WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.030 --> 00:00:02.870 Henry: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience. 00:00:02.988 --> 00:00:03.828 Day 27. 00:00:04.260 --> 00:00:05.880 immersed in Galatians, 00:00:08.700 --> 00:00:13.200 the super apostles in Corinth weren't the only ones trying to discredit Paul 00:00:13.830 --> 00:00:18.270 in the Roman province of Galatia, a region in Asia minor, modern day Turkey. 00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:21.690 Some troublemakers were bringing a different version of the good 00:00:21.690 --> 00:00:23.700 news about Jesus into the church. 00:00:23.850 --> 00:00:24.720 Paul had founded. 00:00:25.545 --> 00:00:28.995 They were teaching that even those who had faith in Jesus needed to 00:00:28.995 --> 00:00:32.685 obey certain parts of the Jewish law, particularly circumcision. 00:00:33.525 --> 00:00:37.575 These false teachers evidently claimed that Paul had learned this from the other 00:00:37.575 --> 00:00:39.795 apostles and was teaching this elsewhere. 00:00:40.545 --> 00:00:43.875 Even though Paul was about to leave for Jerusalem, he recognized 00:00:43.880 --> 00:00:46.755 the urgency of writing a letter to the Galatians right away. 00:00:47.505 --> 00:00:50.355 The meaning of the gospel itself was at stake. 00:00:51.180 --> 00:00:54.600 In his letter, Paul sets the record straight regarding what he taught, 00:00:54.990 --> 00:00:58.500 where he learned it, and what following Jesus really involves. 00:00:59.970 --> 00:01:03.420 We can tell immediately that Paul is upset by what's happening in Galatia. 00:01:03.870 --> 00:01:06.840 A standard feature of Paul's letter is an opening word of Thanksgiving 00:01:06.840 --> 00:01:11.070 for the recipients, but Paul skips it and goes straight to his reprimand. 00:01:12.150 --> 00:01:15.420 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God. 00:01:16.020 --> 00:01:19.590 You are following a different way that pretends to be the good news. 00:01:20.100 --> 00:01:21.810 But is not the good news at all. 00:01:22.740 --> 00:01:26.010 Paul first explains that he received the gospel message directly 00:01:26.010 --> 00:01:28.050 from Jesus, not the apostles. 00:01:28.590 --> 00:01:32.670 He goes on to say that the apostles in Jerusalem believe the same thing he does. 00:01:33.240 --> 00:01:37.050 Gentiles who follow Jesus don't need to keep the Jewish law. 00:01:37.830 --> 00:01:40.590 Next, Paul describes a confrontation he had with the 00:01:40.590 --> 00:01:42.030 apostle Peter over this issue. 00:01:42.750 --> 00:01:46.350 Peter had stopped eating meals with Gentiles because of pressure from 00:01:46.350 --> 00:01:50.250 some Jewish believers who thought all Gentile believers should be circumcised. 00:01:51.000 --> 00:01:55.380 This struck at the heart of God's revelation that there is a new single 00:01:55.385 --> 00:01:57.390 family based on faith in Jesus. 00:01:57.840 --> 00:02:01.230 Paul had challenged Peter publicly because he was not following 00:02:01.230 --> 00:02:03.180 the truth of the gospel message. 00:02:03.810 --> 00:02:07.890 Paul then devotes the bulk of this letter to explaining why it isn't necessary 00:02:07.890 --> 00:02:09.720 for Gentiles to keep the Jewish law. 00:02:10.275 --> 00:02:13.245 He reminds the Galatians that God gave them the Holy Spirit 00:02:13.515 --> 00:02:15.075 and worked miracles among them. 00:02:15.075 --> 00:02:17.685 As soon as they believed the message about the Messiah. 00:02:18.495 --> 00:02:22.095 They already had signs of God's new world existing in their community, 00:02:22.545 --> 00:02:25.785 so why should they now think they needed to follow Jewish observances? 00:02:27.045 --> 00:02:31.275 Paul provides an in-depth discussion of Israel's history, including the crucial 00:02:31.275 --> 00:02:36.165 sequence of Abraham, the giving of the law under Moses, and then the coming of Jesus. 00:02:36.795 --> 00:02:40.935 Although Abraham lived before the Jewish law was established, he received God's 00:02:40.935 --> 00:02:46.335 promises of land and a worldwide family, and he believed those promises by faith. 00:02:47.145 --> 00:02:52.155 Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith. 00:02:53.115 --> 00:02:56.805 Paul argues that the later coming of the Jewish law can't undo 00:02:56.810 --> 00:02:58.275 the covenant made with Abraham. 00:02:58.755 --> 00:03:02.895 The law was given to God's people only for a period of time as a 00:03:02.895 --> 00:03:05.295 guardian until the Messiah came. 00:03:06.180 --> 00:03:09.510 Now that Jesus has come, everyone who has faith in him becomes 00:03:09.510 --> 00:03:13.530 a true child of Abraham and an heir of the promises made to him. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:18.690 The dividing line between Jew and Gentile are dissolved, and now one 00:03:18.690 --> 00:03:23.250 family of Abraham exists through faith in Jesus because of their 00:03:23.255 --> 00:03:25.020 equal status in God's family. 00:03:25.350 --> 00:03:28.920 Starting to follow the requirements of the Jewish law would be a giant 00:03:28.920 --> 00:03:30.480 step backward for the Galatians. 