Comments On The Book of Galatians

Comments on the Book of Galatians
By Mike Spencer
Outline taken from Daniel B. Wallace
1
This letter was written to the Galatians to warn them of the danger they faced from the ‘judaizers’ who
had come into their churches and were disrupting their faith in Christ by compelling them to return to the Law
and its commands. Specifically, these wolves were teaching that circumcision was still a necessary requirement
for life in God. Paul’s letter soundly refutes this idea and offer many proofs to the contrary; the most notable
being that as believers in Jesus Christ we are free to live and love in His name and to hope to receive the
promise spoken to Abraham so long ago. Paul reminds the believers in Galatia that the Law only brings death,
never justification. Only through belief in God, and in His Son, Jesus, will one be saved. There is now a new
Law, the Law of Love- “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
I have used (borrowed without consent is closer to the truth, but I have borrowed it respectfully!) an
outline written by Daniel B. Wallace that I retrieved from Bible.org. His outline condenses the arguments made
by Paul and simplifies the entire letter in a manner that makes it very easy to follow Paul’s objectives. Within
this outline I have added my own thoughts and comments (My work is bulleted.). All bible quotations are taken
from the NASB (New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation,
1995).
Outline of the Book of Galatians by Daniel B. Wallace

(Mr. Wallace’s outline in boldface type)
Retrieved October 19, 2009 from http://bible.org/seriespage/galatians-introduction-argument-and-outline
I. Introduction (1:1-10)
 In the introduction to this letter the author identifies himself as Paul, “an apostle.” He
specifically stresses the point that he was not sent by men or through the authority of men but
was sent to preach the gospel through the direct agency of “Jesus Christ and God the Father,
who raised Him from the dead.” Paul then addresses the apparent turning away of the
Galatian believers from the gospel they had first received in order to align themselves with
this new and dangerous “different gospel.” Paul reminds them (and us) that it is not men that
we are to fear or to try to please but God. The judaizers must be cast out.
a. Salutation (1:1-5)
• Paul identifies himself as an apostle sent to the Gentiles not from man but from
Jesus Christ and God. His message therefore is not from man nor does it carry
man’s authority. His message, the gospel of Christ, the gospel of freedom, comes
from God Himself and carries His almighty authority. This is an important point
to understand in reading the rest of this letter for it is against intruders in the
Galatian church that Paul is writing.
• Paul’s greeting carries a blessing of grace and peace from God and from Jesus,
“who gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us”. This is a mini-gospel
presentation that carries with it all the weight of a full presentation such as we
find in Paul’s other letters. This is the core of the truth of the Gospel. This is what
we teach to our youngest children, that Jesus died for our sins and that God raised
Him from the dead. It is this truth, that it is Jesus who saves and not the works of
men, that Paul defends in this letter.
• Word Study: Apostle 652 ἀπόστολος [apostolos /ap·os·tol·os/] From 649; 81
occurrences; AV translates as “apostle” 78 times, “messenger” twice, and “he that
is sent” once. 1 a delegate, messenger, one sent forth with orders. 1A specifically
applied to the twelve apostles of Christ. 1B in a broader sense applied to other
eminent Christian teachers. 1B1 of Barnabas. 1B2 of Timothy and Silvanus.1
A
V Authorized Version
Strong, James: The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible : Showing Every Word of the Test of the Common
1
English Version of the Canonical Books, and Every Occurence of Each Word in Regular Order. electronic ed.
2
o By this definition, Paul is a messenger sent from God and from Jesus
Christ with orders to present the gospel to the Gentile people. This means
that Paul’s duty is to God and not to man. It is to God that Paul is
accountable, not to man. His message is therefore of utmost importance
and his dedication to it must also be. In contrast, the judaizers were non-
appointed men with a message designed by men and therefore their
authority was also only from men. Because of this Paul expects the
Galatians to turn from their different gospel and return to the only true
gospel.
b. Denunciation (1:6-10)
• Paul wastes no time in getting to the point of his letter. He is “amazed” at the
rapidity with which the Galatians have deserted Jesus Christ in order to embrace a
different message. Paul had preached to them the gospel of Christ that Jesus gave
Him. The Galatians had received that gospel and been saved; they had begun
churches and new lives in Christ. But because outside agitators had entered their
churches teaching that believers must adhere to the old tenets of the Law in order
to partake in the grace of God, specifically in circumcision, the Galatians were
turning away from Paul’s teaching. The judaizers who infiltrated the churches of
this region were teaching and demanding that Gentiles become as Jews in
circumcision in order to be full partakers of the grace of Christ and God. Paul
makes it clear in this letter that it is not through rules devised by man (or even the
Law of God Himself) that man is saved and has peace; it is only through the work
and gift of Jesus Christ and God, His Father. There is only one gospel and that is
the one Paul first preached to the Gentiles. Any other ‘gospel’ is a perversion and
ought to be discarded immediately and its bearer “accursed.”
o Understanding that Jesus Christ has saved us completely and has left us
perfectly free to enjoy our lives as best we can and to focus primarily on
loving and caring for others as our worship of God is difficult. We have
embedded in our culture of religion an understanding that rules must
govern our conduct, that God demands certain things from us before He
will be pleased with us. We believe, deeply in our subconscious, that if we
do not obey perfectly or correctly understand His will for our lives, then
He will certainly punish us. We therefore easily allow rules and doctrine
to invade our churches and our lives. We turn to the Law in order to be
comfortable in the practice of our religion. But the truth is that the Law of
God was given in order to govern the lives of His chosen people until the
time of salvation would come. The Law of the Jews was given in order to
keep the sins of man within bounds lest they transgress so much that they
be destroyed completely. But it was always God’s intention that His
children be freed from the chains of the Law forever. Now the Law stands
as a stark reminder that man is bound up with sin and cannot ever
perfectly meet the requirements of the Law.
o When men first believe in the grace of Jesus Christ and understand that
their lives are now in God’s hands and that He loves them very much, they
are grateful and joyful. But what happens in individual lives and in the life
of our churches is a slow creeping in of the dependence on governing
authority. We feel we need to be constrained by rules or else we will
transgress the will of God. And so these Galatians turned to the judaizers
in order to be SURE of their favor with God. And so we turn to legalistic
Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G652

3
interpretations of the word of God and to the influence of reformers and
influential preaching. But in doing so we diminish the greatness of the gift
of Jesus in His death for us. Paul calls this a great evil and is enraged at
the men who bring such perversion into the churches he founded. The
gospel of Jesus Christ is freedom to mankind. Perfect, complete and
unfettered freedom to live and then to live forever. Our only constraint
now is that we are free to love, and love openly and forever. There is no
Law, only love.
 Paul stresses the importance of the fact that the true gospel is from God and carries God’s
authority and Truth. He addresses the fear of the Galatians that the men infiltrating the
church seemed to carry authority and power. The judaizers were casting fear into the
churches and out of fear men were being turned. Paul emphasizes that God is imminently
more powerful than any man and His authority carries much more weight. “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!” These are strong words, they tell us that it does not matter the
importance of the man or supernatural being appearing to them, there is only one gospel and
it can never be changed. This tells us that we can stand firm on our simple understanding of
the gospel and our own salvation, even in the face of a powerful preacher, an intimidating
church, or well reasoned doctrine. The truth is that the gospel is the gospel and it frees us
from all fear of retribution from God. God will not change His mind, we will not be cast
aside. We are saved and will always be. No man, no creature, can ever change that- and such
a one who tries or who adds to this truth with his own lies is to be accursed.
• Word Study: Accursed 331 ἀνάθεμα [anathema /an·ath·em·ah/] From 394; Six
occurrences; AV translates as “accursed” four times, “anathema” once, and “bind
under a great curse + 332” once. 1 a thing set up or laid by in order to be kept. 1A
specifically, an offering resulting from a vow, which after being consecrated to a god
was hung upon the walls or columns of the temple, or put in some other conspicuous
place. 2 a thing devoted to God without hope of being redeemed, and if an animal, to
be slain; therefore a person or thing doomed to destruction. 2A a curse. 2B a man
accursed, devoted to the direst of woes.2
o Anathema: something laid aside from the beginning in order to be kept for
future use. Anathema is an offering to a god which was hung on the walls or
columns of the temple, or if an animal, slain as an offering. We should never
define a Greek word by its English counterpart which in this case would
certainly be interesting as we understand anathema primarily as someone or
something that is banned or cursed by church authority (Merriam-Webster’s
Collegiate Dictionary-Eleventh Edition). But we might be able to understand a
little of God’s grand plan of Creation through this one word. In God’s creation
of man He allowed evil to manifest itself in our souls. As such we are sinners
by nature and in great need of help from God if we are to hope for salvation
eternally. This hope comes through the manifestation of a great good to
creation in Jesus Christ who is our salvation. We were born anathema, set
apart for God. We live as anathema, we are offerings to Him now, through
Jesus, offerings of love and worship. Others, however, also anathema, remain
as objects of destruction, offerings to be burned upon God’s altar.
A
2
4
 Paul calls himself a bond-servant of Christ. The implication is that we ought to be the same.
We are not servants of other men, nor are we servants of the leaders of our churches. Paul’s
duty and allegiance, and ours also, is to God from whom we have received all that we
possess. If we were to pervert our allegiance by serving men than we would no longer be
what God has made us, His bond-servants.
