GALATIANS 1
6 Outlines
Galatians 1:1-5
GOD’S WELFARE SYSTEM
In the introductory verses to the Book of Galatians we
see that God is concerned about the welfare of His own and that He will act in
their behalf
GOD’S CALL ON A LIFE – Vs. 1
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither
by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
Paul was an Apostle because of the call of God in His
life. God has a plan
for, that is, a call on your life as well. Ephesians 2:10
GOD’S COMPASSION ON THE CHURCH – Vs. 3
Grace be to you and peace from God the
Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
GOD’S CARE FOR SOULS – Vss. 4-5
Who gave himself for our sins, that he
might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and
our Father: [5] To whom be glory for ever and ever.
Amen.
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Galatians 1:1-5
BORN FREE!
(An introduction to the
Book of Galatians. I am not starting a
series on Galatians, but thought you might need an introduction to the Book
some day.)
Imagine being in a prison.
You are in a cell with your hands cuffed, and your feet in shackles. Hour by
hour, day by day, month by month, year by year you wallow in bondage. Then one day someone comes in and knocks out
the guards, removes the cuffs and shackles, and opens all the doors to the
prison and says, "You're free! Leave this place!"
Imagine after a period
of time you are walking by that old prison. A guard calls out, "Why not
come back in and visit us again? We'll
give you a NEW cell with NEW handcuffs, NEW shackles, and even NEW
guards!" You're reaction, like mine, would be, "No way! I don't want
to go back to that old stinking jail! I like my freedom and I'm keeping
it!"
This seems to be a
pretty ridiculous story, doesn't it? And
yet every day there are those among us who have been set free by Jesus Christ,
who fall back into old bad habits and old bondage. We also entangle ourselves
in new bad habits and new bondage. The
sad thing about it is we don't need to go back into bondage once we have born
into the family of God. We have been born free!
Read John 8:31-32, 36, 1
Corinthians 6:9-11, Ephesians 2:1-6, Romans 6:14. In spite of these great
verses, there are times when we find ourselves right back into bondage. We find
ourselves saying with Paul in Romans
The Epistle of Paul to
the Galatians was written to a group of people who were listening to the wrong
teachers, and were putting themselves right back into bondage. The particular
form of bondage was adding law keeping to or works as an additional part of the
plan of salvation. They were being taught that grace plus works equals
salvation.
In the fifth chapter of
this book, Paul addresses another form of bondage. It is bondage to the flesh,
our old selves drawing us back into habits and lusts that make us captive to
Satan. We fall into bondage to the very things for which Christ died to set us
free.
Because we are only
sinners saved by grace we sin on occasion. When we do this, we have forgiveness
and restoration to fellowship with God as we confess our sins (1 John
1:9). The trouble is, so many of us
never experience all the victory that God wants us to have! Therefore our
testimonies suffer and our productivity for the Lord suffers as well.
If you have been born
into the Family of God you are now a child of God (John
The Book of Galatians
deals with the problem of adding works and law keeping to salvation. The Book
of Galatians shows us how to be free from the habits to which we find ourselves
in bondage. This book can also teach us other valuable lessons concerning
Christian doctrine and practical Christian living.
Galatians 1:1-5
introduces the Book of Galatians.
THE MAN - Vs. 1
Many of the books of the
New Testament are epistles, or letters.
In New Testament days one did not wait until the end to let someone know
the identity of the writer. It was placed at the beginning in a greeting or
salutation. The man who wrote this letter simply begins with his name, Paul.
When God chose people to
write the various parts of the Bible, He always chose the appropriate person to
write. God would use a writer's personality, background and circumstances as
channels for the very words that He wanted said. 2 Peter 2:21
Paul was certainly the
one who knew about being in bondage to the law. Paul certainly knew what it was
to be set free from the works of law keeping. Philippians 3:1-8
THE MINISTRY - Vs. 1
Paul was an Apostle. An
apostle was "one sent". He was an appointed ambassador, a
representative of the Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father. He was a witness of the resurrection of
Christ from the dead. God chose him for this ministry. Acts 9:15-16
THE
Paul's mission or
writing was to the churches in
Paul's mission was to
strengthen these particular churches who were often
plagued by false teachers who followed Paul around trying to add the doctrines
of Old Testament Law to his teachings.
