Part IX on Galatians Study

Ephesians 4:32
"And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath (already) forgiven you."    So #1: the key to understanding the Scriptures is to whom the particular text is written to. It's high time that we get a fresh view of this again, because we want to remember that when God called Moses up into Mount Sinai there in Exodus, God gave the code of conduct and then the Levitical Law (in statues and ordinances as a addendum to the ten, in others He built a corral to hold them in, a legal restrain to lead them to a knowledge of sin and condemnations guilt and its punishment was death) to Moses and Moses took it down the mountain and gave it to the Nation of Israel. So Israel came under the Law as it was a ministration of death or corral to keep them in check as a tutor until the promised seed came, Christ Jesus. Not the rest of the world, just the people of Israel. Paul would later call this the foundation in Ephesians 2:20.

But, as Romans 3 says, all the world came under the condemnation power of the Law and proved that no one is righteous, no not one. But so far as the mode of operation of the Law, it was only given to the Nation of Israel as their corral, their pen to keep them away from the spirit of the world. Then as we're going to see as we get into Galatians and Paul's account of his apostleship, we find that Paul is the central character and to that man is revealed these doctrines not of Law, but of Grace. And Grace is for primarily the Gentiles (those who have become awaken to the things of God), but it also includes the Hebrews. A Hebrew today can be saved under Grace as well as a Gentile. But it is primarily God's time of calling out Gentiles, the setting of them apart unto Himself just like He did with Noah and Abraham from among the unbelieving world. Now then, Paul's message, as we saw in our brief look at the first two letters to the Corinthians, was to the pagan world. Paul could come into these abject pagan people with nothing but the Gospel of the Grace of God and they would come out of their paganism and become believers (or as we normally like to use the term "Christians," although that word has certainly lost its real meaning). Today almost everybody, and anything can be called a Christian. So now let's begin in verse 7.

Galatians 1:7
"Which is not another; (Gospel) but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ."    They pervert it unknowingly by way of blending both the old and the new and through distortion as when looking through a window with a blemish or bubble in it and the object looked it is distorted or wavy instead of clear. 

Now when we talk about the Gospel of Christ we have to go back to where it is the most explicitly laid out. Remember the Gospel for the Body of Christ was only revealed to Paul so we need to turn to I Corinthians chapter 15, and look at those first four verses. This is the clearest explanation of Paul's Gospel that we can find anywhere. Its better we feel than say the Romans road that many depend upon and is far better than John 3:16 as this was still under the rule of Law or prior to Christ's death. Now he will refer to it as the Gospel of the Grace of God, the Gospel of God, my Gospel, the Gospel according to its revelation of the mysteries, but regardless how he refers to it, it's this Gospel. 

I Corinthians 15:1-4
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel (not a Gospel, not a perverted Gospel, not a corrupt Gospel, but the Gospel) which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, (remember Paul even addressed the carnal believer, and here's the key “received” or accepted wholeheartedly, putting total trust in it, at Corinth as saints.) and wherein ye stand; 2. By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, (not what Peter and the Twelve in Jerusalem have, but what I've preached) unless ye have believed in vain (this is where we are in our time for many are in “vain” declaring to be what they don't have knowledge of). 3. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, (and we're going to see how he received it in Galatians in just a moment. Now here comes the Gospel we must believe within our heart for redemption onto salvation.) how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4. And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Long before the world or the universe was ever created, God already had the whole scheme of things laid out. He wasn't caught by surprise or taken off guard. The whole human experience was pre-planned, the plan of redemption was already in place long before Adam was ever created. And here it is, how that Christ died (this actually took place when Adam died to God or was separated from Him in the garden), was buried, and rose again, according to the Scriptures. It was prophesied and now all mankind has to do for redemption is done but our salvation is to believed and received through His working again in us, and we're going to see that so clearly as we move on through this little letter to the Galatians. Now come back to Galatians chapter 1, verse 8. Oh the horrors that are going to befall people who are guilty of what Paul is talking about in verse 8. We shudder to think of what one day they are going to have to experience, because look what he says here.