Galatians chapter 3 verses 1 to 14 - Paul Calls the Witnesses - Dr J Stewart Gillespie

 Thought of the court room scene in 2:16. 

 This time the man in the dock is the Galatian, a false professor, having gone so far with Christ but turned back & rejected Him. 

 Note that there was a variety of people in the assembly at Galatia: 

1. Apostate – some verses can only apply to him (5:1-3). Example of apostate Judas Iscariot 
2. Genuine Believer – some verses can only apply to him (3:26) 
3. Backslider – Believer young in the faith & caught in the middle, not knowing which way to turn (4:9) 

 Sometimes speak of one, sometimes of the other, bear in mind that this mixture exists at Galatia. 

 Consider Chapter 3 as the apostle, not so much God, but Paul has put the Galatians in the dock. There charge: abandoning Christ. They plead innocent, they didn’t know they were rejecting/abandoning the saviour. Thought it was alright to go off after Judaism. 

 Paul calls the witnesses: 

• Witness 1 – The Cross (3:1) 
• Witness 2 – The Spirit (3:2-3) 
• Witness 3 – Their Experience (3:4) 
• Witness 4 – The Example of Abraham (3:6-14) 

 

Witness 1 – The Cross (3:1) 

 Christ crucified presented in power by the best of preachers 

 Preached not just with fact but with feeling. 

 Taken them to the cross & showed them the saviour (v1b). “Crucified” – perfect participle, past event with present consequences. Almost as if they had stood there at the foot of the cross. 

 Had felt the burden of their sin. Had been moved by the thought of the vastness of the love of God towards them. Touched by the fact that Christ had died for them. Relieved to have unburdened themselves at the foot of the cross, like ‘Christian’ in Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”: 

Then Christian gave three leaps for joy, and went on singing: 

Thus far I did come laden with my sin; 
Nor could aught ease the grief that I was in 
Till I came hither: What a place is this! 

Must here be the beginning of my bliss? 
Must here the burden fall from off my back? 
Must here the strings that bound it to me crack? 
Blest cross! blest sepulchre! blest rather be 
The Man that there was put to shame for me! 

 How “foolish” to hear the testimony of the preacher, to feel the power of the message, hear the voice of God, but to disobey, to disregard it as fable, as fiction, as foolishness (1Co1:18). 

 2 main words for foolishness in NT: 

 

“to fail to use intelligence” (Galatians 3:1) – not that they didn’t know – they didn’t care. Not that they couldn’t understand – they didn’t want to. They were culpable. 

 We hear the words of the saviour echoing down through the centuries, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the LORD hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger” (Lam1:12). 

 “evidently set forth”: ’to announce by posting up a written tablet to announce/promulgate.’ 

            

Witness 2 – The Spirit (3:2-3) 

 From Heb6:4 possible for an unsaved person to have some experience of the Spirit: objective miracles (3:5); convicted of sin – Felix (Acts24:25). 

 Christian knows far more of the Spirit: 

Transformation of Character: Gal5:22-23; 1Jo3:9,10 
Revelation of Truth: 1Jo2:27 
Presentation of Christ: Jo16:13-15 – Person of Christ (v14), Path of Christ (v13), Possessions of Christ (v14,15) 
Experience of God: Jo16:7 
Intuitive Understanding & Insight: Rom8:26-27, 1Jo2:20,27 
Conviction of Sin: Jo16:8-11 

 Have you known all of this & yet you still go back? 

Witness 3 – Their Experience (3:4,5) 

 Things they suffered (v4) & Things they saw (v5). 

 Their initial fervour, attitude condemns there later backsliding. 

 We’ve tried this gospel message & there’s nothing in it! Their own experience contradicts this excuse. 

 What about 10/20/30yrs ago? When the Lord has dealings with you, when He touched your life, transformed your soul? 

 When you lived for Him & would have died for Him? 

 

 Sometimes our greatest condemnation comes from self condemnation! 

 You say there’s nothing in it & yet your life has been turned upside down by it! 

 “suffered” : ” pavscw” : to suffer, to be affected by something – could possibly refer to any experience good or bad, probably bad. 

Witness 4 – The Example of Abraham (3:6-14) 

 Not only condemned by self, condemned by another 

 Since time in memoriam man has only been right with God by faith. 