00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:33.000 God's story has already moved on. 00:03:33.555 --> 00:03:38.295 All people are now welcome to receive Jesus and join the family without having 00:03:38.295 --> 00:03:40.935 to become Jewish or follow Jewish law. 00:03:41.835 --> 00:03:46.665 Now, just one question remains, if the Gentiles don't follow the Jewish law, what 00:03:46.665 --> 00:03:48.825 will keep them from living immoral lives? 00:03:49.755 --> 00:03:54.135 Paul emphasizes that God's holy Spirit living in them empowers them to 00:03:54.135 --> 00:03:56.205 follow the good ways of God's kingdom. 00:03:57.075 --> 00:04:00.105 As Paul says, in closing, it doesn't matter whether we 00:04:00.105 --> 00:04:01.635 have been circumcised or not. 00:04:02.295 --> 00:04:06.405 What counts as whether we have been transformed into a new creation? 00:04:07.335 --> 00:04:11.055 May God's peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle. 00:04:11.835 --> 00:04:14.595 They are the new people of God. 00:04:20.505 --> 00:04:22.395 The letter to the Galatians, 00:04:25.095 --> 00:04:27.345 this letter is from Paul and Apostle. 00:04:28.245 --> 00:04:33.195 I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by 00:04:33.195 --> 00:04:38.805 Jesus Christ himself and by God the father who raised Jesus from the dead. 00:04:40.515 --> 00:04:44.145 All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter 00:04:44.145 --> 00:04:45.705 to the churches of Galatia. 00:04:47.415 --> 00:04:53.265 May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace. 00:04:54.000 --> 00:04:59.910 Jesus gave his life for our sins just as God our father planned in order to 00:04:59.910 --> 00:05:07.740 rescue us from this evil world in which we live all glory to God forever and ever. 00:05:08.340 --> 00:05:08.970 Amen. 00:05:11.880 --> 00:05:17.610 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God who called you to himself 00:05:17.610 --> 00:05:19.470 through the loving mercy of Christ. 00:05:20.235 --> 00:05:24.135 You are following a different way that pretends to be the good news, 00:05:24.405 --> 00:05:26.175 but is not the good news at all. 00:05:26.925 --> 00:05:29.715 You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the 00:05:29.715 --> 00:05:31.425 truth concerning Christ. 00:05:31.905 --> 00:05:37.635 Let God's curse fall on anyone, including us, or even an angel from Heaven who 00:05:37.640 --> 00:05:41.565 preaches a different kind of good news than the one we preached to you. 00:05:42.495 --> 00:05:45.345 I say again, what we have said before. 00:05:46.005 --> 00:05:50.115 If anyone preaches any other good news than the one you welcomed, 00:05:50.595 --> 00:05:52.395 let that person be cursed. 00:05:53.235 --> 00:05:57.525 Obviously, I'm not trying to win the approval of people, but of God, 00:05:58.185 --> 00:06:02.715 if pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ's servant. 00:06:04.695 --> 00:06:08.955 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the 00:06:08.955 --> 00:06:13.185 gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 00:06:14.055 --> 00:06:18.765 I received my message from no human source and no one taught me. 00:06:19.335 --> 00:06:24.165 Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. 00:06:24.795 --> 00:06:29.175 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion, how I 00:06:29.175 --> 00:06:31.755 violently persecuted God's church. 00:06:32.355 --> 00:06:34.485 I did my best to destroy it. 00:06:35.025 --> 00:06:40.005 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews and my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors. 00:06:41.100 --> 00:06:47.790 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. 00:06:48.930 --> 00:06:53.310 Then it pleased him to reveal his son to me so that I would proclaim the 00:06:53.310 --> 00:06:55.920 good news about Jesus to the Gentiles. 00:06:57.150 --> 00:07:02.220 When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being, nor 00:07:02.220 --> 00:07:06.840 did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. 00:07:07.425 --> 00:07:13.815 Instead, I went away into Arabia and later I returned to the city of Damascus. 00:07:15.705 --> 00:07:19.755 Then three years later, I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, 00:07:20.085 --> 00:07:22.815 and I stayed with him for 15 days. 00:07:23.535 --> 00:07:28.275 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord's brother. 00:07:29.235 --> 00:07:33.525 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie. 00:07:34.890 --> 00:07:40.890 After that visit, I went north into the provinces of Syria and Saia, and 00:07:40.890 --> 00:07:45.720 still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn't know me personally. 00:07:46.530 --> 00:07:51.750 All they knew was that people were saying the one who used to persecute us as now 00:07:51.750 --> 00:07:57.540 preaching the very faith he tried to destroy and they praise God because of me. 00:07:58.695 --> 00:08:02.295 Then 14 years later, I went back to Jerusalem again. 00:08:02.715 --> 00:08:06.855 This time with Barnabas and Titus came along too. 00:08:07.605 --> 00:08:10.545 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. 00:08:11.340 --> 00:08:15.540 While I was there, I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the 00:08:15.540 --> 00:08:20.220 church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. 