Compiled and Written
by
Keith Hunt
(1985)
The following is a transcript of Mr. Keith Hunt's sermon given on
January 12th 1985.
Some preachers want you to believe that the Ten Commandments are
done away. Nailed to the cross some may say. They try to back up
this teaching with a few verses not from Jesus, Peter, James or
John, but from Paul and one of their favourite passages of Paul
is Galatians 3:19. One of the passages that they give to try to
say that Ten commandment law, now that Christ has come is done
away with. Galatians 3:19 "Wherefore then serves the law? It was
added because of transgression, till the seed should come to whom
the promise was made,..."
You see they say the Ten Commandments were only till Jesus
Christ. A few other verses that they give — just a little
further down. Verse 24 and 25. These verses are also used to
abolish the Ten Commandments. "Wherefore the law was our
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by
faith, but after the faith is come we are no longer under a
schoolmaster." So there they say, the Ten Commandments were just
up until Christ, Christ is come, faith is introduced so we're no
longer under obligation to obey the Ten Commandments. These anti-
nomanist preachers believe that the law here mentioned by Paul
and Galatians 3 is the Ten Commandment law, and that law, so they
say, was ONLY till Christ and now we are no longer under
obligation to obey it. Friends can this really be the case? Are
we now free to murder, steal, lie, worship idols, use profanity,
commit adultery and such like things? Surely, no reasonable,
logically thinking Christian, can believe that he is free to do
such acts.
We need to listen carefully to what Peter wrote about Paul's
writings. 2 Peter the third chapter. Let's see what Peter had to
write about the writings of Paul. 2 Peter the third chapter and
beginning in verse 15, "And account that the longsuffering of our
Lord is salvation, even as our beloved brother Paul also
according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you. As
also in all his epistles speaking in them of these things; in
which are some things hard to be understood which they that are
unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction". Verse 17 - "You
therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before beware
lest any of you also being led away with the error of the wicked
fall from your own steadfastness."
Peter here didn't pull any punches. He said that people who would
come along and twist the scriptures of Paul, pervert them, are
the wicked. Now, we have to ask ourselves what does the Bible
mean by the wicked? What is a Bible definition of the wicked? We
can find a definition in God's word in Psalm 119. A Bible
definition as to what constitutes the wicked. Psalm 119 and verse
53 says this - "Horror has taken hold upon me because of the
wicked that forsake your law." The Bible says that the wicked
forsake the law of God. Those who will forsake the law of God,
those who will say that you don't have to obey it, that you can
break those commandments at will are termed in the Bible as the
wicked.
Now let me give you one of the keys to understanding the Bible.
The plain easy to understand verses should be read and believed
first then the harder sections can be tackled. You see Peter
admitted that in some of the writings of Paul there are some
things that are hard to understand. Now, here was Peter a man
filled with the Holy Spirit, a man that was mightily used by the
Lord to preach His truths and to preach the way of salvation, and
yet Peter said there are some things that Paul has written that
are hard to understand. And one of the keys in understanding the
Bible is that you don't tackle the hard things first, you go to
the plain easy to understand scriptures, you read and believe
them first and in the light of what those scriptures teach then
you can start to understand the harder sections of scripture.
And there is one more key. One more very important key when you
are studying and reading God's word. Jesus said "The scripture
cannot be broken." There is no contradiction in God's word. If
you get that clearly in your mind, you are going to go a long way
in starting to understand the word of God because there cannot be
any contradiction. If you come across one verse that seems to
contradict another verse, always remember, there cannot be a
contradiction. There has to be some other understanding and then
you go about searching for that understanding because God's word
cannot contradict itself.
As a background to the book of Galatians let's look at and read
the plain verses of the New Testament that teach the perpetuality
of the Ten Commandment law. Let's first of all see what Jesus
taught.
Matthew the fifth chapter. In Matthew chapter five and beginning
in verse 17, Jesus said "Think not that I am come to destroy the
law." Now Jesus says "think not" and a lot of people think. The
Bible says "don't think" and a lot of people do think. Well,
Jesus here said "think NOT that I am come to destroy the law or
the prophet. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil" and in the
Greek this means to fulfil, to fill to the full, to complete, to
fill it right up. Yes, that was certainly what was prophesied of
the coming of the Messiah in Isaiah the 42nd chapter, it was
prophesied that the Messiah would come and would magnify the law,
would make it honourable and magnify it. Fill it up to the brim
full.
