Devotionary

I have titled today's episode simply "Faith." It's based on verses 23-29 of Galatians chapter 3 and where Paul continues his discussion of faith versus works. But Paul is going to attempt to clear up what has become a somewhat confusing point regarding faith. Is faith just another form of works? In other words, is our salvation dependent upon our faith? Can we have too little faith? Is faith something we have to manufacture or muster up in order to be saved? All of these questions will be answered by what Paul has to say in these verses. And the bottom line will be that faith does not come from us, but from God. In fact, faith is a gift given to us from God in the form of His Son, Jesus Christ. Faith isn't something we manufacture. It's someone we receive.

In today's episode, called the Promise and the Law, Paul will continue his juxtaposition of the obedience to the law and salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. In verses 15-22 of Galatians chapter 3, Paul will go out of his way to explain the purpose behind God's giving of the law and how it relates to our faith in Jesus Christ. For generations, the Jews had understood the law of Moses to be the means by which they gained approval by God. Obedience brought blessing. Disobedience brought God's curses. But they had failed to recognize that what God really wanted was a relationship with men. It was their sin that made that difficult. And no amount of law-keeping and rule-following seemed to help, because they always failed. But God's solution for their problem came in the form of a promise: His own Son.

Today, in chapter 3 of Galatians, we'll be covering verses 1-14. In these verses, Paul is going to dig deeper into the contrast between faith and works. He is going to hammer home his strong, unwavering assertion that salvation is by faith alone in Christ alone, with nothing else whatsoever required. In fact, even after salvation, works do not suddenly become the barometer by which God measures our degree of faith. His love for us doesn't waver based on the quality or quantity of our works. According to Paul, the righteous are not only saved by faith, they are to live by faith, trusting that God's love for them has only one condition: Their ongoing faith and dependence upon the death of Christ and His righteousness.

Today, we will be in the second half of Galatians 2, looking at verses 11-21. In these verses we are going to see Paul take on his fellow apostle, Peter, and give him a spiritual broadside regarding his treatment of the Gentile believers in Galatia. The problem Paul had was that Peter's actions had given credence to the false teaching of the Judaizers. His reluctance to eat with uncircumcised Gentiles was sending not only a bad message, but a wrong one. And Paul would have nothing to do with it. He could care less that Peter was one of the original disciples and a member of Jesus' inner circle. What he had done was wrong and had contradicted the message of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone that Paul had so faithfully preached.

This episode, based on Galatians 2, verses 1-10, in entitled, Preserving the Truth, and deals with Paul's determination to protect and preserve the integrity of the Gospel message at all costs. Watering it down was not to be tolerated. Any attempt to add to it was not to be accepted. For Paul, the good news of Jesus Christ was not just one more way for men to be made right with God, it was the ONLY way. The truth regarding man's sin and God solution for it are to be found only in Christ. Any other offer of salvation is false. Any other means of achieving a right standing with God is a lie. Jesus is not one of many options. He is the way, the truth and the life. And nobody comes to the Father except through Him.

In today's episode, we will be in Galatians 1, verses 11-24. I've titled this episode, Chosen By God, because Paul is going to go out of his way to defend not only his apostleship, but his message of salvation by grace, through faith in Christ alone. One of the things he was facing was the growing threat of false gospel messages confusing the believers in Galatia and leaving them wondering about the reality of their faith. Paul had a vested interest in the people who made up the churches in Galatia and was not going to stand by and watch them led astray by those who were preaching another gospel. God had chosen him to take the message of Good News to the Gentiles and he was not about to allow anyone or anything stand in his way.

This is episode one hundred and fifteen and with it, we are starting a new series on Paul's letter to the Galatians. It's called No Other Gospel and for the next 12 episodes, we will be digging into this theologically rich and highly practical piece of correspondence from the apostle to the Gentiles.

In this episode, we will be in Galatians 1, verses 1-10. From the very outset, Paul is going to jump right into the topic of the gospel. He is going to express his shock at the news that the Galatians believers have been deserting the gospel for a different one. And he makes it quite clear that this "other" gospel is really no gospel at all. Because there is only one. Paul is not going to pull any punches. He isn't going to negotiate, cooperate or tolerate anyone who preaches a gospel other than grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. He's even willing to call down a curse on anyone, man or angel, who teaches a false gospel. For Paul, there was no such thing as pseudo good news.

Like any letter, this one had to eventually come to a close. Paul had to wrap up what he was saying and draw his thoughts to a single conclusion. And for Paul, that was a warning against divisions and obstacles. His greatest fear was the influence that false teachers might have on the believers in Rome, especially during the time it took him to get there. He knew from experience that there would be those who attempted to sway the church away from the truth with offers of a variant form of the gospel. They would use smooth-sounding words and be motivated by purely selfish reasons. And Paul pulls no punches, calling these individuals evil and describing them as tools of Satan. They were to be considered dangerous and deadly, wicked men who preyed on the naïve and the immature. Their words were to be rejected and their fellowship denied. For the sake of the well-being of the church and the further spread of the gospel.

Unity and diversity. These are two of the characteristics that mark the church, the body of Jesus Christ. And Paul is going to stress both qualities as he wraps up his letter to the Romans. In a world where social standing and ethnic elitism ran rampant, the church provided a refreshing glimpse into the way God intended His people to live. As Paul clearly stated in his letter to the Galatians: "For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." This does not mean we lose our ethnicity or gender, give up our social standing or cease to be who we are. It simply indicates that our diversity takes a back seat to our unity in Christ. We all share one thing in common: Our faith in Christ and union with Him in His death, burial and resurrection.