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Remnant by Grace Audio Podcast
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Remnant by Grace: Remnant by Grace Audio Podcast Podcast
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Galatians 6:11-18
3w agoTap to summarizePastor Jeff closes the Galatians series covering 6:11-18. The large handwriting in verse 11 most likely reflects a physical infirmity, probably poor eyesight, not a rhetorical device. Two commonly cited Greek parallels for the "gouge out your eyes" idiom in 4:15 being a standard expression turned out to be unverifiable, a lesson in source checking that applies equally to ancient commentators and modern AI. The Judaizers' real motivations were pride and fear of Jewish persecution, not genuine concern for the Galatians. Paul's counter is to boast only in the cross, through which the believer is crucified to the world and the world to him. The six-point rule of verses 14-15 defines the standard: boast in the cross, trust Christ alone, submit to him as Lord, add no personal merit, recognize no racial barrier, and understand that only new creation status matters. The "Israel of God" in verse 16 is best read as a separate group from the church receiving a parallel blessing, not an equation of the two. Paul closes calling the Galatians brothers, bearing the marks of persecution as his credentials, and sealing everything with Amen.
Transcribe →Galatians 5:26-6:10
4w agoTap to summarizePastor Jeff covers Galatians 5:26-6:10, where Paul gives practical instruction flowing from life in the Spirit. Believers should avoid conceit, provocation, and envy, and when a brother falls into sin, restore him gently, a process of mending, not a moment, with the warning that the restorer himself remains vulnerable to temptation. Bearing one another's burdens, financial, emotional, or spiritual, fulfills the law of Christ, the command to love sacrificially as he loved us. Self-examination matters more than comparison to others, since each person bears his own load and will answer individually before God. Paul closes with the sowing principle: sowing to the flesh reaps corruption, sowing to the Spirit reaps eternal life, urging believers not to grow weary in doing good, especially toward fellow believers, while never losing sight that the greatest good for an unbeliever is the gospel itself.
Transcribe →Galatians 5:13-25
Jun 21Tap to summarizePastor Jeff covers Galatians 5:13-25, addressing the opposite danger from legalism: libertinism. Christian freedom is not license for the flesh but freedom from sin's bondage to serve one another, the doulos service of a willing bondservant modeled on Christ himself. The whole law is fulfilled in loving one's neighbor, and the law still offers good instruction even though it cannot save. Paul's remedy for the flesh-versus-Spirit conflict is to walk by the Spirit, which is both an encouragement, the Spirit empowers resistance to fleshly desires, and a test, a pattern of yielding to the flesh signals one isn't walking in step with the Spirit. The works of the flesh, common and even celebrated in Greco-Roman culture, stand opposed to the fruit of the Spirit, characteristics natural to the new nature believers receive in Christ. That old nature has already been crucified; the call now is simply to keep in step with the Spirit who leads the way.
Transcribe →Galatians 5:7-15
Jun 14Tap to summarizePastor Jeff works through Galatians 5:7-15, opening with a personal running story that frames Paul's race metaphor. The Galatians were running well until the Judaizers cut them off. The Judaizers' persuasion is not from God, and Paul compares their false teaching to leaven that, left unchecked, corrupts the whole batch. Despite his concern, Paul's confidence rests in the Lord and the Spirit's guarantee, not in the Galatians themselves. His blunt condemnation of the Judaizers, including the pointed sarcasm of verse 12, gives way to a constructive answer to the question legalism raises: if the law is gone, does anything govern behavior? Paul's answer is Christian freedom rightly understood. Freedom in Christ is not license for the flesh but liberation from slavery to sin so that believers are now free to love and serve one another. The whole law is fulfilled in one command: love your neighbor as yourself.
Transcribe →Galatians 5:1-6
Jun 7Tap to summarizePastor Jeff works through Galatians 5:1-6, treating Paul's command to stand firm in freedom as a springboard for an extended examination of legalism. Legalism is defined as elevating non-essentials to essentials, a subtle danger that can creep into any church or individual life through passionate but misplaced priorities, whether circumcision in Paul's day or theological positions, political affiliations, and traditions in ours. The George Whitefield illustration anchors the darker danger: a grace-plus gospel cannot save, as Whitefield himself spent three years in the disciplined Holy Club unredeemed. Paul's warning in verses 2 through 4 is direct: circumcision as a means of justification estranges a believer from Christ and causes them to fall from grace's benefits, like the prodigal son losing the blessings of the father's household while remaining a son. The corrective is verse 6: neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, only faith working through love.