Verse 18, Jesus said "For verily I say unto you. Till heaven and
earth pass, not one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the
law, till all be fulfilled," and that Greek there means, till all
comes to pass. Till all that has been written in the Old
Testament come to pass. All the prophesies come to pass, and
friends those prophesies have not all come to pass yet and there
isn't going to be one little speck that is going to be taken from
God's word until all things have been fulfilled. Then he goes on
to amplify it - what He was saying. "Whosoever therefore shall
break one of these least commandments." Which one do you think is
the least commandment in the law and the prophets? Well,
whichever one it is Jesus said that "Whosoever therefore shall
break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so
shall be called the least in the Kingdom of heaven, but whosoever
shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the
Kingdom of heaven." How plain that is. Here is Jesus' teaching,
New Testament teaching. Verse 20 "For I say unto you", you my
people my disciples, "that accept your righteousness.." and a
Bible definition for righteousness, Psalm 119:172 where it says
"all your commandments are righteousness". There's your Bible
definition for righteousness, Psalm 119:172. And Jesus said
"accept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the
scribes and Pharisees" and didn't the scribes and pharisees at
least externally proclaim that people should obey the laws of
God? Sure they did, but, of course, the scribes and Pharisees
were hypocrites. They said one thing and lived another, but Jesus
said to His disciples "accept your righteousness, exceed the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees you shall in no case
enter into the Kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 19 - Let's see something else that Jesus taught about the
commandments of God. Chapter 19 and beginning in verse 16 "and
behold one came and said unto him, Good Master what good thing
shall I do that I may have eternal life?" I thinks it's Luke or
Mark that say in giving this account that this man said "What
shall I do that I may IN-herit eternal life" not "What shall I do
to be justified", "What shall I do to get saved", but "What shall
I do to inherit eternal life?" Verse 17 - and Jesus said unto him
"Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is
God," God the father, "but if you will enter into life, if you
will inherit life, keep the commandments." Yes, Jesus was saying
if you want to INherit eternal life you better have the attitude
of being willing in your mind to obey the commandments of God. An
attitude of life that you have, that you are willing to serve and
obey the commandments of God. "And he said unto him, which? Jesus
said, you shall do no murder, you shall not commit adultery, you
shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness." Now where do
those commandments come from? They come from the commandments
that are given in Exodus 20, commonly known as the Ten
Commandments. Jesus further stated, "Honour your father and your
mother and you shall love your neighbour as yourself." And the
young man said unto him in verse 20 "All these things I have kept
from my youth up. What do I lack?" He felt that he was keeping
the commandments of God. You know he wasn't deliberately just
hating them and despising them and willfully breaking them, but
there was something in his life that he didn't really realize, in
one point he was breaking a commandment of God, but he didn't
fully realize it. And then Jesus said to him, "If you will be
perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor and you
shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow me. And when
the young man heard that saying he went away sorrowful for he had
great possessions."
He really then found out that he actually was breaking one of
God's commandment. The commandment of idolatry. He had placed his
riches above serving God all the way. But nevertheless Jesus'
teaching was that we as Christians should have the attitude to
obey the laws of God.
The Gospel of John 15:9,10 - "and as the Father has loved me, so
have I loved you. Continue you in my love", Jesus said. And what
is the love of Jesus. Well, verse 10 tells us. "If you keep my
commandments, you shall abide in my love even as I have kept my
Father's commandments and abide in His love." And what was one of
the commandments of Jesus? Well, one of the commandments we just
read, where he said to the young man "If you will enter into
life, be willing to keep the commandments." And so loving Jesus
is being willing to do what Jesus taught and what Jesus said and
what Jesus commanded us to do. Let's look at chapter 14, and
verse 15. Jesus said "If you love me, keep my commandments." And
verse 21, "And he that has my commandments and keeps them, he it
is that loves me and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father
and I will love him and will manifest myself to him." Then going
on, verse 23, "if a man love me, he will keep my words" and what
are some of the words that we have read, some of the words are
what Jesus said to this young man "If you will enter into life,
keep the commandments" and Jesus says here "If you love me, keep
my words and my Father will love him and we will come into him
and make our abode with him. He that loves me not keeps not my
sayings." And we have just been reading, haven't we, some of the
teachings and sayings of Jesus "and the word which you hear is
not mine but the Father's which sent me." So everything that
Jesus said came from the Father. It was just as if the Father was
speaking.
Let's see what James taught. Chapter 2 of the Book of James.
James 2:9,12 - "but if you have respect of persons you commit sin
and are convinced of the law as transgressors for whosoever" -
verse 10 - "shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point
be as guilty of all. For he that said do not commit adultery said
also do not kill. Now if you do not commit adultery yet if you
killed, you are become a transgressor of the law. So speak you
and so do as they that shall be judged by the law" and what law
was he talking about? Obviously, the Ten Commandment law. The law
that contains "you shall not commit adultery or you shall not
kill". And James said "So speak and so do because you will be
judged by the law of liberty." He didn't call it a law of
bondage. He didn't call it the cursed law, he called it a law of
liberty.
Let's see what the apostle John taught in 1 John 2:1 - "My little
children these things I write unto you that you sin not." Now we
should stop here and ask what is sin. Well, if you skip over to
the same book 1 John 3:4 you will fined that John will tell you
what sin is. "Sin is the transgression of the law" and John is
plainly writing here and says to Christians that our object, our
goal, our ATTITUDE of mind should be that we do not want to sin.
And so putting Scripture with Scripture, we should not be
breaking the commandments of God. We should not have that
attitude of wanting to break the commandments of God. We should
have the attitude of wanting to obey them, not wanting to sin.
Now notice verse 3 and 4 of chapter 2. "And hereby we do know
that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that says, I
know Him," oh yes I'm a Christian, I've been converted, I have
God's Spirit. "He that says I know Him and keeps not His
commandments is a liar." John didn't pull any punches. He just
nailed it right on the head. "And the truth is not in him. But
whosoever keeps His word, in him truly is the love of God
perfected. Hereby know we that we are in him. He that says he
abides in Him ought himself so also to walk, even as he walked."
Jesus kept the Father's will. Jesus did the Father's will. He
kept the Father's commandments. Jesus came, set us that example
of how we should live, and those who claim that they are
Christians, if they are not following the example of Jesus Christ
and yet they claim they are Christian, John says they are just
liars.
