spend the rest of this lesson looking at three different points. Number one, who were the Galatian people? Number two, the occasion or why the epistle was written. And number three, some of the characteristics of the Epistle.

We're going to start with who were the Galatian people. In the third century BC, Rome had conquered the known world and the Celtic people from Europe, they're also called the Gauls, settled in Asia Minor, now known as Turkey. They didn't just settle in Asia Minor, but they settled all over the southern part of the area. The Gauls were a tribe of people, they weren't a nation, they were a tribe of people that went to all different types of nations and they were continually in conflict with Rome up until about 25 BC. One such tribe populated southern Galatia called the Lyconians and they had their own distinct tribe and their own language.

Of course you can read in Acts 14.11 where Paul went to them and they started talking to him in their language. And I think this language was a derelict of Greek. So I think Paul and Barnabas, it appears, was able to understand them.

But in 25 BC, Augustus Caesar established a Roman province in this area. Here's a map of the area. If you look down the right-hand corner, you see Antioch, which was about three to 400 miles north of Jerusalem. In the green area, I believe that's green. I'm partially colorblind. It's green. It's green? Okay, thank you. In the green area, you'll find Galatia.

But there's two parts that we need to consider. We need the northern part, which we'll call ethnic Galatia, And this is where the Celtic people, or the Gauls, had come in and lived there. And then there's the Southern Galatia, which became a province of Rome in 25 BC.

Back around 335 BC, Alexander the Great had conquered this whole region. and when he was 32 years old he died and he left his kingdom to four different generals. As a matter of fact you can read about this in the book of Daniel. You'll find Alexander the Great and his four generals in the book of Daniel. And one of those generals was in charge of this area which became Rome and when the Gauls who were originally from Europe migrated down into this area, Rome and the Gauls, or the Celtic people, fought a lot. But in 25 BC, Rome had finally kind of conquered them and set up provinces all over the area, and one of them was here in Galatia.

These two areas are going to be important when we discuss when and who the Galatians the book of Galatians was written to. And there's been a controversy as to who the epistle was written to and when it was written. Now we know it was written to the Galatians, but was it written to the northern Galatians, all of Galatia, or southern Galatia? One idea was it was written to ethnic Galatia during Paul's third missionary journey in 54 to 55 AD.

If you like to listen to J. Vernon McGee right away in his first lesson he'll tell you this. He'll say this happened on Paul's third missionary journey which is 54 to 55 AD and then he'll go on to say that I don't get into this history much but that's just what I believe. So I didn't put much stock in that. The other idea is it was in a Roman province in the south right after the first missionary journey in 48 to 50 AD.

And this is going to become important in our study of when it was written. There's ample evidence to believe that this took place shortly after the first missionary journey written to the churches in the Roman province of Galatia in the south. And there's actually major evidence of this in the epistle itself.

If we read in Galatians 4.13, but you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time. Notice that phrase the first time. Here Paul is talking about his first missionary journey. So he's talking to the people in the south and in addition to that Barnabas is also mentioned in Galatians but he was no longer with Paul after the first missionary journey so if this was written to the Galatians in the third missionary journey I don't know why Paul would mention Barnabas and also there's no biblical evidence that Paul ever went to any of the churches in northern Galatia.

He might have, but we don't find that in the Bible anywhere. Here's a timeline of the early church, just to make things clear. If you look down on the second line, around 48 AD, you'll find the first missionary journey. Now remember, all these dates are approximate. I put this together before yesterday. So, does that answer your question? Okay.

So we see in the right after the first missionary journey we had the council at Jerusalem and this is when I believe Galatians was written. So point number two, let's go to why Galatians was written, the occasion for the epistle. We saw the who, what, and where. Now why was Galatians written?

A short study of the first missionary journey in Acts will answer this. So what we're going to do, it's just going to take a few minutes, we're going to go through that missionary journey. We're not going to hit every single verse. We will mainly dwell on the opposition to the gospel during the period in Acts 13 through 15.

