What Kind of Messenger of Jesus Am I
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Galatians 02:14 The Context: (Read Galatians 1 and 2) The Pharisee Saul ranked among the worst persecutors of the followers of Jesus Christ. But through a miraculous personal encounter with the risen Jesus, Saul, who Jesus renamed Paul, became perhaps the greatest follower of Jesus. He called himself, "the chief of sinners, and in that recognition was able to most clearly see the depth of sin in others. As Paul demonstrated by his character and his behavior the validity of his claim to have been "called as an apostle." As such God used Paul to truly know and truly serve the God Who has given Himself for the present and eternal Life of all who would call themselves "followers of Jesus." There were such people in the churches of Galatia. They claimed to follow Jesus but had "deserted" the gracious call of Jesus and turned to a contrary gospel, a gospel of a "different kind."
In writing to these Galations, so beloved by God, Paul described the not uncommon, tendency of even followers of Jesus to, as the modern phrase says: "do as I say, not as I do." Paul recounts how he had challenged even the other Apostles in their hypocrisies. Thus, through Paul, God asks us how true follows of Jesus can live the gospel of Jesus, when we do not live it ourselves.
God Asks Us: "But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the TRUTH of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
jne: When a follower of Jesus Christ deserts His gracious gift of Life for a different Gospel, they must be challenged to recognize the gravity of their desertion. And who is qualified to call sinners to account? It is not only a matter of qualification but of effectiveness. Paul says that hypocrites are in no place to challenge others to be faithful followers of Jesus. It is hypocrisy to tell others that they must earn their justification before God by their "works of the law" and not keep the laws ourselves. But it is worse than hypocrisy because the fatal flaw is believing that ourselves can be justified by "works of the law."
People who follow "different gospels" do not need to hear "work harder at keeping laws of God." They see the hypocrisy and futility of such a message. What they need to hear, and see, is the "faith" of sinners relying on the Grace of God to save them. What kind of messenger of Jesus am I?
Galatians 02:14 The Context: (Read Galatians 1 and 2) The Pharisee Saul ranked among the worst persecutors of the followers of Jesus Christ. But through a miraculous personal encounter with the risen Jesus, Saul, who Jesus renamed Paul, became perhaps the greatest follower of Jesus. He called himself, "the chief of sinners, and in that recognition was able to most clearly see the depth of sin in others. As Paul demonstrated by his character and his behavior the validity of his claim to have been "called as an apostle." As such God used Paul to truly know and truly serve the God Who has given Himself for the present and eternal Life of all who would call themselves "followers of Jesus." There were such people in the churches of Galatia. They claimed to follow Jesus but had "deserted" the gracious call of Jesus and turned to a contrary gospel, a gospel of a "different kind."
In writing to these Galations, so beloved by God, Paul described the not uncommon, tendency of even followers of Jesus to, as the modern phrase says: "do as I say, not as I do." Paul recounts how he had challenged even the other Apostles in their hypocrisies. Thus, through Paul, God asks us how true follows of Jesus can live the gospel of Jesus, when we do not live it ourselves.
God Asks Us: "But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the TRUTH of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
jne: When a follower of Jesus Christ deserts His gracious gift of Life for a different Gospel, they must be challenged to recognize the gravity of their desertion. And who is qualified to call sinners to account? It is not only a matter of qualification but of effectiveness. Paul says that hypocrites are in no place to challenge others to be faithful followers of Jesus. It is hypocrisy to tell others that they must earn their justification before God by their "works of the law" and not keep the laws ourselves. But it is worse than hypocrisy because the fatal flaw is believing that ourselves can be justified by "works of the law."
People who follow "different gospels" do not need to hear "work harder at keeping laws of God." They see the hypocrisy and futility of such a message. What they need to hear, and see, is the "faith" of sinners relying on the Grace of God to save them. What kind of messenger of Jesus am I?