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Introduction
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: Revealed religion (whether Mosaic or Christian) is not mere moralizing unrelated to historical fact. It is not philosophy. Redemptive Christianity is the planned result of God introducing into the course of human events, e.g. The coming of Christ, His life, His miracles, His death , His resurrection, etc. Our faith is hooked to these events without which the gospel would be meaningless. Paul's letter to the Galatians is not merely good advice from the Oriental point of view 2000 years ago. It is an effort to correct a perverted situation resulting through actual events which unfortunately intruded themselves into the churches of Galatia.
1. Paul came to the Galactic regions with the gospel (Acts 13-14) and through” an infirmity of the flesh” was afforded an opportunity to preach Christ (Gal. 4:13-14). Belief was produced and churches were established by faith.
2. False teachers later came to the Galatian churches with a perverted gospel (Gal. 1:6-7), charging that Paul lacked apostolic authority and that he was a man pleaser “seeking favor of men” (Gal. 1:10)
PAUL'S LINE OF DEFENSE: No false teacher could hope to win the Galatians to their doctrine (which was so contrary to the gospel that Paul preached) until his apostleship and consequent authority were brought under suspicion. This letter was written by the apostle to counter the deadly doings of these false teachers and clearly reveals (especially in the final one-third of the letter) a strong line of self-defense.
AIM OF THIS LESSON: To show the deadly danger of false doctrine and the need for the men of courage to stand for the truth.
I. THE INDICTMENT (Galatians 1:6-9)
The seriousness of false doctrine is seen here.
A. A different gospel removes one from God (6-7).
1. “Removing from Him that called you,” that is, God (cf. Gal. 1:15; Acts 2:38-39; Rom. 8: 28-30; I Cor. 1: 9; II Thess. 2:14; II Tim. 1:9).
2. “A different gospel which is not another gospel.” Consider the following words:
a. HETEROS ( v.6), different – denotes distinction, that which is different from something else. Hence, heterodoxy or false doctrine.
b. ALLOS (v.7), another -another, but of the same kind.
B. False teachers condemned (8-9)
1. Paul warned the Galatians before he left them the first time. Consider, “As we have said before,”meaning something said earlier at another place and time. Also consider, “as we have said before, so I say now again,” Paul repeats an earlier warning, not the statement of v.8. See also 5:21, “forewarn.”
2. Anathema, that is, a curse. This teaches that both false teacher (vs. 8-9) and believer (6- 7) are cursed by false doctrine. Remember Matt. 15:14.
II. THE CONCLUSION: PAUL NOT A MAN PLEASER (Galatians 1:10).
His indictment of the Judaizing teachers as troublesome and accursed from God (vs. 8-9) and of any Galatians who had received this heresy as removed from saving grace (6-7) would no doubt cause hard feelings. But one thing was clear, Paul was no man pleaser. He was a convicted servant of the Lord. This is the point in verse ten. This would no doubt get the attention of these ancient Gauls until he could prove his apostleship and thus teach with authority “the truth of the gospel” (as in Gal. 2:5, 14; 5:7).
QUESTIONS?
1. Who could from experience know better and with deeper regret the subtlety of dwelling sincerely in error? See Acts 26:9 and 23:1.
2. If Saul of Tarsus; a covenant child of God under the Mosaic system, religious and sincere, could be wrong, could be dead wrong, can covenant children of God today be wrong.....and lost? Was this the condition of some of the Galatians? See Gal. 5:2, 4.
3. If sincere and religious men can be wrong, what recourse do they have to know the truth? See John 8:31; Acts 20:32.
By Ed Wharton, edited by Lane