GALATIANS LESSON 1

     Galatians is a letter from Paul to the churches in Galatia. At
the time that Paul wrote this letter, Galatia was a Roman province.
This area is now known as the southern part of Turkey. This letter was
probably written somewhere between 55 and 60 A.D.

     In this letter, Paul is explaining again the doctrine of
justification through faith. Some of the Judaizers were trying to
include keeping of the law of Moses as part of the Christian doctrine.
Paul is not saying in this letter, that justification through faith
gives the Christian the privilege of sinning without being held
responsible for the sin. He is explaining that Christianity is a
fellowship with the Father provided through His Son Jesus Christ.

     In this, Paul is, also, explaining that he is truly an apostle of
the Lord. Many were doubting Paul's right to apostleship, because He
was brought into the work after the crucifixion of Jesus.

     The churches in Galatia had been founded on the first missionary
journey of Paul. Paul was very concerned about these converts and
visited them on his second and his third missionary journey, as well.
These people were strong-willed people, and Paul felt that he must
keep as tight a rein as he possibly could from a distance. It seemed
in all of these churches, the minute he left, people with other
doctrines tried to come in and change what Paul had established. This
was a warning not to do that. Many Jews had received Christ, but were
trying to incorporate Christianity and Judaism. You can not mix other
beliefs with Christianity, and have Christianity remain strong. We
should remember that today. Christianity must not be diluted to
include other beliefs.

     We will now begin the verse by verse study in Galatians 1:1
"Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ,
and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)"

     We see a declaration of who Paul is right at the very beginning.
We find that Paul reminds them immediately that his call was of the
Lord Himself. When we speak of a disciple of that day, we think of the
120, who had disciplined themselves to follow Jesus. We, also, think
of the twelve who Jesus chose out of that larger group to make them
apostles. We then realize that Matthias was also one of them. The Lord
Himself had chosen him to replace the traitor, Judas Iscariot. Paul
was an apostle also, even though he was not of the original group.
Jesus had appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and called him to
apostleship. Paul never forgets to remind them that Jesus rose from
the dead. These people all believed in God the Father, and Paul
reminds them that it was the Father's will for Jesus to rise from the
dead. To call Paul an apostle, verifies the fact that his authority is
from God. Mighty signs and wonders followed these apostles. They were
empowered of God to represent him in the earth. They were, also,
empowered to lay hands on others that they might receive the Spirit to
minister in a certain capacity. These are called, gifts of the Spirit.

     One very important thing we must note in Paul's statement, is
that he was not called of men, or by a man. Jesus was much more than
man. That is what Paul is saying there.

     Galatians 1:2 "And all the brethren which are with me, unto the
churches of Galatia:"

     Notice in this, that Paul travelled with many others. There was
usually a large group who went with him into each area.  Probably,
some of these very brethren with Paul, now, were the same that had
been with him establishing the churches of Galatia. Galatia was an
area with many small towns, and, perhaps, each had a small group of
Christians meeting in a church. This letter is of a general nature. It
is not to a specific church, but to all in this little province. These
Galatians were partly European. When Gaul and this group came through
this area on their way to Greece, they were stopped and surrounded.
They intermarried with the local people. This, then, is speaking to
these Europeans mixed with the local people. In the 18th chapter of
Acts, Galatia is spoken of as a region. It seems there was not
idolatry in this area as in other areas, but Jewish teachings
filtering into the church. The argument was between law and grace.
This could even be thought of as between the flesh and the spirit,
also. This was not an argument with those who were idolaters, but
those with another doctrine.

     Galatians 1:3 "Grace [be] to you and peace from God the Father,
and [from] our Lord Jesus Christ,"

     This statement is strictly a statement of Paul. He spoke this
often. "Grace", of course, means unmerited favor. All Christians
received grace, not because of their actions, but because of God's
love toward them. The only real peace, is the peace of God. Even in
the midst of terrible trials and temptations, we can know this peace
of God. It surpasses the reason of man. Jesus is the King of Peace.
Peace will reign on this earth the 1000 years that Jesus brings peace
to the earth. In the meantime, there will be no peace on the earth,
except that inner peace that Christians have when they totally trust
the Lord Jesus. We have mentioned before, the name of Jesus meaning
Saviour, and the name Christ meaning the anointed one, or Messiah. The
Old Testament uses the name Lord for the same person the New Testament
calls Jesus Christ. These Jewish people were looking for Messiah. This
is Paul's way of telling them that Jesus was their long awaited
Messiah.