• Word Study: Bond-servant 1401 δοῦλοσ1, δοῦλοσ2 [doulos /doo·los/] From 1210;
125 occurrences; AV translates as “servant” 118 times, “bond” six times, and
“bondman” once. 1 a slave, bondman, man of servile condition. 1A a slave. 1B
metaph., one who gives himself up to another’s will those whose service is used by
Christ in extending and advancing His cause among men. 1C devoted to another to the
disregard of one’s own interests. 2 a servant, attendant.3
o As bond-servants then we are in effect the slaves of our master, Jesus.
Imagine, rejoicing in being a slave! But we have a master unlike any other, we
have a Lord and Saviour, whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light
(Matthew 11:30). Our mission, given by God, is to put aside our interests and
our wills in order to serve His interest and His will. This is difficult for us and
we might wonder at the zeal and voracity of a man like Paul whose entire life
was taken over by his service to Christ. The judaizers were subverting this
purpose in themselves and in others. They cast aside their bondage to Christ,
if they ever had it, and substituted their own interests and purposes for the
churches of Galatia.
II. Personal: Defense of Paul’s Apostleship (1:11–2:21)
 In this next section of the letter Paul defends his apostleship (authority to preach the
gospel). I like the way that Mr. Wallace has outlined this letter. He gives us three main areas
of the letter to consider and each area is a defense given by Paul to his readers of his
teaching. Paul first defends his own authority to teach this gospel based on his divine
appointment and compares his authority to the mere authority of the men who are disrupting
the churches. Paul then defends the teaching that salvation is based on nothing more than
faith in the One who makes it available. In doing so Paul destroys the work of the judaizers
and their doctrine of circumcision, days, and celebrations. Lastly, Paul defends the freedom
of the believer in Christ and illustrates the slavery they would find were they to return to seek
salvation through acts of the flesh in the Law.
a. Received by Revelation (1:11-12)
• Paul iterates what he wrote at the start of his greeting, that he did not receive the
gospel that he preaches from man nor was he taught it by any man nor did it
originate from any authority of men. The gospel that Paul brought to the
Galatians, in which they believed, he declares as having come directly from God
through the Son, Jesus Christ, in a revelation. This revelation came when Paul
was still called Saul and was on his way to Damascus to round up as many
Christian Jews as he could find in order to bring them bound to Jerusalem where
they would be tried for blasphemy against God. Paul describes himself as a zealot
who persecuted believers in the name of God. It was this man who received the
revelation. This man, who was turned from his zealous pursuit of God through the
only means he had ever known, was completely turned and converted into the
apostle of God that was responsible for planting and teaching churches all over
Asia.
A
3
5
• Paul’s conversion experience is recorded for us in Acts 9. Again, Paul was a
leading figure in the religious establishment of Jerusalem. He was also an
intimidating figure; by his own account, he was surpassing his brothers in the
traditions of his ‘ancestors.’ His conversion experience is about as dramatic as
one would expect. He was on the road, traveling with other men, to a foreign city,
on a mission of death to the ‘blasphemous’ Jews who had accepted the ‘false’
Messiah, Jesus, as their Lord. He felt he was doing nothing less than defending
God’s holiness and the sanctity of His religion. He was keeping his faith pure
from the Jews who were infiltrating the temple and spreading a doctrine that was
evil. And he was working to prevent Gentiles from being attached to his faith; he
believed that the Law clearly excluded Gentiles from communion with Jews
unless they too adopted the entirety of the Law. But on this journey, Jesus had
determined it time to enact what was long in the making for Saul of Tarsus. Jesus
appeared to Saul in a blinding flash of light and spoke to him, identifying Himself
as “Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” Paul was blinded by the vision, by the
appearance of Jesus, and must have been considerably shaken to have been caught
in such a compromising position. He had been captured himself doing exactly the
thing that he was accusing the Christian Jews of doing, destroying the faith. He
was taken into the city to a man who ministered to this dangerous Jew from
Jerusalem. He ate nothing for three days. He did not regain his sight in that time
either. But when he was finally restored he arose, ate, and was baptized; and the
apostle Paul began his mighty work for God, but this time on the side of right, the
side of Jesus.
• Paul writes in his other letters of his now shameful background. He writes, as he
does here, that he was a man who excelled in his practice of religion. He describes
himself as zealous, as successful, and as a man who was fast surpassing the
attempts of his contemporaries in following the Law of God. But for all of that
Paul counts his past as rubbish, as lost to him now, because it was useless and in
vain. Saul was an extremely powerful, sincere, and zealous follower of God, but
he completely misunderstood the call of God and the will of God as it related to
life in Him and in love for His children. Paul, on the other hand, was a new
creation in Jesus Christ, and was specially chosen to rework all that he had tried to
destroy. When the time was right, Paul was given the revelation of the gospel that
said all men were to be welcomed into the kingdom of God. Paul, thus converted,
used the very same power and zeal that he was born with to preach the kingdom
of God in Jesus Christ as he had once used to destroy it.
o Ephesians 3:3-7 "that by revelation there was made known to me the
mystery, as I wrote before in brief. By referring to this, when you read you
can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other
generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been
revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that
the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow
partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was
made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me
according to the working of His power."
o Philippians 3:4-7 "although I myself might have confidence even in the
flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more:
circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a
Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the
church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But
6
whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the
sake of Christ."
o Paul must have had to defend his authority many times over the course of
his lifetime as a Christian apostle, just as he had to do here to the Galatians.
Paul used his own past arrogance and foolishly misplaced zeal as his primary
argument against the Law and trying to live by it. Paul knew from experience
that life by the Law was no life but death. His entire authority depended on his
own conversion from Pharisee to Christian and in the extent to which it would
be believed. Paul’s life must have been terribly bittersweet. He had moments
of great joy and success as he saw the churches grow and flourish. But he
must have had periods of great despair as he saw his work under attack by the
evil one and saw the attacks bearing awful fruit. His character was maligned
and his authority questioned, but through it all Paul persevered and finished
his race well. We would do well to understand that life in Christ may have
more to do with suffering and despair than it does with peace and joy.
 Acts 9:16 "for I will show him how much he must suffer for My
name’s sake.”"
• Word Study: Revelation 602 ἀποκάλυψις
[apokalupsis /ap·ok·al·oop·sis/] From 601; 18 occurrences; AV translates as
“revelation” 12 times, “be revealed” twice, “to lighten + 1519” once,
“manifestation” once, “coming” once, and “appearing” once. 1 a laying bare,
making naked. 2 a disclosure of truth, instruction. 2A concerning things before
unknown. 2B used of events by which things or states or persons hitherto
withdrawn from view are made visible to all. 3 manifestation, appearance.4
o Those who receive revelation, receive something that has been hidden
from view or mind. Paul initially received a vision of the Kingdom of God
and was shown that the kingdom was given to all men, both Jew and Gentile.
From that point on he became a super apostle to the Gentiles, a man bent on
preaching this long hidden truth to the entire world and on ensuring that this
gospel would continue to be preached in its complete and unadulterated form.
o How is this gospel preached today? Does it remain unadulterated or does
the freedom of the gospel and the authority of the messenger continue to be
questioned?
• Further revelations given to Paul are not recorded in full, but they are alluded to in
others of Paul’s letters:
o 2 Corinthians 12:1 " Boasting is necessary, though it is not profitable; but
I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord."
 Paul goes on to say that he was taken up to the “third heaven” and
into “Paradise” where he heard “inexpressible words which a
man is not permitted to speak.” (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) Once again
Paul seems to be defending his authority from God. But here he
stresses his own weakness. He is not pushing his favor from God
upon the churches but reminding them that boasting in works and
deeds and accomplishments is ultimately purposeless. Paul boasts
only in Jesus Christ.
A
4
7
o Galatians 2:2 "It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I
submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so
in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or
had run, in vain."
 Paul goes to Jerusalem a second time in order to meet with the
apostles there. He had not gone since his first visit when he got
acquainted with Peter and only goes now because of the
instructions received in a revelation from God. Paul uses this lack
of need to present himself to them as further proof of his divine
authority to preach that relied on no man or group of men for
permission or support.
o It appears that Paul was regularly receiving revelation from God. These
revelations contained visions of the kingdom, details of the gospel, messages
for the people, and instructions for himself. Paul was a man whose life was
ordered to a large extent by these visions. They were his seal of authority.
They were all that he needed in order to proceed with the conviction of an
apostle into an unbelieving and hostile world
 We have the bible prepared and given to us. It contains the fruits
of Paul’s struggles and his labors for us. It is our revelation from
God. Do we use it with the same conviction and see it as our stamp
of authority to enter an evil and hurtful world to preach the gospel
and offer salvation to it?
b. Independent of Jerusalem Apostles (1:13–2:21)
• In this next section of the letter Paul is stressing that his
work as an apostle was not confirmed by the authority of men nor did he seek out
any such confirmation. His past zealousness and persecution of the Christians was
well known by all, his conversion was lesser known, and still he did not seek
approval from the original apostles of Jesus but instead took his authority to
preach directly from Jesus as they had and proceeded as if an equal to them. In
this section Paul demonstrates this point in several ways.
i. Demonstrated by Paul’s Conversion and Early Years as a Christian (1:13-17)
• Paul’s makes a point to tell his readers that after his conversion experience
and receiving of the revelation he did not return to Jerusalem for confirmation but
was convicted enough in the truth/ veracity of his experience to immediately
travel to Arabia for a time and begin his work, and then return to Damascus.
