Bible Studies in the Life of Paul Part 9

STUDY VIII

THE OLD FAITHS AND THE NEW

SECOND GROUP OF EPISTLES

GALATIANS. FIRST AND SECOND CORINTHIANS. ROMANS.

PROBLEMS OF EARLY CHRISTIANITY

+The Old Faiths and the New.+--In this second group of Epistles, Galatians, First and Second Corinthians, and Romans, we enter upon a period of conflict in which Christianity is being defined, and differentiated from Judaism and Heathenism. No great truth ever came into the world without a battle for its right to the attention of men.

The new faith in Christ made large claims for itself.

It marked an advance upon Judaism and maintained that in Christ was fulfilled all the promises made by the prophets of the coming of the Jewish Messiah. It radically antagonized the heathen religions. It had a double task to win men out of Judaism and heathenism. Only by a careful study of these great doctrinal Epistles, and the circ.u.mstances out of which they arose, can it be seen how really great was this task.

+The Great Question+ was: "On what terms does G.o.d save men? Does He owe salvation to any because of what they have done, or does He bestow it as an unmerited favor upon condition of trust and self-surrender?" Paul maintained that the sole basis of salvation is the grace of G.o.d through Jesus Christ to be appropriated by faith on the part of man. This is still the great question.

+The Jewish Faith+ had been long in the world. Its prophets had two great themes, the Messiah and the Messianic Kingdom. All Israel, while observing feast and fast days, the precepts of the Mosaic law and offering sacrifices, looked forward to the coming of the Messiah and the establishment of His kingdom upon earth, as the supreme fulfillment of its hopes.

It is the contention of Paul in these Epistles that this Messiah has come in the person of Jesus Christ and fulfilled all the promises made to Israel, and that, through faith in Him, believers are released from the observance of the precepts of the Mosaic law.

There were two parties of Jews who sought to check the advance of the early church, with its all sufficient Savior. First, there were the Jews who denied any and every claim of Christ to be the Messiah; of this party were the rioters who drove Paul out of city after city and sought to kill him in the temple. Second, there were the Jewish Christians who "a.s.serted that their faith was Judaism with a new prophet; that the law of Moses and Mosaic ceremonial practices were binding on Christians as well as on unbelieving Jews; that Gentile believers must first become proselytes to Judaism before they could become Christians; and lastly that circ.u.mcision was the only gateway to baptism." With the first cla.s.s of Jews it was not so difficult to deal, for they were out and out antagonists, but the Jewish Christians, (who still clung to the Jewish law) were constantly making trouble not only amongst the Christian Jews, who had fully come out from under the law of Moses and expressed their faith in Christ, but also among the Christian Gentiles who had come out of the heathen religions. The masterly arguments of Paul, presented in Galatians and Romans, deal chiefly with the doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ alone. In Gal. 5:1-4 he calls the return to Jewish belief and practice, "falling from grace."

+The Heathen Faith.+--The people of the Roman empire were idolaters. Temples for the worship of idols occupied prominent positions in every city. Some of them were very beautiful, from an architectural point of view. But the objects of worship, frequently, were of the basest sort. This worship caused a notorious laxness of view in regard to the relations between the s.e.xes. This state of things is not overstated by Paul in his epistle to the Romans (1:18-23). It was this condition of idolatrous worship which led to the decision of the Jerusalem Council in regard to the Gentile converts (Acts 15:29).

The Christianity which Paul taught called for a pure and upright life and a subjugation of human pa.s.sion. We see the effects of former idolatrous lives manifesting themselves in the evils which Paul sought to correct in his letters to the Corinthians. It was no small conflict in which the Great Apostle to the Gentiles engaged when he sought to cleanse, through Christ, the base idolatrous hearts of the men of his times.

+The New Faith in Christ.+--Paul stands for spiritual freedom in Christ and loyalty to Him as Divine Lord without the necessity of observing the minute regulations of the Jewish ritual. He insists upon purity of soul and outward life as opposed to the laxness of the idolaters.

