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- [00:01]
Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango, and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the Journey family. Welcome back to our walkthrough of the entire Bible. All right, we are now in the book of Galatians. This is Paul's first letter. Now, one of the things I want to tell you about our reading plan is that we put all of Paul's letters in chronological order, because a lot of people, they dehumanize Paul. And we want to, like, introduce you to Paul like a real human, a real pastor, a real person in ministry, and his thoughts evolve from his earliest writings to his last. Okay, so on our reading plan, we're going to start with Paul's letters. In the book of Galatians, he is a young, hot, fiery apostle. Okay? In the book of Galatians, you're going to see he's going to use strong language. He's going to call the Galatians foolish. There are Jewish believers who have come into these churches in Galatia, and they're convincing them to get circumcised. And Paul's going to say some pretty harsh things, like, I wish they would go all the way and, like, emasculate themselves. Like, this is strong language. All right? So, but I want you to think, like, this is first letter. This is the earliest letter that we have of Paul. And you know what? Right now, I'm 36. When I listen to some sermons that I preached, like, 10 years ago, I think to myself, oh, God, please take that off the Internet. Like, I hope nobody finds that, because I was just young and fiery and had a lot of zeal. And we're going to see that Paul's going to say a lot of things about the law, a lot of things about Judaism. Then when we get to the book of Romans, he's going to say similar things, but just tone down, okay? And so we want to take the entire work of Paul's life and put Paul into context. Okay? So little background about the book of Galatians. Galatia is a region, not a city. A lot of Paul's letters are going to be to cities. So, like, the city of Philippi receives the letter of Philippians. The city of Corinth receives the letter first and Second Corinthians. Okay? Galatia is not a city. It's a region. And if you want background on this region, all you have to do is go to Acts chapter 13 and 14. When you go to Acts chapter 13 and 14, you can see that on Paul and Barnabas's first missionary journey, they actually go through this region that is called Galatia. And on that missionary journey, they go to Antioch of Pisidia. So that's Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Okay. Are the areas that they visit in this region known as Galatia. So this letter to the Galatians, it would be more like a letter to the Texans as opposed to a letter to the people living in Dallas. Our bullseye is a little bit bigger, so he's talking to a region. It would be really, really helpful. I know we just got out of the Book of Acts, but you want to maybe go back to Acts chapter 13 and Acts chapter 14 just to kind of refresh yourself with what happened. And I'll give you a little clue. Jewish persecution broke out. So Paul and Barnabas are preaching. They go to the Jewish synagogue first. They first go to the Jews, then to the Gentiles. And, I mean, Jewish persecution broke out, so they had to actually flee Iconium and flee to Lystra and. And Derby. Then they come back to Iconium. It's actually like a dramatic thing. I. I'll actually read the end of chapter 13. Acts chapter 13, verse 50 says this. But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city and stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and drove them out of their region. Okay, so this is Galatia, drove them out of the region. So they shook the dust off their feet in protest against them and went to Iconium. And the disciples were filled with joy in the Holy Spirit. The same thing occurred in Iconium where Paul and Barnabas went into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poison their minds against the brothers. So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for the Lord, who testified of the word of his grace by granting signs. But the residents of the city were divided. So then they go to Lystra, they go to Derbe, and they come back. And so they experience persecution from the Jews and go to verse 19 from chapter 4. But Jews came there from Antioch and Iconium. So now they're in Lystra. And Jews from the other two cities that they've already gone through in Galatia are, like, chasing them. So. So the Jews are chasing Paul and Barnabas out of the region and then follow them to where they're going next. It says this, but Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds. Then they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples surrounded him, he got up and went into the city. And the next day he went on with Barnabas to Derby. So I just kind of gave you a recap of Paul's. Paul and Barnabas's time in Pidian, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and then Derbe. And the big theme is unbelieving Jews persecuting them. So with that context of that backdrop, we get to Galatians, Chapter one, verse one. Paul, I want you to, like, see how many times Paul says this. Okay? Paul, an apostle sent from. Sent not from men, nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father. So immediately Paul wants to assert apostolic authority. What has happened is that Jewish, Jewish Christians have actually come into this region and are telling the Galatian Christians, the Gentiles, that in order to be Christian, they need to get circumcised, that they need to actually become Jewish before they could be Christian. And so Paul, out of the gate, wants to tell everybody, whoa, whoa, whoa, I wasn't sent by men. And the reason he's saying this is because the. The Judaizers, okay, the. The Jewish Christians who want to make people Jewish by having them undergo circumcision, they're called judaizers. He's saying, hey, they are sent by men. Pharisees in Jerusalem sent those guys. Men didn't send me. There was no man who gave me authority. I want you to see this verse. Verse 10, 11, 12, 18, 19, chapter 2, verse 6, chapter 2, verse 11. This is, like, all about authority. Okay, we're going to read a couple of these. I'm going to read verse 10. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ. So again, hey, I'm not here for human approval or for crowds or any of that. Verse 11. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. Verse 12. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it. Rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. This is not an idea that I got from a man. Why is Paul so hot? He's so Angry. He's so hot because people are preaching a gospel that's not the gospel he preached. They're preaching a gospel that you have to become Jewish in order to become Christian. And that's not the gospel that Paul preached. He preached a gospel that you are saved by grace through faith, that no man is saved unless they confess the name of Jesus Christ. And, and, and Jesus is the only name under heaven by which men can be saved. This is the gospel. And he's saying, I didn't get this from Peter. So the. Now look at the next thing. Verse 18 and 19 says this, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Peter, aka Cephas, and stayed with him 15 days. I saw none of the other apostles, only James, the Lord's brother. I assure you before God that what I'm writing to you is no lie. He's like, hey, I didn't get this from people. This is not an idea. I got from people this gospel that I preached to you. When I came to Pisidian, Antioch, to Iconium, to Lystra, to Derby, the gospel I preached to you, I got that from God. I was on the road to Damascus, I saw the risen Savior and I got this gospel from the Holy Spirit. I didn't get this from people. You can hear this again in chapter two, verse six. As for those who were held in high esteem, whatever they were makes no difference to me. God does not show favoritism. They added nothing to my message. Okay, what is Paul saying over and over and over again? Nobody appointed me to preach or anointed me to preach. I got called by God to say this and this message is from Jesus. And then he says, if anybody, including us, preaches a gospel to you that is not the gospel of Jesus, do not believe them.