• It is ironic that Saul, the persecutor of the Christians, was working so
zealously to disinfect Judaism from the perverted doctrine of the Messiah and
then after his conversion he is working just as zealously to disinfect the Christian
churches from the perverted doctrine of the Jews. Saul, now Paul, was completely
changed and began to do the very thing that he had worked so hard to undo. He
says as much in a later argument in this letter:
o Galatians 2:18"“For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself
to be a transgressor."
 He knows just how wrong he was and he laments
it often in his letters. It is more than ironic, it is an undeniable truth
that there is no truth beyond that given to us through Jesus Christ
our Lord.
ii. Demonstrated by Paul’s First Post-Conversion Visit to Jerusalem (1:18-24)
• It was three years before Paul made his
way back to Jerusalem. Think about that for a moment. Three years Paul spent
8
traveling in Asia, preaching the word, teaching new believers, and establishing
church communities. Apparently he had little contact with the Jewish Christians
in Judea and no contact with the apostles of Jesus in Jerusalem. After three years
Paul made his way to Jerusalem and met privately with Cephas and James. He
spoke to no other apostles; there was no committee established to vet Paul as
suitable doctrinally to preach the word of Jesus Christ. This is a strong argument
in favor of Paul’s personal conviction about his revelation. Paul was confident in
the gospel he had received and knew that it was to the Gentiles that he must
deliver it. The original apostles stayed in Judea and taught the Jews; Paul
understood his mission as teaching the Gentiles. Three years into his work Paul
finally went to Jerusalem to meet with the leader(s) of that community.
o This meeting also speaks of the
integrity of the two leaders of the church in Jerusalem. We do not read that
there was any difficulty between the two (Paul and the other two apostles).
We do not read that they attempted to limit his preaching or to control it in
some fashion. They did not question the truth of the gospel’s availability to all
men, Gentile included. We do get the sense that Paul was not overly fond of
the apostles in Jerusalem- his later statement about their being pillars of the
church and not being impressed by that could be read as animosity toward
them. But we could also understand that Paul is attempting to demonstrate his
authority from Christ to teach the gospel. He is attempting to show that the
truth of the gospel depends on no man for authority. He was attempting to
return the Galatians to a sound faith- one that did not depend on image,
personality, or position.
o Peter and James also understood
the truth of the gospel- remember that Peter too received a revelation that the
kingdom was open to all men, Gentile included. It shows the integrity of these
men that they did not waver in the face of the evolution of the church in the
world. They did not try to control it or to remain in complete power over it.
They welcomed Paul as a brother and fellow apostle.
 How well do we maintain
this same integrity when faced with the evolution of our
communities, threats to our own power base, and the introduction
of new understanding about the truth of the gospel? Not very well,
I fear. Unity is the key to the success of the church in the world.
But all too often the church splits amongst itself and then has no
solid foundation from which to defend itself from the evil in the
world or to advance the gospel into that evil.
• After this meeting Paul then returned to
Asia, spreading the gospel to the regions around Syria and Cilicia. He stresses that
he did not make himself known to the other leaders nor to the other churches in
Judea. These believers, spread throughout the region of Judea knew who Saul
was, they remembered his terrible persecution, they remembered the stonings and
the flight they were forced to take at his advance. But Paul, they did not know-
they only knew that somehow the man Saul was one and the same with the man
Paul, and they glorified God because of him. How wonderful that is, to recognize
that a life can be changed in Christ and to trust the power of God to work such a
change. Paul’s life is a presentation and proof of the gospel itself- that man, who
was dead in sin and a transgressor of great magnitude, can be completely forgiven
9
and restored to life in the Messiah. God is great, God is powerful, and God’s word
is True!
iii. Confirmed by the Jerusalem Apostles (2:1-10)
• In this next section Paul defends his independent authority by relating to his
readers his next experience with the Jerusalem church. It was fourteen years
before the hard working Paul made it back to Jerusalem. We have an ambiguous
statement from Paul stating that it was a revelation that caused him to travel to
Jerusalem but that he went “for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.”
There is no way to understand with certainty what Paul was meaning when he
wrote this but it seems implausible that Paul was doubting his authority to preach
or his understanding of the gospel and went back to the leaders of the Jerusalem
church in order to regain his convictions. Paul may have suffered doubt, I think all
believers suffer doubt; it is part and parcel with the Christian experience and the
temptation of the evil one. In this letter however, in this passage in particular,
Paul is defending his authority and the truth of his personally revealed gospel and
that his gospel is no different than what the original twelve received from the
Lord. It does not seem probable that he would express his doubt about twenty
years of work in this letter. It seems more probable to consider that he was
concerned for the veracity which the gospel was being upheld in Jerusalem by the
pillars of that community.
o Paul, in his other letters affirms that he had not run in vain, but had been
successful in the work that Jesus had given him to do. He writes as a man with
little regret but with satisfaction in what he had done and in the reward he was
sure to receive:
 2 Timothy 4:6-8 "For I am already being poured out as a
drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have
fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the
faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to
me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved
His appearing."
 Philippians 2:16 "holding fast the word of life, so that in
the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run
in vain nor toil in vain."
• How can we hold to such conviction? It must be in holding
onto the fact that Jesus Christ is our only hope- if we do not
have Him, if we do not believe everything that He said and
build our lives solely upon that foundation, then we will
have nothing. If we do as Paul did, we keep hold of a great
hope. If we turn from it or doubt it, and let other truths into
our lives to disrupt them, then we have no faith left in
which to hope. Christ is an all or nothing proposition. We
must live for Him and die to self.
• He (and Barnabas) went “up again” in private to meet with “those who were
of reputation,” taking Titus along with him. He was met by a church which had
been infiltrated by “false brethren” who had gone there to “spy out” their (Paul
and Barnabas and Titus’) liberty in Christ. Paul is telling us in this letter that the
same problem they were facing in Galatia with the judaizers had happened before,
and had happened in the ‘highest’ church in the land. This might be what Paul
means by his fear of running in vain. He was afraid that all of his work would
10
suffer from the fall of Jerusalem and the leaders there by the same false teaching
that threatened to destroy the Galatian churches at the time of his writing.
1. The Treatment of Titus (2:1-5)
• During this visit the false brethren were apparently attempting to
maintain an adherence to the Law in their worship in the believing church
of Jerusalem and most likely Judea. Being Jews by birth they were
accustomed to the ritual traditions of their faith and it must have been
extremely difficult to understand that in Jesus Christ the Law was
nullified, that freedom in the Messiah meant a literal freedom from
compulsory ritual such as circumcision. These brethren apparently tried to
force Titus to become circumcised and we can imagine the pressure
brought to bear upon Titus and others of Gentile birth who wanted to gain
admission into the religion of the Jews. Their consciences would have
been pricked with the accusation that they were not obedient to the God of
the Scriptures who clearly stated that certain rituals, such as circumcision,
were required of the believer and follower of Him. Jewish believers
likewise would have been tempted with the blessing of adherence to God’s
Law. We can imagine how easy it would be to rely on a lifelong, centuries
old, tradition of worship. And we can imagine how difficult it would be to
discard the importance of such tradition and to tempt the wrath of God by
neglecting it.
• Paul does not bend to this will of the false brethren who were
infecting the Galatian churches. He calls them out by name in this letter
and we can assume that he, Barnabas, and Titus did the same in person
those years before. Titus did not allow himself to waver and resisted the
compelling arguments and fear casting of these men. He, and his brothers
in Christ, Paul and Barnabas, remained true to the freedom of the gospel
and braved expulsion from fellowship with the believers in Judea and the
loss of their ministry in order to defend the gospel.
• Imagine the pressure they faced in returning to Jerusalem in such a
public manner after so many years, and facing a church that had changed
so drastically in those years since that last visit. Imagine being Titus, an
uncircumcised Gentile, who presents himself as an equal participator in
the kingdom of the chosen ones. In his letter to the Galatians Paul is
stressing that he did not waver, nor did the man who went with him, and
neither should they in their churches in the face of such evil opposition
from men who appear to be holders of position, sent from even more
important persons in the center city of their faith. Paul reminds them, and
us, that the center of the faith does not originate on the earth nor among
men, it is with God in His Son, Jesus Christ.
2. The Approval of Paul (2:6-10)
• This is the confirmation that Paul received. He hazarded the stares
and the confrontation from those in Jerusalem. And we must remember
that he submitted himself to that confrontation willingly (at the command
of the Lord) after many, many years of working among the
‘uncircumcised.’
• This is also an indication that the leaders in Judea had not been
taken in by the false brethren’s addiction to the Law. They had not
succumbed to the pressure that many in the churches had. They saw in
Paul and Barnabas the hand of God and the mark of apostle. They
11
recognized that these men were true believers and missionaries sent by
God to spread the word of the gospel and to baptize in the name of Jesus
Christ.
