Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Who Has Bewitched You? A Study in Galatians
    Who Has Bewitched You? A Study in Galatians
    Who Has Bewitched You? A Study in Galatians
    Ebook174 pages2 hours

    Who Has Bewitched You? A Study in Galatians

    By Alan J Spence

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A study of Paul's letter to the Galatians as a way to understanding the nature of the gospel, justification by faith, the law, the Holy Spirit, Christian freedom, being one with Christ, and the challenges those truths faced in Paul's day, at certain key stages in the history of the Church, and today. This accessible study reveals Paul's argument in Galatians and applies it to today's church.

    COMMENDATIONS
    "Written to some of the earliest Christian communities to resolve an urgent and immediate crisis regarding religious liberty, Galatians has continued to lead millions to personal freedom over the centuries. Alan Spence here engages with Galatians in a way that makes Paul's brief and passionate letter speak with fresh power today."
    - Vin Roy, Baptist Theological College of South Africa
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthentic Publishers
    Release dateSep 1, 2014
    ISBN9781780780764
    Who Has Bewitched You? A Study in Galatians
    Author

    Alan J Spence

    Dr Alan J. Spence taught mathematics in Harare, served as a tent evangelist in the South African townships and ran camps and conferences with Scripture Union in Zimbabwe. He has been a minister in the Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa, and was at one time Moderator of its General Assembly. He helped to found Domboshawa House, a theological college in Harare and has chaired the Justice, Peace and Reconciliation Committee of the Zimbabwe Council of Churches. He is now the minister of a United Reformed Church congregation in Northampton, UK. His highly successful book, Love Hurts is published by Paternoster (2012).

    Related to Who Has Bewitched You? A Study in Galatians

    Related ebooks

    Christianity For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      The ‘Yoke’ That Makes Burdens Light

      Jul 22, 2021

      Wearing a “yoke” in our daily lives may sound like an encumbrance. But when it’s the figurative yoke of Christ, we find ourselves better equipped to navigate life’s challenges with God-given strength, grace, joy, and love.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Bible Fun

      Oct 27, 2023

      Bible Fun
      2 min read

    • Article

      Ways To Help A Friend In Need

      Mar 23, 2022

      Ways To Help A Friend In Need
      3 min read

    • Article

      Forward March!

      Sep 4, 2020

      Forward March!
      5 min read

    • Article

      An Incredibly Fast-paced Existence

      Jun 24, 2022

      Many, many, many people around the world are struggling with negative thoughts and the pressure of making multiple decisions each day. We are living in and experiencing an incredibly fast-paced existence. We are constantly forced to ‘think on our fee

      1 min read

    • Article

      What The New Testament Doesn’t Say

      May 20, 2019

      When professing Christians deny Biblical creation, we often point them to the Words of Jesus and the New Testament authors, which clearly affirm their own belief in Biblical creation. Because Christians are, by definition, people who believe what Jes

      5 min read

    • Article

      Why Study Church History?

      Jun 15, 2020

      Why Study Church History?
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Rise Of Paul

      Mar 26, 2020

      How do you think Paul achieved such personal authority? He was evidently a remarkable man, possessed of extraordinary charisma, persuasiveness and a capacity for relentless travel. By the end of his life it has been estimated he had travelled some

      1 min read

    • Article

      Truth For All People, Everywhere

      Mar 16, 2020

      In 2019, the Barna Research Group published a report, Reviving Evangelism, drawn from a study that looked at the experiences and expectations of Christians and non-Christians in America. What was perhaps most pertinent was the finding that “Christian

      1 min read

    • Article

      Letters To The Editor

      Dec 30, 2019

      Letters To The Editor
      6 min read

    • Article

      The Easter of Empty Churches

      Apr 10, 2020

      The Easter of Empty Churches
      3 min read

    • Article

      What Happened Next?

      Feb 24, 2022

      What Happened Next?
      9 min read

    • Article

      Apostasy

      Apr 14, 2023

      We are currently living in one of the greatest seasons of apostasy. Men and women of God have been and continue to fall away from the faith in large numbers. Apostasy is not new. Departing from the faith is nothing new. It happens today just as it di

      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Who Has Bewitched You? A Study in Galatians

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Who Has Bewitched You? A Study in Galatians - Alan J Spence

      itself.

      Chapter One

      Greetings

      Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead – (1:1)

      Paul introduces himself to his readers as an apostle. He recognizes himself as one of those who have been sent by God to announce to the world the good news regarding Jesus. He is, as we might say today, a church planter. Paul’s particular calling, as he sees it, is to evangelize those Gentiles who have not yet heard about Jesus, and to defend the integrity of the gospel. The fact that nearly one-third of the world’s people now profess some sort of faith in Jesus Christ is due, in large measure, to the faithfulness of Paul and his fellow workers to that calling.