 We have no excuse in believing that we should go after law keeping 

 Just in case in our defence we say that we were trying to find salvation the same way men of old found salvation. 

 This gospel message, never heard it anywhere else before. New fangled thing this. Better sticking to tried & tested religion. This must be a cult thing! 

The Principle of Justification by Faith (v6-9) 

 Abraham justified by faith (v6) cf. Gen15:6. 

 Abraham – faith to commence his journey (Heb11:8) – “he went out,” faith to continue the journey (Heb11:9) – “he sojourned” – Faith to start (11:8), faith to stay (11:9). 

 “accounted”: “logizomai” (v6):to reckon, impute, number: 

 

 God could see all the faults & failings of Abraham’s life and how Abraham ‘fell short of the Glory of God’ but He credited righteousness to Abraham’s account. 

“not something he earned or merited; it was something that God credited him with” (Leon Morris)   

 God who justifies, not our personal faith (v8), as if we deserve it. 

 “In thee shall all nations be blessed” (v8) – cf. the 2 fold illustration “I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore” (Gen22:17). Note that this blessing was independent of circumcision – which was to his family (Gen17:12,13) but the blessing was to “all nations.” 

 Note the personification of scripture in v8. When scripture speaks, God speaks. 

The Principle of Law Keeping/Works Righteousness (v10-14) 

 Many sincere folk, who regard themselves as Christian would endeavour to seek salvation by law keeping, but note the standard set by law: “in all things” (v10). We choose a hard task master if we choose law! 

“small lapses now & then are not to be overlooked” (Morris p103). 

 Verse 10, quotation from Deut27:26. 

 Verse 11, quotation from Hab 2:4. 

 Verse 12, quotation from Lev18:5. 

 Verse 13 – the engine that makes the whole thing work. 

 Principle of redemption from the law, cf. Ex21:30. A man goes free from the curse of the law by the payment of a ransom price.

Part of our sermon series in Paul's letter to the Galatians, a systematic, chapter by chapter study, expounding the truth, teaching and meaning of this epistle. Free to download ministry or listen online.

Yours by Grace in Christ 

Dr J Stewart Gillespie 

Galatians chapter 1 verses 11 to 20 - The Apostleship of Paul - Dr J Stewart Gillespie

 

1. The Message – Which he Preached (1:11-12) 
2. The Man – Who was Changed (1:13-16a) 
3. The Mission – He was Given (1:16b-17) 

 Beginning to see something of the first of the 3 themes of the epistle: Paul’s Apostleship. 

 Paul’s Apostleship was being challenged at Galatia: they didn’t like his message, as is often the case if don’t like the message, we attack the messenger. 

 Some seem to have pointed out that he came to faith after the death of Christ – not a true apostle at all – 2nd rate – hadn’t journeyed with Christ, sat at His feet, listened to His ministry, saw His miracles. 

 Perhaps suggested he had partly received his message from some of the other apostles & altered and added bits to it. 

 Against this background we have the teaching of chapters 1&2. 

The Message – Which he Preached (1:11-12) 

 “I certify you” – One of the few epistles to come with an authentication certificate. 

 “gospel which was preached” – lit. “the gospel that I gospelled.” 

 Paul before he had been saved had been an accomplished Pharisee (Phil3:5). A member of the Jewish religious body. The clergy of its day. Learned in all the traditions of Judaism. Regarded themselves as being at the top of the religious pile. 

 These Pharisees had 2 sources of teaching: 

Written Teaching  – The OT of the Bible & the teaching of past Rabbis in the Mishnah 
Oral Traditions – Passed on from one Rabbi to his students 

 To these oral traditions Paul refers in v12, “I neither received it” – “paralambano” a technical term for oral traditions passed on by the Rabbis to their students – not by transmission or tradition. 

 This is what his opponents accuse him of: second hand traditions, received and altered from others, not direct experience of Christ. 

 Not by education, “neither was I taught it” – “didasko” (v12) – “a specific reference to academic instruction” (Ridderbos) 

 Apply this truth: if were going to have an experience of Jesus Christ; it won’t come by listening to someone else, won’t come by reading books. 

 Real biblical Christianity: Not a set of traditions, not a set of rules, not a set of regulations, a living personal experience of God through Jesus Christ. 

