I have just learned that the small group Norma and I attend will be studying Galatians, one of the great books of the New Testament, and a document that had a profound impact on modern history.
Actually, Norma and I participate in two small groups, just as we attend two churches. At Jones Christian Church where I serve as the minister, we meet with about 15-20 believers one Wednesday evening a month. We meet in living rooms, rotating from home to home, and discuss a topic of my choosing each month. It is a sweet group of Christians.
Norma and I also are members of Edmond Christian Church. We are unable to attend ECC on Sundays, but we find ways to keep our toes in the door, including participating in a small group that meets every other Thursday. This group of about 15, just organized in September, also meets in homes. Norma and I didn’t know many of the participants when we joined the group, so it has been great to make some new friends.
I just received an email announcing that the latter group will begin a study of Galatians this Thursday. What a great choice! Galatians is a wonderful little book. Galatians, of course, was written by the apostle Paul; it is probably the first Scriptures he wrote. It has been called the “short Romans,†because it is so similar to the longer letter to the Romans, in which Paul elaborates more fully on themes he introduces in Galatians.
The theme of Galatians is salvation by faith and our corresponding freedom from the Law. It was Martin Luther’s favorite Bible book. He wrote:
The Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am as it were in wedlock. It is my Katherine [the name of Luther’s wife].
I ‘m not surprised to see that the Crossway Classic Commentaries series has selected Luther’s commentary for its installment on Galatians. I may read through that commentary as our small group meets.
In Paul’s day, freedom from the Law meant being set free from following the ceremonial part of the Old Testament Law (circumcision, Sabbath observance, etc.). In Luther’s day, it meant freedom from medieval Catholicism, with its emphasis on works righteousness, asceticism, penance and indulgences. The message remains pertinent for every generation, because it is always human nature to neglect the infinite value of God’s grace through faith and revert to works righteousness, religiosity, ceremonialism, vain asceticism, and Pharisaism. In short, Galatians is as fresh and relevant today as it was when Paul wrote it.
Merrill Tenney, in his own commentary on Galatians (Galatians: The Charter of Christian Liberty), wrote:
Few books have had a more profound influence on the history of mankind than has this small tract, for such it should be called. Christianity might have been just one more Jewish sect, and the thought of the Western world might have been entirely pagan had it never been written. Galatians embodies the germinal teaching on Christian freedom which separated Christianity from Judaism, and which launched it upon a career of missionary conquest. It was the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation, because its teaching of salvation by grace alone became the dominant theme of the preaching of the Reformers.
If you live in the Edmond area and would like to participate in our small group, drop me an email for more information.