      Paul’s evangelistic role should not then be considered as just one of the many dimensions of his multifaceted ministry. No, his apostolic calling determines everything else he does. When he plans to visit the church in Rome, it is but a strategic stepping stone towards his true goal. His intention is to go on from there to Spain so that he might preach the gospel where Christ was not known, in regions where it had never been proclaimed (see Rom. 15:17–24). When he reflects on how he should conduct himself as he moves from one culture to another, his actions are determined by a simple principle. ‘To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some’ (1 Cor. 9:22). According to Luke, even as Paul stands on trial for his life, he remains determined to win over his interrogators to the Christian faith. ‘Then Agrippa said to Paul, Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian? Paul replied, Short time or long – I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains’ (Acts 26:28,29). When he bemoans the state of his fellow Jews who have not responded positively to the gospel, he has an unceasing anguish for them in his heart and is willing even to be rejected by God if this might mean their acceptance (Rom. 9:1–3). Paul claims that his whole life is shaped by this one assignment. ‘However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace’ (Acts 20:24).

      If we are to understand Paul’s argument in this letter we need to recognize not only his unbounded zeal in proclaiming the gospel, but also the sense of responsibility that he felt as the apostle to the Gentiles. He believed he had been entrusted with a message through which God was now changing the world. Students of Martin Luther will be aware of how he too bore a heavy sense of burden. There was an immense weight upon his shoulders as leader of the evangelical church, not only to guide this nascent religious movement through the political dangers which threatened it, but also, and more significantly, to safeguard his interpretation of the doctrine of justification from intellectual attack, both from the right and the left. It is no wonder that Luther loved Galatians so deeply and has written what must surely be the most influential exposition of it. His commentary on Galatians is rightly recognized as one of the most significant texts of the Protestant Reformation. Luther certainly had a keen appreciation of the burden of responsibility to defend the gospel that so shaped Paul’s ministry.

      and all the brothers and sisters with me, (v. 2a)

      The portrait of Paul that is emerging might suggest that he was some sort of heroic individualist. But that would be unfair. Even though he was forever on the move, there is throughout Paul’s letters strong indication that he recognized himself as being part of a team. His friends and companions mattered deeply to him and he clearly depended on them. Sometimes he couldn’t even proclaim the gospel if one of his fellow workers had not arrived and linked up with him as planned (2 Cor. 2:12,13). And it is from the corporate fellowship of this strongly bonded community that the Galatian churches are addressed.¹ Paul does not present himself as an isolated voice for the cause he is defending.

      To the churches in Galatia:²

      Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, (vv. 2b,3)

      Over the years, our salutations and greetings tend to become formalized and emptied of their original meaning. How many are now aware that ‘goodbye’ is a shortened form of ‘God be with you’ or that ‘adios’ was originally a way of committing someone into God’s care? Grace was for Paul a word rich with redemptive content. It indicated the saving action of Christ: ‘For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich’(2 Cor. 8:9). Grace is the basic principle underlying the life of the redeemed, pursued not under the harsh and condemning regimen of the law, but under the unimaginable freedom of divine enabling (Rom. 6:14). It points to the rich and secure world where those who are justified by faith discover peace with God as they are pardoned of their sins and are enabled to flourish under the Spirit’s empowering (Rom. 5:1,2). In their national anthem, the English call upon God to save their queen. In his salutation Paul calls on God to save his readers.

      who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. (vv. 4,5)

      It is becoming increasingly common in theological circles to view Christ’s redemptive work in giving up his life for our sins as a secondary matter when considered in relation to God’s ultimate purposes. Some speak of God’s primary project in terms of the incarnation and then reflect on the implications that this has for all of created reality. Some emphasize the reordering and renewal of the whole of the created cosmos around the person of the glorified Christ. Some draw attention to Jesus’ role as the messianic King to whom everybody and every authority will one day be brought into subjection. But these noble themes are not the first things Paul wants to focus on when he speaks of the gospel.

      who gave himself for our sins … (v. 4)

      For Paul, the gospel has to do principally with Jesus dying for our sin:

      Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (1 Cor. 15:1–4)

      To put it bluntly and, I expect for some, offensively – it is about us. With profound insight the Nicene fathers got it absolutely right. ‘For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven.’³ Human life might appear to be no more than a fleeting phenomenon on a lesser planet of a minor star, lost to the eye in a universe of innumerable galaxies. Nevertheless, human salvation lies at the very heart of the master plan of our God and Father for all of created reality. The incarnation, the lordship of Christ, the reordering of a broken universe, the resurrection of the dead are closely related matters, each flowing towards or emerging out of that one central event – Jesus dying for our sins. This is the reason why God will be glorified for ever. In short, it is in the salvation of men and women through the death of his only Son that God is most honoured. Here is cause for wonder and praise. Early Christians believed that the eternal theme of the grand hymns to be sung by the angels and archangels and all the assembled host of heaven is of a lamb who was slain (see Rev. 5:12–14). When he reflects on the wonder of the gospel, Paul’s instinctive response is to ascribe glory to God for ever and ever.

      … to rescue us from the present evil age … (v. 4)

      We are an integral part of this present age, and yet we don’t really belong to it. We participate in its governance, we serve in its institutions, we share in its sufferings and we seek its wellbeing. But we have been set free from its mindset. Its high-sounding promises are no longer persuasive; its great honours are recognized as mere trinkets; its glories are seen to be passing. It is an age that lies under judgement. The rulers of this age might have power to bind our bodies, but our hearts have been won by another. We have been liberated for his purposes and we live in hope of his future. We have been sworn in as citizens of a city that has eternal foundations. We are paradoxically the children of an age that is still to come, yet it is one that is already breaking in. Paul counts himself among those who have been delivered from the present

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1