Jesus Christ
is the head, the authority, the submission, the leader,
the
final voice and instructs
all we do
Keep the Faith, and your election sure
witnessing christ
is not about
knowledge or wisdom, or facts, or reading,
or
behavior, or morals, or values, or opinions,
or
the Internet,
or
arguing, or philosophy, or school, or pride,
or
comparison, or good deeds, or vacuuming,
or
cleaning, or marriage, or carpet, or sports, or language, or sins, or
homework, or diets, or food, or dogs, or peer pressure, or shoes,
or
clothes, and on and on and on
.....or anything else we see every day NO
it is the
REAL,
embodiment
and
undeniable. visitation
from the resurrected
SAVIOR. Jesus Christ
Keep your eyes on the things
ABOVE
For the things above are eternal.
This earth is
passing away,
Our sure calling remains the same.
If our full Trust is in Jesus Christ,
we can do our best to love one another, grow,
and know
authority is in Christ 'Jesus,
Jesus is above pride, confusion,
and
human circumstance
'to know God's word is to know the
Truth
When you have known, and seen, the full Truth,
nothing can deceive you from it.
It's already known,
this life is full of disappointments, but we
have the Truth.
Keep preserving with the Truth of Jesus Christ,
The Word of God,
The Gospel of Grace,
The One True Gospel
for these earthly concerns are passing away, and what is seen is temporary,
for what is seen is eternal
For we have seen the Glory of God in Salvation
For I have SEEN the GLORY of CHRIST
Truth is in me.
Do not be dismayed with disappointments, for
people will disappoint you,
but the
Truth never fails.
Half Truths sounds really good,
and
a lot like the Truth,
But half truths aren't Full 'truth
Blindness
will not be Overcome,
keep the Faith!
Apostleship Declared
Immediately Paul
set the
record straight
concerning his authority:
“Paul, an apostle (not of [Gr., from] men, neither by [Gr., through] man, but [strong contrast] by [Gr., through]
Jesus Christ, and
God the Father,
who raised him from the dead)”.
The word apostle
means to send forth or
one
commissioned by another to
represent
him in some way.
An apostle was a
representative of Christ who had been
chosen, called, given credentials, and commissioned
to
take
His message
to whomever he
was sent.
Three things were necessary to qualify for apostleship:
The individual had to be personally
chosen and called
to his position by the Lord;
he was one who had
seen
the resurrected Lord;
and he received his
commission, authority, and
message from
Christ.
Paul met all these qualifications,
as verse 1 reveals.
Paul sent a greeting to the Galatians from “all the brethren”
with whom he was traveling.
Although he did not identify his traveling companions, many commentators believe they were Barnabas and others from the church at Antioch
(Acts 13:1).
He addressed all the “churches of Galatia” (v. 2).
Paul expected this letter to be circulated and read in cities such as Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium, where he had established churches during
his first missionary journey.
The apostle’s salutation incorporated the standard greeting of the day,
"Grace be to you, and peace”
The word grace was the usual greeting for the Greeks,
as was peace for the Jewish people.
These two words encompassed what
both groups had
experienced in salvation
Salvation came through
grace
and produced peace
in their hearts.
The source of both was
"from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ”
God’s grace and peace
sustain
the believer
in his daily walk with the
Lord.
Later in his letter,
Paul informed the Galatians that
if they succumbed to the legalism
being
propagated by false teachers,
they would fall from grace
and forfeit the
peace they had once experienced from God.
Atonement Described
The apostle concluded his salutation by
reminding the Galatians of
God’s redemptive program
on their behalf.
First, salvation did
not
come by the works of the Law,
but through
the
Savior, the “Lord Jesus Christ”
Second,
Christ’s atoning death was
sacrificial.
No man coerced Him to die for sin; He freely “gave himself”
(v. 4) for man’s sin (Jn. 10:15, 17–18; Heb. 9:14).
Third, His sacrifice was a substitution, for Jesus gave Himself “for our sins” (v. 4). The preposition for means that Christ died instead of or on behalf of us; that is,
He voluntarily became the sinner’s substitute, dying in his place (2 Cor. 5:14–15) for sin. Christ’s dying in the sinner’s place
perfectly satisfied the just demands of
God’s holy law,
thereby making it possible for God to forgive man’s sin.*
Fourth, His death paid the price for sin (v. 4).
