Session 1 The True Gospel Galatians 1:1-10 September 1-2, 2018 Session Summary and Goal: This passage begins a contentious letter from the apostle Paul. He establishes his authority as an apostle of the Lord Jesus so that he can point the Galatian Christians back to the true Gospel of Christ. He tells the Galatians that the true, pure Gospel that he taught them must be held closely because others have come in trying to teach them a different gospel. Paul wants them to know that it doesn't matter how impressive the person speaking might be, if they are teaching something that does not line up with the truth of the Gospel, then Christians must reject that message. Main Passage: Galatians 1:1-10 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. Session Outline: 1. Our primary authority must come from Jesus. 2. We must hold tightly to the truth of the Gospel. 3. We should be obedient to the truth, not to an impressive person. Session in a Sentence: The True Gospel involves God's redeeming work in the world through His Son Jesus, and anyone who tries to add any extra requirements or litmus tests to the Gospel is, in reality, teaching a false and accursed Gospel. Christ Connection: The saving work of God in the world happens through Jesus Christ. Jesus reveals God's character to us, teaches us what it means to walk with God, and redeems us from our sinful state through His death and resurrection. Jesus is our final authority to know the truth of God's character and to experience God on a relational level. We must hold tight only to Jesus because He is the one who connects us to the Father.
Missional Application: Part of God s missional expectation for His people is to understand the simple truth of the Gospel. 1) We are born into sin and separated from God, 2) Jesus died to take our sins upon Himself, 3) Jesus was raised from the dead so that we too might one day be resurrected, and 4) Anyone who chooses through faith to follow Jesus becomes part of God s family. We must learn to let these truths sink in, and we must be willing and able to communicate the simple truth of the Gospel to others at every opportunity True Gospel Page 2
Session 1 The True Gospel Introduction: There is a trope from a lot of movies, books, and television shows regarding which law enforcement agencies have jurisdiction over a criminal investigation. It usually looks something like this: a police officer will be investigating some crime and examining evidence when another officer from a different agency (like highway patrol or state troopers) walk up and say something like "we will take it from here." After hearing this, the police officer might say something like "But I am in charge of this investigation," at which point the other officer responds, "Not anymore you're not." You will often see this happen on shows like Law and Order, CSI, or in movies. Behind this trope is a common theme: who is really in charge? A local police force investigates a crime until some higher federal agency decides that they should be the ones to fix everything. Who is really in charge? Who has the authority to make big decisions? These are always important questions to ask, whether in solving a crime or in determining who gets to make decisions about our lives. Background: At the outset of the letter, the thing that is apparently at the top of Paul's mind is the issue of authority. Who or what has the authority to tell Christians what to believe, how to act, how to worship, and who to be. Paul wanted the Galatian Christians to submit only to the true authority the authority of Christ as explained in the true Gospel. This letter was circulated to several churches in Galatia, all of which Paul planted during his first missionary journey. We know from the patterns of Paul's life that he planted churches by going into new cities and towns, preaching the Gospel. We have excerpts of Paul's teaching from his epistles and the book of Acts. From these examples, we know that Paul preached a simple message: Jesus Christ was Israel's Messiah, the Son of God, whose death and resurrection made a way for all men to be made right with God. In short, Paul preached Christ and Him crucified. Paul led many to become believers in Galatia, and many of those were Gentiles (people who were not ethnically Jewish). Christianity began as primarily a Jewish sect in Jerusalem, but Peter and Paul soon after discovered that the truth of the Gospel was not only for the Jews but everyone, so Paul preached and converted Jews and Gentiles alike. After Paul left Galatia and continued with his journeys, it seems that another group came into these churches trying to add on to the basic message of the Gospel. Paul calls this group agitators.' This group was essentially teaching that to be true followers of Jesus; Gentile Christians must make themselves ethnically Jewish by circumcising their men and following Jewish dietary restrictions and religious holidays. As we will read in this letter, Paul not only disagrees with these agitators, but he believes that they are preaching an entirely different gospel! These first ten verses of the book of Galatians give us some hints about how we can determine who or what should have authority over deciding our beliefs about God and our practices of Worship. 1) Our Primary Authority Must Come From Jesus 1 From Paul, an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead) 2 and all the brothers with me, to the churches of True Gospel Page 3
Galatia. 3 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, four who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever! Amen. What does it say? Paul uses the first few words of this letter to establish his authority to teach, guide, and correct the Galatians. He points out that he is an apostle, and that he was established as such by Jesus himself. He then roots his apostleship into the message of the Gospel in verses 3-5. In verses 3-5, Paul maps out a few key points of the Gospel: 1) Jesus is equal and a contemporary to the Father, 2) Jesus gave Himself up for our sins 3) Jesus rescues His people from the present evil age, 4) All these things happened according to the will and plan of the Father 5) This plan brings glory and honor to God. What does it mean? Usually when the church uses the word apostle,' it refers to the 12 disciples chosen by Jesus to follow Him and learn from Him during his ministry, but Paul includes himself among this group. How is this possible when Paul was not present during Jesus' ministry? The answer is simple: Paul was converted and called to ministry by a real-life encounter with the risen Lord Jesus Himself! Jesus called Saul while on the road to Damascus, giving him a new belief system, a new calling, and a new life. Because of this encounter with Jesus, Paul too can be called an apostle.' But why does Paul think it important to mention this at the outset of the letter? Because Paul needs to definitively show the Galatian Christians that the Gospel he preached to them has the authority of Christ behind it! In verses 3-5, Paul reminds the Galatians of the simple story of the true Gospel it's all about Jesus and what He has done. Paul roots his authority back to Jesus because he wants the Galatians to know that any person claiming any authority other than Christ Himself is not trustworthy. Application: Where should we find our ultimate authority on what we believe and how we should behave? We should find our final authority from Jesus! Every one of us is influenced by the time, place, and culture in which we live. It is tempting to form our beliefs and behaviors based on what is acceptable and trendy in our time, location, and culture. If you live in Texas, you are more likely to believe that guns are good than if you live in California. If you lived in China, you would be more likely to assume that communism is good than if you lived in the United States. All of us have beliefs and behaviors that come from these cultural assumptions. As Christians, we must learn to come to our beliefs and behaviors based on the truth of the Gospel, and not any other extraneous preference or influence. 