New Testament 6
Galatians 2: 15 -3: 5
Lecture 21
The Response to the Judaizers
•	The Reaction (v. 15-16)
Paul is not content to let the ______________ know he confronted Peter face to face.  He know begins to lay down the theological framework for his entire position.  It is worthy of our time to take it apart and strive to understand it.  Without question, these verses show part of the content of Paul’s rebuke for Peter and the church.
•	The Inconsistency
How can you as a ______________ live like a ______________ and the require them to act like a Jew for salvation?  Peter had openly visited in their homes and ate meals with them, and probably even shared the Lord’s Supper with them. So why this and why now? Peter you are inconsistent!  
B. The Invitation
Paul invites Peter to remember just how impossible it was for them as Jews to live under the ______________ and its regulations.  Paul invites Peter to remember that they knew life under the Law, but he wants him to remember even more, that both Peter and Paul came to Christ by faith and not by the Law or keeping it!  
Remember
We were Jews by nature and not sinners as the Gentiles.  Paul is not using the term “______________” in a negative moral tone. Here it merely refers to the way in which the Jews considered Gentiles because they had no law to guide them in right living and in pleasing God.  Paul invites Peter to remember that no flesh is justified by works of the Law.
3. The Inclusion (v. 16)
Paul makes it clear that what makes a man a sinner is not just in what he ______________, but in what he ______________.  He has a fallen nature or heart. Sinful acts are merely outward indications of the heart.  (See Matt 5:22 & 28 for murder and adultery)
4. The Indictment (v. 16)
No matter how hard a man tries to change his ______________ nature, he cannot accomplish this.  
What does Romans 3: 19-20 say?  
______________ 
The Law is important as a mirror to show us that we cannot save ourselves. 
It can only reveal sin, not remove it! See Gal 3: 21-24, 28.
Notice Three Statements
Gal 2:16 – a man is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus (man is general)
Even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the Law (we is personal)
By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified (this is a universal statement)
2. The Reason (v. 17-21)
•	Justification by Faith (v. 17)
Paul denies his message would lead one to ______________ and to an ungodly lifestyle in 17b.  For Paul this gospel marks that beginning point of a newly established and radically changed life—a new creation that is intent on serving God, not on rebelling against God (2 Cor 5; 14-19).  Do Christians sin? Sure they do! But the gospel nor Jesus are responsible for that! It comes from a sinful nature (James 1:13-17).
Define “Justification”
The word is used in a number of versions to translate a word that means “to be ______________ as if one were righteous or right.”  The legalists believed the way to be right was through or by the law and keeping it perfectly.  Paul said the only way to be right with God is to be right with His Son, Jesus Christ.  The work of Christ is God’s offer of acceptance with Himself.  Through faith in Christ, unrighteous men are accepted or set right before God.  As someone has said, “There are only two kinds of religion: a do religion and a done religion. Which is Paul in favor of? What about you?
Paul’s Defense (v. 17)
We have become sinners ourselves by our actions alongside the Gentiles.  Peter, if I am wrong, and the Judaizers are right, we are now sinners, even before they arrived!  Second, Peter, we have even made Christ a minister of sin!  How? By His own actions of eating with ______________and ______________ while on earth. By His own teaching as in Acts 10 and His own prayer in John 17: 21-23. 
B. Death to the Law (v. 18-19)
As those who insist on keeping the Law and its regulations soon find out, all they accomplish is to prove they are sinners.  Why? Because they cannot keep all of the laws demands.  Therefore they stand condemned by its standards and they cannot justify themselves in the presence of God. (See 3: 10, 21; Rom 3: 19-20).  The end result is the Law shuts any hope of earning ______________.  Yet, it opens the door of possibility of salvation through Christ (v. 19).
MacArthur aptly summarizes
Verses 18-19 for us: “Legalism’s most destructive effect is that it cancels the effect of the ______________.  I have been crucified with Christ, Paul testifies, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.To go back under the law would be to cancel one’s union with Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and therefore to go back under sin.” (MacArthur, ______________, p. 60). 
The Greek Verb “live” (v. 20)
Is in the perfect tense and means that when a believer trusts in Christ for ______________ he is spiritually participating in the crucifixion of Christ and His victory over death and sin.  
This means
That for the Christian, the Christian life is not so much one ______________ for Christ, but allowing Christ to ______________ His life out of the believer.  Therefore the supreme motive for allowing Christ to rule my life is because of the Son who loved me and delivered Himself up for me.  How close is this to John 10:17-18?  
C. Life in Christ (v. 20)
How can this new ______________ be ______________ and ______________?  It comes when we die with Christ –when by faith, we wrap ourselves around Him so completely that our selves are crucified with Him and we are reborn with Christ living in us (v. 20).  We live on an exchanged level: We give ourselves to Christ and He lives His life through us. 
Again, MacArthur’s point
Is well founded and needful of being remembered:  “The two pillars of the gospel are the ______________ of God and the ______________ of Christ, and those are the tow pillars that by its very nature, legalism destroys.  The person who insists he can earn salvation by his own efforts undermines the very foundation of Christianity and nullifies the precious death of Christ on his behalf.” (______________., p. 60).