Man is viewed by God as a slave, sold into the bondage of sin
(Rom. 7:14),
and under the sentence of death
Jn. 3:18–19; Rom. 6:23).
It was through Christ’s shed blood and death on the cross
that the purchase price was paid
to buy man out of the marketplace of sin
(Gal. 3:13; 4:5), thus setting him free
(Ti 2:14; 1 Pet. 1:18–19).
Fifth, the purpose of
Christ’s death was to salvage man
or “deliver”
(emancipate, rescue) (v. 4) him from the state of bondage.
The word deliver
is used “by Stephen in …
describing the divine deliverance of Joseph and the
children of Israel from Egyptian affliction
(Acts 7:10, 34).
Peter … from prison (Acts 12:11) … Paul from the belligerent mob in Jerusalem” (Acts 23:7).*
Sixth, the deliverance is from the power of a Satanic system
described as “this present evil age”
The word age refers to the immoral course
of this world system, which is being controlled by Satan.
It was this “evil” (pernicious)
system in which the Galatians had once walked (Eph. 2:1–3), but
Christ had rescued them from this bondage
through His once-and-for-all
atoning death on the cross.
Christ delivered man from sin…through the procedure prescribed by the sovereign decree of Almighty God.
Seventh, the Lord is the source of this deliverance provided “according to the will of God”
(v. 4).
Therefore, Christ delivered man from sin,
not by any plan
put forth through the Law,
but through the procedure prescribed by the
sovereign decree of Almighty God.
Paul concluded his salutation with the affirmation,
“To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen”
(v. 5).
The apostle’s doxology is so appropriate.
What believer would not have a heart like his--
full of praise for the great salvation
provided by the sovereign Godhead?
Such salvation will glorify God,
not only in
this age,
but “for ever and ever” or for the
ages of ages.
What a
contrast to the legalists,
whose perverted gospel of legalism
will last only for this present evil age!
Paul set the course of his letter to the Galatians in two ways.
He declared
and
defended his apostleship,
and he argued that salvation was provided
solely
through Christ’s finished
work on the cross,
apart from any
human work or merit.
To add legalism in any form
was to pervert
the
one
true gospel.
Astounding Desertion
Upon hearing the news that the believers in Galatia
were succumbing to the message
of the Judaizers,
Paul said,
"I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him
that called you into the
grace of Christ”
The word marvel means to be
amazed, astonished, miffed, bewildered.
It portrays the apostle as speechless
and agitated when he heard of the Galatians’ defection.
He was amazed that they were “so soon”departing from the
true gospel.
They had “removed” themselves from
the liberty that the Lord had bestowed on them.
The word removed means more than just
departing;
it means to desert.
The term was used in a military sense, such as when people go
AWOL or commit mutiny.
Paul used the word in the present tense and middle voice, indicating
that they were
in the process
of deserting the Lord on their own.
They were deserting
not only the doctrinal teaching
of salvation by grace through faith,
which was put forth by Paul,
but “him”
God Himself.
The Galatians had been
“called into the grace of Christ”
an effectual call that had
resulted in their salvation.
Their salvation came through the “grace of Christ” and was
totally unmerited and devoid of any good works
that they had accomplished.
God had showered down His love, favor, and blessing;
to go back to the bondage of the Law would have been to desert not only the favor of God but God Himself.
Such a departure was
unthinkable and bewildering
to Paul.
Apostasy Denounced
The
different teaching
being embraced by the
Galatians
was
"another [different kind of] gospel”
The word another is from the Greek word heterodoxy,
meaning another opinion,
from which comes the idea of
heresy or false doctrine
Thus, the Galatians
were turning to
a gospel of heresy or false doctrine
The word gospel means good news and,
in context,
refers to the
good news of salvation
provided
through Christ’s work on the cross,
which was
purely by grace, apart from the
works of the Law.
Thus, the legalists’ gospel was,
of necessity, evil and could not be claimed to be good news or the true gospel.
Therefore,
it is “not another”
gospel at all.
