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CONNIE: Does God care what you look like? Will only beautiful people go to heaven? Join us today as we look in the book Galatians for the answer to the question, what does it take to become a child of God?

Giving God’s trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I’m Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I’m Lonnie Melashenko. Today we’re going to be studying the book of Galatians, and of course in the brief time we have, we’ll only be able to hit on the high points and try to draw out the overall meaning of the book. But it’s a very central book in the New Testament. The apostle Paul lays out his understanding of the gospel very concisely here.

CONNIE: Concise is the operative word here. The book takes up only about five pages in most Bibles. You can read it through easily in about 15 minutes.

LONNIE: But in it, we find Paul’s defense of the fundamental principles of the gospel. I’ve broken it down to seven points for my sermon.

CONNIE: I guess what was happening in the churches there in Galatia is that after Paul had preached and made converts, some other teachers came along and started laying new burdens on the people. . .

LONNIE: Essentially making salvation a much more complicated thing than Paul had taught. And it really alarmed Paul when he learned that his church members there had been led astray—at one point he uses some pretty graphic language to express how he feels about these people, who were persuading the church members that they had to be circumcised in order to be saved.

CONNIE: Paul’s response is that God doesn’t look on outward appearances. It’s not how you look, or how your body is formed that counts, but how your spirit is formed—whether it’s renewed daily through contact with the Holy Spirit.

LONNIE: That’s the big message of Galatians, and that’s why we’ve titled our program “The Fruit of Faith.” Here now, to help us get an overview is Pastor and New Testament scholar John Brunt. He spoke with Ken Wade.

KEN: Pastor John Brunt I want to welcome to our program today. John you’ve had an interesting experience, you’ve been a scholar, a professor, an administrator, and now you’re pastor of a church. I think you might be able to empathize a little bit with Pastor Paul in his book to the Galatians.

JOHN: Well yes, although I must admit that my congregation isn’t giving me these kinds of problems, like the ones there are in Galatians. But, I can empathize, because I think, though we think of Paul as very much as a theologian, he really is pastor. I think we see here in Galatians how he attempts to be pastor to a group of people that are having some real problems, although it’s interesting that this letter begins quite differently than most of his letters. Usually Paul tells who he is and who’s with him, then he greets the people, and then he begins with a thanksgiving. In Philippians, you know, “I thank my God every time I remember you”. Even in Corinthians where he is quite unhappy with him he says, “I always thank God for you because of his grace given you through Christ Jesus”. But when we start out with Galatians there is no thanksgiving whatsoever. All the other letters Paul thanks God for them, and where you would expect to see the thanksgiving he just jumps right into it.

KEN: “I’m astonished”, he says…

JOHN: …I’m astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, and their turning to a different gospel so…

KEN: Well what’s gone wrong?

JOHN: …It wasn’t just a little heresy, not just some problems with the way that they were getting along and with each other. He felt that they had actually deserted the basic gospel.

KEN: In what way?

JOHN: They were relying upon themselves, and their efforts for salvation.

KEN: And he says, that’s not the gospel I brought you.

JOHN: That’s for sure; the gospel he brought is the one that says we’re saved only by God’s grace, through our faith in Jesus Christ.

KEN: What were the issues? What had happened? Now we’re talking about an area of Turkey basically, right?

JOHN: Yes.

KEN: And Paul had gone through there evangelizing; we’re not sure exactly on which trips he may have been with these churches but...

JOHN: Because he just say’s Galatia it’s kind of a whole region and people are uncertain about exactly where he was writing. Some think it was more the Northern region, some think it was the Southern region, but there is no need to get into that here. It shows us that it’s not for sure, exactly where this was.

KEN: What had happened there? Somebody had come along and what had gone wrong with the gospel as far as Paul could see?

JOHN: Basically, someone was saying, you cannot be a Christian unless you were a Jew first.

KEN: Wow!

