What is required in order to become a new creature?
(Galatians 6:11-18; Rom. 6:6; 2 Cor. 5:17) Blog Sep. 24- Oct 5, 2017
Prepared by Richard A. Marin: Present Truth PO Box 700, Fallbrook CA 92088-0700 USA
REVIEW: Paul’s great concern in Galatians is that his converts are being taught that they must add some ritual or good work to faith in the gospel of Christ in order to be justified! The gospel that comes to a person by divine revelation he taught is only about Jesus and what he accomplished on earth. All that Jesus was is credited to the person who believes this gospel. While justification is by faith alone, it produces a lifestyle in harmony the life of Jesus. The reason Paul emphasizes our faith is because it relies on the righteousness of Christ that meets God’s perfect standard. Those who seek God’s acceptance by some other means than faith alone are in slavery for they must render some form of personal obedience in order to be justified by God. We who are justified by faith alone are free from the condemnation of the law for in Christ we have perfectly fulfilled the law and now have motivation, power, and guidance to obey it.
Glorying (Galatians 6:11-14; 3:10; Acts 15:10; Rom. 6:6)
1. What might be the reason Paul wrote Galatians without the use of a scribe?
2. In what did the circumcision party glory?
3. How could advocating and practicing circumcision help one avoid persecution?
4. What does Paul mean by “the cross of Christ”?
5. Why does the preaching of the cross bring persecution?
6. What does Paul mean when he says that the Judaizers don’t keep the law?
7. Rather than glorying in one’s personal behavior in what does the Christian glory?
8. What is the double crucifixion of which Paul writes in verse 14?
A new creation (Galatians 6:15-16; 3:27; Rom. 2:28-29; 4:11-16; 2 Cor. 5:17)
9. What is required in order to become a new creature?
10. What is Paul saying about circumcision in verse 15?
11. What is the rule of which Paul writes in verse 16?
12. What doctrinal summary of his entire letter does Paul give in verse 16?
13. Why does Paul add “and upon the Israel of God” in verse 16?
From now on (Galatians 6:17-18)
14. What physical marks does Paul bear that his opponents do not have?
15. What divine attribute does Paul desire for his readers that he also wished for them at the start of this letter?
16. What does the cross tell us about God’s justice and about his mercy?
ANSWERS: 1. Because the crisis was urgent & needed immediate attention; 2. The flesh – exterior behavior; 3. Persecution of the early church came from Jews who considered Jewish ceremonies still valid; 4. “The cross” is an abbreviation of “Christ and him crucified,” which is equivalent to saying “the gospel of Christ”; 5. Because to preach the cross means to teach that Christ’s life & death is all that is needed to give a person acceptance with God & this precludes all ceremonies, rituals, & personal performance which are more pleasing to the carnal heart thus bringing persecution from those who seek salvation by something they do; 6. He is pointing out that they just pick & choose which portions of the law of Moses they wish to emphasize rather than obeying its every particular; 7. In Christ’s behavior; 8. The world detests the idea that life comes by death, which is what Paul preached & he was therefore rejected (crucified) by the world & the Christian’s (Paul’s) sinful lifestyle is hung on Christ’s cross to be crucified when he accepts Christ’s life & death as his hope of salvation; 9. To enter Christ by faith alone; 10. That neither being circumcised nor being uncircumsized is any part of the means whereby we enter Christ; 11. The rule is that referred to in the previous verse – that neither our performance nor lack thereof is what justifies us before God but rather upon entering Christ by faith alone we then walk as new creatures performing God’s will; 12. That those who live by this doctrine of “justification by faith alone” will have peace & receive God’s mercy; 13. Because he wants to make exceedingly clear that “the Israel of God” are not Jews according to the flesh nor those who keep the laws of Moses but rather they are those who like their “father” Abraham believe God & are justified by faith alone (the rule given in verse fifteen; 14. Those wounds he received by suffering for the sake of the Gospel; 15. Grace – for God to regard them as better than they really were; 16. The cross tells us that God considers his Ten Commandment Law as supreme making the punishment of sinners necessary while at the same time the cross demonstrates God’s mercy in that he himself took the punishment we deserve opening for us the reward of obedience.