Verse for the Day – Galatians 1:15-17

Carolyn

It’s hard not to be filled with awe and wonder at our God as we read today’s verses from Galatians 1:15-17:

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.”

We’ve already read that Paul’s apostleship came through God (not man) and that the gospel of God came from God (not from man). Here we see that Paul’s salvation is also from God, a gift of His grace.

Look who is doing the work in these verses:

God – separated Paul from his mother’s womb
God – called Paul through His grace
God – revealed His Son in Paul
God gave Paul a mission to preach Him among the Gentiles.

Salvation is a gift from God, not as a result of our works. As we saw yesterday, Paul, before he was saved, when he was Saul, was zealous for the traditions of his fathers and was advanced in Judaism beyond his contemporaries. Yet those works did not bring him near to God.

If you have time, stop now to read Acts 9 and the story of Paul’s conversion. A blinding light and a voice from heaven. God asking Saul, “Why are you persecuting Me?” Three days without sight. A visit from Ananias. A new calling, receiving back his sight, being filled with the Holy Spirit, being baptized, preaching Christ as the Son of God.

Look at Paul. When it pleased God to save him (not by works, by grace), God had a mission for Paul (to do good works). This mission was to preach Christ among the Gentiles, to spread the gospel of God.

Paul writes more about this in Ephesians 2:8-10.

We are saved by grace through faith, not by works, not by ourselves, but it is the gift of God that no one may boast. Though it is not by works, we are His workmanship, created for good works that God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Paul’s description of this in Galatians 1:15-16 is similar to that of Isaiah and Jeremiah.

Isaiah 49:1b, 5a: “The Lord called me from the womb, from the body of my mother he named my name…. And now the Lord says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him—”

Jeremiah 1:4: “Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

God created them, called them, appointed them for specific purposes. Isn’t that incredibly exciting?! That our God, who created us, sent His Son to save us from our sins, as a free gift of God, that by faith we could be saved and know God. This is not by works; it is all by grace. It is from God, not from man. It is the gospel of God.

And then, not only that, He has things for us to do after we are saved. Our good works don’t save us, but they are given to us to do by God. When we know how much we have been saved from (sin and death), we delight in the God who was pleased to deliver us as a gift of His grace, and we long to live for Him and do His will. He has callings for us, purposes for us, that will bring us great joy and satisfaction in Him.

They may come with a cost. In Acts 9, when the Lord called Ananias to go to Saul, the Lord told Ananias, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Paul’s call came with great suffering. The one who had persecuted the church would become the one persecuted. Paul never drew back from his call, but moved forward as led by God’s Spirit into the work God had given him to do.

When Saul met the Lord on that Damascus road, Saul was looking for people of the Way to take them bound to Jerusalem. The one who had truly been bound by his sin was now set free. He changed directions and paths immediately. That’s what salvation does. It turns us around and redirects everything, now led by Christ and His Spirit.

Our verses today tell us Paul did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before him. Nor did he immediately confer with flesh and blood. He went to Arabia and returned to Damascus. My Bible notes say he wasn’t looking to confer with other people to validate or receive his salvation. This very real experience on the road to Damascus was given to him by God Himself, and the reality of this changed Saul to Paul and the course of his life.

All the zeal that had at one time been directed against Jesus was now directed for Him. Paul was changed, converted, saved by grace, and set on a mission to preach to the Gentiles, and to suffer. And the New Testament records how faithfully he fulfilled his calling in the strength that the Lord gave and by the power of His Spirit.

We today benefit from Paul’s obedience and from all that God did in his life.

PRAYER: Praise You, God! You formed us in our mothers’ wombs. You provided a way of salvation for us through Christ. As a gift of Your grace, we can be saved by faith. Thank you for this gospel of God, for revealing Yourself to us with power, and for giving us callings to do as we walk in You and with You. May we walk with You and seek You and fulfill the callings You have for us in the strength You give and by the power of Your Spirit. We stand in awe of You, our great God. In Jesus’ beautiful name, Amen.

Verse for the Day – Galatians 1:13-14

Carolyn

Today we learn more about the life and background of the apostle Paul, the author of Galatians, prior to his conversion on the road to Damascus. Our verses are from Galatians 1:13-14 where Paul writes:

“For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.”

Looking at Paul’s life through other Scripture, we find out more about what he writes above, his life when he was known as Saul.

Paul says in Acts 22:3 that he was a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia. According to my Nelson Study Bible notes, Tarsus was about 300 miles north of Jerusalem and about 10 miles inland from the Mediterranean Sea. Tarsus was a well-known university city, surpassed in educational opportunities only by Athens and Alexandria.

Paul continues in Acts 22:3 saying that he was brought up in Jerusalem at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of their fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God. According to my Nelson Study Bible notes, “Gamaliel was a highly respected Pharisee, the grandson of the famous Rabbi Hillel, a brilliant spiritual leader. Gamaliel was given the honored title of ‘Rabban,’ meaning ‘Our Teacher.’ It is said in the Mishna — the commentary on the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament — that when Gamaliel died, ‘the glory of the Torah ceased, and purity and sanctity died also.'” Paul was taught the Law of Moses by the greatest Jewish teacher of his day.