JOHN: Because, you must be circumcised and become a Jew, then you can become a Christian. But Gentiles cannot directly become Christian, and this had to do not only with salvation on a theoretical basis, but it had to do with practice in the church too, because it had to do with who you would sit down at a table with. If a Gentile was considered unclean and was to be kept separate that meant that Gentiles who accepted Jesus were not worthy to sit down at the same table.

KEN: So in other words, you come to church, you have a potluck afterwards and the Jews sit in one place, and literally look down the noses at the others over on the other side, we won’t even eat with you.

JOHN: Well, in this letter Paul talks about how Peter did just that.

KEN: They had kind of fallen into a trap hadn’t they?

JOHN: That‘s right! That here up in Antioch, Peter had been eating with Gentiles, and then some people came from James and he backed off, and he says even Barnebus, who of course was his associate; and again he uses strong language he says, “Even Barnabus went along with their hypocrisy. So he considers this a refusal to accept the basic part of gospel which he taught, and that was that through Jesus Christ salvation is open to all who believe. You don’t have to become a Jew first; you don’t have to become anything first, you just have to simply accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, by believing.

KEN: Paul had really had that point made very directly to him through his own experience as an anti Christian Jew going around persecuting and killing Christians, suddenly Jesus comes along and says I’ll accept you. He’s going to make sure that everybody understands that Jesus accepts them on the basis of His grace, not on the basis of what they are doing, isn’t he?

JOHN: That is exactly right. We also ought to mention, that for Paul, he wanted to affirm Jews as well and say that you could remain a Jew and become a Christian. It was the same on both sides, and he was not anti Jewish because he said you can be a Jew and be a Christian just as well.

KEN: But it’s all through Christ.

JOHN: So he was saying, you come to Christ, you don’t have some other baggage before you come to Jesus Christ, put your trust in Him and believe.

KEN: Well, I appreciate that insight, and our time was flown by as it always does, but thank you very much Dr. John Brunt for your insights into the book of Galatians.

JOHN: You’re most welcome! It’s a pleasure to be with you Ken.

CONNIE: That song, “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” was performed for us by Adrian Westney Jr. If you’re interested in hearing more of Adrian’s music, you might want to stop by our web page at VOP.COM and check out the section where we list information about all of the music you hear on our broadcast.

LONNIE: You’ll find information about the CDs we use, and how you can get copies of the music for yourself. So, next time you’re on the Internet, remember to stop by VOP.COM.

CONNIE: The idea of trusting in Jesus—having faith in Him as the source of salvation—is a central point in the book of Galatians. In this book, Paul explains the gospel, and how it’s supposed to work out in our lives.

LONNIE: Which is why we’ve chosen the little book A Religion That Works to go along with today’s broadcast. This is a very practical little book, produced by our sister ministry, It Is Written.

CONNIE: We’d like you to have a copy of this book, because it develops the same theme as our program today—understanding how Christianity is supposed to work itself out in our daily lives.

LONNIE: We’re offering copies of the book A Religion That Works free of charge today, so if you’d like a copy, give us a call at 1-800-872-0055, and mention the book by name.

CONNIE: We’ll give the name, and our mailing address again at the end of the program, but right now, let’s listen to Lonnie’s message today: “Galatians—The Fruit of Faith.”

Galatians—The Fruit of Faith

Everything changed one day for Saul—the man we know as the apostle Paul. Suddenly the man who had been persecuting Christians, traveling from place to place, seeking them out, even consenting to their execution, was transformed.

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, he was changed.

He couldn’t keep on living the way he had been.

And the rest of his life was devoted to trying to explain to others what a difference it makes when God really gets a hold of you—when the Holy Spirit takes over from the flesh.

Paul had a great deal of success in his mission. But he also had some setbacks.

In his letter to the Galatians, he opens his heart to a group of people who had once received the good news he proclaimed, but had then reverted to some of their old ways.

In our discussion of the book of Galatians earlier in the program, Dr. John Brunt pointed out that this is the only letter of Paul that doesn’t include a note about Paul’s joy and pride in the people he is writing to. After his initial greeting, he launches right into the problem.

