The Unpayable Debt…

*Billy Graham’s Daily Devotion*

Galatians: 1
Paul’s Letter to the Galatians
Together with Romans, Paul’s letter to the Galatians speaks directly to the pressing issue of Jewish-Gentile relations in the body of Messiah. Written early in Paul’s career, some time in the late 40s, Paul here speaks sharply against those, maybe some variety of Yeshua-believing Jews, who were teaching Torah-observance for Gentiles as a way of justification. In no uncertain terms, he declares that justification comes by faith, not by Torah observance (compare Acts 15). Along the way he draws on illustrations from the Hebrew Bible—Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar—to make his point. Justification by faith in Yeshua is a reality for Jews and Gentiles alike. The well-known verse in Galatians 3:28 does not seek to abolish all distinctions between Jews and Gentiles (any more than it abolishes all distinctions between men and women!), but rather tells us that all people have equal access to God and that all come to Him in the same way. As a result, there is a unity in the body of Messiah that transcends the Jewish-Gentile distinction. Moreover, our justification by faith is no license for unethical living, but rather through the Ruach ha-Kodesh we bear the fruit of a righteous and ethical life (chapters 5–6).Paul’s opponents were attempting to alienate the Galatians from Paul. In 1 Corinthians 1:11-15, the division came from following various Yeshua-believing leaders. Here in Galatians the division may come either from outside the body of Messiah or from certain Jewish believers, but the result was a compromise of the Good News for the non-Jewish Galatians. In Galatians, Paul points us beyond divisions to the unity that we all share in Messiah—a unity of equal opportunity to come into relationship with God (3:28—the same access); a unity of the same way of salvation (2:16—through faith in God’s Messiah); and a practical unity that manifests itself in behavior (5:14—love and self-sacrifice).
Greetings from Paul
1 Paul, a emissary (sent not from men or by man, but by Yeshua the Messiah and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), ” 2 and all the brethren with me. To Messiah’s communities of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and our Lord Yeshua the Messiah— 4 who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father— ” 5 to Him be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
No Other Gospel
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from the One who called you by the grace of Messiah, to a different “good news”—” 7 not that there is another, but only some who are confusing you and want to distort the Good News of Messiah. ” 8 But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should announce any “good news” to you other than what we have proclaimed to you, let that person be cursed! ” 9 As we have said before, so I now repeat: if anyone proclaims to you “good news” other than what you received, let that person be under a curse! ” 10 Am I now trying to win people’s approval, or God’s? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Messiah. ”
How Paul Was Sent Out
11 Now I want you to know, brethren, that the Good News proclaimed by me is not man-made. ” 12 I did not receive it from any human, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Yeshua the Messiah. ” 13 For you have heard of my earlier behavior in Judaism—how I persecuted God’s community beyond measure and tried to destroy it. 14 I was even advancing within Judaism beyond many my own age among my people, being a more extreme observer of my fathers’ traditions. ” 15 But when God—who set me apart from birth and called me through His grace —was pleased 16 to reveal His Son to me so I would proclaim Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with any human. ” 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were emissaries before me, either. Instead I went away to Arabia and returned again to Damascus. ” 18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to visit with Peter, and I stayed with him fifteen days. ” 19 But I saw no other emissaries except Jacob, the Lord’s brother. ” 20 (In what I’m writing you, before God, I do not lie.)” 21 Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 But I was personally unknown to Messiah’s communities of Judea; 23 they only kept hearing, “The one who once persecuted us now proclaims the Good News he once tried to destroy!” ” 24 So they were praising God because of me.
{Tree Of Life Bible~Galatians 1:1-24}