LARRY D. ALEXANDER'S BOOK BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY: October 2019

Friday, October 25, 2019

BOOK BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY

larrydalexanderbiblestudies.blogspot.com

BIBLE STUDY LESSON

For the week beginning Sunday October 27, 2019

PAUL’S MESSAGE COMES FROM CHRIST

Galatians 1:11-24

Paul’s letter to the Galatians, like his second letter to the Corinthians, eloquently defends his divine authority as an apostle of CHRIST JESUS. It also gives us a summarized version of the gist of his teachings, and, it contains vivid statements of GOD’s “justification by faith”, as it erects on that foundation, an excellent defense of “Christian liberties”, verses “Jewish legalism”.

Paul’s authority as an apostle was often called into question by the false teachers who followed him around trying to change the new Christian doctrine back into the same old doctrine of Judaism, which excluded CHRIST JESUS from its teachings. Paul claimed that the gospel he preached was not based on man’s point of view, but rather, it was divinely revealed to him by CHRIST JESUS HIMSELF. He says that his message came by a direct revelation from JESUS CHRIST and no one else (v.12).

Here Paul is relating to us about his personal experiences, before and after, that day on the road to Damascus, when he was converted by JESUS CHRIST (Acts 9:3-31). He now realized that GOD had granted him an “undeserved mercy” and had called him, even before he was born. GOD then revealed JESUS to him so that he could preach HIS Gospel to the Gentiles of the world, all the remaining days of his life (Galatians 1:15-16).

Paul says he did not rush to consult with any man regarding his divine calling and these next few verses (16b-22) are very much like my own calling to the teaching ministry in the spring of 2001. Even today I’m not known in many Christian Churches, despite the massive amount of bible and Sunday school lesson commentaries I’ve written during that time.

Here in verses 17-24, Paul tells of having spent time in Arabia before returning to Damascus and remaining there for three more years. He then finally went to Jerusalem and was introduced to the church leaders by Barnabas (Acts 9:27). He then visited with the Apostle Peter and abided with him for fifteen days. The only other person he met with at that time was James, the half-brother of JESUS.

During that time, most of the people in the Church at Jerusalem were still afraid of Paul, and didn’t want to have anything to do with him because of his previous reputation of persecuting Christians wherever he went. In fact, Paul ended up having to flee Jerusalem after debating with some of the Greek-speaking Jews who sought to kill him (Acts 9:29). He was rescued by some of the Christians who believed his Damascus Road testimony, and they took Paul to Caesarea, and from there, sent him back to his hometown of Tarsus.

The Church at Antioch of Syria is where the term “Christian” was first used to describe the followers of CHRIST (Acts 11:25). Up until time they were widely known as “Adherents of the Way”, which meant that they abided closely to the ways that JESUS had taught HIS disciples during HIS three-year teaching and preaching ministry here on earth.

A Sunday school lesson by,

Larry D. Alexander

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Larry Dell Alexander (1953–) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas

LARRY D. ALEXANDER'S BOOK BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY

larrydalexanderbiblestudies.blogspot.com

Friday, October 18, 2019

BOOK BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY

larrydalexanderbiblestudies.blogspot.com

BIBLE STUDY LESSON

For the week beginning Sunday October 20, 2019

THERE’S ONLY ONE GOOD NEWS

Galatians 1:1-10

The importance of any messenger of GOD is never his or her own status, but rather, it is the importance of the status of the ONE WHO sent them. Here in verse 1 of Paul’s letter to the Galatians, he claims the absolute highest status of all when he says that he was sent by CHRIST and GOD the FATHER. This set him apart from all those false apostles who were sent by men, and who dogged him all along his missionary journeys.

Paul was astounded by how soon those he had converted were falling away to a different type of gospel, other than the one he originally preached to them when he first established the church at Galatia on his first missionary trip there, a few years earlier (v.6). The Church was now being influenced by false Jewish teachers who claimed to be presenting the same Gospel that Paul preached, but only, theirs was the complete message. This seemed to insinuate that Paul’s message was somewhat lacking in the information that he presented, however, Paul insisted that their message radically changed, and indeed, perverted the message of GOD’s grace in the Gospel (v.7).

Paul reacted forcefully to these distortions because he deemed it vital to do so. In verses 8 and 9 we see the word “accursed” being used by Paul. It is from the Greek word “anathema” (uh-NATH-uh-mah) which describes “an eternal damnation, or separation from GOD. Here Paul is saying that if anyone, including himself, or even an angel from Heaven, intentionally distorts the Gospel of CHRIST, that person will suffer eternal damnation in the pits of Hell. True men of GOD seek only to please GOD, they do not strive to “tickle the ears” of men.

PAUL’S MESSAGE COMES FROM CHRIST

Galatians 1:11-24

Paul’s authority as an apostle was often called into question by the false teachers who followed him around trying to change the new Christian doctrine into the same old doctrine of Judaism which excluded CHRIST JESUS from its teachings. Paul claimed that the gospel he preached was not based on man’s point of view, but rather, it was divinely revealed to him by CHRIST HIMSELF. He says that his message came by a direct revelation from JESUS CHRIST, and no one else (v.12).

Here Paul is relating to us about his personal experiences, before and after, that day on the road to Damascus, when he was converted by JESUS CHRIST (Acts 9:3-31). He now realized that GOD had granted him an “undeserved mercy” and called him, even before he was born. GOD then revealed JESUS to him so that he could preach HIS Gospel to the Gentiles of the world, all the remaining days of his life (Galatians 1:15-16).

Paul says he did not rush to consult with any man regarding his divine calling and these next few verses (16b-22) are very much like my own calling to the teaching ministry 20 years ago. Even today I’m not known in many Christian Churches, despite the massive amount of bible and Sunday school lesson commentaries I’ve written during that time.

Here in verses 17-24, Paul tells of having spent time in Arabia before returning to Damascus and remaining there for three more years. He then finally went to Jerusalem, and there, was introduced to the church leaders by Barnabas (Acts 9:27). He then visited with the Apostle Peter and abided with him for fifteen days. The only other person he met with at that time was James, the half-brother of JESUS.

Most of the people in the Church were still afraid of Paul, and didn’t want to have anything to do with him because of his previous reputation of persecuting Christians wherever he went. In fact, Paul ended up having to flee Jerusalem after debating with some of the Greek-speaking Jews who sought to kill him (Acts 9:29). He was rescued by some of the Christians who believed his Damascus Road testimony. They took Paul to Caesarea, and from there, sent him back to his hometown of Tarsus.

Paul did not return to Jerusalem until Barnabas went and got him fourteen years later, and took him, first, to Antioch of Syria, and then, on to Jerusalem to report on the success that they had had there in Syria, converting Gentiles to Christianity (Acts 11:25-30). In fact, Antioch is where the term “Christian” was first used to describe the followers of CHRIST (Acts 11:25). Up until time they were widely known as “Adherents of the Way”, which meant that they abided closely to the ways that JESUS had taught HIS disciples during HIS three-year teaching and preaching ministry here on earth. Stay tuned.