Thank you for joining with us this week. This week we will begin chapter 2 of Galatians as we continue our journey studying the whole book. Last week we finished up chapter 1 with a discussion on forgiveness. This week we will dive a little deeper into Paul’s life and the false teachings he faces with the church at Galatia. I want to remind everyone our central theme while we study this book is that of Truth. Truth is unchanging, it is absolute, it is timeless and consistent. Truth comes from God and God is Truth. Gods word does not need to be changed or made to apply to an era, belief or place. God is unchanging and his word is timeless. We cannot change God’s word without falsifying it. We cannot bend the Truth to justify our own means, but rather we must change what we belief to be aligned with Truth.
Galatians 2: 1-10 “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
Paul has fast forwarded again, this time an additional 14 years, putting us approximately 17 years into his ministry, where he and Barnabas, his once mentor now partner, and Pauls disciple Titus are visiting Jerusalem, Acts 11: 19-30. The church is being faced with two dilemmas at this point, the first is a prophecy of a coming famine, and the second of the issue of circumcision.
The church plans to use all their missionaries including Paul to help prepare the churches everywhere for the coming famine. But, Paul is not as concerned with the famine as he is concerned with his ministry being aligned with God and His Truth. Paul has spent the last 14 years ministering to the Gentiles who are uncircumcised. For those of you who do not know, circumcision is a Jewish custom where the men of the society would remove the foreskin of their genitalia as a sign of devotion to Gods Promise. This custom can be dated back to Abraham the Patriarch of Judaism, Genesis 17: 1-14. This custom showed the dedication of the Jew’s to God and His the laws.
Paul rightly taught that the new covenant created through Jesus Christ, was the promised covenant meant to take the place of the old covenant, and as a result circumcision was not a requirement to be a Christian. False teachers in Jerusalem, probably the same ones causing issues in Galatia, are teaching a different message, claiming that circumcision was a requirement from God. Paul knew that Peter the leader of the Church in Jerusalem had recently experienced the same false teachings, and was given clarification over this from God, Acts10.
Now you might be thinking to yourself, that our overarching theme is Truth, which is consistent and never changing. God is this Truth, so why did it change? This is an excellent question, and the very topic of this weeks discussion. It would seem to anyone without a strong understanding of the old covenant and its relationship to the new covenant, that God has changed. However, the new covenant established in Jesus was not a replacement of the old covenant, but a fulfilled promise of the old covenant. This covenant is mentioned in Genesis 17:19. God promises to establish an everlasting covenant through Abraham's son Issac and their descendants, a foretelling of the everlasting covenant established through Jesus. The old covenant was the beginning of the makings of the covenant fulfilled in Christ. The old covenant was tied to physical laws meant to guide us in following God. This law was our protection until the day the prophecy came true and the covenant could be fulfilled through Jesus, Galatians 3: 24-25. Jesus even tells us in Matthew 5:17, that he did not come to abolish or change the old law but came to fulfill it.
For the law only effects those who live, and as we all know we eventually all die. How could we be protected under the law if it only binds our souls trapped in mortal bodies? We are told in Romans 7:1-25, that through Jesus we are released from the law. This is due to the fact that when we choose to follow Christ and accept his forgiveness, receiving his salvation, Jesus writes his laws on our heart; and his salvation transcends beyond the mortal realm saving us from eternal death. When Christ died, he tore the veil between us and the God, he ended the separation of man and God giving us free access to get to know our God, Matthew 27:51. While under the law we could not obtain a personal relationship with God. We would bring sacrifices to priest and through them seek forgiveness of our sins. Christ destroyed that separation giving us each a personal connection to the Creator of the Universe. Jesus came to be the last sacrifice, covering all of our sins, and taking over the job of high priest. Jesus became our mediator, and stands on our behalf before God.
Now just because we are no longer bound by the law, does not mean we do not still keep the law and follow it. The law cannot save us, only Jesus can, but we are still instructed to keep the laws, Romans 3:31. We are called to live righteously, and as such we must follow Gods law 1 John 3:4. We are no longer bound to it, and as such do not need to practice circumcision any longer, but we are still expected to follow in Gods law. This means we are not tied to the religious practices of the law (circumcision), but to the laws themselves. These laws are commonly referenced to as the 10 Commandments, Exodus 20: 1-17.
No matter if you are a genetic descendant of Abraham, or a Gentile, adopted through Christ; we the believers no matter your genetics make up are the descendants of Abraham. We are the Children of God, and have received the promised gift of everlasting life through Jesus Christ. Our belief in Jesus, our choosing to follow Him, is our new covenant. The covenant is no longer one physical in nature, but an act of spiritual devotion rooted in Faith.
Now that we have talked about the issue of circumcision that Paul was dealing with, you can see why it was such an issue among the Jews in the ancient church. These false teachers where teaching that individuals where having to complete physical acts of devotion to be saved, Ephesians 2: 8-10. Instead of teaching the true message of the Gospel, and that is: we are saved through no actions of our own, we are saved by our belief in Jesus, through the forgiveness of sins we received 2,000 thousand years ago, at calvary. These false teachers where still living bound to the law, and teaching that these christians, who are free from the law should be bound to the law. These false teachers, went around teaching the complete opposite message of the Gospel of Christ. Paul is showing the Galatian church how these teachers are false, while demonstrating the True Gospel of Christ in the passage of Galatians.
