Galatians 1: It's All About Jesus

“Paul’s letter confronts the Galatians for relying on the laws of Torah (especially circumcision) to ensure they belonged as members of God’s family. He calls this a “different Gospel” because, since the beginning, the real good news has never been about earning an entrance into God’s family. To prove this, Paul points back to Abraham as a prime example, reminding readers that Abraham never earned his right relationship with God. Instead, he believed and trusted God’s promise that one day, all nations would find God’s blessing through him and his descendants. God’s plan has always been to have a family of people who relate to him on the basis of trust, not the Law. The Law, as good as it is, does not provide the power to change—what the Law cannot do, Jesus fully accomplishes.” From theBibleProject.

Overall Theme:

In Galatians, Paul teaches us the doctrine of justification by faith and defends Christian liberty against all forms of legalism. After thoroughly defending his apostolic authority, Paul condemns false teachings about circumcision and details the freedom we have as recipients of God's grace

Key Verse:

(Galatians 3:11) Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith.

“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28 is quite clear. There is little doubt about the point Paul is making: In Christ we are all the same — we are equal with one another.

Let’s read it together.

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Bible Breakdown Podcast

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hey everyone and welcome to the Bible Breakdown podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us and let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

Speaker 2: 0:23

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, galatians, chapter one, and if I could give this one a title, it would be it's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus and we're going to dive into this in just a moment, but, as always, I'd like to give you a little bit of a background about it. So, while you're opening up your Bible to Galatians, chapter one it's about halfway through the New Testament I want to make sure and tell you to not forget to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel. Man, we are growing, god is blessing us, and what a wonderful opportunity it is just to do life together, just to sit and to read God's word, just to find out what God's word says. Make sure you subscribe to the channel. Also, if you're listening to this on the podcast, leave us a five-star review. It really does help us to get the word out there. And then, as always, when we all come together, that is the Bible Breakdown Discussion Group on Facebook. Such an honor to do life with people over there. And the more we dig, the more we find, and I just love the fact we're having a chance to build this community together and just together reading God's Word, just together reading God's word. So I love it so much. And so this one right here is a very, very good book in the Bible.

Speaker 2: 1:27

To give a little bit of background, we're going to dive into this. So, first of all, this book was written by the Apostle Paul. It was written in about 49 AD. So Jesus rose from the dead about 33 AD. So, as you can see, just a few years after that, paul is writing this letter to the church called, or church Galatians, but it's in a city called Galatia. Now, what happened was is, after Paul became a Christian, he hung out for a while in a place called Antioch, different places. Well, finally, he and a guy named Barnabas go on a mission trip, go on a missionary journey to some of the different cities in Rome to spread the gospel. Well, he ends up taking three missionary journeys. He goes on one, then he goes back and checks on those churches a second time and he ends up going on a third missionary journey as well. Well, on the very first journey to spread the gospel, he goes to a city called Galatia and he planted this church and it was, or he helped plant the church and it was this amazing journey, and then he leaves and he goes to these other towns and when he gets back to a place called Antioch, where he had kind of had his place set up there, he hears that almost like right after he left, something bad happened.

Speaker 2: 2:36

And what happened was is people were hearing that Paul, who was a Jewish man who was preaching to Gentiles, he was teaching about the good news, about the gospel. But the problem was is a lot of these people who were from Jerusalem and different places, they were called Judaizers, and what that meant was is they thought that in order to follow Jesus, you had to be Jewish, you had to do the customs and all the different things that Jewish people did, and so they went right behind Paul and they ended up doing this in more than one place, but Galatia is the one that they really got a hold of. And when Paul left these people in Galatia, man, they loved the Lord, everything was going great for them. And then the Judaizers came in and they basically said you know what? That Paul guy is really cool, isn't he? Yeah, he's great man. He really showed us about Jesus. Man, I know he's great.

Speaker 2: 3:25

You know what, though Paul didn't tell you everything, you may tell you what's even better. Well, yeah, there's more. I want to know. I'll tell you what's more Works. Getting to God by being perfect. That's the way to go. As a matter of fact, if you want to get closer to God, you need to be Jewish. So come on up here, let's stop eating that bacon. Let's circumcise you. Ho, ho, ho, oh yeah, that's what we got to do.

Speaker 2: 3:48

And they just start trying to turn them into Old Testament Orthodox Jews and just frustrating the grace of God. And so Paul hears about this and he gets so frustrated and so he writes a letter to the church of Galatia. And this is the only letter that we know for sure that Paul wrote, because there's debate back and forth on the book of Hebrews, but usually he starts off with a whole lot of hey, how's everybody doing? And he spends the first chapter or two talking about how great God is. Then he gets into it no, no, no. By verse six he says I am shocked. So he goes, he's frustrated. And actually, if you want to look as well in Acts, chapter 15, we can see what happens.