THE MESSAGE - Vss. 3-4
Paul shared his
customary greeting or message of "grace and peace" from God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE MOTIVE - Vs. 5
Paul's motive for
writing this epistle and for everything else that he did was to bring glory to
God and to his Lord and Savior.
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Galatians 1:6-10
THE PERIL OF WRONG
INFORMATION
We have all been the
victims of wrong information. We have been given wrong information about the
character of people that was nothing more than gossip. We have been given wrong
information concerning arrival times of busses, cars, and planes. We have been
given wrong information concerning the government. We have been given wrong
information about peoples intentions. Sometimes people
tell you what they want you to believe, not the truth.
There is another kind of wrong information going around today that is
even more dangerous than the types of wrong information that I have already
shared. It is wrong information which, if believed, leads to eternal
destruction.
After a brief
introduction in Galatians 1, Paul gets right to the point. The Galatians were victims of wrong
information. There are cults and
churches that claim to be Christian that are giving
out wrong information. They are teaching other ways to Heaven, other than by
grace through faith. The peril of such
false teaching, no matter how sincere, is that such teaching will damn souls
for all eternity instead of giving them eternal life.
AMAZING DESERTION - Vs.
5
Paul was astounded that so
soon after embracing Christ as Savior they were already being swayed by false
teachers. The Galatians were
gullible. The best weapon a false
teacher has is Christians who are ignorant of God's Word.
They were removed, or
had deserted God by leaving the grace of Christ behind. The Gospel of Grace is summed up in 1
Corinthians 15:3-4. Christ died for our
sins. He was buried and rose again. A
person receives this grace through faith in Christ.
APOSTASY DENOUNCED -
Vss. 6-9
Someone has said (I
don't know who.) that apostasy is a "falling away or defection from the
faith."
Paul said in verse 6
that the Galatians were turning to "another Gospel". This other Gospel was another opinion. But as verse 7a says, the other Gospel was
not another Gospel. It was not the
Gospel at all. False teachers trouble
the church and pervert the truth.
In verses 8-9 Paul
pronounces a curse (anathema) on anyone who preaches a false Gospel.
Why is Paul so adamant?
There is only one way to
Heaven (John 14:6).
There is only one Gospel
(Vs. 6).
There is only one
sacrifice for sin, paid for by Jesus (Hebrews
ALLEGIANCE DECLARED -
Vs. 10
When it came to accurate
presentation of the Gospel, Paul would either please man or God. He could not please both (1 Corinthians
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Galatians 1:11-24
FIRST STEPS
When our children were
small we rejoiced in the development of their abilities. We were happy when
they could eat cereal, then baby food and then table food. We rejoiced when
they smiled, then laughed, and then started saying those first words. We
watched as they rolled over, then crawled, then pulled
them up to stand next to the couch. But probably the greatest day of all was
when they took those "first steps" all by themselves.
First steps are almost
always exciting. When a person takes those first steps walking, or riding a bicycle,
or learning to read, or learning a new a job, we are happy in the progress
which is made. When a person is saved, or born-again, there are also first
steps that need to take place. If a person is truly born again these steps will
take place, and most of these steps will be repeated all through the Christian
Life. It's just like walking!
In the Book of Galatians
Paul is writing to a group of churches that he founded in what is modern day
In this passage Paul
gives a defense of his Apostleship. He tells about the first steps that he made
in his walk as a believer. We should have imitated these first steps, and
should continue to imitate them.
CHRIST REVEALED AND
RECEIVED - Vss. 11-12
The Gospel that Paul
preached did not come from other teachers. It came from God.
He received it by
revelation from God beginning on the road to
The Gospel that Paul
preached and the Gospel that we believe came from God, not man. See John
An important thing to
note is that Paul had to receive Christ in order to be saved.
God, through the work of
the Holy Spirit and the preaching of the Word of God will reveal the message of
salvation, but each individual must receive Christ in order to be saved. John
3:36, Ephesians 2:8-9.
THE PAST RENOUNCED -
Vss. 13-14
A change took place when
Paul was saved. He let the past behind. He left the Jew's religion in favor of
Christianity. He stopped persecuting Christians, profiting in the Jew's
religion, and being zealous for the traditions of his fathers. See Philippians
3:1-9.
