 Alright, good morning everyone. We'll get started with our new semester. So we would be doing Galatians, Ephesians and a few of the other epistels in our course this semester. So it would be nice if we can begin with the word of prayer. Is Rosalind already logged in? If you are there, can you please pray for us? Rosalind, if you are there, if you could just say a word of prayer. Okay, maybe you are not there yet. Can we have, first John Paul, can you pray for us? And we'll start. Yes, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for this morning that you have given us as we start a new semester today. We ask for your presence to be with us. Help us to pay attention to your words and also to learn from your word together, God. Open our eyes, God, that we would be able to see the mysteries of your word. We bless this time of learning. We humble ourselves. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thank you. So we will begin with Galatians and we will be going all the way up to 2nd Thessalonians. Now all of these letters were written by Paul to different congregations. And so each letter that he wrote, he usually had one or two main points in mind which he wanted to cover with those specific people due to whatever issues they might have been facing at that time. So we will look at the background of each letter, you know, even as we start it and then we would go through the letters one by one. So today we are looking at the letter which Paul had written to the Galatian church. So we will start off by looking at a little bit of the background. Why did he write this letter to them? What were they going through as a congregation? What did he want to advise them about? So we will look at that background and then we will get into the actual verses. So just as in John, we will not be able to go through every single verse. We will try to cover as much as possible, you know, in our sessions. So to start off with an introduction to this epistle, the epistle is just a fancy word which basically means letter. So Paul was writing letters to these congregations because he wanted to advise them, maybe at times scold them, encourage them and build them up. So this particular letter to the Galatian believers was written quite early, just maybe around 20 years after the resurrection of Jesus. At that time, he sent this letter to the believers who have formed the church in Galatia. So when he had gone on his first missionary journey, he had visited Galatia as well. At that time, in fact, probably it was not a planned trip. The missionary journey was, of course, he covered many, many places when he went on his missionary journey. But this particular stop in Galatia was probably not a planned stop because he says, due to my illness, I came to Galatia is what he says in chapter 4. So we get to know in chapter 4 that he had some kind of eye ailment and it was probably bad enough that he could not progress in his missionary journey and he had to go to some place and rest. So God leads him to Galatia as the place where he needs to be. So the believers over there, they look after him, they take care of him, even though he has come to them with some kind of unpleasant ailment. He says, you people accepted me as though I were an angel who had come directly from God because whatever he had to convey to them, they valued what he was saying. They treated him like an angel, like a messenger directly from the Lord. They accepted his words. They never made him feel weak or small, even though he was not in a healthy condition. So they extended love and welcome towards him. So that is the kind of congregation that he is writing to. People who have loved him, people who have respected him. And so now he is giving them advice because it looks like now, certain Judaizers have come over there to Galatia and they are trying to lead the congregation into false teaching. They are saying that what Jesus did on the cross is not sufficient and you must also follow the mosaic law, you must also follow rituals, only then your salvation is complete. So these people are bringing in this kind of false teaching and so Paul is worried for them and he says, you remember the way you accepted me when I first came to you. I was not even in a healthy condition. I came to you in a weak state, but at that time, you people accepted me with so much love and you had so much respect for what I had to say as though I were an angel coming from God directly to give these words to you. So you believed in the gospel that I gave to you at that time. Now what has happened? Now why are you turning away? Now why are you listening to these Judaizers? Just because they are very powerful, influential people. So he says in his letter, don't go away from the truth which I first taught to you. So the main gist of this letter is that where he's trying to draw these Galatian believers back to the true gospel, asking them to hold on to the gospel of grace which Jesus has taught, that salvation is going to be through grace, through our dependence on him, through our dependence on the work which he did on the cross for us. Salvation is not going to be based on works which we do. We cannot earn salvation by keeping the mosaic law or by observing rituals. So he wants to remind the Galatians of this. And so this is the main crux of the entire letter that he's writing to them. Now just a little more background detail. If you were to go to Acts chapter 15, that is basically where we get to know that the early church was facing a crisis because of these Judaizers who were promoting Judaism, they were promoting the mosaic law, they were promoting all the rituals and ceremonies which had become part of the Jewish culture. So these Judaizers were promoting such things and they in fact were saying that salvation requires all of those things as well. So in Acts chapter 15, we get to know that the Gentile believers were being pressurized into adopting all of these Jewish customs and rituals. And so the Gentile believers were getting confused. They were wondering, are we truly saved through Jesus or