• Paul refers to the men in Jerusalem as “of high reputation” and as
“pillars” of the faith. They were in truth the original apostles and for that
they deserve distinction. But Paul is not concerned here with
distinguishing among men and their accomplishments. Paul is concerned
with the basic truth of the gospel and is bent on defending it against such
distinguish-ments. He does not want to recognize the authority of man,
even God given authority. He only wants to acknowledge the authority of
the gospel and the duty he has, as these other men also have, of spreading
it in the fullness of its truth. Paul says that these men contributed nothing
to his work or to his gospel and that is because his gospel is true and in
need of no further contribution. What the judaizers were doing was adding
to it with Law, fear, and their own pride. This is a great sin and Paul is
determined to root it out and will stand up to any, even the pillars of the
church and the Rock of the faith himself.
 Revelation 22:18 "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the
prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him
the plagues which are written in this book;"
• I am taking this passage out of context but I do so because
it illustrates the intensity which the word of God must be
handled. To add to God’s spoken word is to change it and
to doubt Him. To do so is akin to challenging His authority
which is something that God will not tolerate.
• Peter contributed nothing to Paul’s work or his
gospel because it was the same as his own, it was the gospel of Christ.
Peter recognized that Paul was given the work of an apostle to the
Gentiles. He knew that the kingdom was open to all mankind, of any
nation, because he himself received this truth by revelation also. Paul tells
us that his work was given by God who also gave Peter his own. Again,
the point to be remembered is that it is not by the hand of man that the
gospel was penned or spread, but by God alone.
 Acts 10:34-35 "Opening his mouth, Peter
said: “I most certainly understand now that God is not one to
show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and
does what is right is welcome to Him."
• Peter says this after baptizing the centurion,
Cornelius. He was sent to Cornelius after receiving the
vision of the sheet and the unclean food that he was told to
eat. The people who went with him saw that the Holy Spirit
had been given to the Gentiles and Scripture describes them
as amazed. God indeed did not intend for the Jews to be the
only part of his creation of man to be blessed with His holy
presence. God wants all men who fear Him and who do
right to come into His presence. And here is the essence of
the gospel- He welcomes such men and women. He calls
them; He paves the way for them with bricks soaked in his
Son’s blood, and He stands ready to accept and to welcome
all who will respond in kind! How blessed we are to have
12
the love of God. How blessed we are to be chosen and not
hired! The judaizer of Paul’s day and the legalist of our
own would have us believe that we must conform to
regulation and earn the love of God, or at the least, we
work for it dutifully. But it is a lie! We are given it; it is a
gift! And the gift must not be forgotten, or diminished, but
must stand forever in its simple truth.
• Peter, James, and John accepted Paul as apostle.
They extended to him the “right hand of fellowship.” They included him in
the ministry. They believed his word. They made him a partner. They
welcomed him as fellow believer, brother, and apostle. They honored God, by
lowering themselves. Paul does not praise them for this because he is intent of
diminishing the contribution of these men, presumable because the infiltrators
in Galatia were claiming authority because they were sent from Jerusalem or
Judean churches. No man can send an apostle. Only God anoints and sends.
And God sent Paul.
 But I would comment on the integrity of
these men. The judaizer and the false brethren in Jerusalem had
lost theirs when they attempted to gather power based on the word
of the gospel. The Pharisees of Jesus’ time had done the same
when they forfeited truth in order to continue to accrue wealth and
status from their positions as leaders and shepherds.
 To these “pillars” credit they did not hold on
to the past in order to remain “pillars.” They gave up their sole
proprietorship of the spread of the church in order to welcome the
new working of God in the lives of the Gentiles.
 A question for us- Do we subvert the work
of God in the church and in the world because we refuse to
welcome His new activity? If these men had rejected Paul, what
would have been the result for Galatia; for us?
iv. Illustrated by Paul’s Rebuke of Peter (2:11-21)
• Paul confirms what he has stated with an example of his
interaction with Peter, the reputed “pillar” of the faith. The interchange that
occurred between Paul and Peter shows us just how convicted Paul was in his
beliefs about the faith and the gospel. He did not back down in the face of even
the highest of human authority. When it came to defending the truth of the gospel
Paul was no respecter of persons. And as Paul and Peter have both said, God
Himself is no respecter of persons. The gospel is the gospel and no matter who
attempts to pervert it, be they man or angel, it will remain the gospel. Paul is sure
of this point.
a. Peter’s Hypocrisy (2:11-13)
 This is a straightforward example. Peter, visiting gentile brothers
in Antioch, had established the custom of eating at the table with
them. But, when other brothers came, those brothers of the “party
of the circumcision,” Peter began to withdraw and presumably ate
only with his Jewish brothers. The implication here is that the
visiting Jews felt it to be unclean to eat with uncircumcised men
and Peter cowered before them and changed his behavior to suit
them. Paul describes him as afraid of this party of Jews, afraid
enough to forgo his convictions and to abide by theirs.
13
 Peter was afraid of men who appeared to have strength and
authority and he gave up his own integrity in order to please them
and/or to prevent them from causing him trouble. Because of his
fear and his actions even Barnabas, whom Paul describes as so
strong before, was carried away too, and lost his integrity.
b. Paul’s Rebuke (2:14)
 Paul sounds just as we do when we regale others of our victories
or our successes. He says in effect, “I told him to his face that I
thought he was wrong!” We can imagine the Galatian believers
being surprised by this, by Paul’s audacity. But Paul is not deterred
by the power of men and has made it clear that he answers to no
man except God be moving that man. God alone is Paul’s authority
and God clearly told Paul what the truth of the gospel was. The
gospel was for all men and in that gospel there is no room for
favoritism or elitism. Even should one as strong as Peter tell him
different, the gospel must be adhered to. So Paul told Peter off, in
the presence of all the others. He said, how can you do such a thing
Peter? You know that the gospel has set you free from the Law and
has made all men brothers in Jesus Christ! Do not pretend
otherwise, do not be a hypocrite, and do not pervert the gospel!
c. The Principle Involved (2:15-21)
 Apparently there is disagreement as to whether these next words
are a continuation of the direct quote of verse 14. Are these next
verses part of the rebuke of Peter, or is Paul now addressing the
Galatians? Interesting conjecture but ultimately I can’t see it
making much difference either way. Paul’s statement still stands,
as it did for Peter, as it did for the Galatians, and as it does for us
today.
 Paul and Peter, and their Jewish brothers shared the joy of being
born members of the chosen people of God. They were not
“sinners from among the Gentiles” and doomed to damnation
according to the Law. Paul shouts to Peter, the Galatians, and to us
that we KNOW that we are not saved/ justified because of the Law
or our adherence to it but because of our faith in Jesus Christ and
His death for us and the Father’s raising Him from the dead again.
We KNOW that the Law does not justify any mortal man- but that
only faith can justify. The question stands- How is it then that you
try to live as a Jew; as a follower of the Law? It makes no sense,
and your pattern of behavior must be changed to match your belief.
 In calling the Gentiles sinners Paul is not distancing himself from
his part in their same sin. He knows that no man is justified by
works of the Law but only by faith in Christ, and therefore even
the chosen of God need Jesus Christ who fulfilled the Law for all
mankind. In verse 17 Paul makes the statement that through
seeking Christ he has been found a sinner. The next verse seems to
reference his persecution of the saints in his zeal to protect the Law
of God and the Jewish religion. Paul understands, through his
conversion to Christ that he is a sinner, even in all of his works of
Law for God. He now pursues the very thing that he once tried so
hard to destroy and that only proves his transgression all the more.
14
It was through his zeal to do works of the Law that Paul was met
by Christ who showed him the truth of the gospel. I think that this
is what Paul means in verse 19 when he says, “through the Law I
died to the Law, so that I might live to God.” The Law served no
other purpose but to show his sin, and to lead him to Christ. The
Law is now nothing, but life in Christ is everything. Life living for
Jesus, who gave Himself up for Paul and for us, is now everything.
 “Is Christ a minister of sin?” “Do I nullify the grace of God?” I
think Paul is calling Christ the grace of God here. In these
rhetorical questions; he is asking if being found a sinner equates to
Christ being purposeless or worse yet a failure of God. May it
never be! The Law shows sin, in the Gentile and in the believer.
Jesus Christ shows damnation of such sinners through that Law but
He shows life through Himself. He is their grace and the grace of
God extends to all sinners who will receive Him. Anything else,
any other doctrine or addition to that gospel would be to nullify the
truth of Jesus Christ and the meaning of His death for us.
 Matthew Henry: “"For,’’ says he (v. 18), "if I build again the
things which I destroyed—if I (or any other), who have taught that
the observance of the Mosaic law is not necessary to justification,
should now, by word or practice, teach or intimate that it is
necessary—I make myself a transgressor; I own myself to be still
an impure sinner, and to remain under the guilt of sin,
notwithstanding my faith in Christ; or I shall be liable to be
charged with deceit and prevarication, and acting inconsistently
with myself.’’”5
• Matthew Henry has it better than I- He ties Paul’s
words back to Peter’s actions. Peter was building again
what was destroyed- he was utilizing the Law again to
make believers of Christ conform- he was building again
what Jesus had destroyed. In doing so Peter was showing
his own sin and he was making Christ out to be a sinner too
and that can never be!
III. Doctrinal: Defense of Justification by Faith (3:1–4:31)
 This entire chapter builds on the idea that faith is the key to
justification and righteousness. The Law is exposed as merely the binder between God’s
children and their overseer. The Law had no other purpose than to define transgression and to
“shut up” God’s children under sin until the time would come when righteousness by faith
would be revealed in God’s Son Jesus Christ.