Chapter 5 of this book and verse 1 to 3 - "Whosoever believes
that Jesus is Christ is begotten of God and everyone that loves
Him that begot loves him also that is begotten in him. By this we
know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep
his commandments." Now does this sound like the New Testament is
doing away with the commandments of God? Verse 3 - "For this is
the love of God that we keep His commandments" - and His
commandments are a burden, His commandments are a curse. No, it
doesn't say that, it says "His commandments are not grievous."
Then 2 John verse 6, we read this - "And this is love." This is
love. Yes, the New Testament, the Bible says that we should walk
in love. Well, what is the Bible definition of love. "This is
love", John said, "that we walk after His commandments."
And now let's turn to the last book in the Bible, the Book of
Revelation chapter 14. Let's see a Bible definition of the saints
of God. Revelation 14:12 - "Here is the patience of the saints",
here is what the saints are enduring, performing - the patience
of the saints. "Here are they that keep the commandments of God",
the commandments of the Father - the Ten Commandments, some
people like to say, you have the commandments of God which are
the Ten Commandments and then you have some new commandments of
Jesus Christ and the commandments of the Father are done away
with, and now we have to live by the new commandments of Jesus in
the New Testament. Well, for a Bible definition of the saints of
God, it says that they are ones that keep the commandments of God
the Father and the faith of Jesus. You see, BOTH the commandments
of the Father and the faith of Jesus. Let's turn to Revelation
22:14. Right at the end of the Bible, what do we find? Revelation
22:14,"Blessed are they that do His commandments. That they may
have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates
into the city." Now when we read those verses, does that sound
like the New Testament does away with the Ten Commandments of
God?
Let's see what Paul taught. Yes, the apostle Paul that some like
to use a few of his verses to say that Paul taught that the Ten
Commandments are now abolished, done away with, nailed to the
cross. Let's see some other verses that Paul taught, remembering
one of the rules of Bible understanding is that the Bible cannot
contradict itself. Romans 2:13 - "For not the hearers of the law
are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be
justified." Does that sound like Paul was doing away with the law
of God? Chapter 3 and verse 31 - "Do we then make VOID the law
through faith. God forbid! No," Paul went on to say, "we
ESTABLISH the law." Through faith we establish the law. Chapter 7
and verse 7, Paul said - "Is the law sin? God forbid!" again he
said, "No. I had not known sin but by the law. For I had not
known lust except the law had said you shall not covet." You see,
the law defines what sin is. If the law is done away with since
Christ, then there would be no definition as to what was sin and
consequently there would be no sin. But the law defines what sin
is. Verse 12, Paul said - "Wherefore the law is holy and the
commandment is holy, it is just and it's good." Does this sound
like Paul did away with God's Ten Commandments? Let's note his
verse 14 - "For we know that the law is spiritual." And friends I
submit to you that spiritual things are eternal. They are
forever: Verse 22, let's look at Paul's attitude. Did Paul hate
the law of God? Let's look at verse 22, Paul says - "For I
delight in the law of God after, the inward man." Paul's inner
most being was to delight in the law of God, not to try to tear
it down and destroy it and do away with it. Let's turn to chapter
13 and verse 10. Paul says - "Love works no ill to his neighbour,
therefore, love is." Here is another Bible definition of what is
love. "Love is the fulfilling of the law." Love, true love, is
the doing, the performing of the law.
1 Corinthians 7 - let's go to another very plain scripture that
Paul was inspired to write. 1 Corinthians 7:19, where Paul wrote,
"Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing but the
keeping of the commandments of God." Yes, something physical.
like circumcision, Paul said, is really not the point. It's
really nothing, but - and you could say here that on the other
hand - what is important is the keeping of the commandments of
God, something physical like circumcision is nothing. But the
main thing is that we have the attitude of a willingness to keep
the commandments of God. Chapter 15 and verse 34 where Paul said
this "Awake to righteousness and sin not." Paul said "awake to
righteousness" and I've given you the Bible definition of
righteousness, Psalm 119 verse 172 "All thy commandments are
righteousness." Paul said we need to awake to righteousness and
sin not, and sin is breaking the commandments of God.
No, Paul did not teach that the law of God was something to hate,
despise, neglect, do away with. He did not teach that we should
just willfully break the commandments of God. On the contrary he
taught the opposite. He taught that our attitudes should be as
his was that "I delight in the law of God." His attitude was that
he called it just, and holy, and good.
Now, do we begin to see. If Paul is saying in Galatians 3:19,24
and 25, that the Ten Commandment law was only until Christ and
since then it has been abolished, done away, nailed to the cross,
we have large contradictions not only in the teachings of Paul,
but in the entire New Testament. Jesus said "the Scripture cannot
be broken", it cannot contradict itself, there cannot be any
contradictions in the New Testament regarding the Ten Commandment
law.
Brethren, Paul is not teaching in his letter to the Galatians
that the Ten Commandments law is done away. If he was, notice how
contradictory and illogical he would be with what he wrote in
Romans the 3rd, 4th and 5th chapters. Let's turn to a few
passages in Romans 3, 4 and 5. If Paul was doing away with God's
Ten Commandments in Galatians, then notice how contradictory it
is to what he stated in the Book of Romans 3:20 - "Therefore by
the deeds of the law there shall be no flesh be justified in His
sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now if the law
was only till Christ and then it ceased to exist, then how would
you have the knowledge of what sin is? Since Christ, there would
be no knowledge of sin, if the law has been down away with. But
Paul said "for by the law is the knowledge of sin." And notice
verse 23 - "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God." Everybody has sinned whether you lived before Christ or
after Christ. Everybody has sinned. Notice Chapter 4 verse 15 -
"Because the law works wrath, for where no law is, there is no
transgression." Now Paul just got through saying all had sinned
and by the law is the knowledge of sin. Everybody before and
since Christ have sinned, but you see he also went on to say that
if there isn't any law, there is no transgression, there is no
sin. So if in the Book of Galatians, Paul was doing away with the
law of God and he's trying to teach in Galatians as some people
want you to believe, that it was only until Christ and then it
was nailed to the cross and ceased to exist, then there would be
no transgression since the time of Jesus. Nobody, then, has
sinned since the time of Jesus, and if nobody has sinned since
the time of Jesus, nobody has needed a saviour.