According to 2
Corinthians 5:17, a change takes place if we are truly saved. We will want to leave the past behind, and things which
never bothered us before like foul language, lying, or immorality, will start
to bother us.
THE MIND REPROGRAMMED OR
RENEWED - Vss. 13-17
Paul was isolated from
man and placed in God's
Today we need our mind
renewed by God's Word. Romans 12:1-2, 1 Peter 2:1-3, 2 Timothy 2:15, Joshua 1:8
BELIEVERS REJOICED -
Vss. 18-24
Finally Paul did go to
Churches had heard that
the one who once persecuted Christians now preached the Gospel.
The change in us should
be so dramatic that it will cause other Christians to rejoice.
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Galatians 1:12-24
PAUL: AN EXAMPLE OF GOD'S GRACE
PAUL'S SOURCE OF AUTHORITY - Vss. 11-12
PAUL'S SINS OF THE PAST - Vss. 13-14
PAUL'S SALVATION FROM GOD - Vss. 15-16
PAUL'S STUDY UNDER GOD - Vss. 16-17
PAUL'S STORY FOR OTHERS - Vss. 18-24
Told in
Told in
Told in
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Galatians 1:13-16 etc.
FOR REAL!
Most of us do not care
for people that are "phonies", who pretend to be what they are not,
and pretend to be more important than they actually are. We usually do not care
for hypocrisy in any form.
Our Lord Jesus hated
hypocrisy. One day, toward the end of His ministry, he warned against the
scribes, a group of religious leaders, who were very hypocritical. Mark
12:38-40
God wants us to be
"for real"! He does not want us to be phony or hypocritical.
He wants our Christian
walk and talk to be genuine. Our problem is that we are human.
No one is perfect, and
consequently there will be some inconsistencies in us all.
There are ways for us to
be "for real" before God, the church, our families, and unbelievers.
There are principles
found in God's word that will help us be genuine or "for real". The
Apostle Paul demonstrates and/or teaches us several of these principles in the
Book of Galatians.
THE PRINCIPLE OF CHANGE
1:13-16, 22-24
Paul was very religious
before his salvation experience. Vss. 13-14
However, when Paul was
truly converted, there was a definite change that took place in his life.
He became a preacher to
the heathen, or gentile. Vss. 15-16
Instead of persecuting
the faith, he became a preacher of the faith. Vss. 22-24
Nobody can be "for
real" unless they truly come to Christ and become changed by Him. 2
Corinthians 5:17
Change for the Christian
did not only happen at salvation by should be a continued process. 2 Peter
THE PRINCIPLE OF COURAGE
- 2:11-14
If we are going to be
"for real" we need to have the courage to stand for what is right.
When the Apostle Peter visited
Then when certain men
came who were "of the circumcision", he became afraid of their
opinion and separated himself from the Gentiles at mealtime. Vs. 12
Paul had the courage to
stand for what is right and to point out Peter's hypocrisy. Vs. 14
THE PRINCIPLE OF
CRUCIFIXION -
A Christian who is
"for real" recognizes his own death.
Paul said, "I am
crucified with Christ."
Christ was my substitute
on the cross.
Christ bore my
punishment on the cross.
Christ took my place.
Therefore, when Christ
died, I died. I am crucified with Christ.
This makes me dead to
the control of sin in my life, dead to the domination of sin in my life, and
dead to any obligation to sin.
Although I have been
crucified with Christ I am very much alive.
I am alive because
Christ is living in me. And Christ, who has given me eternal life, wants to
live His life through me. Christ lives his life through me when I recognize
that I am dead to sin and by faith trust Christ to live through me. See Romans
6:1-14
THE PRINCIPLE OF CONTROL
-
As I yield to Christ by
faith, He through the Holy Spirit will have control of my life.
Walking the Spirit keeps
me from fulfilling the lust of the flesh. It also produces the Fruit of the Spirit.
THE PRINCIPLE OF
COMPASSION - 6:2
When I have compassion I
will bear the burdens of others, especially helping them with areas of failure.
6:1-2
The supreme law of
Christ is to "love one another". John 13:14-15
THE PRINCIPLE OF
CONSISTENCY - 6:9
We are to keep on doing
well and not get weary.
If we are consistent, we
will reap the benefits of that consistency.
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