Speaker 2: 4:31

Right before Acts, chapter 15, paul writes this letter because what happens is he gets so angry about what these Judaizers are doing and that they're going to these different cities and frustrating what he's writing. That he goes to Jerusalem. He says hey, listen, we need to have a sit down, almost like a mob boss. Right, we need to have us a sit down. We need to get you and you and all your mom and them together, and we need to have a sit down, almost like a mob boss. Right, we need to have us a sit down. We need to get you and you and all your mom and them together and we need to figure out what's what. And they do. They sit down and they say Paul is right, and so they tell these guys to stop it, but before they could, they'd frustrated everything, and so that's what this is going to be all about is where Paul is writing to the church of Galatia and helping them understand something we still deal with today.

Speaker 2: 5:13

If I could give this an overall theme, it would be to realize that we are saved by grace, through faith. We are saved for good works, not by good works. There's a balance that has to be struck here, because we are saved by grace alone. However, grace should not stay alone in our life, but there's the balance here, because one side says you don't have to do anything. You were saved because God loved you and because God called you, so you can do whatever you want to do, it don't matter. Well, that's wrong, because you should not continue in sin, because you have been saved. On the other side, people say you must earn your salvation. You have to do right, be right, say right all the things, and then God will receive you. That's also not true, because you can't earn your salvation. If you could, why did Jesus die on the cross, right? So here's the thing we are saved by grace, through faith, and then we do good works, we get rid of the sin in our life, we walk in freedom because we are saved, not for salvation. That's something we still deal with all the time.

Speaker 2: 6:24

If I could give you a theme verse, the theme verse would be Galatians, chapter 2, verse 16. We'll read tomorrow, and that is we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not simply by obeying the law. In other words, jesus wants a relationship, not a contract. He wants to have a relationship with you. So we're going to read this and remember that Paul is angry, but he's grieved more than anything, because he's saying this is supposed to be about Jesus and then when we follow Jesus out of that love relationship we have with him, then, yes, we get rid of all the sin and all of that. But you guys are doing it backwards. You're saying that I'm going to love Jesus because I'm going to do these things. He's like, no, no, no, you're doing it wrong. So let's read this together and let's hear Paul's just pain in this and see if maybe God would speak to you about some of the areas in your life where maybe you need more freedom or areas where you need to start walking closer to Jesus in other ways. Let's read this together Galatians, chapter five, or, excuse me, galatians chapter one, verse one. I don't know where five came from. Here we go.

Speaker 2: 7:24

This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God, the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead. All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia. May God, the Father, and our Lord, Jesus Christ, give you grace and peace. Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God, our Father had planned in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. All glory to God, forever and ever. Amen. Which, once again, what he's trying to say is a first century Roman way of saying sup y'all.

Speaker 1: 8:04

How's it going?

Speaker 2: 8:05

How's the mom and him? But now he's about to get to business and notice how he starts off with saying I wasn't appointed by any man or group of people. He's making sure to say that because it's likely remember. What they would do is they would take these letters and they would go and stand in the congregation and they would read them. Those Paul is there. So Paul is aware that there are people that he may have won to the Lord that are there. There's also his enemies that are there. These Judaizers are there. People who've been lying about him are there. So he's setting the record straight in front of everybody and he's saying this is why it's right. Here we go.

Speaker 2: 8:35

Verse six I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the good news, but it is not the good news at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God's curse fall on anyone, including us, or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of good news than the one we preach to you. I say again what we have said before if anyone preaches any other good news than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed Pause. That's one reason why I tell people all the time to not be so quick to want to preach the gospel Now. We should share our faith with everybody. I'm talking about getting up on a stage somewhere and preaching the gospel or teaching in another environment. Don't be so quick. Make sure you know what you believe, because if you preach something that's beside, besides the good news, you're gonna be in trouble.

Speaker 2: 9:40

It's a very serious thing to teach God's word because you can lead people astray. That's what Paul is saying. We take this stuff very, very seriously, and he even says it like this in verse 10. He says obviously I am not trying to win. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. And that's important, because when you follow God and you have to preach God's word, it's going to offend people. It's going to hurt people's feelings from time to time, but it's necessary, because we're not interested in feelings, we're interested in holiness. God cares more about our character than he does our comfort, and so his word doesn't always agree with us, but it's good for us and that's what Paul is saying. Doesn't always agree with us, but it's good for us, and that's what Paul is saying. I'm interested in teaching you God's word and the truth. Verse 11 says this dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning.