Do you see by putting these scriptures together, how completely
illogical it is to teach that the law, the Ten Commandments of
God, have been abolished or done away with? If the law of God was
abolished with Christ, let me repeat, no one has sinned or needed
a saviour since then! Do you see how utterly ridiculous it is to
teach that God's Ten Commandment law is abolished? Do you see now
why Peter said that those who would twist and pervert the
writings of Paul were unlearned?
Yes, brethren, friends, some of these "do away with law"
preachers may have PhD's after their names, some may have gone to
theological school for four, five, six years, but if they tell
you that God's holy righteous Ten Commandments are abolished,
then I tell you very frankly that they are Biblical illiterates.
They haven't even passed the first grade in Bible reading.
You need not be in confusion about the way of salvation. You need
not be in confusion over this matter. You need to request our
book "Saved by Grace" which will go into great detail regarding
salvation (it is now all on this Website and not available in
book form any longer). It will go into great detail regarding
sin, regarding repentance and the law and grace and the true way
to salvation.
We will continue next time in this series on the Book of
Galatians. Next time we will start to look at some of the
background to the Book of Galatians, because that's very
important in understanding the book of Galatians. We need to
understand the background, what went on before Paul had to write
the Book of Galatians. And when we start to understand some of
the background that led up to Paul writing that book or letter
which it really is, a letter to the people of Galatia, then I
think we will be able to come to understand the book of Galatians
a lot better than we maybe have in the past.
So next time we will start to look at the background to the Book
of Galatians.
...............
TO BE CONTINUED
The Book of GalatiansIntroduction #2 by
Keith Hunt
The following is a transcript of Mr.Keith Hunt's sermon given on
January 17th, 1985.
The background to the reasons why Paul had to write the letter to
Galatians is very important. When you see the background to the
letter you can better understand what the book of Galatians is
all about and why Paul had to write it. So, we first of all need
to look at some of the events that led up to Paul having to write
the letter of Galatians.
We will begin in Acts 13:1 - "Now there were in the church that
was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers." Verse 2 - "As they
ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Spirit said,
'separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have
called them.' And when they had fasted and prayed, they laid
their hands on them, and they sent them away." Now to verse 13 -
"Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to
Perga in Pamphylia: and John departed from them returning to
Jerusalem. And when they departed from Perga, they came to
Antioch in Pisidia..." If you turn to one of your maps at the
back of a lot of Bibles and find the 'Journey's of Paul,' you
will be able to find Antioch in Pisidia and you will see that it
is in the region of Galatia.
Verse 14 - "and they went into the synagogue on the sabbath day,
and sat down. And after the reading of the law and the prophets
the rulers of the synagogue said unto them, saying, 'You men and
brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say
on.' Then Paul stood up, and beckoning with his hand said, 'Men
of Israel, and you that fear God, give audience.'" Now we have
Paul going into what we might call a sermon. Verse 17 - "The God
of this people of Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the
people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and
with an high arm brought He them out of it. And about the time of
forty years He suffered their manner in the wilderness. And when
He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided
their land to them by lot. And after that He gave unto them
judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years until
Samuel the prophet. And afterward they desired a king: and God
gave unto them Saul the son of Cis, a man of the tribe of
Benjamin, by the space of forty years. And when He had removed
him He raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also
He gave testimony, and said 'I have found David the son of Jesse,
a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.' Of
this man's seed hath God according to His promise raised
unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus."
So you see how Paul now practically immediately, just within a
matter of seconds, is preaching to them Jesus as Saviour,
somebody who could save them. Verse 24 - "When John had first
preached before His coming the baptism of repentance to all the
people of Israel. And as John fulfilled his course, he said, Whom
think ye that I am? I am not he. For behold, there comes one
whose shoes of his feet I am not worthy to loose. Men and
brethren, children of the stock of Abraham, and whosoever among
you fears God..." Yes Paul was preaching to the Jews and he was
also preaching to Gentiles as we will see. But he says to them,
"to you is the word of this salvation sent."
Paul is immediately preaching to them that through Jesus Christ
there is salvation. You can be saved through Him. Now go over to
verse 38 - "Be it known unto you therefore," Paul says, "men and
brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the
forgiveness of sins." Paul is saying to them that you can have
your sins forgiven, not through doing external rites, not through
the Old Covenant per se, in certain laws that the Jews were
thinking that they could be saved by obeying.
Can we see the background, the time in which Paul is preaching.
The Jews in a synagogue believing that they are under the Old
Covenant, practicing the Old Covenant, practicing animal
sacrifices, and a priesthood, and circumcision. And now Paul says
to them, it's not through those things that you get forgiveness
of sins, it's through Jesus Christ, He is Saviour, it's through
Him that you can have your sins forgiven.
