Galatians, Part 1

Posted by Michael Bunker
editor@lazarusunbound.com

Introduction

Galatia was a Roman Province that, during the time of the writing of the New Testament, covered a large portion of the center of what is now modern Turkey. This area included the cites of Antioch of Pisidia, Lystra, Iconium and Derbe – cities visited by Paul during his first missionary journey. These cities were north and somewhat west of Paul's hometown of Tarsus, on the Mediterranean coast of what is now modern Turkey. Galatia was the first “base station” of Christianity on its prophetic move westward. Knowing and considering this westward move of Christianity will help us immensely in our understanding of the history of Christianity, and of the prophetic fulfillments of scripture in general. I would lay out this westward movement in this way:

1. From Jerusalem and Judea northward to Damascus in Syria and Antioch in Seleucia.

2. From Damascus and Antioch to the cities of Galatia.

3. From Galatia westward to the cities of the Apocalypse (Ephesus, Philadelphia, Laodecia, etc.)

4. From the Apocalyptic cities westward to Greece (Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, etc.)

5. By the 2^nd Century we see the further westward movement of Christianity from Greece westward to North Africa and Rome.

6. Onward to Gaul, Hispania (Spain) and to Brittania and Germania.

7. Eventually from Europe to the New World, particularly America.

So, Galatia is the region where we find Christianity thriving in the early decades after the Church fled following the stoning of Stephen and from the destruction of Jerusalem. And even at this early stage of the growth of the Church, as prophesied in the scriptures, we find error creeping into the Church, and antichrists seeking to subvert the faith of many by perverting the Word of God.

This, then, is the purpose of the letter to the Galatians. Paul finds it necessary to write this letter of reproof and correction to the brethren in the Galatian churches.

In order to get a true and right understanding of the letter and how it might (or might not) apply to our situation today, we should always examine the purpose behind the letter. Placing this letter in its proper context, and having a firm understanding of the purpose of the letter will help us defend ourselves from erroneous teachers and teachings that seek to utilize this letter for improper ends. The purposes for this letter are two; one purpose being necessary for the proper understanding of the other:

1. Paul's primary purpose in writing this letter is to reprove and rebuke error in the Churches of Galatia, and to shut the mouths of those who were the tools used of the devil to introduce such error, so that the Churches might continue to grow, mature, and prosper according to the true doctrines of Christ. His main defense, then, is in the doctrine of Justification by Faith alone, which doctrine was being viciously attacked by false brethren crept into the Body of believers in the region.

2. Towards this end, Paul's secondary purpose (which serves to defend the doctrines of truth that had been delivered to the Galatian Churches) is to vindicate himself against vicious and slanderous charges being brought against him for the purpose of weakening his authority among the believers in Galatia. The enemies of God, in order to subvert the mission of Paul, found it necessary to attempt to destroy his credibility as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, that they might more easily win over disciples to their cause, which was to subvert souls and to bring in Antichrist, whose foundation is works-based salvation and a perversion of Justification. Paul, then, rightly defends himself against such wicked calumnies and slanders so that the Galatian churches will be more established in the faith of Christ which is the ground of their salvation.

So this book is nothing less than an early battle in the war against Antichrist and his workers. Since we know by our studies in Revelation and Isaiah that the ground was being laid for the unveiling of Antichrist early in the Church period, we can expect that a right understanding of this early battle is critical to our rightly understanding our enemy and his wiles. God has graciously given us these battle reports, so that we might correctly ascertain the plans and devices of the enemy in our own day. We can know from this letter that a primary device of Satan is to slander and attack God's true preachers and servants, so that errors might more easily be introduced into the professing flock, and that antichrist wolves might more readily have access to the sheep of God and to the sheepfold. Never forget that the enemy attacks God's mesengers in order to cause the people to doubt or question the message. The written record of this battle has been preserved that we might see the wolves ourselves and believe God's messengers when they preach according to His Word.

Another device of the devil is the introduction of new doctrines, or the perversion and reintroduction of means and methods that have since passed away, there being no more need or command to obey them, or in the combining of these two methods in order to give a semblance of authority and propriety to that which perverts God's gospel and subverts souls. The end product of this device is to convince professing Christians to rest on their own works in addition to their faith for the salvation of their souls; which is nothing less than to trample the blood of Christ under foot, and to reject Jesus Christ as the only and complete Savior of our souls.

Surrounded by enemies

Wolves generally attack by surrounding their prey. When they can attack from many sides, they can more easily separate out the weak. A common practice of spiritual wolves is to capitalize on the earnestness and piety of those who seek to serve God by faith. This device can be found actively operating in one of two different and opposite directions:

1. One breed of antichrist wolf may convince the faithful that salvation is gained by mere verbal acceptance of it alone (rather than by the spiritual rebirth that comes by God through the Holy Spirit – becoming a new creature), and that this rebirth necessarily brings no sorrow for sin, no recognition of our sinfulness and inability, no repentance nor obedience to the commandments of God. This error, called Antinomianism, subverts souls by convincing mere professors that they are saved by their own will, or by an election that may not apply to them, or by some other means entirely. Antinomians will always accuse God's servants of legalism, though they have made no claim of the necessity of some legal work being added to the work of God received by faith in Christ Jesus for salvation.