The legalists’
gospel was, of necessity, evil and could not be claimed to be
good news or the
true
gospel
Paul then focused his attention on the Judaizers, who were
bringing in their
heretical teachings
and
passing them off
as the
--true-- gospel
Who were the Judaizers, and what did they believe?
The term Judaizercomes from the Greek word Iudaizo, which means to live like a Jew. Judaizers believed and taught that it was necessary for Gentiles who had received Christ to live like Jews by keeping the ceremonial practices found in Judaism, especially the circumcision
(Acts 15:1; Gal. 5:2; 6:12–13).
They tried to discredit
Paul’s authority
as a
true apostle and substitute a salvation
by
works for the salvation that Paul taught,
which was by
grace through faith
in
Jesus Christ alone.
The apostle strongly
denounced the motives of the Judaizers (4:17; 6:12–13).
He called such teachers “dogs … evil workers … the concision” (Phil. 3:2).
The word concision was used of pagans
who cut their bodies while practicing idolatrous worship.
Paul used the term as a play on the Greek word circumcision.
The “concision” (Judaizers) who wanted the
Galatians to be circumcised
were actually
mutilating the gospel message
by mixing in
the works of the Law with grace.
Scholars are divided on whether the Judaizers were saved.
Some, like Dr. Wuest, call them unsaved Jews who
set up a perverted legalism built around the Mosaic Law.*
Dr. Longenecker believes that
Paul’s language in Galatians 1–2 indicates that these Judaizers
were saved men.
He wrote, “From Paul’s manner of speaking of the situation in Gal. 1–2, it is difficult to picture these Judaizers as anything but Jewish Christians—in fact, Jewish Christians claiming to
represent the official position of the Jerusalem Church …
In all probability they were members of
the strict law-abiding group in the Jerusalem church.”*
Most commentators are mute on the subject, not stating whether they believe the Judaizers to be saved or unsaved men.
It seems from Paul’s statement in verse 9 that those who were
preaching another gospel
were to be considered anathema or damned to destruction.
The teachings of the Judaizers were
wrong
for three reasons.
First, their teaching disturbed or troubled (v. 7) the Galatians.
The word troubled means to be mentally
disturbed by
fear and confusion.
In other words, the Judaizers were confusing the Galatian
churches and
undermining their
confidence in Christ.
Second, their teachings
distorted the truth by “pervert[ing] the gospel of Christ” (v. 7).
The word
pervert means to reverse, change, turn about. These
heretical teachers
were reversing the message
of the gospel by changing it from a
gospel of grace to a gospel of works—a message
diametrically opposed to what
God had originally established
(Rom. 11:6).
Third, for these teachers to
preach any other
gospel
was to destroy the truth: “
But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed”
Paul was not teaching that he himself (a divinely called apostle)
or a heavenly being was likely
ever to preach any other gospel.
But,
if they were to preach
another gospel,
let them be accursed
(lit., anathema) (v. 8);
in other words, eternally damned to destruction.
The apostle reminded the Galatians that he and others (“we,” v. 9) had warned them “before” (v. 9)
of such teachers and teachings.
The words said before (v. 9) mean to say beforehand; thus,
Paul was contrasting before with now (v. 9), indicating that verse 9 was not just rehearsing what was said in the previous verse. He reminded the
Galatians that he and others had
warned them in the past to be on guard
against the teachings
of such people as the Judaizers. Such a warning would make
their desertion even more odious.
In stating
“If any man preach any
other gospel unto you …
Let him be accursed” (v. 9), Paul was not putting forth a hypothetical situation
. In their case it was factual.
Paul was pressing home the point that since these Judaizers were
preaching another gospel,
they were to be considered anathema.
Paul emphatically warned that those who
tamper with
biblical revelation of the gospel
are anathema.
Strong and sobering words, these, but they are so necessary today.
The gospel
is being assaulted
from every side—twisted,
made fun of, embellished,
and diminished.
The apostle’s admonition must be heeded:
Turn a deaf ear to myriad so-called new gospels
inundating our society and
embrace only the one true gospel.
Remember, if the gospel you hear today is new, it cannot be true; and if it is true, it will not be new!