Speaker 2: 10:31

I received my message from no human source and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion, how I violently persecuted God's church. I did my best to destroy it. I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors. But even before I was born, god chose me and he called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him to reveal his son to me, so I would proclaim the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles. And when this happened, I did not rush out to consult with human beings, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before, as I was. Instead, I went away to Arabia and I later returned to the city of Damascus. Then, three years later, I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed there for 15 days the only other apostle I met that time was James, the Lord's brother. I declare before God, and I am writing this to you, happened when Paul was first a Christian to destroy, and they praise God because of me.

Speaker 2: 11:58

Now, what's very interesting there is that second half gives us a little bit of a window into what happened when Paul was first a Christian. If you read the book of Acts, what happened was is when he first became a Christian, he immediately afterward went to the local synagogues and started debating that Jesus was the Lord. Well, they tried to kill him, and so they actually had to lower him down by a basket in the night so he could get away. Well, what happened after that? Well, we know, eventually Barnabas went and found Paul, but there was time there. What happened was, as Paul didn't go to Jerusalem, instead he escaped, he went to Arabia and then he went to some other places and he spent three years, and most scholars believe what Paul did for those three years is he searched the Scriptures, he figured out what was going on. He heard from the Lord because he knew the Old Testament frontwards and backwards, but now he had to see it through the light of Jesus and everything started to make sense. That's why, when he came back, he was able to teach God's Word in the way that he was. And then he went to Jerusalem.

Speaker 2: 12:56

Can you imagine, think about that for a moment Can you imagine what that meeting was like, with Paul going and talking to Peter? Tell me about Jesus. What do you know about Jesus, paul? I saw him. I saw him on the road to Damascus. I saw him, but I only had a moment with him. He's beautiful. He really is God. Yeah, yeah, he really is.

Speaker 2: 13:15

Tell me about Jesus.

Speaker 2: 13:16

Oh, you should have seen him. I did see him. I mean, you should have seen him when he was with us. Tell me, well, he fed 5,000. One day, paul, he fed 5,000 with five loaves and two fish. Wow, tell me some more. One day, he healed this blind man's eyes. One day, paul, we got on the other side of this lake and there were two demon-possessed men and with the word, he cast out those evil spirits and he sent that man into the Gentile areas. Really, that's what I'm doing now. I've heard Jesus will be proud of you.

Speaker 2: 13:44

Let me tell you what else he did, paul, when everybody else was always trying to attack him, he loved them. He challenged them, but he loved them. Boy, that's hard, sure is. That's why he's Jesus. Tell me about how he died. Well, they crucified him. I know that. Tell me. Well, I wasn't there. John was. John will tell you. Can you imagine? Can you imagine that story? And then he got to see James, the Lord's brother. Tell me how he grew up. Tell me what he was like when he was a kid. Oh man, let me tell you the story that they used to tell us over and over again. There was this one time when they took Jesus to Jerusalem he's about 11 years old and they left him.

Speaker 2: 14:20

No they left the Son of God. I know Mom I mean, I keep telling Mom every time she loves this story and they said they searched for him for three days. They finally found him. Guess where they found him, paul, where did they find him? They found him in the temple. Oh Lord, what was he doing? He was telling all those. I mean, can you imagine, can you imagine just the excitement in hearing these stories?

Speaker 2: 14:39

Well, the reason why Paul is telling them, that is because these Judaizers had come in and they were spreading all these lies about Paul. And so Paul is telling the story of what happened and he's saying you know what it is? It's all about Jesus. It's always been about Jesus church, it still is about Jesus. And can I tell you, as we read through the book of Galatians, I think that's the main message that Paul was trying to get to them and that's the main message that I think we can learn from this, and that is it's all about Jesus.

Speaker 2: 15:08

We are saved by faith, through grace, and then we are saved for good works, not by good works. God doesn't save us because we're perfect. He saves us because he loves us, and then he slowly perfects us as we go, as we follow him. It really is all about Jesus, and what I want to encourage you to do as we read this is to kind of check your own heart. Are you as close to Jesus as you want to be? Are you close to Jesus because you think you're perfect? If so, that's not what he's looking for. He's not looking for perfection, he's looking for progress. He wants you to love him. God's looking for a relationship, not a contract, and as we follow him, we will grow in freedom every day and we'll realize it really is all about Jesus.

Speaker 2: 15:55

Let's pray together right now. God, thank you so much for today. Thank you for your goodness, your mercy, your kindness. Thank you that we are saved for good works, not by good works. I pray as we read through Galatians Lord, we'll just be inspired by your word to reach out for you to walk away from dark places and to run into your marvelous light. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen and don't forget the key verse this week is going to be, or for this book is going to be, galatians 2, verse 16. We know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. Jesus is looking for a relationship, not a contract. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Galatians, chapter 2.