The New Testament in 90 Days

That's the question Paul has for the Galatians.  Do you want to be free, or do you want to be slaves?  He is angry with them because he told them the truth, he spoke the Gospel to them, and God set them free, and he thinks that they want to be slaves again. Freedom. What does it mean? Freedom is a loaded word in our culture.  We are the "land of the free and the home of the brave."  Paul wants the Galatians to be free, free in Christ, which is not "freedom to do anything you want", even though he speaks of "freedom from the demands of the law."  Freedom in Christ is freedom from:  freedom from fear that we are not acceptable to God; freedom from keeping the law in  a slavish way.  but it is also freedom to:  freedom to love our neighbor, freedom to love God, freedom for love, joy, peace, patience, and all of the other fruit of the Spirit. Someone wants the Galatians to be circumcized.  Paul thinks that these "Judaizers" believe i...

Paul begins chapter 3 in the same exasperated tone he's been using from the beginning of Galatians.  It's possible, I suppose, to read the whole letter in this same tone, but it seems to me that he calms down just a bit as he tries to explain to the Galatians the difference between the law and the promise. He begins, now with Jesus, but with Abraham.  Abraham first received the promise, the promise that he and his family would be blessed.  Later on, that family would become the people of Israel.  They would be freed from slavery and lead through the wilderness to the promised land.  In the middle of their wilderness wandering they were given the law.  But the covenant is not based on the law.  It is based on that original promise, given to Abraham, and it is received by faith. The promise is prior to the law, Paul argues.  The law did not come about until 430 years after the promise was given to Abraham.  Therefore the promise has precede...

The book of Galatians in short (only 6 chapters) and Paul doesn't have time to be subtle.  so, after brief, perfunctory greetings, he gets right to the point: What the heck is wrong with them? Why are they abandoning the gospel he preaching to them? That's what he has been hearing.  Since Paul has left the church in Galatia, others have come, and have been telling the Galatians that trust in Jesus death and resurrection is not enough to be considered a follower of Jesus.  They also need to be circumcized, and keep the law.  This Paul emphatically rejects.  And he is angry that it is so easy for them to desert the gospel, and cling, instead, to the law. These false teachers are often called "Judaizers."  While Paul is careful not to tell the Galatians that the law is bad, he wants them to know that the law does not save them.  (this was actually never the point of the law.)  Paul tells the Galatians that the other apostles agreed with him o...