The Truth is in Jesus Christ alone,
not
--earthly realm--
or
current circumstances
is the head, the authority, the submission, the leader,
the
final voice and instructs
all we do
Keep the Faith, and your election sure
witnessing christ
is not about
knowledge or wisdom, or facts, or reading,
or
behavior, or morals, or values, or opinions,
or
the Internet,
or
arguing, or philosophy, or school, or pride,
or
comparison, or good deeds, or vacuuming,
or
cleaning, or marriage, or carpet, or sports, or language, or sins, or
homework, or diets, or food, or dogs, or peer pressure, or shoes,
or
clothes, and on and on and on
.....or anything else we see every day NO
it is the
REAL,
embodiment
and
undeniable. visitation
from the resurrected
SAVIOR. Jesus Christ
Keep your eyes on the things
ABOVE
For the things above are eternal.
This earth is
passing away,
Our sure calling remains the same.
If our full Trust is in Jesus Christ,
we can do our best to love one another, grow,
and know
authority is in Christ 'Jesus,
Jesus is above pride, confusion,
and
human circumstance
'to know God's word is to know the
Truth
When you have known, and seen, the full Truth,
nothing can deceive you from it.
It's already known,
this life is full of disappointments, but we
have the Truth.
Keep preserving with the Truth of Jesus Christ,
The Word of God,
The Gospel of Grace,
The One True Gospel
for these earthly concerns are passing away, and what is seen is temporary,
for what is seen is eternal
For we have seen the Glory of God in Salvation
For I have SEEN the GLORY of CHRIST
Truth is in me.
Do not be dismayed with disappointments, for
people will disappoint you,
but the
Truth never fails.
Half Truths sounds really good,
and
a lot like the Truth,
But half truths aren't Full 'truth
Blindness
will not be Overcome,
keep the Faith!
Apostleship Declared
Immediately Paul
set the
record straight
concerning his authority:
“Paul, an apostle (not of [Gr., from] men, neither by [Gr., through] man, but [strong contrast] by [Gr., through]
Jesus Christ, and
God the Father,
who raised him from the dead)”.
The word apostle
means to send forth or
one
commissioned by another to
represent
him in some way.
An apostle was a
representative of Christ who had been
chosen, called, given credentials, and commissioned
to
take
His message
to whomever he
was sent.
Three things were necessary to qualify for apostleship:
The individual had to be personally
chosen and called
to his position by the Lord;
he was one who had
seen
the resurrected Lord;
and he received his
commission, authority, and
message from
Christ.
Paul met all these qualifications,
as verse 1 reveals.
Paul sent a greeting to the Galatians from “all the brethren”
with whom he was traveling.
Although he did not identify his traveling companions, many commentators believe they were Barnabas and others from the church at Antioch
(Acts 13:1).
He addressed all the “churches of Galatia” (v. 2).
Paul expected this letter to be circulated and read in cities such as Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium, where he had established churches during
his first missionary journey.
The apostle’s salutation incorporated the standard greeting of the day,
"Grace be to you, and peace”
The word grace was the usual greeting for the Greeks,
as was peace for the Jewish people.
These two words encompassed what
both groups had
experienced in salvation
Salvation came through
grace
and produced peace
in their hearts.
The source of both was
"from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ”
God’s grace and peace
sustain
the believer
in his daily walk with the
Lord.
Later in his letter,
Paul informed the Galatians that
if they succumbed to the legalism
being
propagated by false teachers,
they would fall from grace
and forfeit the
peace they had once experienced from God.
Atonement Described
The apostle concluded his salutation by
reminding the Galatians of
God’s redemptive program
on their behalf.
First, salvation did
not
come by the works of the Law,
but through
the
Savior, the “Lord Jesus Christ”
Second,
Christ’s atoning death was
sacrificial.
No man coerced Him to die for sin; He freely “gave himself”
(v. 4) for man’s sin (Jn. 10:15, 17–18; Heb. 9:14).
Third, His sacrifice was a substitution, for Jesus gave Himself “for our sins” (v. 4). The preposition for means that Christ died instead of or on behalf of us; that is,
He voluntarily became the sinner’s substitute, dying in his place (2 Cor. 5:14–15) for sin. Christ’s dying in the sinner’s place
perfectly satisfied the just demands of
God’s holy law,
thereby making it possible for God to forgive man’s sin.*
Fourth, His death paid the price for sin (v. 4).