“I am astonished,” he writes, “that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7, NIV).

Paul is very firm in defending the gospel as he had learned it and taught it. You can hear the sternness—perhaps frustration—boiling over in the words of Galatians 1:9 “If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, LET . . HIM . . BE . . ETERNALLY CONDEMNED!” (NIV)

So, what is this message—this gospel—that Paul is willing to defend to his dying breath? The apostle sets out, in his epistle to the Galatians, first of all to defend his message, and then to define it more clearly, so that no one need misunderstand.

First of all, he defends the source of his message. It’s not an idly dreamed up fairytale, but is the product of divine revelation, followed by years of study, consultation, and practical application.

To make this point, Paul briefly reviews his life history—pointing out that it’s a highly unlikely scenario. Here he is, a man who started out as one of the staunchest defenders of Judaism and all its rituals. “I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers,” he reminds them in Galatians 1:14 (NKJV).

But now he’s being accused of trampling underfoot the fundamentals of that very faith. He’s telling people that they can become Christians, and children of God, without following the traditions he once defended. What could have happened to bring about this transformation?

Paul wants his readers to know for sure that there is no human reason for the change. No person: man, woman, or child could have persuaded him to switch from persecuting Christians to prosecuting the spread of the gospel. No apostle or purported prophet could have persuaded him that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah or that after His crucifixion Jesus had ascended to heaven.

It was a heavenly vision—a personal appearance by the risen Lord of the Universe that changed Saul into Paul.

His message didn’t come from the apostles in Jerusalem. But it was validated by them a few.

This is one of the most fascinating “back stories” you find in the Bible. Here in Galatians, Paul finds himself defending the gospel that he received from Jesus against attacks by people who claim to come with the authority of church headquarters in Jerusalem. And so he goes to great lengths, in the first two chapters, to assure his readers that he became a believer in Jesus as a result of direct revelation from heaven, and that he then took time to learn directly from Jesus what the Good News of the kingdom was really all about.

Sure, the folks down in Jerusalem could claim apostolic authority on the basis of their having spent three years traveling around the country, learning from Jesus while He was on earth. But Paul could point to the three years he spent, after his vision on the road to Damascus, studying and learning directly from Jesus. “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days” (Gal 1:18, NKJV)

And then, after 14 years, Paul made another journey to Jerusalem. Once again the gospel he was teaching to the Gentiles was confirmed by church leadership there.

“So--what’s the problem?” I can almost hear Paul shouting at his erstwhile Galatian friends. “Why are you turning away from the gospel I proclaimed to you?”

In order to understand what’s going on, we must first understand what Paul preached.

In a nutshell, his message is this: That all humanity is united in its need of salvation; that none of us can achieve salvation by being “good enough”; that God promised salvation eons ago; that this salvation has now been provided by the death of Jesus in our place; that we must receive the gift of salvation through faith; that nothing we do in our bodies or to our bodies can make us worthy of that salvation; but that once we receive salvation it changes what we do with our bodies.

I see seven main points to the gospel as Paul presents it in Galatians, and I want to review them quickly right now, then take a moment with each point to show how Paul brings it out in the epistle, and finish by sharing from my heart what this message means to me, and what it can mean to you.

So, here are the seven points again, briefly:

1. All humanity is united in its need of salvation.

2. We can’t earn salvation by being “good enough.”

3. God has always understood our need of salvation, and He promised it to us eons ago.

4. Salvation is provided to us through the death of Jesus in our place.

5. Salvation can only be received or accepted through faith.

6. Nothing we do in or to our bodies can make us worthy of salvation.

7. Once we have received salvation, it changes what we do with our bodies.

Let’s look at each one of these points individually.

Point 1: All humanity needs salvation: In Galatians 2:15-16, Paul says, We are Jews, not Gentiles, but we know that people are justified only by faith, not works. In other words, everyone needs justification—everyone needs to be declared innocent in the sight of the law. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Jew or a Gentile. Your need is still the same.