Transcribe →Galatians 4:12-5:1
May 31Tap to summarizePastor Jeff covers Galatians 4:12 through 5:1, opening with Paul's personal appeal to the Galatians, who had once received him with extraordinary kindness despite a bodily ailment, but now treat him as an enemy simply for telling them the truth. Paul contrasts his genuine pastoral pursuit of them with the Judaizers' manipulative flattery and exclusionary tactics, a strategy also employed by cults ancient and modern. Paul then builds an allegory from Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael, and Isaac: Hagar and Sinai represent the Old Covenant of slavery and faithlessness, corresponding to earthly Jerusalem under law, while Sarah represents the New Covenant of promise and freedom, corresponding to the heavenly New Jerusalem. Believers are children of promise like Isaac, not children of the slave woman. Paul's conclusion is direct: cast out the persecutors, stand firm in the freedom Christ purchased, and refuse to return to any yoke of slavery.
Transcribe →Galatians 4:1-11
May 24Tap to summarizePastor Jeff works through Galatians 4:1-11, where Paul illustrates Israel's time under the law using the image of a child-heir who, though owner of everything, is no different from a slave until the father's appointed time. The elementary principles of the world, stoicheia, refer to the fundamental governing principles of each group's old order: Torah for the Jews, idolatry for the Gentiles. When the fullness of time came, God sent his Son, born human and born under the law for the specific purpose of redeeming those under it, making adoption as sons possible for both Jew and Gentile. The Spirit seals this adoption, enabling believers to call God Abba Father. Paul's warning to the Galatians is pointed: returning to Torah for righteousness places it in rivalry with Christ, which is functionally no different from idolatry. The law was a guardian for a season, but that season has ended.
Transcribe →Galatians 3:21-29
May 17Tap to summarizePastor Jeff covers Galatians 3:21-29, where Paul resolves the apparent tension between law and promise. The law is not contrary to God's promises but complementary, serving to reveal sin and prepare people for kingdom living, never intended to grant righteousness. Scripture imprisons everything under sin precisely so that Christ's faithfulness, not merely our faith in him, can be received by those who believe. Before Christ the law functioned as a pedagogos, a guardian in protective custody keeping Israel from idolatry until the gospel arrived. After Christ that guardianship is obsolete. Through baptism into Christ, believers are clothed with him, fully identified with his righteousness, so that Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, all can become sons of God and heirs of the promise made to Abraham.
Transcribe →Galatians 3:15-20
May 10Tap to summarizePastor Jeff works through Galatians 3:15-20, arguing that the Abrahamic covenant, being unconditional and ratified by God alone, cannot be annulled by the later Mosaic law. The singular "offspring" in the Genesis promises points specifically to Christ, through whom God's family expands beyond Israel to encompass the church and ultimately the entire household of God, distinct entities with separate but complementary roles fulfilled in the eternal kingdom. The law was added because of Israel's repeated faithlessness at Sinai, not as a path to justification but as instruction for kingdom living. Moses became intermediary only because the people refused God's direct presence, a distance Christ's mediation permanently closes by dwelling within us.
Transcribe →Galatians 3:10-14
May 3Tap to summarizePastor Jeff works through Galatians 3:10-14, where Paul contrasts the curse of law-keeping with the blessing of faith. No one can perfectly keep Torah, so all who seek righteousness through works remain under a curse. A notable excursion highlights that the Jewish Mitzvot, Maimonides' list of 613 commandments, includes listening to the prophet like Moses, equated with Messiah, as commandments 9 through 12, pointing directly to Christ. Verse 13 is the pivot: Christ became a curse, bearing the katara we earned, redeeming us in our place. The result, declared in verse 14, is that Abraham's blessing now reaches Jew and Gentile alike through faith.
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