Verse 39 - "And by Him all that believe are justified from all
things, from which you could NOT be JUSTIFIED by the law of
Moses" (any laws in all the Old Covenant). Paul says that all
these things that people had been practicing from generation to
generation did NOT forgive sins, it could NOT justify or forgive
them. Paul is teaching it is through Jesus Christ that you are
justified, that you have the forgiveness of sins.
Now, when you look at it in that historical perspective, can you
imagine what those people sitting there would start to think.
Those Jewish people that had been observing these rites and
ceremonies from generation to generation, killing those animals,
seeing the blood pouring out. Would it not be sensible to suppose
that if you were doing these things generation after generation
you would start to look to those external rites and the killing
of those sacrifices and the circumcision, which shed blood also,
that you would start to look to those as a means in itself of
forgiving you your sins. And all of a sudden here comes somebody,
that stands up and says to them, it's NOT that way that you get
the forgiveness of sins, it's through an individual called Jesus
Christ.
Notice the reaction as we go on. The Jewish reaction to Paul's
preaching. Verse 42 - "And when the Jews were gone out of the
synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be
preached to them the next sabbath". So it would indicate that the
Gentiles were willing to listen, but the indication is that the
Jews were not. But, the Gentiles were willing to listen to this,
what you might call new kind of preaching. Verse 43 - "Now when
the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious
proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them,
persuaded them to continue in the grace of God." Yes certain
Jews were interested in this new type of preaching also. Verse 44
- "And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together
to hear the word of God." But we will notice by verse 45, most of
those people that came together were Gentiles. Oh, there may have
been some Jews there, but certainly for the majority of the
religious Jews, noticed what their situation was.
Verse 45 - "But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were
filled with envy, and spake against those things which were
spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming."
Now do we begin to see what was going on. Paul was preaching what
those Jews thought was some new kind of heresy. Paul was
preaching Jesus Christ. Through Him there was the forgiveness of
sins, that you were justified through Jesus Christ and not
through any external obedience to the Laws of Moses or
sacrificing or circumcision. And those religious Jews started to
contradict Paul. So obviously the inference is that those
religious Jews said "No, that is not right, you are not justified
through this man that Paul is preaching, you are justified
through our way of living, you are justified through following
the Laws of Moses, through animal sacrifices and being
circumcised, that's the way to justification." Most Jews taught
and preached that that was the way to justification.
You see, we have two different camps here. What Paul was
preaching and what those religious Jews were preaching were
opposite to each other. Verse 49 - "And the word of the Lord was
published throughout all the region." Verse 50 - "But the Jews
stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of
the city and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas and
expelled them out of their coasts."
Chapter 14 - "And it came to pass in Iconium," now Iconium if you
look on your maps, is part of the region of Galatia, "that they
went both together into the synagogue of the Jews and so spake,
that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks
believed." So definitely, there were some that accepted the
teaching of Paul and Barnabas. But, there were unbelieving Jews,
ones that would not accept what Paul and Barnabas were preaching,
and we have already seen what they were preaching, that Jesus
Christ is the Saviour and that through Him there is
justification, and NOT by any works of obedience to any laws of
the Old Covenant.
Verse 2 - "But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, and
made their minds evil affected against the brethren." Verse 4 -
"But the multitude of the city was divided: and part held with
the Jews, and part with apostles." And in fact, they ended up
being stoned, verse 5. And verse 6 - "They fled unto Lystra and
Derbe again." Lystra and Derbe is a part of the Galatian area.
Verse 7 - "And there they preached the gospel." And we've already
seen what the good news, the gospel is that they preached. They
preached Jesus Christ as Saviour and through Him is the
forgiveness of sins and not through any other kind of ... well
anything, whatever you might want to imagine or invent. You could
not be justified, forgiven of your sins by any other means than
through Jesus Christ and HIS SACRIFICE of death and shed blood on
the cross.
Verse 8 - "And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his
feet, being a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had
walked: The same heard Paul speak: who steadfastly beholding him,
and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud
voice, 'Stand upright on thy feet.' And he leaped and walked. And
when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their
voices, saying," Now we are in a part of Galatia which is
predominately Gentile. They see this miracle that Paul was able
to do and what do they say? Verse 11 - "The Gods are come down to
us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter, and
Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker." Then notice,
Verse 13 - "Then the priest of Jupiter." Yes these Gentiles had
their own priesthood similar to the Jews. The Jews had a
priesthood, and Gentile nations also had their religions and
their priesthoods.
"And the priest of Jupiter which was before their city, brought
oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice
with the people." Now here is something else we need to be
conscience of. Gentiles also sacrificed. They also killed animals
and poured out the blood and had their priesthood and their
altars and their temples and sacrificial system just like the
Jews had. They would have done sacrifice. Verse 14 - "And when
the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it they rent their
clothes and ran in among the people, crying out and saying,
'Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions
with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these
vanities unto the living God." Verse 18 - "And with these sayings
they scarcely restrained the people, that they had not done
sacrifice unto them."
It took every effort from Paul and Barnabas to stop these people
from sacrificing to them. Verse 19 - "And there came thither
certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium who persuaded the
people..." Again, Jews who were going against the preaching of
Paul and Barnabas, preaching the opposite to Paul and Barnabas,
persuaded the people against them, "and having stoned Paul and
Barnabas, drew him cut of the city, supposing he had been dead.
Howbeit, as the disciples stood round about him, he rose up and
came into the city: and the next day he departed with Barnabas to
Derbe. And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and
had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium,
and Antioch, we are still in the region of Galatia, "confirming
the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the
faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter in to the
kingdom of God."