Man is viewed by God as a slave, sold into the bondage of sin
(Rom. 7:14),
and under the sentence of death
Jn. 3:18–19; Rom. 6:23).
It was through Christ’s shed blood and death on the cross
that the purchase price was paid
to buy man out of the marketplace of sin
(Gal. 3:13; 4:5), thus setting him free
(Ti 2:14; 1 Pet. 1:18–19).
Fifth, the purpose of
Christ’s death was to salvage man
or “deliver”
(emancipate, rescue) (v. 4) him from the state of bondage.
The word deliver
is used “by Stephen in …
describing the divine deliverance of Joseph and the
children of Israel from Egyptian affliction
(Acts 7:10, 34).
Peter … from prison (Acts 12:11) … Paul from the belligerent mob in Jerusalem” (Acts 23:7).*
Sixth, the deliverance is from the power of a Satanic system
described as “this present evil age”
The word age refers to the immoral course
of this world system, which is being controlled by Satan.
It was this “evil” (pernicious)
system in which the Galatians had once walked (Eph. 2:1–3), but
Christ had rescued them from this bondage
through His once-and-for-all
atoning death on the cross.
Christ delivered man from sin…through the procedure prescribed by the sovereign decree of Almighty God.
Seventh, the Lord is the source of this deliverance provided “according to the will of God”
(v. 4).
Therefore, Christ delivered man from sin,
not by any plan
put forth through the Law,
but through the procedure prescribed by the
sovereign decree of Almighty God.
Paul concluded his salutation with the affirmation,
“To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen”
(v. 5).
The apostle’s doxology is so appropriate.
What believer would not have a heart like his--
full of praise for the great salvation
provided by the sovereign Godhead?
Such salvation will glorify God,
not only in
this age,
but “for ever and ever” or for the
ages of ages.
What a
contrast to the legalists,
whose perverted gospel of legalism
will last only for this present evil age!
Paul set the course of his letter to the Galatians in two ways.
He declared
and
defended his apostleship,
and he argued that salvation was provided
solely
through Christ’s finished
work on the cross,
apart from any
human work or merit.
To add legalism in any form
was to pervert
the
one
true gospel.
Astounding Desertion
Upon hearing the news that the believers in Galatia
were succumbing to the message
of the Judaizers,
Paul said,
"I marvel that ye are
so soon removed from him
that called you into the
grace of Christ”
The word marvel means to be
amazed, astonished, miffed, bewildered.
It portrays the apostle as speechless
and agitated when he heard of the Galatians’ defection.
He was amazed that they were “so soon”departing from the
true gospel.
They had “removed” themselves from
the liberty that the Lord had bestowed on them.
The word removed means more than just
departing;
it means to desert.
The term was used in a military sense, such as when people go
AWOL or commit mutiny.
Paul used the word in the present tense and middle voice, indicating
that they were
in the process
of deserting the Lord on their own.
They were deserting
not only the doctrinal teaching
of salvation by grace through faith,
which was put forth by Paul,
but “him”
God Himself.
The Galatians had been
“called into the grace of Christ”
an effectual call that had
resulted in their salvation.
Their salvation came through the “grace of Christ” and was
totally unmerited and devoid of any good works
that they had accomplished.
God had showered down His love, favor, and blessing;
to go back to the bondage of the Law would have been to desert not only the favor of God but God Himself.
Such a departure was
unthinkable and bewildering
to Paul.
Apostasy Denounced
The
different teaching
being embraced by the
Galatians
was
"another [different kind of] gospel”
The word another is from the Greek word heterodoxy,
meaning another opinion,
from which comes the idea of
heresy or false doctrine
Thus, the Galatians
were turning to
a gospel of heresy or false doctrine
The word gospel means good news and,
in context,
refers to the
good news of salvation
provided
through Christ’s work on the cross,
which was
purely by grace, apart from the
works of the Law.
Thus, the legalists’ gospel was,
of necessity, evil and could not be claimed to be good news or the true gospel.
Therefore,
it is “not another”
gospel at all.