Before Acts 13, Saul had spent a few years in Tarsus before Barnabas decided to go up and grab him because he needed help in Antiochus Syrian. Up until now, the gospel had spread naturally by the dispersion of the Christians from Jerusalem because of persecution. They didn't really have any missionary outlets going on at this time. The Church of Antioch, the one north of Jerusalem, through the power of the Holy Spirit, saw the need of an organized Christian outreach. In Acts chapter 13 verse 2 we read, The Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. Then when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

And this is the same map that we have the missionary journey laid out here. You see Antioch down in Syria, where they started, which is the one north of Jerusalem. They went down, hit a couple of cities in Cyprus, went up to the coast of Galatia in Pamphylia, and then ended up in Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe in where they spent most of their time in that missionary journey. Notice, if you will, the city of Tarsus over in Sicilia. That would be interesting in a few minutes. But this is their journey.

And what I don't have on there, once they got to Derby, they turned around and went back the exact same way and visited all those cities once again. They ignored Cyprus and then went on back to Antioch. Barnabas and Saul arrived in Pisidian Antioch and the gospel of the Gentiles flourished.

In Acts 13.38 we read, Therefore let it be known to you, brethren, that through him forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, both Jews and Gentiles, and through him everyone who believes is freed from all things from which you cannot be freed through the law of Moses. And in Acts 13 45, but when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began contradicting the things spoken by Paul and were blaspheming him. Now remember, we're only hitting the high points of this trip where there was opposition to Paul, because this is going to be important to our study in Galatians. In verses 48 through 50, we read, When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed. And the word of the Lord was being spread through the whole region.

But the Jews incited the devout women and the prominence of the leading men of the city and instigated a persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their city. So they were ran out of the city in Antioch. And from there they moved on to the city of Biconium. In Iconium, there was a large number of Jews and Gentiles who believed.

So, the gospel was going out to everybody there. It was very successful, but there was also a lot of opposition. In Acts 14, 2, we read, But the Jews who disbelieved stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and admitted them against the brethren. verses five through seven, and when an attempt was made by both Gentiles and the Jews with their rulers to mistreat and stone them, that's Paul and Barnabas, they became aware of it and fled to the cities of Lyconia, Lystra, and Derbe, and the surrounding region. And there they continued to preach the gospel.

While in Lystra, Paul was actually stoned because of his teaching by the Judaizers. Verses 19, we read, Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stole Paul, dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. But while the disciples stood around him, he got up and entered the city. And the next day he went away with Barnabas to Derbe.

Now, throughout their whole trip, they were followed from city to city by what we call Judaizers, who wanted to put a stop to what Paul was teaching. And then they went back through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, encouraging the brethren, and ended up back in the church of Antioch and Syria.

Now if this was me, I would have went over a short mountain range and went back to Tarsus. Because Paul was born in Tarsus. He grew up in Tarsus. After he was saved, he spent about 8 to 10 years in Tarsus before he ever started his missionary journeys. So instead of going back where the enemy was, I would have ran the other way.

So why did Paul do that? Well, in verse 22, He felt it was important, strengthening the souls of the disciples and encourage them to continue in the faith. And then once Paul and Barnabas got back to Antioch in Syria, they had a long vacation. While I was growing up, about every four years, visionaries would come home for a year or so. It was called a furlough. And this is kind of what was going on with Paul and Barnabas. Missionaries today, they'll come home and they'll go from church to church to try to get more money so they can go back to the mission to them.

Paul and Barnabas ended up in Antioch and they were on a long vacation there, teaching and preaching the Word of God in the church at Antioch. 1427 we read, When they arrived and gathered the church together, they began to report all things that God had done with them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And they spent a long time with the disciples.

Certain men, Judaizers, came down from Jerusalem teaching a perverted gospel. So while they were in Antioch, We have men in Jerusalem who were teaching faith plus works in Jerusalem, and they heard about what was going on in Antioch, and they decided, well, we're going to go down to Antioch, and we're going to set them straight. In Acts 15, 1 and 2, we read, some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined, that's been in Antioch, that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue.

So they saw a problem there. they're going to have to come to some consensus as to who is right and who is wrong. And on the way up, both Gentiles and Jewish, both the Gentile and Jewish areas proclaimed salvation for all. So while they were on their way to Antioch, they stopped all along the way preaching the gospel and preaching to the Gentiles.