Each individual soul is related to Christ to whom it is responsible.

+Practical Bearing upon Present Day Living.+--The things contended for, the evils scored in these Epistles may seem to belong to dead controversies, but they do not. While it is a fact that Christianity has freed itself from Judaism and the heathen religions have been conquered, the old evils still manifest themselves and the same remedies must be applied to them. Many to-day will do works of the law (Gal. 2:16) who have no use for Christ, or His church, thinking in this way to buy their way to G.o.d. These are the old Judaizers come to life again. They often know nothing and care less for spiritual things and heart righteousness. Sensuality, and all its attendant evils, driven from the old heathen temples, manifests itself in many ways; it still seeks to array itself in beautiful garments that it may lure many to ruin.

There is need of repeating over again the arguments of Paul for a pure life lived in the faith of Jesus Christ, and the spiritual upbuilding of the soul through Him. Paul also insists upon good works as the outcome of faith, but faith must come first.

+The Epistles of this Group were Written+ on the third missionary journey.

THE EPISTLE TO THE GALATIANS

+The Galatians+ to whom this Epistle was addressed; who were they? The name Galatia was used in two ways.

Geographically to denote the country inhabited by the Celtic tribes (who were descended from the Gauls and who formerly inhabited the country we now call France).

Politically it meant the Roman province which also included "Psidia, Lycaonia, and part of Phrygia to the south of Galatia proper." It has been a question which of the two Paul intended to address in his letter. There are no particular names of churches which are specified. Many scholars think that Paul means to address his Epistle to the churches of the Roman province. In this case the letter would be sent to the churches of a wide area, and primarily addressed to those founded in the first missionary journey at Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra (Acts 14:1-28).

Luke speaks also of a region lying roundabout Derbe and Lystra where the gospel was preached on this first journey (Acts 14:6). The pa.s.sage in Galatians (2:5) in which Paul refers to the Jerusalem Council where he contended for the liberty in Christ of the Gentiles would naturally be taken to mean these first churches (however wide the application) as the Jerusalem Council was held at the close of the first missionary journey. The word Galatia may be used in the narrower sense also by Luke in speaking of the beginning of Paul's second (Acts 16:6) and third (Acts 18:23) missionary journeys. It would be natural for the Judaizers, who sought to turn back the converts of Paul to Judaism, to begin with the churches in South Galatia first.

+Time of Writing.+--The common opinion is that this epistle was written at Ephesus, during Paul's long stay there on his third missionary journey or between 54 and 56 A.D. Some however would place the date earlier.

+Occasion and Purpose.+--That which caused Paul to write this first of his great doctrinal Epistles was the teaching of certain Judaizers who had found their way into the churches of Galatia. They claimed that the Jewish law was binding upon believers in Christ, and declared that salvation was through works of the law.

They insisted upon the rite of circ.u.mcision. Paul's gospel and authority were disparaged.

Paul wrote this Epistle for the purpose of showing that "faith in Christ was the sole and sufficient condition of salvation."

+Princ.i.p.al Divisions and Chief Points.+

1. Introduction (1:1-10) Salutation. Subject of the Epistle; the defection of the Galatian churches.

2. The divine commission given to Paul as an apostle (1:11-2:21). He makes a statement of his claims and gives a sketch of his life. The gospel he preached came not from man but through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

All this is to show the authenticity of his claims.

3. Doctrinal. Justification is by faith (ch. 3-4).

The Galatian churches had received the Spirit through faith and not by law; why should they turn back? The superiority of faith is shown by Abraham's faith. The covenant of the promise of Christ was before the law.

The law is subordinate to faith, its purpose is to bring men to Christ. There is serious danger in returning to the law.

4. Practical. Application of the doctrinal teaching (ch. 5-6:10). An exhortation to stand fast in the liberty of Christ; this liberty excludes Judaism. A warning against the abuse of Christian liberty. The works of the flesh and the fruits of the Spirit. Sowing and reaping.