The legalists’
gospel was, of necessity, evil and could not be claimed to be
good news or the
true
gospel
Paul then focused his attention on the Judaizers, who were
bringing in their
heretical teachings
and
passing them off
as the
--true-- gospel
Who were the Judaizers, and what did they believe?
The term Judaizercomes from the Greek word Iudaizo, which means to live like a Jew. Judaizers believed and taught that it was necessary for Gentiles who had received Christ to live like Jews by keeping the ceremonial practices found in Judaism, especially the circumcision
(Acts 15:1; Gal. 5:2; 6:12–13).
They tried to discredit
Paul’s authority
as a
true apostle and substitute a salvation
by
works for the salvation that Paul taught,
which was by
grace through faith
in
Jesus Christ alone.
The apostle strongly
denounced the motives of the Judaizers (4:17; 6:12–13).
He called such teachers “dogs … evil workers … the concision” (Phil. 3:2).
The word concision was used of pagans
who cut their bodies while practicing idolatrous worship.
Paul used the term as a play on the Greek word circumcision.
The “concision” (Judaizers) who wanted the
Galatians to be circumcised
were actually
mutilating the gospel message
by mixing in
the works of the Law with grace.
Scholars are divided on whether the Judaizers were saved.
Some, like Dr. Wuest, call them unsaved Jews who
set up a perverted legalism built around the Mosaic Law.*
Dr. Longenecker believes that
Paul’s language in Galatians 1–2 indicates that these Judaizers
were saved men.
He wrote, “From Paul’s manner of speaking of the situation in Gal. 1–2, it is difficult to picture these Judaizers as anything but Jewish Christians—in fact, Jewish Christians claiming to
represent the official position of the Jerusalem Church …
In all probability they were members of
the strict law-abiding group in the Jerusalem church.”*
Most commentators are mute on the subject, not stating whether they believe the Judaizers to be saved or unsaved men.
It seems from Paul’s statement in verse 9 that those who were
preaching another gospel
were to be considered anathema or damned to destruction.
The teachings of the Judaizers were
wrong
for three reasons.
First, their teaching disturbed or troubled (v. 7) the Galatians.
The word troubled means to be mentally
disturbed by
fear and confusion.
In other words, the Judaizers were confusing the Galatian
churches and
undermining their
confidence in Christ.
Second, their teachings
distorted the truth by “pervert[ing] the gospel of Christ” (v. 7).
The word
pervert means to reverse, change, turn about. These
heretical teachers
were reversing the message
of the gospel by changing it from a
gospel of grace to a gospel of works—a message
diametrically opposed to what
God had originally established
(Rom. 11:6).
Third, for these teachers to
preach any other
gospel
was to destroy the truth: “
But though we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel
unto you than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be accursed”
Paul was not teaching that he himself (a divinely called apostle)
or a heavenly being was likely
ever to preach any other gospel.
But,
if they were to preach
another gospel,
let them be accursed
(lit., anathema) (v. 8);
in other words, eternally damned to destruction.
The apostle reminded the Galatians that he and others (“we,” v. 9) had warned them “before” (v. 9)
of such teachers and teachings.
The words said before (v. 9) mean to say beforehand; thus,
Paul was contrasting before with now (v. 9), indicating that verse 9 was not just rehearsing what was said in the previous verse. He reminded the
Galatians that he and others had
warned them in the past to be on guard
against the teachings
of such people as the Judaizers. Such a warning would make
their desertion even more odious.
In stating
“If any man preach any
other gospel unto you …
Let him be accursed” (v. 9), Paul was not putting forth a hypothetical situation
. In their case it was factual.
Paul was pressing home the point that since these Judaizers were
preaching another gospel,
they were to be considered anathema.
Paul emphatically warned that those who
tamper with
biblical revelation of the gospel
are anathema.
Strong and sobering words, these, but they are so necessary today.
The gospel
is being assaulted
from every side—twisted,
made fun of, embellished,
and diminished.
The apostle’s admonition must be heeded:
Turn a deaf ear to myriad so-called new gospels
inundating our society and
embrace only the one true gospel.
Remember, if the gospel you hear today is new, it cannot be true; and if it is true, it will not be new!
The Truth is in Jesus Christ alone,
not
--earthly realm--
or
current circumstances
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