And, Point 2: You can’t achieve this salvation by being good enough—that is, by keeping the law. In 3:21 Paul writes “If a law had been given that could make alive, then righteousness would indeed come through the law” (NRSV).

The biggest word in that short sentence is “If”! That’s the Big If—if a law could give life, then we could save ourselves by keeping the law. But no such law has ever been written. It’s only God who can give us life.

That’s right, my friend, not even the Ten Commandments—the most perfect law ever given—the law written with the very finger of God—is able to give us life! It only points out why we deserve to die!

But—not to worry—God Himself understands this, and always has. To make this point, which is Point 3 in our list, Paul takes us back to the very beginnings of faith—to the father of the faith-filled, Abraham. He points out that Abraham wasn’t made righteous by what he did, but by having faith: Galatians 3:6 reads like this in the Jerusalem translation: “Take Abraham for an example: he put his faith in God, and this faith was considered as justifying him.” Paul goes on to point out that God promised salvation for the whole world to Abraham. In 3:14 he writes “This was done so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might include the pagans”! (Jerusalem Bible).

What, exactly, was done—you might ask. The answer is our Point 4: Salvation was provided to us through the death in our place. Listen to Galatians 3:14 again, but begin with verse 13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law by being cursed for our sake. . . . This was done so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might include the pagans and so that through faith we might receive the promised Spirit” (Jerusalem Bible).

This verse also makes Point 5 for us; because it points out that what God promised is delivered to us through our faith. Paul had to argue this point strenuously with the Galatians, because someone had come along and persuaded them that they needed to do something physical to receive God’s promise of salvation. Specifically, someone had persuaded them that their men needed to become circumcised Jews. Paul responds asking the question, “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:2, NRSV).

The obvious answer is, “By believing.” In other words, through faith. That’s the only way salvation can be received. But Paul needs to carry this point even further in order to really drive it home to the Galatians. In doing so, he makes Point 6: Nothing we can do in or to our bodies can make us worthy of salvation. Here’s how Paul puts it in chapter 5, verses 2 and 4: “Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. . . . You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace” (NRSV).

Paul is emphatic. Getting circumcised isn’t going to save you. Doing good works isn’t going to save you. In fact, if you decide to rely on any of your good works or obedience to pay your way into heaven, you’re going to get up to the ticket booth and find out your money is counterfeit. Because it doesn’t have a picture of Jesus on the face! Your picture printed in His place just isn’t going to cut it—no matter how good you think you are!

But, having emphatically made that point, Paul realizes that some may take his teaching one step too far. If good works won’t save us—why should we do them? And that’s why the apostle uses the last half of Chapter 5 to remind his readers that the promise of eternal life is the promise of Jesus coming to live in us through the indwelling Holy Spirit. And that’s where Point 7 comes in. When we receive salvation, we receive the Spirit into our hearts, and once He is enthroned there, it changes how we live. The Spirit stops our bodies from doing fleshly things, and starts them doing spiritual things.

Circumcision deals with only one isolated part of the body. Salvation deals with the whole body, and makes us into totally new people, bearing the fruit of the Spirit, which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control,” according to chapter 5, verses 22 and 23 (NRSV).

When we give our lives to Jesus, it doesn’t just affect one little part of our body. It changes everything, as Paul said in one of the best-known verses in the epistle, chapter 2, verse 20: “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (NRSV).

Friend, this epistle to the Galatians is a powerful document. It lays out the Christian life in clear, concise terms. It warns us against trying to earn salvation through good works. But it also promises us the Holy Spirit to work in our lives and produce good works. What an amazing balance the gospel brings into our lives.

I’ve found it a personal blessing to study through this book again. And I want to encourage you to pick it up and read it through a few times yourself. And while you’re doing it, invite the Holy Spirit to come into your life anew, won’t you?
You’ll be amazed at the power He brings.