Some of you might be wondering what any of this has to do with you, or how it applies today. I don’t know anyone in the modern world arguing over doctrine that teaches if a male christian should be circumcised or not. Thankfully this was settled back with Paul and the Church of Acts. But, we do encounter many of the same problems just framed in different ways. For an example, growing up in the South, it was common knowledge if you went to church or not, that to be a Christian you could not drink alcohol. This one idea, has become the soul basis of church doctrine, for so many churches. I personally know people who have been kicked out of their church families because they enjoyed a beer on Friday night, on Saturday out fishing, at their daughters wedding, or at a sons funeral. These Churches have created a false teaching, placing a law on salvation. They have taken what God has given to us freely, and attached a cost to it. Salvation is freely given to us, and is not tied to anything that we have done, there are no rules, no cost that must be paid by us to receive it, we only must believe in Jesus Christ.
Now I could sit here and give you probably at least another dozen examples that I could think of, demonstrating false teachings that have entered Christianity today. But, I know you would probably grow bored of that pretty quickly, if you have not already. Instead I think a much better use of our time here is to discuss how to recognize a false teaching.
This is where our over arching theme comes into play. Remember Truth is never changing, it is consistent, and God is Truth. Truth is written for us in the infallible word of God, known as the Bible. Were are instructed in 1 John 4:1-6, to test all spirits, all teachings to know whether they come from God. In order to test something we must have a standard to measure them against, and that standard is the word of God. So, to know if something is false or true, you must test it against Gods word. This requires two things, one that you have a Bible, and two, that you are studying that bible on a daily basis.
This is extremely important, specially living in the era we do today. I don’t think the woke or hedonistic agenda of society is any worse than times before us, but I would say they have an easier means of creating falsehoods, acting upon it, and twisting Gods Word to fit their narrative. Today you can turn on any media source, and find supposed christian leaders, politicians of every type, social organizers, and celebrities that will twist the Word of God to support any corrupted belief they support. If we are not strong in our walk with Christ, it can be easy to be distracted and turned away from God following a false teaching. Paul even saw this and wrote about it in 2 Timothy 4:3-4.
The next step is to do as Paul did in our passage of Galatians. Paul not only battled against the false teachers who were abusing the Truth, he went to the Church leaders seeking their support. He first wanted to ensure his teachings aligned with scripture, and second that the whole church was not allowing this false teaching to be passed off as Truth. It is important that we do the same, we must study the word test all teachings and then go to our church leaders, and mentors who are further in their walks, ensuring that what we are being taught is in line with the Truth of God.
We are called to walk in devotion with God. To do this we must daily seek God out, studying his scripture, and going before him in prayer. It does not end there, God has given us a Church family, and we are meant to commune with this family, growing with this family as one body. Proverbs 27:17, has the famous saying, “Iron Sharpens Iron”, therefore we must sharpen each other. Paul teaches us to instruct each other and grow with each other in Romans 15:14. We are told in Philippians 3:17, to follow the example of those in leadership positions above us. This looks much like the example of discipleship we see through Pauls life. He became a Christian and grew as a christian under the mentorship of Barnabas, then when Paul had grown strong enough he took on disciples such as Titus, and Timothy. In our walks with Christ, we are always in a stage of being mentored by a disciple, and mentoring disciples under us. We should always be growing, and teaching what we have learned to the next generation of Christians. In the military we use a phrase, “Train up those who are beneath us so that, they can one day take our positions”. We want to share what we have learned, and help create disciples who will follow Christ even more faithfully than we did, do that their lives may be more prosperous for the Kingdom of God than ours where. Christianity is a family, the older siblings help guide the younger siblings, and we never grow tired of guiding those weaker in the faith than ourselves. We always live in away that sets an example for others to follow us in Christ. We will only know how to follow Christ, and set good examples if we are devoted to studying Gods word, and praying everyday. We are here on this Earth to build up the kingdom if God. We cannot build, if we do not know the tools we have or how to use them.
I encourage you, to grab a bible if you don’t already have one. If you need one and don’t know what to buy, or don’t know where to buy one, no problem reach out to us at information@triplehares.com and we will make sure you receive one. I recommend starting your own personal bible study in the Book of James. James is where I started and it is where I always turn back to. Seek out mentorship, start with praying that God sends you a mentor, then join a church that teaches the Gospel. I promise if you’re at a place that teaches the Gospel, then a mentor will find you. Last thing, it is not common as a new Christian, or even as an old Christian to have some personal teachings, beliefs , or ideas that are wrong, sometimes they are just engrained in us from childhood, and have never been tested. So I ask each and everyone of you, no matter where you are in your walk, remain humble, remain teachable, test every teaching against Gods word. Below are this weeks reflection questions.
How often do you set time aside to study Gods Word?
How often do you pray?
Do you have a mentor in your life?
Are you mentoring someone beneath you?
Are you plugged into a church family?
This last one is a challenge: Write down anything and everything you believe about Christianity, God and the Bible. Then go through the Bible challenging each one, making sure you know what the Truth actually says about those beliefs.
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