 In this chapter Paul uses Abraham, the father of our faith, as an
example of the believer and worshiper of God who bases his life and actions upon faith and
not his own ability to conform to the Law. The chapter begins and ends with Abraham, who
came hundreds of years before the Law was written.
a. Vindication of Justification by Faith (3:1-18)
• This entire letter is a defense of the gospel of Jesus
Christ which Paul unabashedly lifts up and proclaims to the entire world. He is
not ashamed of this gospel and he vehemently defends it here. In the first two
chapters Paul carefully laid out a defense of his apostleship and his understanding
Henry, Matthew: Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible : Complete and Unabridged in One
5
Volume. Peabody : Hendrickson, 1996, c1991, S. Ga 2:11

15
of the importance of the gospel. Here in these next chapters Paul will, just as
carefully, lay out his defense of his doctrine of justification by faith. He knows
these Galatians and he knows their testimony. They came to Jesus Christ and to
their faith by believing the word that was spoken to them concerning Him. Paul
now asks them how it is that they can justify their new belief that something other
than belief, such as the acts demanded done by the ‘judaizers,’ would justify them
more completely or more fully than Jesus Christ already had done. He calls them
fools for diminishing both the gospel and their own faith and understanding of it.
1. The Experience of the Galatians (3:1 -5)
• Paul asks the Galatians how it is that they came to
faith. He does this to remind them, to help them remember their
beginnings as Christians. He does this to make them see that their faith
was not delivered to them by works of Law or by initiation into rites and
such; their faith came when they received the Spirit upon hearing of the
crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord. It was their hearing
of the gospel, the full intent and truth of that sacrifice of the Father for
their very souls, combined with their faith or belief that what was told to
them about it was true, which brought the Spirit into their lives and
converted them from doomed sinners to blessed saints of God. Paul asks
them- Having begun with faith, why do you now attempt to finish with
works?
• This is a big deal to Paul- that the Galatians would
attempt to bolster their salvation with the addition of works. The Galatians
were not questioning the salvation that Jesus brought. They did not
question that He was the Son of God. They did not question that He was
the way to the Father. The Galatians were in error because they were
allowing the Jews who infiltrated their fellowship to convince them that
more was needed for their salvation than Jesus alone. Paul reacts VERY
strongly to this. It is of the utmost importance that his disciples and his
churches understand and act on the fact that that Jesus Christ’s death and
resurrection supplied all of the necessary elements of the requirements set
by the Father for admission into His heaven.
o It is startling to realize that in the church today we are not
as concerned as Paul was about our understanding of the gospel. It
strikes me that our error is possibly even more grievous as our
division occurs not so much in the adding of works to the finished
work of Jesus but in not holding our salvation in high enough
esteem. We are not attempting to ensure salvation by trying harder
to be worthy; we are apathetically allowing the appreciation of our
salvation to disappear altogether. What would Paul say to the
church that we inhabit? Would he be pleased at a fellowship of
believers that cares so little for the grace of God and the sacrifice
of His Son but are more interested in their own lives and personal
pursuits and see their Savior as merely an instrument toward
gaining their own happiness? Would Paul recognize a church
where its members seek to be pleased and comforted more than
they seek to love and worship their God?
o I think that Paul would strike out even more harshly at our
faith and our efforts because we care so little for the gospel that he
cared so deeply about. I believe that we have lost the kernel of
16
truth that Paul was upholding here; that faith in Jesus Christ is
understanding what the gospel is. The Gospel is not the beginning
of faith, it IS faith. The gospel is the truth of creation, it is the love
of God, it is the end game for all of humanity and it is crucial that
we understand its importance. It is the elemental truth that governs
our lives. We are saved sinners; saved from destruction that we
surely deserve due to the sins of our flesh and the sins of our
fathers. We live by the grace of God who GAVE us life, not
because He had to but because He wanted to. And such a truth
ought not be diminished by power hungry sectarians, such as the
judaizers in Paul’s time, or by the apathetic and selfish believers of
our time.
• Paul’s question rings loud and clear to the Galatians. They
were saved by the Spirit of God when they responded to the gospel with
faith. Paul asks them, Having begun by the Spirit why do you now try to
finish with works of the flesh? It makes no sense and Paul calls them
foolish. Paul reminds them, with a rhetorical question, that God saved
them through His Spirit and worked miracles among them by that same
Spirit; did God do these things because of their adherence to the Law or
because of their hearing with faith? The unrecorded answer is a definitive
‘because of hearing with faith.’ Paul’s next words address this truth using
Abraham as the ultimate example.
2. The Example of Abraham (3:6-14)
1. The Faith of Abraham (3:6-9)
o Galatians 3:6 (NASB95) Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS
RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS. The NASB note offers “Just as” as an
alternative beginning to this verse. Just as Abraham believed God be
sure that it is only those who believe like him who are saved (who are
sons of Abraham). And God, who saw/ sees all things clearly before
and after-hand “preached the gospel to Abraham,” saying that “all
nations will be blessed” through him. Paul reminds his readers that it
is this very gospel that he so vehemently defends against the false
teachers that God Himself declared to the first of His specially chosen
sons, Abraham. This very same gospel is the basic and fundamentally
unchanging truth that men are saved by God and welcomed into His
arms by their simple and unadulterated belief in His good Name.
Abraham heard the word of the Lord and obeyed. Abraham accepted
what he heard and set out from his homeland and rested on the
promises of God. Abraham believed God, that He would deliver unto
him a new land and a new life of prosperity for his descendants. And
because of this belief, that God would do what God said he would do,
it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
o For the first time (ever?) righteousness was declared not on the
basis of a life lived honorably and honestly but on a condition of heart
and an alignment of that heart to the heart of God. Paul teaches that
just as Abraham believed, so can we, and so we have. It is because of
our hearing the word of the Lord and responding with belief that it is
credited to our accounts as righteousness. We too, because of our faith
are sons of Abraham.
2. The Curse of the Law (3:10-12)
17
o Conversely, the Law stands in opposition to Faith. The Law sets a
standard of expectation and then judges how well or poorly man meets
them. The Law is merely a watchdog waiting to strike out at the merest
of transgressions. Paul reminds his readers that Scripture itself says,
“CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK
OF THE LAW.”
• Any who attempt to “practice” the standard of the Law
must then live his life bound to those standards. We know
from Scripture that no man can do this successfully. Each
and every man is unrighteous, there has not been nor will
there ever be even one man who could ever claim
righteousness for himself, except our Lord Jesus Christ. For
the Law was not given to man in order to help him to do
such a thing. It was given because of the sinfulness of man
in order to illustrate for man just how unrighteous he is in
his natural and unaided state. The flesh of man is inherently
sinful and no amount of work or ritual could ever erase that
stain. The Law set the standard for holiness and offered a
picture of the standard of holiness set in heaven by God
Himself. However, that picture was only a shadow drawing
of the glory that God intends for His children to experience.
What is so harmful about the acts of the ‘judaizers’ and
those who even today cling to the idea that God demands
certain acts of holiness in addition to the final act He
Himself gave the entire world, is that they teach that
holiness is attainable. Because the Law is written and
recorded the ‘judaizers’ and the Pharisees believed that
they could adhere to it flawlessly. They were arrogant
enough and deceived enough to believe that they could
handle the Law. There are Jews today who still attempt to
abide by each and every tenet of the Old Testament Law in
the mistaken notion that in doing so they are pleasing the
Lord. Paul shouts to the men of his own day and the men in
ours, “Stop!” The Law is a curse, it is a dead weight
chained to the ankles of every man who attempts to pick it
up and use it. The curse of mankind is the very Law that
shows them just how holy they to be. And it is that curse
that will separate man from God forever.
3. The Curse on Christ (3:13)
o But Paul offers us hope for he writes, “the righteous
man shall live by faith,” and not by the Law. Just as Abraham
believed, so did the Galatians when they first heard the word of God,
His gospel. And that word contained the truth of the death and
resurrection of God’s only Son, Jesus, our Christ, who took away the
sin of the entire world in one glorious act of self sacrifice.
4. The Blessing of Abraham (3:14)
o Jesus, became accursed of men; He was cursed by the
bearers of the tradition of God and His own specially chosen children.
Jesus Christ was the blessing that was promised to Abraham, who so
18
meekly believed and obeyed, and through the curse of Jesus’ death, we
who also believe inherit the promises of God.
3. The Permanence of the Promise (3:15-18)
1. The Promise Given to Abraham’s Seed, Christ (3:15-16)
o The promise given to Abraham has the strength of a
covenant, but not merely a covenant among men, which is strong and
unalterable. This covenant has the guarantee of the covenant maker,
who is God, Himself. A covenant made between men stands on its
own merits and its conditions are understood by all who have partaken
in it. Likewise, a covenant drafted and enacted by God will stand on its
own merits, as they are incredibly superior to any earthly counterpart.
o Here we also glimpse the two-fold nature of scripture as
it bounces between the immediate fulfillment of its Word and the
secondary and more important future fulfillment of it. Paul instructs us
that the promise given to Abraham concerned not his ‘seeds’ but his
‘seed.’ The singular seed that was/is to come is Jesus Christ. It is to
this seed that the promise will have its fullest realization. Just as
Abraham believed and his seed became numerous across the land of
Palestine, the seed that is Jesus Christ that came so many years later
will see his descendants as numerous as those spoken of in the
promise. The children of Abraham are not only the physical
descendants of that great patriarch but are the descendants of his
founding faith in the Word of God. The children of Abraham are the
children of God, those who believe in the promise and who act on that
belief in faith.