do we need something more? Do we need even this Jewish religion as well? Only then will we go to heaven. So there was this confusion which was being caused. So in Acts chapter 15, you have the Apostles and the main leaders of that early church coming together and having a discussion. And at that time, the conclusion that they reach is that we will not pressurize the Gentile believers in any way. We will allow them to just hold on to the gospel and they don't need to observe any of the Jewish customs. Now the Jewish believers, if they want to continue following the customs, they can but they have to be aware of the fact that the salvation is not going to come from that. The salvation will be by grace alone through Jesus Christ. So this is what is decided in Acts chapter 15. So during this time is when Paul writes to the Galatian church because these false teachers in Acts chapter 15 verse 1 is where we get to know where it says that certain people went from Judea to Syrian Antioch and began to preach this wrong doctrine that the believers should also accept the Jewish rituals and you know, forsake laws. So they go to Syrian Antioch and it looks like they have already also gone to South Galatia. So this false teaching has been spreading. So keeping these things in mind, Paul writes this letter to the Galatian believers and shortly after this letter is sent to the Galatian believers, the council in Acts chapter 15 later verses 23, 24, 25, we see that the decision is taken that the Gentile believers will not be asked to follow any of the mosaic laws. So this is the background and so the Jerusalem council which is held in Acts chapter 15 that confirms what has been written by Paul in his letter to the Galatians. Whatever he has said in his letter to the Galatians, the same things are also said by the council of leaders in Acts chapter 15 confirming that yes, the gospel is just based on the work of Christ. There is no works required to earn salvation. If anyone could please read out for us Galatians chapter 1 verses 1 to 5, we can discuss them. Paul and the apostle, not from men, not through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren who are with me to the churches of Galatia grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father to whom we glory forever and ever amen. Amen. So here Paul begins this letter without a traditional greeting. He starts off with this word, with this wording where he says that he is an apostle not sent from men, not sent by a man but directly by Jesus Christ himself. So instead of beginning with the traditional greeting where he says may grace be upon you and all of that instead of using any of those wordings, he directly begins this letter with this wording because he is concerned regarding the crisis that this congregation is facing. They are in danger of being led away into false doctrines and so he wants to confirm and affirm and say whatever he has taught them in the past, the Gospel which he has presented to them earlier was not sent to them by a man or by men but rather Jesus Christ himself commissioned him and sent him to Galatia to convey the true Gospel. So he wants to affirm this. So his very opening line itself in this letter begins with this wording where he says I was not sent by men. I was not sent by a man. I was sent by Christ himself with the Gospel which I gave to you. So you know what he wishes to indicate is that this is the Gospel that you should be holding on to. Do not be led away by the Judaizers. So that's the point that he is making. So when we come to verse 6, he continues this line of thought. If we could have someone read out for us verses 6, 7, 8 and 9, verses 6, 7, 8 and 9 please. I argue that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grave of Christ to a different Gospel which is not another but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the Gospel of Christ but even if we or an angel from heaven preach any other Gospel to you then what we have preached to you let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again if anyone preaches any other Gospel to you then what you have received let him be accursed. So the 11 disciples that Jesus had trained up he had given them the Gospel message directly. They had been trained by him personally. So probably these Judaizers were saying to the Galatian people, this Paul from whom you have received a Gospel, how do you know it is true? Because he was not trained by Jesus personally. He was not a disciple at that time. So maybe what he is teaching you is not accurate. Maybe that was the kind of thought which these Judaizers were trying to plant in the minds of these Galatian believers. So Paul therefore wants to affirm that this Gospel which he is preaching is not something which he has produced on his own which is why in his opening line he says I was not sent by men. The people in Jerusalem didn't commission me and sent me over here. I was sent directly by Christ himself is what he says. So in verse 6 these are the words that he uses. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different Gospel which is really no Gospel at all. That word Gospel means good news. So he says, I gave you the good news which was conveyed by Jesus Christ directly and that good news is the good news of grace where even though we have not been perfect even though we have been sinful we have been forgiven freely by the work of the cross and now we are entitled to be part of the family of Christ. So that is the good news that just by grace alone even though we could not earn salvation it was freely granted to us and now these false teachers are bringing in a different Gospel which is really not a Gospel at all which is not at all a good news because they are saying only if you do works only if you keep the law only then you can hope to gain salvation. So he says after I came to you and presented something to you that was directly from Christ why are you going away after a different Gospel which has not even been conveyed by Christ and which is not even good news in any way. Therefore he says in verse 8 