5. Autograph conclusion (6:11-18). Summary of the Epistle. The glory of the Apostle is in the cross of Christ. Benediction.

THE EPISTLES TO THE CORINTHIANS

+The Church at Corinth+ was founded during Paul's second missionary journey (Acts 18:1-18). When the Apostle came to Corinth he found a home with Aquila and Priscilla and worked with them at his trade as a tent-maker. He preached in Corinth for over a year and a half. Although Paul was the means of converting Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, and his family, he had no large success with the Jews and consequently turned to the Gentiles. The Gentiles gladly heard him and there was a great ingathering into the church.

Paul's sole purpose was to preach Christ for he says, "I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2).

+The City of Corinth+ was the largest and most important city of Greece. The commerce of the world flowed through its two harbours. The population consisted of Greeks, Jews, Italians, and a mixed mult.i.tude; it was excitable, pleasure loving, and mercurial. In this city was held a perpetual vanity fair. The vices of the east and west met and clasped hands in the work of human degradation. The Greek G.o.ddess Aphrodite had a magnificent temple in which a thousand priestesses ministered to a base worship. While it was a center of wealth and fashion it was a city of gilded vice. In the philosophical schools there was an endless discussion about words and non-essentials and a strong tendency to set intellectual above moral distinctions.

THE FIRST EPISTLE TO THE CORINTHIANS

+Occasion and Purpose.+-It was natural that the pressure of heathen customs and practices should be very great upon this young church. It was also to be expected that parties and divisions would arise. The immediate cause of this Epistle was that strifes and divisions had arisen in the church. It was the reporting of these matters to Paul by those "of the house of Chloe" (1 Cor. 1:11) that led him to write in the way in which he did. To settle the strifes of this church and to define the relations which Christians should a.s.sume towards the political, religious, and domestic inst.i.tutions of the heathen was a matter of no little delicacy and difficulty. The mastery of Paul is shown in the laying down of principles, in accordance with the gospel of Christ, that were effective not only for the Corinthian church but which are applicable to-day to all such church difficulties and the conduct of Christians towards non-Christians.

+A Former Epistle.+--Previous to the one now called "The First," had been written to the Corinthians (1 Cor. 5:9) and "it appears that the church had replied and requested further explanation and instruction on certain points" (5:11; 7:1; 8:1; 12:1; 16:12).

+Place and Time.+--This Epistle was written during Paul's long stay in Ephesus (Acts 19:10; 1 Cor. 16:19) and the date is in all probability 57 A.D.

+The Supremacy of Christ+ over all parties, His love as the touchstone of all service, and His resurrection are the great subjects of this Epistle.

+Princ.i.p.al Divisions and Chief Points.+

1. Salutation and thanksgiving (1:1-9).

2. Correction of divisions of party spirit (1:10-4:21).

It having been reported to Paul that four parties were striving for mastery in the church and there was great contention; he rebukes the party spirit, sets forth the principles of his teaching, and declares that Christ alone is the center of the Christian system. Faith stands not in the wisdom of men. The only foundation is in Christ.

3. Correction of moral disorders (ch. 5-7). In consequence of the close contact of the church with heathendom grave moral evils found their way into the fold. (a) The case of an incestuous person, Paul writes that such a person is to be expelled because the leaven of evil separates men from Christ. (b) The sin of going to law in heathen courts. Christians ought to settle their own disputes. (c) Sins of the body. No man should commit a sin as his body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

(d) Advice concerning marriage. The purpose of the gospel is not to antagonize but to Christianize the natural relations between society and the believer.

4. Correction of social and ecclesiastical misconceptions (ch. 8-14). (a) The question of eating of meats offered in idol worship is decided on the ground of love rather than knowledge. (b) The preacher of the gospel has the right to be supported by the church. (c) The true Christian liberty to be observed in the matters of eating and drinking. The proper celebration of the Lord's Supper. (d) The use and abuse of spiritual gifts.

(e) The greatness of love (ch. 13) The touchstone of all is love. (f) The end to be sought in every spiritual gift is the edification and upbuilding of the church.