Bible Study, Week 1

This week, my Pastor started a bible study group at church on Wednesday nights. Morgan has school that night, but I have really been wanting to join a bible study for a long time. My Pastor's wife offered to let me drop off the girls at her house to play with her girls so that I could go. I thought that was so nice!

I wasn't sure what it would be about, but it turns out we are going to be studying Galatians, going verse by verse. I loved that. We only looked at Chapter 1, verses 1-9, and I know if I had read those on my own, I would not have come anywhere close to getting out of it what I did at our study. Here is what I learned:

Galatians was written by Paul about 15-20 years after Jesus was crucified. It was written to the church in Galatia that he'd established. Paul was writing this to believers and he was upset, so he gets right to the matter. He was angry because the church was starting to lean toward a false doctrine. He was absolutely justified in his anger because it was almost like an intervention or tough love. "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel - which is really no gospel at all." (vs. 6-7)

Paul calls himself an apostle. So, what can we learn from these verses about what an apostle is or does? He was sent by God. Jesus gave Him this gospel message. These ideas about what the gospel message is are not his ideas; they are from God. He even says in verse 8 that even if he should preach a gospel that is different, that he should be eternally condemned.

So what is the gospel message? Paul outlines it in the first few verses. We can see that in verse 4, there is a need for us to be saved......."Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us." He is saying that Jesus gave himself, not for us to have a second chance, but as a substitution. It was a complete and final act. Who decided that this would be the plan to save us? God did. Why? It was His will. We did nothing to earn it.

In verses 6 and 7, we learn that any change to the gospel makes it null and void. Why is that? Because God already completed it. If we needed to do more, Christ wouldn't have had to come and die. Christianity is the one religion that doesn't require that you do anything to earn salvation. Other religions say you have to merit it first and then you'll be saved. Not the gospel. It is the other way around. "Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ" (vs 7). That word perverted means backwards. Either you trust in Christ or you trust in self. There is no middle ground. It has to be one or the other.

How are some ways people "add to the gospel" today in ways that diminish its power? Many churches have rules that you must do according to their church. There are those who say you have to dress a certain way or do certain things. The truth is that all we need is faith - the gospel is grace by faith.

What is Paul's attitude toward those who distort the gospel? He says it's never acceptable and that they will be eternally condemned. How can we ensure the gospel we believe is true? Because Paul's authority comes from the gospel and that is why he is an apostle. It's not the other way around. It's not that he's an apostle and so he gets to tell us what the gospel message is. He's only an apostle because he was given the gospel message by God. We don't get to evaluate the gospel based on our knowledge or experiences. It's message is so simple, but some have a hard time accepting that.