Every Chapter 01 - Galatians

In every chapter of Galatians there is a reference to the cross or of Christ, his crucifixion

 

1:4 (Jesus Christ) who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father

2:20  I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

3:1, 13 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. ... Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”

4:4, 5 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.

5:11 Brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

6:12-14 Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.  Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your circumcision in the flesh. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which he world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

 

Fesko on the fruit of the Spirit

Having read John Fesko's book on the tabernacle recently I dug out my unread copy of his The fruit of the Spirit is .... It is a tiny book that just goes through the passage in Galatians 5, its distinctive being the way it draws on the Old Testament material that Paul must have in mind when he writes. It is worth checking out.

Luther on Temptation and Scripture

"I have suffered many great passions and , and the same also very vehement. But so soon as I laid hold of any place in Scripture, and stayed myself upon it as upon my chief anchor-hold, straightways my temptations did vanish away - which without the Word it had been impossible for me to endure, much less to overcome them."

Luther on Galatians

52 JC No 21

From a sermon on Galatians 1:11-14 (partly quoted by Derek Thomas from a different transaltion recently)

Let us call to mind what we have already noted before; that is to say, that all men, both great and small must bow, and the Son of God must have the pre-eminence and the mastery. He alone should be the Shepherd, and we the sheep. It is true that those who are charged with preaching the gospel may well be called shepherds, but this does not mean that they can act in their own name or by their own power, nor must they undermine the sovereignty of the Son of God. As for myself, as I speak to you now, I must not bring anything of my own, nor elevate myself above other people. In this I am addressing the whole congregation, and therefore the message applies to myself first of all and next to everyone else here without exception. Not even the most noble person in the world may exempt himself from the submission which is due to the Son of God.

52 JC No 14

On Galatians 2:20
Yet not I, but Christ lives in me. This explains what he meant by “living to God.” He does not live by his own life, but is animated by the secret power of Christ; so that Christ may be said to live and grow in him; for, as the soul enlivens the body, so Christ imparts life to his members. It is a remarkable sentiment, that believers live out of themselves, that is, they live in Christ; which can only be accomplished by holding real and actual communication with him.

Christ lives in us in two ways.

The one life consists in governing us by his Spirit, and directing all our actions; the other, in making us partakers of his righteousness; so that, while we can do nothing of ourselves, we are accepted in the sight of God. The first relates to regeneration,

the second to justification by free grace. This passage may be understood in the latter sense; but if it is thought better to apply it to both, I will cheerfully adopt that view.

Heavenly Worldliness

Found this great Machen quote here

In reading through J. Gresham Machen’s Notes on Galatians (p 33), I found this interesting quote. It first appeared in Christianity Today in January 1931. Machen died in 1937. I assume this comment is a product of Machen’s more mature thought:

“In the second place, Christians should by no means adopt a negative attitude toward art, government, science, literature and other achievements of mankind, but should consecrate these things to the service of God. The separateness of the Christian man from the world is not to be manifested, as so many seem to think that it should be manifested, by the presentation to God of only an impoverished man; but it is to be manifested by the presentation to God of all man’s God-given powers developed to the full. That is the higher Christian humanism, a humanism based not upon human pride but upon the solid foundation of the grace of God.”

Also see here