even if an angel were to come now and start giving you a different kind of a Gospel do not listen to it. In fact he says people who give that kind of a Gospel they stand accursed is the term that he uses over here. He says let them be under God's curse he says in verse 8 he repeats that again in verse 9 he says under God's curse. Now based on this some people say that if you come across false teachers or if you come across people who are opposing the church or opposing the kingdom of God then we have the authority to place a curse upon them is the teaching which some people convey. But that is wrong over here Paul is not cursing these false teachers. He is saying that they are under God's curse. God is the one who is placing a curse on them. So we as believers cannot curse someone just because they are preaching a false doctrine we cannot curse people who are opposing the church or persecuting the church we have no authority to be cursing anyone to be placing curses on anyone. Here Paul says let them be under God's curse in the NKGV it says let them be accursed. The wording used over there is talking about an act of God which God himself will do and so he says let them be under that judgment of God because of what they have done. So if you were to look at some of the passages in the Gospels where it talks about judgment and curse being placed upon people if we were to look at Matthew chapter 3 verses 7 to 10 it's John the Baptist who is speaking over there so in Matthew chapter 3 verses 7 to 10 John the Baptist he says you brood of wipers who warned you to flee from the coming broth he says to the Pharisees and the Sadducees. So over there he says that these people have been placed under the coming broth of God and therefore he says why have you bothered to come and ask for baptism because God has already placed you under his coming broth. You are already placed under judgment. So it's not John the Baptist who curses the Pharisees and the Sadducees in that passage. He is simply acknowledging what God has already done. He has already placed them under his broth. He has already placed them under judgment and so therefore John the Baptist he says I will not baptize you because you have already been placed under God's judgment and God's curse. Now when you come to other passages in which Jesus is addressing these Pharisees and Sadducees in Matthew chapter 23 verse 13 there Jesus directly declares and says woe to you that is a word of judgment which he is speaking upon them and he says woe upon you because you are under judgment the same wording is used even in Matthew 18 where Jesus says woe to the world because of the things that cause people to stumble and he says woe to the person through whom these things come. So when Jesus speaks woe when he speaks judgment upon the people he is doing that with the authority that has been granted to him by the heavenly Father but when we humans are trying to correct someone or trying to discipline someone we will only say that they are in danger of coming under God's curse we do not have authority to say that I am cursing you or I am placing you under a curse we are not you know we are not granted any such authority so this wrong teaching is brought out from this particular passage that we the church have an authority to curse and that is not true here in this passage Paul simply says let them be under God's curse let them be accursed and the accursing is being done by God himself. So with that kind of a serious very strict admonition you know Paul says that anyone at all who deviates from the true gospel is in danger of coming under divine judgment itself so that is the seriousness at which he takes this entire matter and then after having said that verse 11 onwards he tries to present a defense of himself he tries to present a defense of the gospel that he is you know reaching so he talks he gives details about how he got access to this gospel in what way Jesus you know revealed this to him from where did he learn all these things that he has been teaching them by what authority is he communicating all of this to them you know so he presents a defense of that verse 11 onwards we still have a couple of minutes so if we can have someone read out for us verses 11 12 13 and 14 please 11 12 13 and 14 but I make it known to you brethren that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man or I neither received it from man nor was I taught it but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ for you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and try to destroy it and I advance in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation being more exceedingly for the traditions of my father yeah so he says he is repeating what he has already said in the first opening line that you know the gospel that I preach is not of human origin I did not receive it from any man and then he says I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ he makes that opening statement in verse 11 and 12 and then he says you know you should be willing to believe what I am saying because I used to be a person who was a greater Judaizer than all these Judaizers who have come now you see when I was a Jew Judaizer at that time he says I was more zealous in holding on to the traditions of the fathers he says I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age that was the kind of Judaizer that I was so such a person today and now if I am saying that the true gospel is what Jesus is saying and not you know what I used to claim proclaim earlier as a Judaizer you should take my word seriously because someone who was that seriously into Judaism has seen the truth come out and received a revelation from Jesus Christ and now is has been sent directly by Jesus to present it to people so he says you should be willing to take my word seriously because I was so extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers he says so we will go for a break and when we come back we will see what he has to say in his defense regarding this matter so at 10 o'clock if we can all log back in thank you