2. The Law’s Irrelevance for the Promise (3:17-18)
o Paul notes for us that the covenant came first and the
Law not until 430 years later. His point is a simple one: If the promise
of salvation through nothing more than faith came first, and that from
the mouth of God Almighty, then how could adherence to the Law, a
new Law at that, make any changes upon said promise? The Promise
came first and therefore it is the promise that is valid and is meant to
be looked to for salvation.
ii. Purpose of the Law (3:19–4:7)
1. Its Temporary Nature (3:19-25)
• Here we begin to glimpse the incredible complexity of God’s
creation and his everlasting work of redemption. By this I mean that we
see into the pages of the time that it took and is taking for His perfect
plans to come to fruition. It would be very easy to explain the love of God
and His manner of showing us that love if everything that He did was in
the present and lasted only for brief moments. It would be easy to
understand our place in His kingdom if He simply came and plucked us
from the earth and took us home with Him at once. But we live in a
dynamic creation that is very old and the history of mankind is wound up
so very tightly in the working of God that it is hard to get a clear picture of
what He has done and what He is doing. The question Paul is asking us
rhetorically is, “Why did God bring this Law if faith like Abraham’s was
sufficient?” The answer, I believe, lies in reality of the years spanning the
distance from the creation of Adam to the calling of Abraham. It lies in the
distance from the calling of Abraham, his trust in that call, and the adding
19
of the Law. It lies in the distance from the giving of the Law through
Moses to the coming of the Christ and the ultimate salvation of mankind
through his sacrifice. And it lies in the distance between us, the saved
Gentiles and Jews alike who call on Christ for salvation, and the distance
to our ultimate end in His second coming and the new creation. We have
to remind ourselves when we read passages such as this that God’s plans
are long in being carried out. He uses the dynamic nature of life to
construct and execute His works and He has added elements such as the
Law to govern that dynamism until such a time as He was ready for the
next part of His plan to be implemented.
o The Law was given 430 years after Abraham’s belief. It
was given, Paul tells us, because of transgressions. It was given in
order to define transgressions against the Holiness of God and to
instill in man a reverence and awe for that Holiness (Matthew
Henry). Once Abraham had grown into Israel, that is, once the
promise of a son had blossomed into the people of Israel and the
ordeal of Egypt and the wilderness had been passed, the Law was
given to Moses in order to govern His people as they grew and
spread and inhabited the holy land. The Law became for them the
guide that instructed them how to live and to worship and to be
pure in the land that they occupied. But it never replaced the
original promise that all men would be saved by faith first and faith
alone. The Law merely instructed about sin and it pointed to the
incredible need for mankind to be saved by that faith.
o Before the Galatians heard the gospel preached they
were living in sin, in the world; inextricably bound to the world
and their own wickedness. They were, in a very real sense, slaves
to their own lives. They were not their own masters but instead did
the will of their sinful natures. They knew nothing besides the life
they had and had no reason to expect there to be anything else.
With Paul came the dawning of Light into their lives. They could
now see and upon seeing the better way they willingly chose to
accept it. They believed Paul and they believed in their new
Master, Jesus Christ. At that point they were no longer slaves to
their sin but were freed to follow a different way of living. And
their new Master did not call them slaves as they were before but
children, sons and daughters. He loved them and promised them an
eternal home.
o We too, upon hearing, lose the chains of slavery and
move into the ‘muckle hoose’ of our Savior. We are welcomed as
sons and daughters; we are free to love our neighbors and God
without fear. We are no longer under a fearsome master, or under a
Law that only condemns us, but we are children of God and in His
house we will blossom and grow into great men and women of
God.
2. Its Inferior Status (3:26–4:7)
1. Equality in the Body of Christ (3:26-29)
o This is one of my favorite verses in scripture because it makes it
clear that all men are equal in the eyes of God. There is absolutely no
distinction to be made any longer between Jew and Greek as there
20
once was when the Law was in effect and the peoples had to be kept
separated in order for purity to be retained. With the coming of Jesus
and the salvation that He has worked on our behalf we are one people.
United by that work, saved together as His new people, and best of all,
we, no matter who we are or where we came from, are now considered
heirs of that original promise made to Abraham so long ago.
o I like to extend this verse into the political language of my time by
adding the words, black or white. We are one church, we who call
ourselves Christian and believe in the Christ. We are one body, one
mind, one holy offering to God. We ought to take care to remember
that as we head off to our separate church buildings and our separately
conceived modes of worship. One-ness cannot mean both one and
many at the same time and in the same way. The church of Jesus is
disfigured today in that it has allowed itself to fragment to pieces and
to separate into the very types of camps that Paul, in another letter, so
strongly urges against. There is no separation any more for the
children of God. There is one promise and one body to whom the
promise is granted.
2. Slaves Vs. Sons (4:1-7)
o Paul ends verse 29 with the reminder that we now share in
the inheritance of the promise. We are heirs along with Abraham’s
natural descendants, along with the Israelites, along with the Jews
at large, and along with any Gentile people that come to Jesus in
faith. We were protected by the administration of the Law, until
such a time came as the Law could be fulfilled. But we were in the
world, outside of the knowledge of salvation and as such we were,
in effect, slaves to that world. We did not know any better. We
lived out our lives as if there were no Law and no Lawgiver. We
were doomed to destruction. Paul is reminding the Galatians that
that is where they were also bound, to destruction. But they
believed in the gospel that he brought to them and were lifted out
of that slavery to the things they had always known and were
introduced to things they had never known or even dreamed of.
The Gospel brings life to the lifeless and it offers hope to men who
have lived alone and without it for too long.
o The Galatians, and any others who will believe that the
impossible is true and that something too good to be believed is
actually fact, had been saved from destruction by the same Jesus
who removed the weight of the Law from the Jews. They were
saved by simply believing and hoping in His Name.
o Paul also reminds the Galatians that their freedom from the
Law was brought about legally according to that Law. Jesus Christ
did not just claim the end of the Law but He fulfilled the Law. He
was born of a woman, he was born under the Law, and if I might
add, He followed the Law perfectly in life and therefore remained
the perfect sacrifice for mankind’s atonement. Because of all of
this we are now guaranteed an inheritance in the kingdom of God.
iii. Appeal Concerning Justification by Faith (4:8-31)
1. Paul’s Concern for the Galatians (4:8-20)
1. Because of their Return to Bondage (4:8-11)
21
o Paul returns to his main point. He asks again, “Why are you
returning to the past?” Paul has argued effectively that the Law is a
done deal, that it no longer carries any weight for the believer. He
has defended the gospel against the wicked teaching of the
judaizers. He has explained that to accept the gospel through faith
and then to ‘back’ it up with works of the Law such as
circumcision is an evil thing. To do so would be to fall from the
faith that has saved you. He asks, Why do you want to do this?
o These infiltrators were interested only in their own
advancement. Through a misunderstanding of Scripture and the
reality of the resurrection of Jesus combined with their own sinful
pride, that they did nothing to humble, these men were on the way
to destroying the faith of an entire community of believers. The
new believer is indeed like a young child. He or she cannot handle
the naked truth and the big ideas. He needs to be comforted about
his faith and reassured that he is on the right path. These men took
advantage of the immature state of this new church and the
absence of Paul to promote their own agenda and their own idea of
church and what its doctrine should be. Do we have men in our
midst today who brazenly do the same thing? Do these men realize
the damage they are doing when they push their own agendas in
the face of dissent and discord? Yet they are not always evil men
who are merely out to get rich and get power. These men think
they are on the right path. They are like Paul was, when he was
still Saul, and thought that persecuting the Christians was actually
defending the holiness of God! How much damage can we do
when we zealously step out to defend God and yet are filled only
with an ignorance of what He is doing in an individual’s or a
community’s life?
o Paul is the mature Christian who has the eyes to see what
the damage is and who is responsible. He writes to these Galatians
(and to us) in order to instruct them in their faith and to reassure
them that their salvation is secure, they need do nothing other than
to believe in Jesus. How mature are we? Do we dare tell a sinner
that he can be saved merely by believing in Jesus? Or do we need
to then place conditions on that salvation such as lifestyle, worship,
confession, etc.?
2. Because of their Loss of Joy (4:12-20)
o “Become as I am, for I also have become as you are.”
(Galatians 4:12) Paul begs his readers to return to what they were
when they first began. He reminds them of the selfless sacrifice
they committed on his behalf when he traveled to them and arrived
in need of physical ministration. He was sick and they were willing
to do anything for him, simply for the joy they received in doing it.
