In this series on Galatians, our desire is to do a thorough, contextual study. Going verse by verse and chapter by chapter, our goal is to mine out of the text everything that is there and not read into the text what is not there. Too often, people quote a text here and a reference there, then putting them together reach a conclusion that is foreign to the context. Galatians is an important book, especially to Seventh-day Adventists who are seeking truth. It has been a very controversial book in the history of Adventist interpretation. At the 1888 Minneapolis Conference, defining the law in Galatians proved to be a contentious task.
When E.J. Waggoner arrived at the Conference, a blackboard had been placed on the speaker’s platform with views on the law in Galatians written upon it. J.H. Morrison had affixed his signature under the statement: “Resolved — That the Law in Galatians Is the Ceremonial Law.” Waggoner was invited to place his signature under the opposing proposition: “Resolved — That the Law in Galatians Is the Moral Law.” Waggoner declined, saying that he had not come to the meetings to debate, but to present truth as it is found in Scripture.
Waggoner began to present what he had discovered from the Bible on the subject of Christ and His righteousness. “The preaching of the younger men (Waggoner was 33, Jones was 38) was trying to the older leaders. Their vigorous preaching somehow seemed to have a note of authority that was resented.” Supported in their resistance by letters of encouragement from G.I. Butler to “stand by the old landmarks” these older men resisted what was being presented.
J. H. Morrison was selected to offer the rebuttal to Waggoner’s presentations. He spoke sincerely and earnestly expressing the fear that Waggoner’s view if adopted, would direct attention away from the Adventist position of explicit obedience to all the commandments of God…. The debate over the law in Galatians soon became heated. Even Ellen White could not stay the negative tide that had enveloped at the Conference (my emphasis) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1888_Minneapolis_General_Conference).
Therefore, let us pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit who has promised to guide us into all truth. It is my prayer that we—you and I—will be blessed by this study.
Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead).
Paul
“Paul” is the Greek form of Saul. His name means “little” or “small.” We have no early description of what Paul looked like other than a passing reference in 2 Corinthians:
For they say, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible” (2 Cor. 10:10).
A second-century writer described Paul like this (We have no knowledge of the real source of this description):
Paul was “a man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked, full of friendliness; for now, he appeared like a man, and now he had the face of an angel” (Timothy George, New American Commentary, Galatians, (Nashville, TN, B&H Publishing Group, 1994) p. 77).
Paul was a Pharisee and the son of a Pharisee (Acts 23:6), and he lived “in accordance with the strictest sect of our religion” (Act. 26:5). We first meet Paul (Saul) in Scripture at the stoning of Stephen, the first Christian martyr:
When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul (Acts 7:58).
Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death (Acts 8:1).
Paul, an Apostle to the Gentiles
Following the strict interpretation of the Old Testament, Paul, with a clear conscience ( Acts 23:1; 24:16), believed that Christians were blasphemers in that they taught Jesus was the Son of God, even fully divine. Therefore, we find Saul setting out to destroy Christianity.
As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank (Acts 9:3-9).
After Saul’s three days of fasting, and doubtless much prayer, Ananias, a Christian disciple in Damascus, was instructed in a vision to go to Paul and commission him to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. At first, Ananias hesitated, for he had heard of Saul’s hostility to Christians.
But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel (Acts 9:15).
So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his hands on him said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained his sight, and he got up and was baptized; and he took food and was strengthened. Now for several days he was with the disciples who were at Damascus, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:17-20).
When we contemplate Paul’s calling, we must recognize that this is, without doubt, the most amazing spiritual transformation in all Scripture. One day Paul was seeking to kill Christians because they believed that Jesus was the Son of God. A few days later, Paul was proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues as the Son of God. This transformation was all of God’s sovereign choice and all of God’s grace. This experience was burned deeply into Paul’s psyche. He refers to it several times in his ministry. It was his guiding principle of life. Near the end of Paul’s productive ministry, he could say, “I did not prove disobedient to the heavenly vision” (Act 26:19).
Martin Luther states how important it is for ministers of the gospel to know and express their call to others.
The call is not to be taken lightly. For a person to possess knowledge is not enough. He must be sure he is properly called. Those who operate without a proper call seek no good purpose… On the other hand, those who have a divine call must suffer a good deal of opposition in order that they may become fortified against the running attacks of the devil and the world… When I was a young man, I thought Paul was making too much of his call. I did not understand his purpose. I did not then realize the importance of the ministry… We exalt our calling, not to gain glory among men, or money, or satisfaction, or favor, but because people need to be assured that the words we speak are the words of God. This is not sinful pride. It is a holy pride (Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Translated by Theodore Graebner, [St Louis: Concordia 1963], p. 33).
When facing difficult times in the ministry, a gospel pastor needs to be able to look back and realize that God called him to this important position. My call to the ministry in no way compares to Paul’s miraculous call, nor is the scope of my ministry even a tiny fraction of his. However, several times, when facing trying circumstances, I could look back to what I considered then and now as God’s call to me.
