Gary Gleans

                                                                                  Galatians 4:21-31 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?    For it is written that Abraham had two sons,   one by a slave woman and   one by a free woman.    But   the son of the slave was born according to the flesh, while   the son of the free woman was born through promise.    Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two   covenants.   One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; she is Hagar.    Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.    But   the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.    For it is written,  “Rejoice, O barren one who does not bear;   break forth and cry aloud, you who are not in labor!   For the children of the desolate one will be more   than those of the one who has a husband.” Now you, brothers,   like Isaac,   are children of prom

                                                                                  Galatians 4:12-20 Brothers, I entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are.   You did me no wrong.    You know it was   because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you   at first,   and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me   as an angel of God,   as Christ Jesus.    What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.    Have I then become your enemy by   telling you the truth? They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.    It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and   not only when I am present with you,   my little children,   for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ   is formed in you!    I wish I could be present with you now and chan

                                                                                               Galatians 4:8-11 Formerly, when you   did not know God, you   were enslaved to those that by nature   are not gods.    But now that you have come to know God, or rather   to be known by God,   how can you turn back again to   the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?  You observe days and months and seasons and years!    I am afraid   I may have labored over you in vain.   When the Lord sets us free from the sin in which we were all born and to which we were all enslaved, rejoicing should be the natural response.  While rejoicing may be the initial response, unfortunately we often find ourselves turning back to and longing for the very things that had once enslaved us.  This is what had happened in Galatia and Paul is doing all he can to call them back to Christ.  There are truths here that are important for all of us to learn.   IDOLATR

                                                                                                 Galatians 4:1-7 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father.    In the same way we also, when we were children,   were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world.  But   when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son,   born   of woman, born   under the law,   to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive   adoption as sons.    And because you are sons, God has sent   the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”    So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then   an heir through God.   Adoption into the family of God is one of the most precious truths of salvation.  To be saved from sin is a blessing beyond measure.  To be adopted as sons and daughters of God is grace upon grace. 

                                                                                            Galatians 3:23-29 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law,   imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.    So then,   the law was our   guardian until Christ came,   in order that we might be justified by faith.    But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,   for in Christ Jesus   you are all sons of God, through faith.    For as many of you as   were baptized   into Christ have   put on Christ.    There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,   there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.    And   if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring,   heirs according to promise.   The law served a purpose of preparing the way for and clarifying the Gospel of Christ.  Paul calls in a guardian in this passage as it was used at a temporary means of preparing the world for the coming of Christ.  Now t

                                                                                       Galatians 3:19-22 Why then the law?   It was added because of transgressions,   until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was   put in place through angels   by an intermediary.    Now   an intermediary implies more than one, but   God is one.    Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For   if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.    But the Scripture   imprisoned everything under sin, so that   the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given   to those who believe. The law was given for a purpose.  However, that purpose was never to provide a means of salvation.  Rather, it was to point people to Christ as the only means of salvation.  When people confuse the purpose for the law, they run great risk of becoming confused about how God promised to provide salvation.  Many Jews faltered unde

                                                                                       Galatians 3:15-18 To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.    Now   the promises were made   to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one,   “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.    This is what I mean: the law, which came   430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as   to make the promise void.    For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but   God gave it to Abraham by a promise.   The covenant that God made with Abraham supports the doctrine of justification by faith.  There are many arguments that could be given to prove this truth.  This passage provides two of them.  Paul is taking on the posture of a lawyer as he defends the position that the Law was never intended to be a means

                                                                                       Galatians 3:10-14 For all who rely on works of the law are   under a curse; for it is written,   “Cursed be everyone who does not   abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”    Now it is evident that   no one is justified before God by the law, for   “The righteous shall live by faith.”  But the law is not of faith, rather   “The one who does them shall live by them.”  Christ   redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written,   “Cursed is everyone who is hanged   on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might   come to the Gentiles, so that   we might receive   the promised Spirit through faith.   Every person is born under the curse of sin that is the blight of humanity.  This is evident by constant flow of people who die every hour of every day and by persistent sin.  Mankind desperately needs to be set free from this ter

                                                                                       Galatians 3:1-9 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?   It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly   portrayed as crucified.    Let me ask you only this:   Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by   hearing with faith?    Are you so foolish?   Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?    Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?    Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and   works miracles among you do so   by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as   Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?   Know then that it is   those of faith who are   the sons of Abraham.    And the Scripture, foreseeing that   God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying,   “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”    So then, those who are of faith are blessed a

                                                                                  Galatians 2:15-21 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not   Gentile sinners;   yet we know that   a person is not justified by works of the law   but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law,   because by works of the law no one will be justified.   But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found   to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!    For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.    For through the law I   died to the law, so that I might   live to God.    I have been   crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives   in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God,   who loved me and   gave himself for me.    I do not nullify the grace of God, for   if righteousness were thr