What is Paul’s Conclusion
In verse 21?  What does he say about Christ’s ______________? 
Ch 3: 1-5
Paul continues his emphasis on correcting the gospel of justification by ______________.  He has only begun to fight. He is ready to take both gloves off and take on his enemy.  
Paul begins to address
The ______________ personally in this passage.  Before he had been proving his apostleship and authority to preach the gospel. Now he moves to explain just what his position is in relation to justification by faith.  He stands amazed at how far the Galatian brothers have gone backwards since he left them alone. 
Why did the Galatians go back to the law?
What caused them to reverse themselves and their thinking? First it seems that they refused to defend the Christian ______________!  They were willing to flirt with the legalistic teaching of the Judaizers who led them to adopt this vain philosophy. Should this be a lesson to us?  We should seek to avoid anything that leads us away from the true gospel of JC.  Could you imagine a former POW planning on returning to captivity? How silly? Why turn back to legalism?
Paul’s Rebuke of their condition (3:1)
Paul rehearses why the Galatian believers were making the wrong choice by going back to the ______________ from the ______________ of the gospel. He chastises them for committing spiritual treason. They had had such a clear picture of the gospel and had covered that picture up.  
“Publicly portrayed”
Is a Greek term indicating that gospel had been ______________ on a public message board for all to see and read.  No one should have any reason for misunderstanding the gospel as Paul presented it.  Yet, now they were leaving it for a lie? Paul uses a little bit of sarcasm with his question: “have you been bewitched by a sorcerer?” How close they are to the prodigal son who left everything of value to chase after that which proves elusive and in a pigpen of human works and death.
Paul’s Review of the Condition (3: 2-5)
He takes the Galatians back to their initial ______________ experience.  He asks them a series of questions to find out if they became Christians by works or by faith (v. 2).  They knew it was by faith. So Paul asks them if they are trying to earn now what they had already received by faith.  Verse 3 Paul asks them about the role of the Holy Spirit. He had regenerated them and was now rejuvenating them, what could they add to His work? 
The Absurdity of the Idea
Is like acknowledging that a ______________runs best on ______________, only later to decide you prefer it best when it is pushed by hand and foot.
The Questions Examined:
Paul asks as series of five questions to the Galatians that we need to examine.  Let’s take them one at a time quickly.
•	Foolish Galatians, Who?
Bewitched you?  These are words of ______________, perplexity, and indignation from Paul.  It was incredible what they were doing.  How could they do it? 
“Foolish”
Is not that the readers were being unreasonable, but they were not discerning. They had not critically thought through their ______________.  They had been careless in their ______________ making.  They failed to use their mental facilities in this situation.  
“Bewitched”
Is a term that suggests Paul could not believe the Galatians would simply and easily turn from the ______________ but someone had to have influence over them.  Someone, like a sorcerer, had put the evil eye on them.  They had been fascinated by something or someone.  Who could it be? What could it be? 
“Christ, openly set forth”
As suggested earlier means to be publicly posted for all eyes to ______________ and ______________.  Jesus was made a mural for them and how they have taken their eyes off of Him.  
“Crucified Christ”
This term is applied last in the sentence in Greek as an emphasis. As they think again on the picture of Christ, they will think of the crucified Christ! As a perfect tense, the verb implies a continued state of crucifixion.  It is Christ alone who was put to death there, not the Galatians!  IT is to be felt daily by men, especially these backslidden Galatians.
Question 2: This I would learn from You…
How did you become ______________? These introductory words seem to imply that Paul was willing to stake everything on the answer to this one question.  He knew there would be only one answer and that would settle the issue.  
“Spirit” 
Is, of course, the Holy Spirit.  They received Him at salvation and not at the mere doing of works.  Key phrases are “______________ of the ______________” (i.e., works prescribed by the law) and “the hearing of faith (i.e., a hearing which leads to, and is therefore, characterized by faith).  The question is, “Did you received the Spirit by faith or by works?” To ask the question is to answer it!
Question 3: Are you foolish?
See verse 1 for the thought here.  Having begun in the Spirit are you made perfect by the flesh?  These are really not two questions, but one. 
There is a contrast intended here ______________and “finishing” as well as “______________” and “flesh”.  
These terms often reflect the idea of beginning an offering and presenting it to the priest to complete.  
Question 4: Have you suffered in vain?
This is a request to not let all they had experienced be for nothing.  “______________” could be a reference to their persecutions and afflictions suffered at the hands of the Judaizers.  Others see it as a reference to the “experiences” they have had since becoming Christians.  Surely these had not be done in vain?
Question 5: How does the Spirit operate in your lives?
Here Paul picks up the thought of verse 2 and expands it.  Paul refers to the readers reception of the Spirit in conversion and asks if this happened by works of the ______________ or by______________ the Gospel with faith?  This verse is appealing to their present tense relationship to the Spirit.  
Vaughn, 61, sums up
Our verses:  “The essential thought of the verse is not in question. It teaches the ______________ of the Holy Spirit to the Galatians and His mighty working in and through them was dependent altogether on their faith in Christ.”