About this Series
Most scholars agree that Galatians was written about 50 A.D. and is therefore among the earliest, if not the first, of the New Testament documents. The first Christians were Jewish but as the gospel spreads more and more Christians come from non-Jewish backgrounds. This creates some serious problems for the early church not least of which is do you have to be a Jew first before you can become a Christian? Although this may seem an esoteric issue to us today it raises an absolutely central question for all Christians – what is the gospel? For commentaries on Galatians see http://bestcommentaries.com/galatians. This site gives you reviews and some indication of the academic level of each commentary (ie technical, pastoral, devotional).
Galatians 3:26 - 4:7 | Peter MacPherson |
Children of God "You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:26). This is the big theme that runs through this section of Galatians to the end of Chapter 4. Originally this was an issue about ethnic background – did you have to be a Jew first to be a Christian and therefore a "child of God"? Paul says an emphatic "No!" and shows how anyone can belong to God's family if they put their faith in Jesus. For Christians today the issue is not so much about ethnic origin as about assurance – are you sure of your identity as a child of God? Our Senior Minister, Peter MacPherson, will today show how the work of God's Son and the work of God's Spirit give us this assurance.