Galatians Delto Bullet Notesonline Lutheran Bible Study

This is a Lutheran Bible Study of the book of Galatians. This study breaks Galatians down so that each day only a small number of verses are covered. The book is broken down into 22 lessons. So if one lesson is studied each week day, you will be able to go through the book of Galatians and this study in about one month. With the help of a good study Bible. If you are in a Bible study group, the members of your group can join together to find or contribute answers. Now that you have a good understanding of what the passage says and what it means, it’s time to come to conclusions. You see, the Bible is not just a book for learning.

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Paul’s Greeting to the Galatians

1Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead—2and all the brothers with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,a4who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,5to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

No Other Gospel

6I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—7which is not even a gospel. Evidently some people are troubling you and trying to distort the gospel of Christ.

8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be under a curse!9As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be under a curse!

Paul Preaches the Gospel

10Am I now seeking the approval of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.11For I certify to you, brothers, that the gospel I preached was not devised by man.b12I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

13For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how severely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.14I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

15But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by His grace, was pleased16to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not rush to consult with flesh and blood,17nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles who came before me, but I went into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.

18Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas,c and I stayed with him fifteen days.19But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.20I assure you before God that what I am writing to you is no lie.

21Later I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.22I was personally unknown, however, to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.23They only heard the account: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”24And they glorified God because of me.

Footnotes:
3a SBL, BYZ, and TR God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ
11b Literally

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not according to man
18c That is, Peter

by Rev. Paul Doellinger

In his great work The Bondage of the Will, Luther writes, “A man must delight in assertions or he will be no Christian. And by assertion…I mean a constant, adhering, affirming, confessing, maintaining, and an invincible preserving…Nothing is better known or more common among Christians than assertions. Take away assertions and you take away Christianity.”[1]

The Reformation was not only about asserting what is true, but also rejecting that which is false. St. Paul’s passionate epistle to the Galatians is born out of his assertion of the Gospel and his defiance of false teaching. The Galatian Christians were “bewitched” and maligned into believing a “different Gospel” (Gal. 1:6; 3:1). Paul is determined to preach and preserve the Gospel in Galatia while at the same time reject what is false and corrupted therein.

Galatians Delta Bullet Notes Online Lutheran Bible Study Acts Of The Apostles

Read through Galatians 1:6-20.

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1. False teachers in Galatia were imposing circumcision on the Gentile Christians (Gal. 2:12; 3:1-2; 6:15). They were teaching that Christ, grace, faith, and the forgiveness of sins wasn’t enough; that more must be done. Paul calls this a “different gospel” and a desertion of God “who called you in the grace of Christ” (Gal. 1:6). How is requiring circumcision a “distortion of the Gospel of Christ?” How is the Gospel distorted by false teachers today? What are some modern examples of “different” gospels?

2. Luther: “The doctrine of Grace simply cannot stand with the doctrine of the Law. One of them must be rejected and abolished, the other must be confirmed or substantiated.”[2] Why is Paul so insistent upon holding up the true Gospel over and against the “different” gospel of the false teachers? What is ultimately at stake?

3. Read Acts 9:1-19. In Galatians 1:8-9 Paul doubles down and curses the false teachers in Galatia. In order to proclaim the truth and reject the falsehood, Paul must first claim his authority. Based on Paul’s conversion in Acts 9 and his testimony in Galatians 1:11-12, by what authority can Paul make such an assertion? What is our authority today?

4. Citing his own life as an example, Paul takes comfort in the fact that God “called me by his grace (and) was pleased to reveal His Son to me (Gal. 1:16).” Luther teaches, “Paul himself did not have an inward revelation until he heard the outward Word from heaven, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?’ (Acts 9:4). Thus he heard the outward Word first; only then did there follow revelations, the knowledge of the Word, faith, and the gifts of the Spirit.”[3] How is it that you received the outward, external Word? In what outward means of God’s grace can we find comfort, certainty, and the assertion of God’s love and mercy to us?

The Word of God makes assertions of truth and rejections of falsehood. The Reformation calls us to hold fast to the assertions God makes in His Word. The Formula of Concord states, “We believe, teach, and confess that the only rule and guiding principle according to which all teachings and teachers are to be evaluated and judged are the prophetic and apostolic writings of the Old and New Testaments alone. As it is written, ‘Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ (Ps. 119:105), and Saint Paul: ‘If…an angel from heaven should proclaim to you something contrary, let that one be accursed!’ (Gal. 1:8).”[4]

God has revealed His Son to you in His Word. You are justified. God has declared you to be righteous, perfect and holy for the sake of His Son. You are rescued from sin, death and hell, not by works of the Law, but by Christ and His atoning death and resurrection alone. This is God’s assertion to you. Let every teaching and every word of man that speaks contrary be accursed! Take delight in the assertions of the Reformation, which are the assertions of God’s Word!

Prayer: Lord, keep us steadfast in Your Word; Curb those who by deceit or sword would wrest the kingdom from Your Son and bring to naught all He has done.[5] Amen.

The Rev. Paul M. Doellinger is pastor of St. Paul Lutheran Church, Cassopolis, MI.

Galatians Delto Bullet Notesonline Lutheran Bible Study

[1] Luther, Martin. The Bondage of the Will in Luther and Erasmus: Free Will and Salvation (E. Gordon Rupp and Philip Watson, Eds.). Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1969., pgs. 105-106

[2] Luther, Martin. Luther’s Works, vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1-4 (J. J. 2Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1963., pg. 54

[3] Ibid., page 73

4 The Book of Concord: The Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Robert Kolb and Timothy J. Wngert, Eds.). Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2000., Pg. 486.1

[5] Luther, Martin, “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word” (No. 655) in The Lutheran Service Book (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2006).