We begin to see some of the background, that when Paul and
Barnabas went preaching Jesus Christ as Saviour and that through
Him is the forgiveness of sins and justification, they came
against tough opposition from certain segments of the Jewish
religious population. In fact, they contradicted Paul and
Barnabas, and would have been teaching people, that, "No it's not
through Jesus Christ that you have the forgiveness of sins, but
it is through our religious system that you can have forgiveness
of sins, by sacrificing, circumcision, being under the Old
Covenant, keeping the Laws of Moses." We had this kind of
friction going on in the early years of the preaching of the
Gospel.
Chapter 15 - "And certain men which came down from Judea taught
the brethren and said 'Except ye be circumcised after the manner
of Moses, ye cannot be saved.'" You see how strong their
preaching was. They said "No, Paul and Barnabas you are wrong.
Unless you are circumcised, you can't be saved. You've got to be
circumcised in order to be saved." Paul and Barnabas did not
preach that. They didn't preach that circumcision was necessary
for salvation but these other preachers did. And there was a
great contention. Verse 2 - "When therefore Paul and Barnabas had
no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined
that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up
to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question."
Is certain rites of the Mosaic economy necessary for salvation?
That was the question. Some said it was and Paul and Barnabas
said it wasn't. Verse 4 - "And when they were come to Jerusalem,
they were received of the church and the apostles and elders and
they had declared all things that God had done with them. But
there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed
saying that it was needful to circumcise them." You've got to
circumcise these Gentiles these people were saying, "and to
command them to keep the law of Moses."
DO YOU SEE WHAT THEY WERE TEACHING? We must continue they were
saying, to keep all the things under Moses, sacrifices, the
temple rituals, all the ablutions and circumcision especially.
Especially circumcision must be kept. These Gentiles must do
these things they said. It's necessary to do these things in
order to be justified and to have salvation, was this Pharisee
sect of believers contention. They believed in the person of
Jesus, but NOT as taught by Paul and Barnabas.
Verse 6 - "And the apostles and elders came together for to
consider of this matter." As you read on in chapter 15 you will
find that the decision was that it was not necessary to be
circumcised in order to become a child of God and in order to
have justification and salvation. It was not necessary.
Now I hope we can see some of the background of what was going on
in the early years of preaching the gospel. You had some who
would not accept what they considered this new theology that was
now being proclaimed. "New theology," some would have said, "that
Paul and Barnabas and these others were proclaiming, that it is
through Jesus Christ, this man, that you can have forgiveness of
sins and that you don't have to be physically circumcised in
order to be saved and to be a child of God." It was a new
theology to many people. They could not accept it, they did NOT
accept it, many of them simply did not accept it, and in fact
they went out and preached exactly the OPPOSITE to what Paul was
preaching. These people had infiltrated the region of Galatian.
Paul had gone through there and after he had left came these
other preachers CONTRADICTING the preaching, and teaching of
Paul. Finally, you had this Jerusalem conference to settle the
matter. The matter was settled and then it went out to the
churches what the decision was, but you see by this time these
preachers of the laws of Moses and circumcision with that being
the way to be justified and saved, had already done their damage.
They were already out there and the people of Galatia were being
influenced by them and Paul had to sit down and write the letter
to Galatians to straighten them out on this matter.
The letter of Galatians is, as most Bible scholars will admit,
possibly the very first letter that Paul wrote, at least that we
have record of. First and Second Thessalonians could have
possibly been his first two letters. If they were, Galatians was
probably right after them. But some scholars will say that
Galatians was the very first letter that Paul wrote, and he wrote
it because of the teachings of certain individuals that had come
along and were actually teaching the opposite to what was the
good news, the Gospel that Paul had preached to them.
Paul was preaching, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Justification
and salvation through Jesus Christ and these other preachers were
saying, "No, no, it's through the laws of Moses, it's through
circumcision, it's through all of the rites that we perform, that
we have justification, salvation." Paul said no it is not through
that way that we are justified, and then he had to write the
letter to the people of Galatia.
I'll say it again: Do we begin to see the overall background to
the book of Galatians? The contention was mainly HOW we are
JUSTIFIED, HOW we have our SINS FORGIVEN, how we obtain the
SPIRIT of God, how we obtain SALVATION. And there was two, shall
we say, thoughts. One was by observing the rituals of the Mosaic
economy, the Old Covenant and performing everything that the Old
Covenant told you to do including animal sacrifices and including
circumcision, and by performing those things you could earn your
justification, you could earn your forgiveness of sins, and so
you could obtain salvation. On the other hand Paul says, "No you
can't do that, you cannot accumulate points in laws of Moses
observing, you can't earn justification, you can't earn salvation
by performing anything under the old covenant. It's through Jesus
Christ who came to die for your sins, that you can obtain
forgiveness of sins, justification, and it's through His grace
that you can obtain salvation."
So the aim of Paul's letter to the Galatians is to combat the
idea and teachings of Pharisaical individuals who taught that in
order to be saved it was mandatory to keep the WHOLE Old Covenant
with its ceremonial rituals, sacrifices, and especially the rite
of circumcision. Paul taught that the Old Covenant with its
sacrifices, ceremonial rituals and its physical circumcision, was
never by God intended, of and by itself, to justify, and that
means to forgive, to declare righteous, it was never intended by
God of itself to justify and save anyone. God had, Paul taught,
another way to be justified and saved. That way was by the
sacrifice of Christ and entry into a New Covenant with God. These
Pharisaical Old Covenant preachers taught that we are still under
the ENTIRE Old Covenant, especially physical circumcision. That
was really emphasized. Gentiles coming into the church must be
physically circumcised and we're all still under the Old Covenant
and especially physical circumcision, without which one could not
be saved.