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Unknown Speaker
What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere can have access to to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and theology content. In addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community. A community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want.
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Dr. Manny Arango
More exclusive access to me and the.
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Unknown Speaker
Entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible.
- [11:41]
Dr. Manny Arango
We can. We can also go to chapter one, verse 16. We're going to go back up to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles. My immediate response was not to consult any human being. I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was. But I went into Arabia. He's like, I went into the desert, homie. Like, I did not. I did not get this from people. So there are Judaizers coming into your churches and they're spouting these human ideas. I didn't get these ideas from people. Okay, so Paul's big, big, big, big, big theme in these first three chapters is establishing apostolic authority. It's like, hey, if I'm the apostle who started these churches, who pioneered these churches, no one should be able to come in and teach you something that's contrary to what I taught you. And I don't want you to have faith just in what I taught you. I want you to have faith in the fact that what I taught you I received from Jesus, I received from God, I received from the Holy Spirit, that I did not receive this from any humans. So chapter one to two and three, I mean, all types of things like who bewitched you? Why would you give up on the Gospel? Why would you try to go get circumcised? Nobody can be justified by the law. These are themes over and over and over again. One little nerdy nugget that I want to help you with. In chapter three, Paul is going to contrast verse three. Chapter three starts out with this. You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Okay, before your very eyes, Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you. Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by the means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by the means of the flesh? He's saying you got saved, filled with the Holy Spirit, Satan on fire for God, all that stuff started. You got baptized with the Holy Spirit through faith. And so Paul is going to Juxtapose the law with faith in the spirit and he's going to talk about how to become children of God. There's a really key word at the end of chapter three. Two key words, custody and guardian. It says this in verse 23 of chapter 3. Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come could be revealed, so that the law was our guardian. Okay? And I want you to think about like, let's say like a, a trust baby, okay? If, if I set up a trust fund for my son, okay, I would then have to establish who would be the trustees of that trust. And let's just say, you know, Jesse is somebody in my life who I trust a lot. Let say I established Jesse as a trustee. It was like, hey, man, in the event that something crazy happens to me, or let's say even, you know, a lawyer, one of the lawyers that I have in my life, I said, hey, you're going to be the trustee. In the event that something happens to me, I die, you know, prematurely. Here's my will, here's my, like, you know, my trust that I've set up for, for Tia and for my son. But you are going to be the trustee for the estate. So, like, when, if, if anything ever does happen, you're going to be the person. If Theo's five, I don't want him inheriting millions of dollars as a five year old. So, hey, when he's, hey, when he's 18, you know, give him, give him a quarter of a million dollars and help him buy his first home or whatever. And then when he's this age, give him this and. But after a certain age, once he's 35, he no longer, no longer needs the trustee, okay? This is the language that Paul is using. He's saying that before the coming of faith, we were held in custody, okay? We were underage under the law. That's why we needed the law. The law wasn't bad. It was just good for the season that we were in because we were immature, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. So the law was our guardian, okay? Our trustee, our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, okay? My son wouldn't need to be under a guardian forever. Once he becomes an adult, he doesn't need to be under a guardian anymore. And Paul is saying, hey, because you may be thinking if, if the law is so bad Then why did God use it in the Old Testament? And Paul says, whoa, the law served a purpose. Okay? It was there until Christ came. And now that Christ has come and we operate under the law of love, under a new law, we no longer are subject to the Mosaic Law. Now that this gets into a complicated conversation about the law in general, we don't have time for that complicated conversation. But Paul is fiery. He's upset. He's angry that people without apostolic authority have come into the churches in this region of Galatia and have sown seeds of legalism to try to get these Christians, these gentile Christians, to circumcise themselves and to follow Sabbath laws and follow dietary laws and to essentially become Jewish in order to become Christian. And Paul is setting this thing straight, apostolic authority. Big themes for this section. And then obviously this word picture of a custodian and a guardian and sonship and being an heir. All right, I'll see you tomorrow as we get to the rest of the Book of Galatians. We're going to tackle chapters four, five, and six tomorrow in and I'll see you right here. Hey, good job reading. You're doing a fantastic job and I'll see you again tomorrow. Peace. Thank you so much for joining me on the Bible Department podcast. If this episode was helpful, it would mean the world to me if you'd give us a follow rate and review the show. And don't forget to share. You can learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and find us on Instagram at the Bible Department. If you want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.