Suddenly, I knew I was at the crossroads of my life again. I recalled the promise I made to God that I would be willing to go back to school and study to become a pastor. I knew God was calling me to do this. How did I know? I just knew. How then, could I go back to college? I had saved no money. I was barely making the payments on our two cars. With two small children, how could I afford to go back to a private college? Despite all the apparent problems, I knew I should, so I began to muse with the Lord. If I sold my ‘62 Oldsmobile and ‘64 red four-speed Ford Ranchero and could get an old ‘55 Chevy, [I pictured a blue one] then I would have no payments. In those days, a ‘55 Chevy was not considered a classic. Instead, it was inexpensive transportation, one notch above a pile of junk. I prayed and recommitted myself to God.
The next day, without placing a “For Sale” sign in the car, without running an ad in the paper, a person whom I did not know, drove up to our house in a blue ’55 Chevy, knocked on our front door and said he wanted to buy my ’64 Ranchero. He would take over my payments and give me his car for my equity. Then I knew for sure that God was calling me to the ministry! (Dale Ratzlaff, “Follow Me” in Truth Led Me Out (Camp Verde, AZ, LAM Publications, 2008).)
Not sent from men nor through the agency of man.
There were three prerequisites for being an Apostle in the early church. First, they were to have been eye witnesses of Christ’s ministry from the time of the baptism by John up to and including the resurrection (Acts 1:22). Second, they must have been chosen to that office by the Christ Himself (we note in Acts 1:26 the Apostles sought to replace Judas’ place among the twelve by casting lots. Matthias was chosen, but we never hear of him again. Some think God chose Paul to fill that position). And later, the Apostolic church added a third criterion, true Apostles performed miracles as evidence of their call. The false teachers who followed Paul and were undermining the gospel in the Galatian churches had none of these qualifications. Doubtless, they had been sent out from Jerusalem by some of the Jewish leaders and had the Old Testament laws to support their claim to be true teachers.
Some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1).
Paul faced the accusations of the false teachers head-on. With the glory of the Risen Christ still vivid in his memory, knowing he had been called, he was not hesitant to compare his calling to theirs. They were commissioned by men, even if the men who commissioned them were true Apostles and sent out through the agency of men, even if they were from the Jewish church in Jerusalem, they had not seen Jesus in the flesh, nor after His resurrection. Paul, however, had, and he had performed numerous miracles as evidence of his Apostolic call.
Through Jesus Christ and God the Father
There is more in this short phrase than meets the eye. Here Paul states that he was not only called by Jesus Christ, but he says “through Jesus Christ and God the Father.”
This is an unusual expression in the Greek text, for both Jesus Christ and God are governed by the same preposition (dia, “through” or “by”). Moreover, Jesus Christ is placed first, followed by God the Father, which is a reversal of the usual sequence. In this expression Paul was making two points at once: he was claiming that there is no distinction between the calling of Jesus Christ and the calling of God, and, further, he was asserting the essential and eternal unity between the Father and the Son. Clearly, Chrysostom (John Chrysostom (c. 349-407 AD) was the Arch Bishop of Constantinople and was involved in discussions and studies of issues related to the Trinity) understood this text to imply “no distinction of essence” between the Father and the Son over against the Arians, who taught that Jesus Christ was an exalted, godlike creature, not eternally divine coequal Son of the Father. (George, p. 81; The early Adventists were Arians or semi-Arians and taught what is here described).
Who raised Him from the dead
The central foundation upon which Christianity stands or falls is the bodily resurrection of Christ. In the opening sentence, Paul includes this fact and links it with His call to be the Apostle to the Gentiles.
It is the risen and glorified Christ who commissioned Paul, the same risen Christ who commissioned all the other apostles. He appeared to Paul even more gloriously than he appeared to the other apostles during the forty days. He made Paul a witness of his resurrection and his glory equal to that of the others. It was, indeed, only Christ who appeared to Paul on the road outside of Damascus, changed his whole life, and appointed him an apostle, but the Father had raised Christ from the dead, and thus in Christ the Father was active in Paul’s call ( R.C.H. Lenski, Commentary on the New Testament, Galatians [Peabody, MA, Hendrickson Publishers, Inc. 1998 ©1934], p. 24).
Christian victory is anchored in the resurrection, as Luther so clearly stated:
By His resurrection Christ won the victory over law, sin, flesh, world, devil, death, hell, and every evil. And this His victory He donated unto us. These many tyrants and enemies our ours may accuse and frighten us, but they dare not condemn us, for Christ, whom God the Father has raised from the dead is our righteousness and our victory (Luther, p. 4).
Assignment
- Read through the book of Galatians again this week.
- Read Acts 14, noting all the miracles or “signs and wonders.”
- Write down any questions you have as you read and share them with your discussion group.
Questions for discussion
- Can you think of a time when you were called by God, either for some type of ministry or for salvation? If so, share your experience with others.
- If you have had such an experience, as noted in No. 1 above, has that understanding helped you in difficult times? If you answered yes, explain.
- Have you ever experienced a sudden about-face transformation either in lifestyle or theological understanding? Share your experience.
- Have you ever been deceived by false teachers? How did this happen, and what was the result?
- How can you make sure you are not following false leaders now?
- What does the resurrection of Christ mean to you?
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