Galatians 2-3
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Paul’s Credentials: Review from Galatians 1
1) He is no seeker after popularity (Gal 1:10)
2) His revelation was from Christ (Gal 1:11,12)
3) His zeal forsaken for something better (Gal 1:13,14)
4) He preached grace before he met with any other Apostles (Gal 1:15-24)
Chapter 2
14 When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? – Cf. 2Peter 3:15-16
19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God –
Dead to the Law
• Dead to the law Rom 7:4; 6:14
• Crucified with Christ Gal 2:20
• Buried with Him Rom 6:3,4 – (“Body”: 3X) Mt 27:58-60
• Raised with Him Rom 6:8-11
• Ascended, seated with Him Eph 2:4-6
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me – Scholars have looked at Paul’s phrase “I have been crucified with Christ” in different ways. This could mean that:
- all believers participate in the benefits of Christ’s death and resurrection;
- all believers experience death and new life because Christ did so on their behalf;
- all believers will have experiences like those Christ endured (Romans 8:17; Philippians 3:10);
- all believers actually participate in Christ’s death and resurrection because of the mystical union that believers have with the Lord (see also Romans 6:4-8; Colossians 2:12-14, 20; 3:1-4).
Chapter 3
1 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified – “foolish” does not mean that they were mentally deficient; rather, (anoetos) means that they are intelligent yet are not using that intelligence to perceive the truth (the same Greek word is used in Luke 24:25; Romans 1:14; 1 Timothy 6:9; and Titus 3:3). “Bewitched” βασκαίνω Baskainō means to come under a magic evil spell.
2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? - Cf. Luke 11:9-13
Six Old Testament Quotes – Gal 3:6-14
1) Gal 3:6-7 Gen 15:6
2) Gal 3:8-9 Gen 12:3
3) Gal 3:10 Deut 27:26
4) Gal 3:11 Hab 2:4
5) Gal 3:12 Lev 18:5
6) Gal 3:13-14 Deut 21:23
6 Consider Abraham: “He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” – Gen 15:6 – This was before he was circumcised (cf. Gen. 17:24; Romans 4:9-10).
8 The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” – He believed the gospel. (Gen 12:3). And also, Abraham acted the whole thing out Gen 22:15-18; Heb 11:19; cf. James 2:20-22.
10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” – Deut 27:26
13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” – The word “tree” ξύλον xulon means wood, not usually a tree; it was used of gallows, crosses, etc. (Deut 21:23).
“I am told that it is preposterous and wicked to call the Son of God a cursed sinner. I answer: If you deny that He is a condemned sinner, you are forced to deny that Christ died. It is not less preposterous to say, the Son of God died, than to say, the Son of God was a sinner.”… “Whatever sins I, you, all of us have committed or shall commit, they are Christ’s sins as if He had committed them Himself. Our sins have to be Christ’s sins or we shall perish forever.” Martin Luther (Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535) by Martin Luther Translated by Theodore Graebner (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1949) Chapter 3, pp. 106-135)
17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. - This number comes from Exodus 12:40, which says that Israel’s captivity in Egypt lasted 430 years. Genesis 15:13, however, has 400 years for the period of slavery. Rabbis solved the problem by taking 430 as the time between Abraham’s covenant and Moses receiving the law at Mount Sinai. They took 400 years to mean the time Israel served as slaves in Egypt).
20 A mediator, however, does not represent just one party; but God is one. - The law depends on two parties, the promise depends on God alone.
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