     Galatians 1:4 "Who gave himself for our sins, that he might
deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God
and our Father:"

     Jesus, willingly, gave Himself to save His people. All of
creation belonged to Jesus. He was Creator God. In John chapter one,
we find that He made all things, and without Him was not anything
created. It was right that the Creator would give His flesh for His
creation. Jesus did follow the will of the Father in the crucifixion,
but it was Jesus' choice to do, or not to do. He gave His body on the
cross to purchase our salvation. We see in the following Scripture,
that it was within the will of Jesus to do with His own life as He
would. John 10:18 "No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of
myself.  I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again. This commandment have I received of my Father."  Egypt is a
type of this evil world we live in.  I have said over and overthat we
must leave Egypt, before we can go to the promised land. The promised
land for a Christian is heaven. Jesus is the door that we enter in by.

     Galatians 1:5 "To whom [be] glory for ever and ever. Amen."

     Paul stops to glorify the Father and the Son here. This glory
shall never cease. "Amen" means so be it.

     Galatians 1:6 "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:"

     God, Himself, had called them into the grace of Christ, through
the teaching of Paul.  He is amazed that they have already forgotten
the teachings he had brought to them, and had gotten into error. It
seems that the very minute he left, they started listening to these
Judaizers who were trying to put them under Moses' law. Paul is very
disappointed that the gospel that he gave them was not better rooted
within them.  The thought that they would turn from his teachings so
fast, makes Paul believe they are unstable in their belief.  They
would be like those fallen away from grace. They are actually saying,
that grace is of none effect. All of this is beyond Paul's
comprehension.

     Galatians 1:7 "Which is not another; but there be some that
trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."

     Christianity brings hope. To go back to the law would not be good
news {gospel} at all. The condemnation of the law brought
hopelessness. For any Christian to give up the hope that is in Christ
for the hopelessness of the law is not understandable. "Pervert" in
this Scripture, means corrupt. This, then, would mean that they had
changed it, and corrupted the message of hope that Paul had brought
them.

     Galatians 1:8 "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let
him be accursed."

     We know that Paul was primarily speaking of the message he had
brought them, but as we have said before, many ministers travelled
with Paul and they all brought this same message of hope. There are
two kinds of angels. The angels that stayed in heaven, and did not
follow Lucifer, minister good. The angels that followed Lucifer out of
heaven are already cursed of God. They minister lies and deception,
because they are working for that old devil Lucifer. Many people call
them demons. They would definitely try to bring another message that
would put you back under the law. Jesus commissioned Paul to bring the
good news of the gospel, not the bad news of the law.
                        Galatians 1 Questions

1.  Who wrote Galatians?
2.  Who was Galatia ruled by at the time this letter was written?
3.  What country is this a part of today?
4.  Approximately when was this letter written?
5.  What doctrine is Paul explaining over again in this letter?
6.  Christianity is a ____________ with the Father through His Son
    Jesus Christ.
7.  Many were doubting Paul's right to _____________.
8.  When were the churches in Galatia founded?
9.  What happened in these churches the minute Paul left?
10. What two doctrines were they trying to incorporate?
11. What did Paul call himself in verse 1 of Galatians?
12. Who called Paul to minister the gospel?
13. Who do we think of when they mention the disciples?
14. Who were spoken of as apostles?
15. Where did Paul get his authority from?
16. Verse 2 includes whom in the sending of this message to the
    Galatians?
17. Was this letter written to an individual? Explain.
18. These Galatians were part __________.
19. Where were these people of Gaul headed when they were stopped
    here?
20. Was the argument about idolatry?
21. What does grace mean?
22. Who is the King of peace?
23. What does Jesus mean?
24. What does Christ mean?
25. Who was Creator God?
26. Quote John chapter 10 verse 18.
27. What is Egypt a type of?
28. Where is the promised land for the Christian?
29. What does "Amen" mean?
30. Who had called them into the grace of Christ?
31. What were the Judaizers trying to do?
32. What about all of this was beyond the comprehension of Paul?
33. Christianity brings _____.
34. The condemnation of the law brought ______________.
35. What does, pervert, in verse 7 mean?
36. What are the two types of angels?
37. What had Jesus commissioned Paul to do?