That was their teaching, that was their contention. One could not
be saved without it or justified without it.
Paul taught Christians that we are justified through the death of
Jesus and we are under a New Covenant and circumcision was of the
spirit, the heart, and not of the letter or the flesh.
The book of Galatians is REALLY ABOUT ***TWO COVENANTS*** The Old
and the New and the true way of justification.
If you want to write in your Bible every time you see in the book
of Galatians "the law" and you put in there "the old covenant,"
you will come to understand the book of Galatians in a much
better way. Every time that you read where Paul says "the Law" in
the book of Galatians just simply put in there "the Old
Covenant." The book of Galatians will OPEN UP to you as NEVER
before.
Now remember, the Old Covenant did include the Ten Commandments.
Oh yes, and it consisted of many, many things. The Old Covenant
consisted of the sacrificial system, it consisted of performing
physical circumcision, and yes it did consist of the Ten
Commandments. But you see people were teaching that you could
obtain justification and salvation by the performance of these
things. You could earn your justification and salvation by doing
the Old Covenant. They taught in essence that you could gain
"Brownie Points" by performing the laws and rites of the Old
Covenant, and so God would grant you forgiveness and salvation.
Paul said no you can't do it that way, that was NOT the way to be
saved and find salvation.
Let's notice some of the scriptures in the book of Galatians
which I think will show you the over-all emphasis and teaching of
why the book of Galatians was written.
..............
TO BE CONTINUED
The Book of GalatiansIntroduction #3 by
Keith Hunt
The following is a transcript of Mr.Keith Hunt's sermon given on
January 17th 1985.
Continued from part two
Let's notice some of the Scriptures in Galatians which I think
will show you the over-all emphasis and teaching of why the book
of Galatians was written.
Galatians 1:11. - "But I certify to you brethren that the gospel
which was preached of me is not after man. For neither received
it I of man neither was I taught it. But by the revelation of
Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my conduct in times past in
the Jews' religion." Yes Judaism, the Old Covenant of Judaism,
"How that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God and
wasted it and profited in the Jews' religion above many of my
equals in my home nation being more exceedingly zealous of
the traditions of my fathers. When it please God who separated me
from my mother's womb and called me to His grace to reveal His
Son in me that I might preach Him among the heathen. Immediately
I conferred not with flesh and blood."
Notice chapter 2 beginning in verse l. "Then fourteen years after
I went up unto Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me
also. And I went up by revelation and communicated unto them that
the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles but privately to
them which were of reputation. Lest by any means I should run or
had run in vain. But neither Titus who was with me being a Greek
was compelled to be circumcised. And that because of false
brethren unawares brought in who came in privily to spy out our
liberty which we had in Christ Jesus that they might bring us
into bondage."
Now, what was the bondage being talked about here in the whole
context? Was it the bondage of keeping those terrible Ten
Commandments? No, that was not the question. The question was to
do with circumcision. And Paul says Titus who was with him was
not compelled by the apostles in Jerusalem to be circumcised. He
said it was because other people had come in and they were
teaching that it was necessary to be circumcised in order to be
saved. And Paul says that it was not so. And these people wanted
to bring them into this bondage again. Verse 5 - "To whom we gave
place by subjection no not for an hour but that the truth of the
gospel might continue with you." Verse 11 and 12 - "But when
Peter was come to Antioch I withstood him to the face because he
was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James he did
eat with the Gentiles. And when they were come", these people
from Jerusalem, James, "he withdrew and separated himself fearing
them which were of the circumcision." Here again was this party
that Paul says were of the circumcision, individuals who believed
and taught that it was necessary to be circumcised in order to be
saved. And when they came down, even Peter started to side in
with them. Notice Verse 16 - Paul says, "Knowing this that a man
is not justified by the works of the law." You are not forgiven
your sins by performing some ritual or any works of the law, but
by the faith of Jesus Christ. "Even we have believed in Jesus
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." No flesh will have their sins forgiven because they
go out and perform any kind of a law. That should be fairly plain
to us. If you run through a stop sign with your car and the
police stop you and fine you for doing so. You can stop at every
single traffic light and stop sign from now through the rest of
your life and that does not forgive you for the one mistake that
you made. You still have to pay that penalty for that one
mistake. And no matter how many things that you do that are good
after that mistake they cannot erase and forgive you for the
mistake you made. You cannot be declared righteous, justified by
going out and performing something. And that was what Paul was
stating here.
But these other people were stating, yes you can be. Yes you can
do these certain things and that can earn your justification and
forgiveness. And one of those things was circumcision.
Paul said no you can't, the Old Covenant obedience is not the way
to justification and salvation.
Chapter 3, Verse 2 - "This only would I learn of you, received
you the Spirit by the works of the law or by the hearing of
faith. Are you so foolish?" Paul said to these Galatians, "Having
begun in the spirit are you now made perfect by the flesh?"
We begin to see the whole context. The flesh, circumcision, a
certain piece of your flesh, and are you now going to obtain
salvation by cutting your flesh physically like these other
preachers want to lead you to believe is the correct way, is what
Paul is stating to them. Chapter 4, Verse 21 - "Tell me, you that
desire to be under the law, do you not hear what the law says."