In verse 3 we read, Therefore being sent on their way by the church, they were passing through both Phoenicia and Samaria. Now remember, Phoenicia is the coastline where a lot of Gentiles lived and Samaria was inland where the Hellenistic Jews were. Describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and were bringing great joy to all the brethren. Now if I was one of those Gentiles, in Phoenicia, wanting to know the Lord. And Paul came through and told me, you don't need to be circumcised. I would jump for joy. If you get my point. So it says, and they were bringing great joy to all the brethren.

When they arrived in Jerusalem, there were certain believers who insisted on keeping the law for salvation in addition to faith. Now notice this phrase, there were certain believers who were Judaizers. There's been a lot of discussion on were Judaizers just unsaved Jews or were they saved Jews? I believe they were both. I believe there were a lot of Judaizers who knew the Lord, who were saved, But they just didn't have the knowledge they needed to understand this. They were based in Christ.

Acts 15.5. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up saying it is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the wall of Moses.

And this led to the Council of Jerusalem. And everything I've led up to now is we're coming to this main point here. It's a turning point in the history of the church and the main reason for the epistle to the Galatians. This is why I believe Galatians was written sometime around the time of the council at Jerusalem, not in the third missionary journey. Even Peter, was finally persuaded by this time. You remember about eight to ten years earlier he was with Cornelius in Caesarea and he realized that salvation had come to the Gentiles back then. But between that period and the Council of Jerusalem, somewhere along the line he vacillated back and forth and Paul actually had to go up to him and set him straight. Once we get into the book of Galatians, I think it's chapter 2, we're going to read about that. And now Peter was fully persuaded.

He said, we, the Jews, believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they, the Gentiles, also are. So he turned this thing around. The Jews were saying, hey, you've got to do it our way. And Peter actually said, no, we've got to do it the Gentile's way now. So I found that very interesting.

And James, who was the head of the Jerusalem church, he also wrote the epistle of James, had a letter written to all the brethren declaring the unity of the council concerning the justification by faith alone. In verse 24, We read, It seemed good to us, having become of one mind, to select men to send to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. So when they went away, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. Now, I went through this short history of the first missionary just to point this out. Throughout the first missionary journey, Paul and Barnabas were criticized, they were persecuted, they were condemned for evangelizing the Gentiles. And at one point, Paul was stoned and dragged out of the city and left for dead.

The Judaizers, as they were called, Just a point of reference here, you're not going to find the term Judaizers anywhere in the Bible. It's just not there. This is a word made up by theologians. The Judaizers, as they were called, demanded that if the Gentiles wanted salvation, they would also have to be circumcised and follow the Jewish laws.

Even after the Council of Jerusalem, Judaizers continued their false teaching. And this was prevalent in the Galatian churches. So with the council at Jerusalem, everything was set straight, but still people didn't want to believe it. And there was plenty of people in Galatia that were still believing this false teaching.

Paul, through the power of the Holy Spirit, was compelled to write to those believers in southern Galatia. And this would be the epistle to the Galatians. We read in Galatians 1.6, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel. which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. Now we come to our last point, the characteristics of the epistle. In the next several weeks we're going to examine Galatians verse by verse, but here I want to point out four different characteristics which makes this epistle unique.

The first characteristic, Paul shows his justifiable anger. This is not a loving book. This is a book where Paul is pretty mad at the people. Both Paul and the gospel were continually attacked in Galatia during his ministry there. Not only from the unbelieving Jews, but also from his fellow believers. The attack continued in Galatia, even after Paul had returned to Antioch. Some of his statements are pretty condemning. Let me point out just a few.

In Galatians 1.6, he said to them, I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him. who called you by the grace of God for a different gospel, which is really not another, only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. He's accusing the Galatians of deserting the gospel. Also, in verse 8, but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed. And let me repeat that, as we have said before, so I say it again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you receive, he is to be accursed.

He is so angry at the Galatians, he's saying, if you want to preach, I'm going to be a little vivid here, if you want to preach this type of gospel, I wish you'd just go to hell. That's actually what he is telling them. He's pretty angry with these people.