00:08:20.880 --> 00:08:25.650 I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement for fear that all my efforts 00:08:25.655 --> 00:08:30.720 had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing, and they supported me 00:08:30.960 --> 00:08:37.080 and did not even demand that my companion be circumcised, though he was a gentile. 00:08:38.370 --> 00:08:42.630 Even that question came up only because of some so-called believers there. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:46.620 False ones really who were secretly brought in. 00:08:47.460 --> 00:08:52.650 They sneaked in to spy on us and take away the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. 00:08:53.400 --> 00:08:57.390 They wanted to enslave us and force us to follow their Jewish 00:08:57.390 --> 00:09:02.120 regulations, but we refuse to give in to them for a single moment. 00:09:03.270 --> 00:09:09.120 We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you, and the 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.540 leaders of the church had nothing to add to what I was preaching. 00:09:13.320 --> 00:09:16.890 By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference 00:09:16.890 --> 00:09:19.470 to me, for God has no favorites. 00:09:20.580 --> 00:09:25.080 Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:29.520 preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the 00:09:29.520 --> 00:09:32.010 responsibility of preaching to the Jews. 00:09:33.195 --> 00:09:38.685 For the same God who worked through Peter as the Apostle to the Jews, also worked 00:09:38.685 --> 00:09:41.805 through me as the Apostle to the Gentiles. 00:09:42.735 --> 00:09:47.865 In fact, James, Peter and John, who were known as pillars of the 00:09:47.865 --> 00:09:52.845 Church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted 00:09:52.845 --> 00:09:55.155 Barnabas and me as their coworkers. 00:09:56.175 --> 00:09:59.805 They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles while they 00:09:59.805 --> 00:10:01.875 continued their work with the Jews. 00:10:02.595 --> 00:10:07.545 Their only suggestion was that we keep on helping the poor, which 00:10:07.545 --> 00:10:10.155 I have always been eager to do. 00:10:11.985 --> 00:10:16.575 But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face 00:10:16.965 --> 00:10:18.825 for what he did was very wrong. 00:10:19.365 --> 00:10:23.175 When he first arrived, he ate with the gentile believers 00:10:23.355 --> 00:10:25.035 who were not circumcised. 00:10:25.650 --> 00:10:29.460 But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn't 00:10:29.460 --> 00:10:31.140 eat with the Gentiles anymore. 00:10:31.710 --> 00:10:35.490 He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on 00:10:35.490 --> 00:10:37.230 the necessity of circumcision. 00:10:38.400 --> 00:10:42.420 As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter's 00:10:42.420 --> 00:10:46.980 hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 00:10:48.135 --> 00:10:53.115 When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to 00:10:53.115 --> 00:10:58.965 Peter, in front of all the others, since you are Jew by birth, have discarded the 00:10:58.965 --> 00:11:03.945 Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these 00:11:03.945 --> 00:11:06.435 gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? 00:11:06.975 --> 00:11:11.445 You and I are Jews by birth, not sinners like the Gentiles. 00:11:12.030 --> 00:11:17.610 Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not 00:11:17.670 --> 00:11:23.640 by obeying the law, and we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be 00:11:23.640 --> 00:11:28.410 made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have 00:11:28.415 --> 00:11:35.100 obeyed the law for no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law. 00:11:36.825 --> 00:11:40.215 But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in 00:11:40.215 --> 00:11:45.405 Christ, and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. 00:11:46.455 --> 00:11:48.735 Would that mean Christ has led us into sin? 00:11:49.365 --> 00:11:50.745 Absolutely not. 00:11:51.435 --> 00:11:53.535 Rather, I am a sinner. 00:11:53.540 --> 00:11:58.425 If I rebuild the old system of law, I already tore down for 00:11:58.425 --> 00:12:00.165 when I tried to keep the law. 00:12:00.435 --> 00:12:01.515 It condemned me. 00:12:02.250 --> 00:12:04.080 So I died to the law. 00:12:04.560 --> 00:12:09.210 I stopped trying to meet all its requirements so that I might live for God. 00:12:10.380 --> 00:12:13.200 My old self has been crucified with Christ. 00:12:13.770 --> 00:12:18.300 It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. 00:12:19.020 --> 00:12:23.550 So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the son of God who 00:12:23.550 --> 00:12:25.740 loved me and gave himself for me. 00:12:26.340 --> 00:12:28.650 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. 00:12:29.625 --> 00:12:33.405 For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there 00:12:33.405 --> 00:12:35.745 was no need for Christ to die. 00:12:38.205 --> 00:12:41.055 This concludes today's immer reading experience. 00:12:41.205 --> 00:12:42.225 Thank you for joining us.