Living by the Truth
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Key Verse: “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Selected Scriptures: |
PAUL BEGINS HIS LETTER identifying himself as an apostle of God. He was the first who had preached the Gospel in this region of Galatia where he had established churches as he preached and taught about Jesus Christ. After his departure from them, false teachers had come in among his converts teaching a perverted Gospel of Christ. They endeavored to persuade these people to be circumcised, requiring them to submit to Jewish laws and practices. Paul’s enemies claimed he had not preached the true Gospel because he didn’t insist that believers follow the Mosaic Law. In an endeavor to correct the errors of these misleading teachers, the apostle met this subject face-to-face in his letter. He wrote, “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 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.”—Gal. 1:6-8
Paul declared that the Gospel he preached was not received or taught him by a human being but it came to him by a revelation from Jesus Christ. (vs. 12) He wanted the Galatians to know how much he had changed now that he was in Christ. The apostle acknowledged that in his early days as a devout Jew, before his conversion, he had violently persecuted the church. Without consulting any man he immediately went to Arabia, then back to Damascus. Paul did not go to Jerusalem until three years later, where he met for fifteen days with Peter and James the Less.
After an interval of fourteen years, Paul, accompanied by Barnabas and Titus, visited Jerusalem a second time in response to a revelation from God. In a meeting of the apostles and highly respected leaders of the church, Paul set before them the doctrine he had been preaching. He said, “They saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews."—Gal. 2:7-9, New International Version
Paul became a champion of justification by faith, telling his Jewish brethren, “A man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” (Gal. 2:16) How glad we are that God does not require perfect works from us, but that we can live by faith in his Truth.