So we see a little bit about his background and learning – the best training, in a university city with great educational opportunities. He was “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless (Phil. 3:4b-6).

As we just read, Saul would go on to become a persecutor of the church.

Acts 8:3: “As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.”

Acts 9:1-2: “Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way [followers of Christ], whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.”

Paul testifies in Acts 22:4-5: “I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, as also the high priest bears me witness, and all the council of the elders, from whom I also received letters to the brethren, and went to Damascus to bring in chains even those who were there to Jerusalem to be punished.”

Paul testifies in Acts 26:9-11: “Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.”

Saul stood by and approved of the execution of Stephen (Acts 8:1).

Acts 22:19-20: “… in one synagogue after another I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you. And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself was standing by and approving and watching over the garments of those who killed him.”

So we can better understand Galatians 1:13 when Paul writes that he persecuted he church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.

Though our focus is on Paul right now, it’s worth imagining for a moment what life must have been like for the early church suffering under such intense persecution from the religious authorities – who were able to do this freely without recourse, to imprison, harm, and punish the Christians, even to death.

I don’t know if we can comprehend the level of suffering and persecution that Christians at that time experienced who held to their faith. Our instinct is to think we shouldn’t suffer for our faith, but the Bible tells us it is to be expected. Suffering for our faith should not surprise us; it is more the rule than the exception for true followers of Christ who identify with Christ in His suffering. It should not be a cause for doubt if we suffer for our faith, but a sign that we are truly following Christ and that what has been seen and told us does indeed happen. There are many in the world today suffering greatly for the name of Christ.

That is a topic worthy of further study, but today, we focus on Paul and his background and where he was before he met Christ on that road to Damascus. We’ll look at that tomorrow.

PRAYER: Father, we pray for those who suffer for Your name today, that you would guard and keep them, encourage and uphold them, strengthen and protect them. We pray that we would be compassionate towards our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who are persecuted and pray for them and remember them. We pray that you would use their suffering to turn many hearts to Yourself. Thank You for making a way for us to know you through Jesus. We pray we would love and honor You in obedience and trust. Thank you for the life of Saul who became Paul and what we are going to see through his life and the incredible work You did in it. Thank You for Your Word. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Verse for the Day – Galatians 1:11-12

Carolyn

One reason I love Bible study is that when you wake up in the morning and go to have your time with the Lord, you know right where to go. Though the years when I haven’t had a set study I’m doing, I’ll wake up and want to spend time with the Lord, but wonder where I should go and what I should read. I end up wasting time, maybe seeing a verse or a psalm and praying, but not real focused with the time I have.

But when you have a study, you know right where to start. There’s no wasting time. And as you go through a book of the Bible, you add to your understanding of that book each day. You find there is so much there to study! As I look at Galatians and read the Bible notes or a book or commentary with it, I realize one small post can’t capture all that I’ve read. So we can go back again and again to learn and grow in God’s Word.

I also love Bible study because it takes us deeper than just reading something quickly like a devotional. And while I also loved reading through the Bible in a year last year and would encourage that, too, for so many other reasons, it’s at such a fast pace, there’s not as much time to linger on a specific passage or go more in depth.

I find when I’m doing an in-depth Bible study, my mind is pondering all through the day the questions I’ve seen or the thoughts I’ve had, so it gives me something good to fix my mind on instead of things I might dwell on instead which aren’t always as worthwhile.

It is a treasure to study God’s Word each day. Today we come to Galatians 1:11-12.

We have already seen that Paul is writing to the Galatian churches to address the issue of them turning away from the gospel of God, this gospel of grace, and that others were trying to pervert this gospel of truth. Then we saw last time that Paul’s goal was to please God, to be approved by God, not man, and he continues now:

“But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (NKJV)

Just as in verse 1, we see that Paul is an apostle, not from men or through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, we also see that this gospel is not according to man or received from man or taught by man. But both of these things, Paul’s apostleship and the gospel of God, came through Jesus Christ.

Paul will go on to talk about what this revelation from Jesus Christ is and we will look at that more in the days ahead, but the point of these verses today is that this is a God-given gospel, not from man. Any other gospel created by man – or the true gospel that is twisted or added to by man to make it something else – is not the gospel at all.

This adds to our understanding of why Paul’s goal is to please God, not man – because who he is and what he has been given has all come from God. And he lives in response to that, as a bondservant of Christ.

And isn’t this who we are? All that we are and all that we have has come from God who has created us and given us good gifts – the greatest gift of even Himself!