 Say: I’m a Christian, I go to Church. I go to McDonald’s but that doesn’t make me a hamburger. Not Christians by association, nor by tradition  but by personal experience of Christ, “for I know whom I have believed…” (2Tim1:12). 

 This begins the day we open our heart in faith to Christ. 

 This is how Paul received the gospel, “by the revelation of Jesus Christ”(v12b), – an unveiling – a personal experience of Christ. Start off with a veil over our mind to Christ, God can lift it. 

 Cf. what Paul says about the origin of his apostleship (1:1) & the origin of the message (1:11-12) – both were clearly under attack. 

The Man – Who was Changed (1:13-16a) 

Consider his: 

 Conversation (v13) – “my conversation” – “my manner of life.” a major theme in Acts & 1Co15:8; 1Tim1:12. His conversion was a defining moment in the H/O the Church. Any understanding of Christianity has to be able to explain what caused such a transformation. His remarkable testimony is frequently referred to throughout the NT as a well established & widely accepted fact. 

 There had been a dramatic change in his life. Anyone who has had a personal experience of Christ ought to be changed. 

 Paul’s pre-conversion life many things were quite excessive but it was marked by: 

Religion (v14) – Religion is no substitute for REALITY 
Traditions (v14) – No substitute for TRANSFORMATION 

 Many today would be quite happy with that as their own version of Christianity: a bit of religion, a bit of tradition, a bit of church going, a name on a role, a nice routine, a few good works. 

 That’ll do us for Christianity! But this was before Paul was saved! 

 Christianity is ever so much more than religion + tradition. 

 If this was Paul’s idea of what it was to be lost. What was it to be saved? 

God revealed Christ to him (v12) 
God revealed Christ in him (v16) 

 Back to this point of a personal experience of Christ through faith. Putting our trust in Him. Not in a vague religious way, but knowing Him & trusting Him completely as our personal saviour. His presence as real as our nearest & dearest. 

 Revelation of Christ: “in me” (v16a) & by him (v16) – Christ is revealed “in” Paul ever before He is revealed by Paul. We can only preach Christ to others as we have experienced Him ourselves. If our testimony/ministry has a hollow ring to it maybe its because we don’t speak from the fullness of our own heart (Jo7:38). Once God has: 

Revealed Christ to him (v12) 
Revealed Christ in him (v16), then God can: 
Revealed Christ through him (v16) 

 In v13&14 the emphasis is on what Paul had done, now the emphasis is on what God has done (v15&16). 

 Separation (v15) – Pre-conversion Sanctification, cf. Positional Sanctification (1Co1:2) & Practical Sanctification (1Thess4:3). 

 As Paul looks back he could see Divine purpose being worked out right from the beginning of his life. 

 “Separated” – akin to that of “Pharisee” 

 Cf. “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jer1:5). 

The Mission – He was Given (1:16b-24) 

 Note the dependence of Paul upon Christ (v11-17) 

Revealed Christ to him (v12) 
Revealed Christ in him (v16), then God can: 
Revealed Christ through him (v16) 

 Note the independence of Paul from other apostles (v16-24) – some were suggesting Paul was a 2nd rate apostle with a 2nd hand message. 

 Note the relative obscurity in which Paul laboured at first (v22), before he moved out in service in a more public sphere. Note the importance of ‘wilderness years’: 

Joseph – his time as a servant & as a prisoner 
Moses – 40years in the backside of the desert – as a shepherd 
David – His experience gained of His God as a shepherd 

 Waiting time isn’t wasted time. 

 Formerly a ‘persecutor’ & now a ‘preacher’ (v23) 

 In our testimony do we seek to draw attention to ourselves? Do we preach & lift up Christ that all men might be drawn to Him (Jo12:32)? 

 Note the parallel between Paul’s movements out to Damascus, to the Gentiles & that of Elijah in 1Kings19:15. Both returned to Damascus. A foreshadowing of God’s movement of Grace to the Gentiles in Gal1:17?

A message preached in our bible teaching series on Paul's letter to the Galatians.

Free to download audio messages from this ministry series of expository preaching through the chapters of Galatians.

Yours by Grace in Christ 

Dr J Stewart Gillespie