2) We Must Hold Tightly to the Truth of the Gospel 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel 7 not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ. True Gospel Page 4
What does it say? Paul gets directly to the point with the Galatian Christians: others have deceived them, and they have begun deserting the truth of the Gospel. He tells them that they have started following a different gospel, a gospel that distorts the truth of the original. What does it mean? The English word gospel comes from the Greek word euaggelion, which means good news.' When the early Christians used the word gospel,' they were talking about the Good News that God was on the move in human history that he was dealing with the problem of sin by sending His Son to die and be raised so that all men could be reconciled with him. Paul is telling the Galatians that this distortion of the Gospel that they were starting to believe was not good news at all. In fact, it is always the case that anyone who tries to add any requirement, test, or addition to the Gospel inevitably turns it into not-so-good news.' We will talk more about the opponents in Galatia who were trying to add things to the Gospel, but for now, all we need to know is that these agitators' demanded that all Christians must conform to the ethnic requirements of Judaism. They were essentially telling the Galatian Gentile Christians, "It is good that you are following Jesus, but to truly follow Him you must also be circumcised and follow our food laws and observe our religious holidays." The truth of the Gospel is that we can become part of God's family by giving our lives to Christ in faith and belief. The agitators' were teaching the Galatians that to be part of God's family, the Gentiles must have faith+follow religious and ethnic requirements. Paul wants the Galatians to know that this gospel' was a false distortion of the true Gospel straight out of Hell. Application: We can t add anything to the Gospel. The Gospel is different than any other religion or worldview in the history of the world for a variety of reasons. One of the many things that make the Gospel unique is that it can make its home in any human culture, but it also pushes back against all human cultures. One of the temptations that we are likely to experience as believers is the tendency to add-on' to the Gospel. The Gospel means that belief and faith in Christ lead us to be part of God's family (which will be explored later in Galatians). Anything that we try to add on to that distorts the Gospel and is an absolute lie. Whenever we try to add requirements on to the Gospel, we are allowing our cultural preferences to determine what we believe is true, not Jesus Himself. 3) We Should Be Obedient to the Truth of the Gospel, not to an Impressive Person 8 But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell! 9 As we have said before, and now I say again, if any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let him be condemned to hell! 10 Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ! True Gospel Page 5
What does it say? Paul gets to the heart of the issue for the Galatians, they have believed the wrong things from the wrong people. Paul wants the Galatians to be committed to the Gospel, not to any particular person. He says even if we or an angel from heaven' preach a different gospel to you, let him be condemned to hell!' Paul is establishing that the person delivering the message should never be the focal point, but God's redeeming work in history should be the thing we are committed to believing. Paul hints that the problem for the Galatians is that they are trying to please people. They want so badly for the agitators' to have a high opinion of them, that they have begun to walk away from the true Gospel of Christ. What does it mean? Paul does not want the Galatians to be loyal or follow any one person, not even himself. He only wants them to be committed to Jesus, and to believe the truth of the Gospel. Paul says something similar in 1 Corinthians 3, where the Corinthian church had divisions over which teacher they wanted to follow. He tells the Corinthians that quarreling over who to follow is a worldly attitude that must be purged from among them. It ultimately stems from the desire to please people and not God, and it results in the worship of men instead of God Himself. Paul does not want Christians to be committed to following the right teacher, but instead, Christians should be committed to the truth of the Gospel and following Christ. We will see how this letter plays out in the coming weeks, but these first ten verses are a strong start from Paul in steering the Galatian Christians toward a commitment to the truth of the Gospel above all else. Application: One of the most natural temptations for Christians is to elevate a teacher or leader who is particularly impressive in speech, leadership, or demeanor. This tendency is a well-documented sociological phenomenon called the appeal to authority fallacy.' 1 explains that once we consider someone an overwhelming authority on a given subject or facet of life, we tend to assume that said person is overwhelmingly right or trustworthy about everything. But this is not true. All humans are highly fallible and sinful, and every teacher, leader, or influential person is liable to let you down if you place too much trust in them. If you find a preacher, teacher, or influencer that helps you understand the Bible and the Gospel in a more tangible and impactful way, then that is fantastic. However, you should never place too much trust or hope in any person, no matter how right or righteous they seem to you. Your hope, your trust, confidence and your commitment should be in Jesus and the work that He is doing in the world. If you are committed to the Good News of Christ and not to a charismatic man or woman, then you will never experience the crushing betrayal of seeing your leader have a moral or ethical fall, because the Good News is true, and Jesus will never fail. 1 Carroll, Robert. "Appeal to Authority." The Skeptic's Dictionary True Gospel Page 6