God has also revealed Himself to us – through this gospel, through this Word of God, and through His Son! May we live to please and honor Him, too.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, we praise and exalt You today. Thank you for revealing Yourself to us in so many ways. Thank you for this gospel of truth. Thank you for giving us life and then making a way for us to have eternal life with You through Jesus’ sacrifice for us. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for our sins so that by faith in You, we can be forgiven and saved. May this gospel truth go deeply into our hearts, and may we in turn live for You, the source of our total satisfaction and deepest joy. Let us experience that reality each day and walk with You by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Verse for the Day – Galatians 1:10

Carolyn

As we continue in the study of Galatians, today’s verse is from Galatians 1:10:

“For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”

Paul had just finished saying twice that anyone who preaches any other gospel than the gospel of God should be accursed. And he continues with the word “For” connecting these thoughts.

Clearly, Paul is not trying to win the approval of men or please men. If he were, he wouldn’t have said such strong language that the one who preaches another gospel be accursed!

The truth of the gospel, and pleasing God whose gospel it is, is Paul’s goal and priority. And it is actually better for men that it is this way. If Paul sought to please men or earn men’s approval instead of pleasing God and giving them truth, he might as well be cursing them! Because it is the truth of the gospel of grace, this gospel of God, that will set men free by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Paul has identified himself as an apostle of God in verse 1 and now as a bondservant of God in verse 10. A bondservant was one who, though free, has chosen to remain and freely chooses to be as a slave. Paul is a servant of God’s because as we will see, God’s revealing Himself to Paul was so incredible and awesome that Paul’s response could be nothing less than giving himself to God, to live to please Him, to be His willing servant.

Aren’t these countercultural ideas? The world would say we should live to please ourselves or to gain the approval of those around us. Or that we should soften or change the gospel to make it fit the what pleases man, not God. But Paul will show us the better way, the true way – that living for Christ and dying to ourselves and the opinions of man leads to blessing and joy and satisfaction because this is the gospel of God (not man) and this is how we were really made to be.

Paul would not be a bondservant of God’s if he were still pleasing men. “Still” seems to indicate that he did at one time live to please men, at a time when he wasn’t a servant of God. But now, God and His gospel has been revealed to Paul, and he lives to please God, to be His servant. We cannot do both.

Who will we seek to please? Who will we serve?

PRAYER: Dear Lord, please help us to think bigger, to think thoughts of You, to think beyond ourselves and the things that would please those around us or earn approval from our peers. Help us to please You instead. Help us to see that in living to please You, others might actually become pleased in You, too, as they see the value and worth of following You, Lord. You are worth our lives. You give us freedom and joy through your gospel. You take our curse, so that we might know You and be forgiven and be free. Praise You and thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Verse for the Day – Galatians 1:6-9

Carolyn

Today we move from the greeting into the body of the apostle Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia.

In his other letters (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, etc.) after the greeting, Paul would often write words of thankfulness and encouragement, a prayer or blessing.

However, in Galatians, he goes directly from the greeting into words of admonition. There’s a seriousness to the letter he is writing, a concern that he must address immediately and that appears to be the focus of his letter, the reason he is writing.

Here is what he writes in Galatians 1:6-9:

6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. (NKJV)

From these verses it sounds as though the gospel of Christ, the gospel of grace is going to be a key theme of the book of Galatians. Paul is writing because the Galatians are turning away from God – who has called them in that marvelous grace we read about yesterday (v.3) – to a different gospel.

He twice states (v.8-9) that if anyone preaches a gospel other than what he has preached to them and that they have received, let that person be accursed. It’s strong language.

Paul warns of those who would pervert the gospel of Christ and is surprised that the Galatians would turn away to a different gospel.

We can see there is one true gospel of Christ. Yet there are those even today who will try to twist it, pervert it, redefine it, make it fit our culture, add to it, or change it to fit our human desires and preferences,

What is this gospel? It’s what we read about yesterday in verses 3-5: Jesus Christ giving himself for our sins that we might be delivered from this evil age. The truth of the gospel is that we as people have sinned, we were unable to fix that situation on our own, Jesus came to earth in human flesh (fully God, fully man), lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again (v.1). We place our faith in Jesus to receive forgiveness of our sins, and he delivers us, saves us, redeems us.

We can’t do this on our own or though our good works. We can’t earn this salvation. It is a free gift of God by His grace and mercy. We put our trust and faith in Him.

The purity and simplicity of this gospel message was being distorted. The Galatians were being given other gospels – ones that would add to or take away from the true gospel, some saying you must do other things to be saved. But it is by God’s grace alone, not by the works of the law or our good deeds.

This theme will develop more as we continue to read and study Galatians. But for today, let’s praise God for this gospel of Christ, its truth and simplicity, that He saves sinners such as us and redirects our lives around Him and His Word. And let’s know this gospel and be on guard against anyone who would distort it, so that we are assured in our hearts and able to lead others, by His power and grace, to truth to Christ.

PRAYER: Praise You, Lord Jesus, that you would humble Yourself to come to earth and die the death for sins that we deserved, that You would take that upon Yourself so that we though You might live. I pray that those who do not know You and Your gospel message would find You and that we would be people who know the truth and share it with others. Thank You for Your grace and mercy toward us, for your love and the peace that You give us. Guard us from ever turning away from the beautiful gospel of Christ that you have given us, and let us live in that gospel and its truth each day. Praise and thank You, In Jesus’ name, Amen.