In Galatians 2.11, when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. He had to straighten Peter out.

In Galatians 3.1, you foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you. He's not very nice to these people of Galatia.

Galatians 5.12, Those who are troubling you, I wish that those who are troubling you would even mutilate themselves. That's scary. If you want to teach circumcision for salvation, why don't you just take and cut the whole thing off? That's what's being said. There's no children listening to this, are there? Okay.

Galatians 6, 17, this is very near the end of his epistle. From now on, let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the brand marks of Jesus. So, we find that he's pretty angry. The second characteristic I want to point out is Paul's defense of his apostleship. In many of Paul's epistles he simply states he is an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God.

Not so in Galatians. He says, I am an apostle, not from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. While he was being attacked in Galatia and everywhere else, people were saying, you're not an apostle. We know who the 12 apostles were. We know the ones who lived with Christ. But that's not you. You're not an apostle.

How dare you preach this type of doctrine? Paul spends 28 verses in Galatians defending his apostleship. He's never done that in any other epistle. Why was this necessary? I think there were those who followed Paul from city to city in Galatia condemning him and Judaizing the believers. They attacked not only his message, salvation by faith alone, but also his authority as an apostle. Although he was not one of the original twelve, he received his apostleship by direct revelation from Christ during his three years in Damascus.

Galatians 1.11, For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man, for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. And of course, this happened when he was in Damascus and he went out into the desert during those three years.

Also, this was Paul's first epistle. He had to establish both his message and his authority. Let's take a look at the epistles of Paul and how they fell in order. Here's a timeline of Paul's epistles. And I like this chart because it's easy to remember just how all the epistles were written. On the first missionary journey, 47 to 48, there was one book written, Galatians. On the second missionary journey, 50 to 52, there were two books written, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians.

On the third missionary journey, there were three books written, 1st and 2nd Corinthians and Romans. On his fourth trip, which was his imprisonment in Rome, there were four books written. Philemon, Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians. And then after the last chapter in the book of Acts, he wrote his last three books. But if you can keep in mind, first missionary, first journey, one book. Second journey, two books. Third journey, three books. Fourth trip, four books. And then of course the last three books.

The third characteristic I want to bring out is Galatians is actually a precursor to Romans, I believe. Galatians was written first and then about 10 years later, Romans reflects a much more detailed teaching on what we find in Galatians. you might call Galatians a mini-Romans. Here are just a few similarities between the two books.

Number one, Galatians 3.6 through Romans 4.3, we find out that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him for righteousness. We find this in both books. More fully explained in the book of Romans.

In Galatians 3.8 and Romans 4.16 and 17, to Abraham all the nations will be blessed, both Jew and Gentile. This is taught in both books.

Galatians 3.11 and Romans 3.21, justification is apart from the law. This is brought out in both books. Number four, Galatians 5 and Romans 6, declare the liberty and freedom we have in Christ. Up until now, up until the book of Galatians, we don't have all these doctrines taught. But they're introduced in the book of Galatians and they're brought out more fully in the book of Romans.

And there are many other similarities between the two epistles. Now this last characteristic is the liberty that we have in Christ. In chapters 5 and 6 of Galatians, we find the best description of the freedom that comes with being in Christ. Galatians 5, 1, it was for freedom that Christ set us free, therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. We are no longer slaves to the old sin nature, but in Christ we serve one another in love.

In these last two chapters, we are not only saved by faith alone, but we are encouraged to live by faith alone. And this is very important. Once you're saved, not only are we saved by faith, but we live by faith. When I was growing up, there was a popular saying, I don't smoke and I don't chew and I don't go with the girls that do. I don't know if you've all heard that before. But, you know, we don't live by a bunch of rules as believers. And Galatians 5 and 6 points this out. We live by faith in love towards one another.

Galatians 5.5, for we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. This is only accomplished through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Here's a cute little chart. This shows the different phases of salvation. You have phase one, justification. We are saved from the penalty of sin. You were saved. Phase two, we have experiential sanctification. We're saved from the power of sin. You are being saved. And phase three, we have glorification, which will happen when we die or at the rapture. We're saved from the presence of sin. You will be saved. But what Galatians 5 and 6 are talking about is this phase two salvation. We're saved from the power of sin. Sin no longer has power over us. That old man, we are a new creation in Christ. We don't have to worry about that old man. We are saved from the power of sin.