2. Another breed of antichrist wolf (and in this category we find the slanderous judaizing wolves who were warring against God's free grace in Galatia) may convince the professing believer that some other work, outside of the sovereign work of God through faith in Jesus Christ, is necessary to bring about salvation. Whether they insist on a return to some aspects of ritual Judaism, Hebraic Roots, missionary evangelism, active, physical penitence, or some other carnal work – they make it clear that this work is necessary towards salvation, and that no salvation is wrought prior to this work. We find this teaching most obviously from the Papal Antichrist in Rome:

CANON 9: “If any one saith, that by faith alone the impious is justified; in such wise as to mean, that nothing else is required to co-operate in order to the obtaining the grace of Justification, and that it is not in any way necessary, that he be prepared and disposed by the movement of his own will; let him be anathema.”

The reason that it is necessary that we recognize both of these breeds of wolf, is so that while endeavoring to avoid the claws of one wolf, we do not over-correct and fall into the jaws of the other. Just as the Legalist celebrates and preaches an erroneous view of the Epistle of James in order to bring deception through legalistm, the Antimonian has centered his false teaching on this epistle to the Galatians in order to bring deception through lawlessness and false presumption.

I recommend my previous work on Antinomianism to better understand how the Antinomian wolves use a false understanding of “grace” in order to snare prey and devour souls.

Dating of the Epistle

I once believed and may have noted previously that this book was very probably the first epistle written by Paul. After further study and an examination of all the different dating schemes, I now believe that this book was most likely written by Paul from Rome between the years 55 and 58 a.d., so it would have appeared less than 10 years before his death in Rome. It seems to me after more study that the best scholarship confirms this date. It is likely that these churches were planted by Paul during his first missionary journey, and that he had maintained contact with the churches there and was very alarmed by their slide into legalism and apostasy. Acts 18:23 states that Paul had expended much time and effort strengthening and supporting the churches of Galatia.

As expected, Paul's exodus from Galatia had opened a door for wicked seducers to slide in and deceive the brethren there, just as Paul had warned would happen in Ephesus upon his departing to return to Jerusalem (Acts 20:29). These accusers in Galatia had spread numerous and heinous falsehoods, accusing Paul of being no Apostle at all, or at least of being one who had corrupted the truth to serve himself. They claimed that what doctrine he had, he had gleaned from James, Peter, and John, but that even that small amount of right doctrine had been perverted for his own purposes. Dr. John Gill says this about these wicked attackers:

“...and these seduced many of the members of the churches in this place, drawing them off from the evangelical doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ, persuading them that the observation of the ceremonial law, particularly circumcision, was necessary to their acceptance with God, and justification in his sight: wherefore the occasion and design of this epistle were to vindicate the character of the apostle as such; to establish the true doctrine of justification by faith, in opposition to the works of the law; to recover those who were carried away with the other doctrines; to exhort the saints to stand fast in the liberty of Christ, and to various other duties of religion; and to give a true description of the false teachers, and their views, that so they might beware of them, and of their principles.” (John Gill Commentary on Galatians)

So, we get an even clearer idea of the importance of this letter and its necessity. What was under attack in Galatia was the very centerpiece of the Gospel; the efficacy and scope of the Atonement and the necessary understanding of Justification and its product. When we understand, then, that this letter was a weapon formed against the legalists, and that it is properly used to combat works based Justification, we should know that it will also be misused predominantly by Antinomians in their attempts to promote lawlessness. Always remember that the tool to rightly use against once heresy, is often co-opted and used as a weapon by the opposing heresy.

So, Paul rightly uses the first couple of chapters to defend himself from slanderous accusations. Having defended the message by vindicating the messenger, he then goes into a defense of Justification by Faith. From here Paul moves from a defense of Justification to an exhortation for freedom to the true Israel of God, passing through Chapter 4, where Paul unveils the mystery of the true Israel of God, putting to silence false assertions made by judaizers (or modern Christion Zionistas) and the Jews as to the identity of Israel. The last few chapters are an exhortation to the Church to live honestly and forthrightly in their freedom as the Israel of God, and a warning to those who trouble the Church with false teachings. Paul explains the fruit of the Spirit of God to the Churches, and exhorts them to continue in well doing as they guard themselves against false teachings. In the last chapter, the Apostle encourages the Church to continue in their duties, taking the care of their care and maintenance of their teachers seriously; exhorting one another to continue in well doing; crucifying the world to themselves, just as they are crucified to the world.

The book of Galatians is a book of power and authority. It does not shrink from proclaiming that authority which resides in the Apostle by God, and it challenges all enemies of that authority and censures them. No man of the time, whether he be false or true Apostle, dared answer Paul's letter, and if he did – the answer was deemed of so little import, that it was lost to history. Paul's rebuke of the Galatian Churches should embolden us in our faith as we stand against heretics of every order, and it should unite us with this Apostle, to whom we owe so much in the Lord. Every true warrior of God is worthy of our attention and our love, and Paul does not shy from demanding this respect from those among whom he worked so long and faithfully. Our brother Paul was to die in just a few short years from the time that this letter was written, and his letter to the Churches that he so loved in Galatia should strengthen us for the troublesome days that we see before our faces. Our teachers may not be long with us, and we are duty bound to obey them when what they teach is Biblical truth.

May God send us such men, and may we never hate their rebukes.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,

Michael Bunker

 
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