They had received the gospel with the same joy when he first
preached it to them. He asks, Where is that joy?
o The judaizers, those infiltrators into the peace of their
community, sought them out, not because of joy and selflessness
but in order to intimidate them and to bring them into submission
to their ways. Paul was not like this. Paul sought them ought for
22
their own benefit. He came to them to give them the gift of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ and to make them free sons and daughters
of the kingdom. The bad men in their midst used fear to bring
about the obedience they required and the satisfaction of their
doctrine, Paul used only love and patient explanation. The question
is, which of these approaches is more like Christ?
o Paul says again that he is worried for the Galatians. In verse
11 he said that he feared for them and in verse 20 he admits to
being perplexed by them. To choose to live as a slave when
freedom is offered you, to choose to live in fear when joy is
available, and to choose to live under the condemnation of the Law
when forgiveness has already been so gloriously granted makes no
sense whatsoever.
2. An Appeal from Allegory (4:21-31)
• Paul uses the two ‘wives’ of Abraham to illustrate for the Galatians
the situation they found themselves in. He acknowledges that he is
speaking allegorically when he compares the Jews to the child born of
Hagar, the slave, and the Galatians to the child born of Sarah, the free
woman. Children born into slavery remain in slavery until such a time as
their freedom is given them. In the case of the Jews in Jerusalem freedom
was given but they stubbornly refused it in favor of remaining in bondage
to the Law of God, as if the device that had enslaved them would
somehow, someday free them from their sins! But the Galatians are the
secondary beneficiaries of that freedom and it has been given to them as
well to become free. They had never been in bondage under the Law but
they nevertheless were stuck in their sins without any hope of being freed
until the gospel of Christ reached their ears. The Galatians are like Isaac
who was the most immediate fulfillment of the promise to Abraham, they
are born free now, born again by the Spirit of God who helped them to
believe and be saved.
• Just as Isaac was persecuted by Ishmael, his older yet illegitimate
brother, the Galatians are being persecuted by the judaizers who are
troubling them with obedience to the ancient Law. But what does
Scripture say? It tells us that the slaves will be thrown out. It tells us that
only the free will inherit the heavenly Jerusalem. So the question becomes
(as the pundits like to say nowadays), which will you choose to be? A
slave or a freeman, a follower of the Law destined only for the destruction
it mandates, or a follower of the Christ and the heavenly riches He
guarantees?
b. Practical: Defense of Christian Liberty (5:1–6:10)
• Paul offers encouragement to the Galatians telling them to stand
firm in their original belief. It was not the Law or the Jews that set us free but
only faith in Jesus Christ. We can be encouraged too for it is not our doctrine that
saves us, our denomination or our theology, it is not our worship that makes us
free; it is only the Lord Jesus Christ and His obedient act of faith in His Father
that saves us and makes us His forever. Because of this fact and this alone we can
cry out, “Abba!” whenever we are doubting or discouraged or scared. And the
Father whose name we call will hear us and will answer us with the love of His
Holy Spirit.
ii. Liberty Vs. Law (5:1-12)
23
1. The Law Enslaves the Believer (5:1-2)
• A strong encouragement and a strong command to the Galatians.
Paul says, “Do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.” These
believers were scared for their salvation and were considering the words
of the infiltrators. They were considering getting circumcised in order to
ensure their salvation. To do so would be to throw out the saving death of
Jesus and choose instead to follow a Law that could not and never was
intended to save. They would in effect be canceling their belief in Jesus by
the taking up of the chains that He so effectively destroyed. It would be as
if a drowning man who had been pulled from the raging waters that would
surely destroy him took a look at his savior and jumped back into the
waters. To the Jews the Law was all they knew, so like the drowning man
who only knows the waters that encompass his head the Jew is more
comfortable with the Law than with the awesome freedom that comes
when Jesus pulls one up out of the hands of certain death.
2. The Law Obligates the Believer (5:3)
• If the Galatians were to accept circumcision as the guarantee of
their salvation then they would necessarily have to accept the rest of the
conditions of the Law. As Paul quoted in 3:10, “Cursed is everyone who
does not continue in all the things which are written in the book of the
law, to do them.” You cannot pick up a single piece of the Law, follow it,
and consider yourself an adherent to it. The Law comes as a piece, it must
be followed entirely or not at all. And if one is choosing to follow the Law
in order to please God and be saved then one must do so perfectly. What
Paul is trying to make the Galatians understand is that you cannot follow
the whole Law perfectly, and no one except one Man ever did. To accept
circumcision is to guarantee not salvation but destruction.
3. The Law Alienates Christ (5:4-6)
• The Law was put in place to guide the children of God until such a
time that they could be guided into Heaven by another. That other came in
the man Jesus Christ. That other abolished the guidance of the Law and
replaced it with a better and more complete Law; the Law of Love. To
choose the old is to reject the new. To reject the new is to reject God. To
accept Christ is to accept the grace that He brings. To accept is to believe
in faith that He is that bringer and that savior. The Law does not save, only
Christ saves- and that salvation is simply through faith in Him.
4. The Law Hinders Growth (5:7-10)
• Paul recognizes again that the ones responsible for this new
conflict are ruining the entire community through their actions. Their
‘leaven’ is spreading throughout the entire community of believers. Their
‘leaven’ is not from God, Jesus is from God. The leaven must be
destroyed so that Jesus will reign.
5. The Law Removes the Offense of the Cross (5:11-12)
• Paul’s anger flares as he writes this last sentence. Just as he was so
indignant about the sanctity of the gospel earlier in this letter, here again
he shows his passion for defending it. His argument is terribly simple: If
the Law were still in effect then why am I still being persecuted? Paul
suffered great persecution at the hands of the religious Jews. They hated
the gospel of Christ for the very reason that Paul was writing to these
Galatians. Because it denied the validity of the Law in the lives of the
24
children of God. And what is worse, for the Jews anyway, is that this
gospel not only denies the Law, but it opens the door to salvation to any
who would believe in the name of Jesus!
iii. Liberty Vs. License (5:13-26)
• Here it is: Paul’s summation of the situation. There is no Law for
the believer except the new law of the gospel: Love one another!
2. The Fruit of License (5:13-21)
• License here means the doing of whatever it is that your weak flesh
desires to do. In the community in Galatia the desire stemmed from fear of
losing salvation. So the believers wanted to make sure of their standing
with God by following the Law, or at least what they were told were the
most important parts of it. Paul rebukes them severely for this and
commands them to live only under the freedom of the Law of Love that
was Christ’s only command. The implication here is that the return to the
Law is also a return to the sinful ways of their past when they were
enslaved to their passions and wholly ignorant of their enslavement. These
wicked men have reawakened that sinfulness and had tempted the new
church to live out those impulses rather than the newer and holier Christ-
like ones.
• Paul’s warning is against living out the desires of the flesh, in any
form, for they are in direct opposition to the works of the Spirit and the
Law of Love. He lists the fruits for us and they are ones that most people,
if they be honest, can readily identify and recognize in themselves and in
those around them. The list is pretty comprehensive and makes no great
distinction, as we do, between greater and lesser sins. The list places them
all on equal footing before God. Just as there is no longer any Jew or
Greek there is no longer any greater or lesser sin. All sin is a transgression
of the Law and bears equal punishment. But thank God that we no longer
bear the burden of satisfying that Law before God- we have the promise of
salvation through the satisfaction of the Law by Jesus Christ. Amen?!
3. The Fruit of the Spirit (5:22-26)
• Galatians 5:16 “I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not
fulfill the lusts of the flesh.” This is the whole matter in a nutshell. We are
to trust that Jesus did indeed do what He said He did and that the gospel of
Christ is truly the Good News of our salvation. With that Trust we are to
believe that we do now indeed have the Spirit of God as our guide and our
helper, also as Jesus told us. And then we are to choose to follow Him
instead of the sinfulness that we used to follow in ourselves. The fact is,
that a life of Christ-likeness is a choice, albeit a difficult one for some of
us, but a choice nonetheless, that we get to make. We choose to follow our
Lord and to deny ourselves. The Galatians had a choice ahead of them and
we have that same choice. Follow the Christ or follow the flesh. The
results of either will speak for themselves.
iv. Liberty to Love (6:1-10)
• This last section is an encouragement to the believers until Paul
could get to them in person to help them out. He asks them to help each other and
to seriously examine their own situations; for each of us is responsible for our
own walk before the Lord God.
2. Responsibility toward the Weak and Sinful (6:1-5)
25
• In this section there are two groups that Paul is addressing. On the
one hand Paul is telling the Galatians (and us) that we carry a
responsibility toward other people: our brothers and sisters in Christ, as
well as those outside of the church. On the other hand Paul is giving a
warning to watch out for ourselves as well so that we do not unwittingly
fall into similar errors as we have seen others fall.
• Galatians 6:1-2 “Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any
trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of
gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be
tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of
Christ.”
o We have the responsibility of helping our brothers and
sisters to walk uprightly before God. We are to help those younger
than us by offering our experience. We are to help those new to the
faith to understand the main things of Christ. We are to help those
who are weaker than us, due to past sinful or harmful lifestyles, to
overcome their temptations and trials and to stand strong with us in
the Lord. But here, Paul makes a distinction. He says “even if” one
of our brothers is caught in a sin we have a responsibility to help.