Take a good look at this chart here. because I think it's pretty neat. It took me over an hour and a half to put it together. I'm just barely learning how to use PowerPoint. And it took me a long time to figure out how to make this thing. Actually, when Heidi and I first came to the church, I think it was the second week we were here, Roger was preaching in the morning service, and he pulled up a chart that was almost exactly like this.

And I said to Heidi, hey, this church knows what they're talking about. And I even told Roger that a while later. Amen, brother, amen. This actually goes back to Schaefer. when he was at Dallas Theological Seminary. I think, I don't know if he did it originally or he got it from someone else, but we know Schaefer put the same type of chart up. It's a good chart. Yeah, well thank you very much.

Because I'm just learning how to do PowerPoint. As a matter of fact, a couple days ago I spent the afternoon over at Roy's house. And Roy's been helping me a lot on putting these PowerPoint things together. Because three months ago I'd heard of PowerPoint, but didn't know anything about it at all.

And then when Roger asked me to teach, I said, I don't mind teaching, but I don't know about putting these things together. But I'm slowly learning with the help of Roy. One of the big problems I have is I have a Mac computer and the church uses Microsoft. And the PowerPoint on my Mac doesn't always agree with PowerPoint on Microsoft. But Roy is showing me how to convert these. I appreciate what Roy has done to help me out.

So, in Galatians 2.25, if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

Not only does Galatians warn us about Judaizers, but also legalism in the church. The primary definition of legalism. In the book of Galatians, legalism is working for our salvation. But there's a secondary definition, and that's following a bunch of rules to gain favor with God after salvation. So we need to realize that both legalism and the doctrine of the studiizers, there's no place for that in the church. and this is what chapters 5 and 6 are all about Galatians 6 verse 14 but may it never be that I would boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world crucified to me and I to the world for neither is circumcision anything nor uncircumcision but a new creation a new creation, and those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God.

If we live by the Spirit through faith, let us also walk by the Spirit. And that's our introduction to the book of Galatians. Now, next week, I'm going to be here again. We're going to do a flyover of the whole epistle. We're going to start in chapter 1 and quickly go all the way through the end of the epistle.

This is what I firmly believe, before we examine individual verses, we need to look at the book as a whole, as well as the paragraphs and the sentences. In botany, if you want to identify the leaves of a tree, We not only need to look at the leaves, we need to examine the bark, and we need to look at the tree, and we have to look at the whole forest as well. The phrase, you can't see the forest for the trees, is especially important in Bible study. You can't take just one phrase out of scripture and decide to interpret that without looking at the whole passage, the whole paragraph, the whole chapter, and the whole book.

The number one rule in Bible study, for those of you who have taken Bible study courses, context, context, context. If you're a riveter, the number one rule is location, location, location. But in Bible study, context, context, context. If you take text out of the context, you will end up with a conjog. The more you're familiar with the whole book, the easier it is to understand the individual passages. And it's a quarter till, and it came out just about right.

Any questions, comments, criticisms? I was wondering, could you go back to the slide, is that possible, on Paul's epistles? I was copying it, but I didn't get it all. Well, let's see. I don't know how to do this really quick because I don't know anything about PowerPoint, but I am going backwards.

Yes. We can make her a copy. Oh, okay. That would be great. Thank you. Also, I think after a couple of days, you'll see this chart on the website. Oh, okay. It will be uploaded to the Hollyhills website, so you'll see it up there too. Okay. All right. Okay. Thank you.

So, I think this is a really good chart. And I believe it's very accurate, although there is some discussion. Like I have up here, dates are approximate. And some people think that Romans was written first. But I don't want to say anything bad about them, but they're crazy.

Any other questions? Okay, Wayne, how about closing us in prayer? Father, thank you for this time to open up your word and study and just look at all that you have written to us. Thank you so much for that. I just ask your blessing upon the message to follow and to listen.