Law, Grace, and Liberty in Christ: a Study in Galatians
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CHARLES N. MILLER Law, Grace, and Liberty in Christ: A Study in Galatians 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Forward ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Galatians Chapter 1: "Not, Neither, But" ....................................................................................................................... 7 Apostle By Jesus Christ: Galatians 1:1–5 .................................................................................................................. 9 A Perverted Gospel: Galatians 1:6–9 ....................................................................................................................... 11 By Revelation of Jesus Christ: Galatians 1:10–12 ............................................................................................... 13 Worthless Religion: Galatians 1:13–14 .................................................................................................................. 15 Basic Training: Galatians 1:15–19 ............................................................................................................................ 18 And They Glorified God In Me: Galatians 1:20–24 ............................................................................................. 21 Galatians Chapter 2: A Tale of Two Cities................................................................................................................... 23 A Meeting By Revelation: Galatians 2:1–5 ............................................................................................................. 25 An Agreement Bound on Earth and in Heaven: Galatians 2:6–10 ............................................................... 29 An Apostle Rebuked: Galatians 2:11–16 ................................................................................................................ 34 The End of Ego: Galatians 2:17–21 ........................................................................................................................... 37 Galatians Chapter 3: Don't Be a Fool ............................................................................................................................ 40 Rhetorical Questions: Galatians 3:1–5 .................................................................................................................... 42 Sons of Abraham: Galatians 3:6–9 ............................................................................................................................ 47 Cursed by the Law, Redeemed by Christ: Galatians 3:10–14 ........................................................................ 50 A Covenant, A Promise: Galatians 3:15–18 ........................................................................................................... 53 A Hard Lesson: Galatians 3:19–25 ............................................................................................................................ 55 In Christ: Galatians 3:26–29 ........................................................................................................................................ 58 Galatians Chapter 4: Children of Promise .................................................................................................................. 61 From Servitude to Sonship: Galatians 4:1–7 ........................................................................................................ 63 Living in Poverty While Exceedingly Rich: Galatians 4:8–11 ........................................................................ 67 An Urgent and Gracious Plea: Galatians 4:12–20 ............................................................................................... 70 An Allegory: Galatians 4:21–26 ................................................................................................................................. 74 Cast Out the Bondwoman and Her Son: Galatians 4:27–31 ........................................................................... 77 Galatians Chapter 5: True Freedom .............................................................................................................................. 80 The Law or Christ: Galatians 5:1–6 .......................................................................................................................... 81 A Little Leaven: Galatians 5:7–10 ............................................................................................................................. 84 The Offence of the Cross: Galatians 5:11–12 ........................................................................................................ 87 Called Unto Liberty: Galatians 5:13–15 .................................................................................................................. 90 3 The Works of the Flesh: Galatians 5:16–21 .......................................................................................................... 93 The Outward Sign of an Inward Faith: Galatians 5:22–26 .............................................................................. 96 Galatians Chapter 6: Important Closing Comments ............................................................................................... 99 The Ministry of Restoration: Galatians 6:1–2 ................................................................................................... 100 To Know Our Proper Place: Galatians 6:3–5 ..................................................................................................... 103 Sowing and Reaping: Galatians 6:6–10 ............................................................................................................... 106 The Cross, Our Only Glory: Galatians 6:11–15 ................................................................................................. 109 A Marked Man: Galatians 6:16–18 ......................................................................................................................... 112 Appendices ............................................................................................................................................................................ 114 Appendix I: A Simple Solution to a Puzzling Problem ................................................................................... 114 The Problem Outlined ............................................................................................................................................. 114 The Promises to Abraham and His Seed ......................................................................................................... 115 Moses and the Prophets ......................................................................................................................................... 117 The Glorious Solution .............................................................................................................................................. 119 Appendix II: The Meaning of "Son" in Scripture .............................................................................................. 124 Bibliography ......................................................................................................................................................................... 127 4 FORWARD I began this study in Galatians in the early months of 2016. It began as a small, organic Bible study between myself and two others. It is still a simple Bible study that has been converted to a readable study. When this study began, there were several things prompting it. The first was a shake-up on the church board on which I had been serving. There was some doctrinal disagreement that led to another elder along with myself being asked to resign from the board and all teaching positions because of some positions that we held. The root of the disagreement was due to what they determined to be “hyperdispensationalism”. Now by initially labeling this as such, it puts the position in negative light to begin with, for who holds that their own position is “hyper” anything? The real issue by which we were removed from these positions in the church was simply that I am persuaded that the epistles of Paul are the Word of God that is specifically and distinctly directed to the Church which is the Body of Christ. With that persuasion, I am also persuaded that the gospel that Paul preached, and even claimed ownership of (“my gospel”: Romans 2.16, 16.25, 2 Timothy 2.8) is to be distinguished from the Gospel of the Kingdom as found in the “4 Gospels” and which Peter and the 12 preached in the early chapters of Acts. It is not that the specific bodies of good news are contrary to each other, but that they have a distinctive message with a different purpose for a different people. The Epistle to the Galatians seemed a natural place to start because the first two chapters contain Paul’s own defense of his apostleship. But as with any study of Scripture, we must let the Word of God speak and not force the answer to our questions on it, but let it tell us the mind of God. So the two of us who had lost our positions on the church board, along with a few others began a chapter by chapter, verse by verse, line by line, word by word study. Much of what we discussed as we did this is in this work. There is also much that is added here that was the result of further study. So the purpose of this work is simply to share this study of Paul’s epistle to the