But the stress is on helping the brother and not on rebuking the
sinner. Oftentimes when we see sin our initial response is to
correct it; immediately and severely. We want to put the sinner on
notice and to make ultimatum concerning the egregious behavior
that we observed. This is, at least it is my own, a natural inclination
of ours. We put ourselves over our brothers when we take on the
role of disciplinarian and authoritarian. But Paul directs us to love
the brother first, as did Christ, and then help the brother in order to
lead him back to righteousness. Our goal in rebuking is to cause
the sin to be named. Our goal in correcting is to teach and lead the
sinner to repentance. Our overall purpose is to restore fellowship
between the sinner and ourselves and the sinner with God. This is a
sobering teaching. How often do we, in our zeal to lead others to
Christ and to keep order in our churches, put others on notice and
attempt to bring down fire from heaven for the sake of
condemnation rather than restoration? Let us not do so any longer,
but let us restore to peace, with love as our motivation, so that
Christ’s church can be ever more perfect and lovely.
o Look to ourselves in this process, Paul instructs, so that
in our gentle helping of the sinner out of sinfulness we are not
dragged into his or her mire as well. This is a very real concern,
especially in our culture where sin is so prevalent and so
unabashedly nasty. We who attempt to follow this command must
make sure that we do not allow sin a foothold in our own lives. We
must protect ourselves from engaging in the sin itself and make a
clear line of separation between it and us. And, because we know
that our own hearts are deceptively wicked, we have to make sure
that we are not allowing our own temptations to be gratified under
the guise of helping to restore a brother.
o We ‘fulfill’ the Law of Christ when we love others as
He loved us. We are forgiving men and women. We are patient
26
men and women. We are merciful men and women. And we watch
out for our own holiness, as our personal tribute to God.
• Galatians 6:3-5 “For if anyone thinks he is
something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But each one must
examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in
regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. For each one will
bear his own load.”
o This is the reason for the foregoing command. We are
capable of thinking ourselves better than others; this is the
fundamental sin of mankind. It is selfishness and pride that allows
one child of God to presume superiority over another. It is our
pride that will cause us to adopt superiority over a fallen brother
and use his hurt to gratify our own need for attention and power.
Paul reminds us that no man is better than another; and when a
man believes it to be so that is when a man is the least of men. We
are nowise better than any other but we all stand on the same level
ground before the Lord Jesus.
• Philippians 2:3 “Do nothing from selfishness
or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one
another as more important than yourselves;”
o Therefore each man should first examine himself and
his own standing before attempting to help another with theirs.
This is the principle behind the beam and the mote. First look to
yourself and understand your own weakness, then you will be
better able to help another with theirs, and in a more loving and
merciful way. This time, when Paul says that each man must carry
his own burden, he means that each man is ultimately responsible
for his or her own sin. We must always be looking at ourselves in
order to know where we need to be more diligent and careful,
because when we ultimately stand before God, it will be our own
hearts and lives that He peers into and not all our ‘lesser’ brothers’
and sisters’ lives.
• Matthew 7:1-5 “Do not judge so that you will
not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be
judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be
measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in
your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your
own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take
the speck out of your eye,’ and behold, the log is in your
own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own
eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of
your brother’s eye.”
3. Responsibility toward the Leaders (6:6-9)
• We are instructed that as we are taught well by our
ministers of the faith, so we ought to share with them the fruits of their
endeavors. I take this to mean that the ministers over us who teach
faithfully the word of God should be the beneficiaries of any of the
wonderful fruits of the Spirit that come out of their labors on our behalf.
They should hear of our joy and our learning. They should hear of how we
have built upon their foundations. And they should be able to receive
27
edification in return so that they might be even better able to minister to
others.
o Other writers take this to mean that we have a
duty to provide materially for our ministers as they have a duty to
provide for us spiritually. They are not to be expected to be able to
do everything, both preach and labor for sustenance; but they are to
be taken care of in such a way that they can devote themselves
fully to the important task God has called them to, the preaching of
His word. God does set apart certain men to be our teachers and
these men deserve to be provided for.
• Verses 7-9 seem to refer to not only the preceding
verse and its call to care for the teachers but also to everything that Paul
has said up to this point in Chapter 6. Just as we are to make sure that we
are not deceitfully helping others so that we might partake in their sinful
habits we are to make sure that we are not deceitfully neglecting our duty
to the ministers and to our brothers and sisters in need by rationalizing or
justifying our inaction away. We have a duty to care for others and God
will not be mocked. He will not stand idly by and watch as we claim His
name and the name of His precious Son and then neglect to do the things
that that name so clearly commands. If we do this we will get exactly what
our action demands. If we sow to the good then the good will abound. If
we sow to the bad then the bad will most certainly bear fruit.
4. Responsibility toward All People (6:10)
• “While we have opportunity” Now is the time for our good deed
doing to occur. While it is still day we should do the works of the day,
while we are walking with the light, the light of Jesus, we should be
working with His light. Our actions should reflect that light back onto
Him. Now is our opportunity, while we are in the flesh, to defy the natural
inclination of our natures and work our deeds according to the Spirit. Our
duty is to obey the Law of Love and to care for each and every neighbor
we have. We are to love others as we have been loved.
• “Especially those of the household of faith” This is an interesting
distinction and one that I have been uncomfortable practicing. I have
assumed that our efforts ought to be primarily directed toward the
unbelieving world in order that they may hear and receive the gospel of
Jesus Christ. But Paul says here that our efforts towards others begin first
with the church and then extend to the world around us. I have assumed
that the church is guaranteed its salvation and therefore is not in need of
any particular attention. It is the unbelievers who need our light and to
whom we shine our beacons from our stately place upon the mountaintop.
But I think that Paul is telling us the same thing that Jesus was; that our
light is not meant to be hidden but to shine for all to see that God may be
glorified for what His power has done in a sinful creation. Of course God
wants everyone to be saved and we must seriously make efforts to that end
but it is more important to Him that the believing church perfect itself to
the point that it truly shines and shows itself glorious for all the world to
see. Therefore we have to make sure that we are teaching each other,
caring for each other, rebuking and correcting each other, and helping
each other to rise to better and stronger heights of faith. We do this so that
28
Christ’s church can be presented to God in the end times, when the clock
has run out, as a perfect and holy offering, for His glory.
c. Conclusion (6:11-18)
i. Authentication of the Epistle (6:11)
• Here is Paul’s big hand writing in huge letters the summation of
this letter to the Galatians. Matthew Henry conjectures that Paul was thinking of
wrapping it up here but as he tried to draw the letter to a close he was
overwhelmed once again by the emotion he felt for the Galatians and his concern
for them and had to continue on to get a few last words in. I have been taught
elsewhere that this strange sentence was included in order for the Galatians to
have evidence to show the judaizers that the letter was indeed from Paul and not
an imposter. To me it looks as if Paul is being overtly obnoxious, once again, to
show his disdain for the imposters that have seriously hampered his fledgling
church. Before we read that Paul wished they would go the whole way and
emasculate themselves if they were so interested in pleasing God with the rigidity
of their rule following. Here Paul is saying, I am telling you this very loudly to
make sure that you hear me. He wants to get their attention and prefaces his final
thoughts with his big handwriting (Wouldn’t it be great if in the original letter this
sentence was actually written in oversize letters?). After getting their attention
one last time Paul proceeds to condemn the judaizers by comparing their motives
with his own.
ii. Condemnation of the Judaizers (6:12-16)
1. The Motives of the Judaizers (6:12-13)
• The accusation against these ‘wolves’ is this: They are trying to
promote themselves for their own gain and their own prominence in the
church. They push a gospel that is not a gospel in order that they may be
superior over those they consider to be lesser brothers in the faith. Paul adds
that they do this also in order that they may avoid the persecution that he
himself still continued to suffer because he refused to compromise the gospel
he had been given to preach. Pride and fear are strong motivators and it
would be their downfall.
2. The Motives of Paul (6:14-17)
• In contrast Paul declares that he preached his gospel against all
perversions of it because he was now crucified with Christ to the world. All
worldly boasting, of power, position, and money meant absolutely nothing to
him. He preached the gospel because it was all that he knew and he would
not boast in anything other than it.
• Paul offers us a rule to live by, one that if followed, peace and
mercy would most certainly follow. There is no longer any circumcision, or
uncircumcision for that matter. There is only a new creation .We now live in
a time of incredible freedom and peace where there is no fear of death or
punishment from Holy God. Jesus has made all things new by abolishing the
old way and bringing in a new. We live in the world of the Christos and all
things now pertain to Him.
• He calls us all the Israel of God, just as he did earlier in Galatians
3:7. We who follow Christ are now heirs of Abraham. Those who do not will
never be, even if they descend directly from him.
• One last parting shot and defense of his own authority to speak the
way he does: Paul is an apostle specially chosen by God to preach to the
Gentiles. The proof of his apostleship is on his body in the marks left from
29
shipwreck and flogging. He carries the scars of his walk with Jesus- what do
the others carry?
iii. Benediction (6:18)
• Galatians 6:18 “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your
spirit, brethren. Amen.” What can I add to this except my own ‘Amen’ and a
hearty thank you to Jesus for His gospel and the beautiful simplicity of it? Amen!
30

Comments On The Book of Galatians

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Оригинальное название

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Comments On The Book of Galatians

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Comments on the Book of Galatians

Outline of the Book of Galatians by Daniel B. Wallace

Ontario : Woodside Bible Fellowship., 1996, S. G652

Volume. Peabody : Hendrickson, 1996, c1991, S. Ga 2:11

Вам также может понравиться