And now Paul quotes from the first five books of the Bible. He is
saying, You that desire to be under the Old Covenant, you that
desire to believe that you can be justified by observing all of
the requirements under the Old Covenant, and that somehow you can
earn your justification that way. You that desire to do that, do
you not hear what the actual law itself says? "For it is written
that Abraham had two sons. The one by a bond maid, the other by a
free women. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the
flesh. And he of the free woman by the promise. Which things are
an analogy. For these are the TWO COVENANTS. The one from Mount
Sinai which genders to bondage which is Agar." That's the woman
that Abraham had Ishmeil by, through the works of the flesh.
Through their own deeds they produced Ishmeil and not relying on
the promise or the faith of God. That's the Old Covenant Paul
says, in analogy, that's the Mount Sinai, and that is bondage.
"For this Agar," verse 25 "is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answers
to Jerusalem, which now is..." Yes, to these people, the false
teachers, that's still teaching you that you can be justified and
obtain salvation by being under the Old Covenant and continuing
in the religion of Judaism. "For this Agar is Mount Sinai in
Arabia and answers to Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage
with her children. But Jerusalem which is above," the heavenly
Jerusalem "is free, which is the mother of us all."
Do you see why I said that really the book of Galatians is a book
about TWO Covenants, and what people were preaching, and what
Paul was preaching and what other people were preaching about
still being under the Old Covenant and all of its ramifications.
Verse 28 - "Now, we brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of
the promise." You see we are under a New Covenant. We're under
the covenant of FAITH. The covenant that was gone into with
Abraham, where God said, "You are going to have a son Abraham."
And it was through faith that Abraham had to exercise faith to
have that promise from God. Verse 29 - "But as then, he that was
born after the flesh," by doing it your way, "persecuted him that
was born after the spirit. Even so", Paul says, "it is now." Yes
he says, we're receiving persecution, we're preaching Jesus
Christ, we're preaching the New Covenant, we're preaching
justification, salvation through faith and through Jesus Christ
and we are being persecuted by those who are still preaching the
Old Covenant, and that you can obtain salvation by performing
rites or anything that Old Covenant proclaims and that you can
earn your salvation that way.
Chapter 5 - "Stand fast therefore, in the liberty wherein Christ
has made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of
bondage." We will see now as we read on, what was specifically
the primary "yoke of bondage" that Paul was destroying. Let's
read on, verse 2 - "Behold I Paul say unto you that if you be
circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again
to every man that is circumcised that he is indebted to do the
whole law." If you believe, Paul was saying, that circumcision
is necessary for salvation, you can't have salvation unless you
are physically circumcised, then you're indebted to do the whole
Old Covenant, if you are going to obtain salvation by laws,
rites, and whatever. And that Paul would contend was indeed a
"joke of bondage" - trying to obtain justification, and salvation
through works of the Old Covenant.
Verse 4 - "Christ has become of no affect unto you, who so ever
of you are justified by the law." If you think that you can earn
your justification, salvation, by performing the Old Covenant,
then Christ is absolutely useless to you. And then he goes on to
say, "You have fallen from grace." You are fallen from the New
Covenant and from grace.
Verse 6 - "For in Jesus Christ, neither circumcision avails
anything nor uncircumcision, but, faith which works by love."
Chapter 6, verse 12 and 15 - "And as many as desire to make a
fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised,
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ." He says Yes, we are suffering persecution because we
preach Jesus Christ as Saviour and that through Him is the
forgiveness of sins. These others preach the way of the flesh,
the way of performing physical rites, and all the laws of Moses
to effect salvation, lest they should be persecuted like we are,
Paul is telling them.
Verse 13 - "For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep
the law." He says, let me tell you something else. These
preachers that come along that tell you that you must be
circumcised and keep the Old Covenant and that this is the way to
salvation. Let me tell you something, they don't even themselves,
keep the law, they are hypocrites. But they want you to do it. He
says, "but desire to have you circumcised that they may glory in
your flesh." I guess there probably would be some kind of vanity.
If you could actually go out and persuade an adult, to get
circumcised, because of religion, you would probably feel some
kind of vanity. That he would be willing to go through what would
be rather a painful ordeal. They were popping their chest out
getting those people to be circumcised and those Gentiles to be
circumcised. It gave them a lot of vanity and proudness, that
people would actually go out and perform some kind of physical
painful rite because of their instruction.
Verse 14 - "But God forbid that I should glory saving in the
cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified
unto me and I am unto the world. For in Christ, neither
circumcision avails anything or uncircumcision, but a new
creature."
Can we see now the overall emphasis of the back of Galatians? I
hope that we're able to see it in a much clearer light today than
we may have in the past.
The contention was not whether the Ten Commandments of God should
continue to be obeyed by Christians. That was not the real
contention.
The real contention was the way to justification, the way to
salvation. Was it through Jesus Christ, as Paul preached, or was
it by your own means. Was it by performing the Old Covenant laws,
rituals, sacrifices, and circumcision, and so earning your
justification and salvation, or was it by grace through faith in
Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, and His death and shed blood
on the cross?
As we proceed in this study we shall see that some of the old
(not the more modern fundamentalists, though some may) Bible
commentators, such as the one I shall quote from, the famous
Bible Commentary by Albert Barnes, understood the true teaching
of the book of Galatians, and it had NOTHING to do with trying to
abolish the Ten Commandments.
...........
TO BE CONTINUED
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