{"id":33321,"date":"2022-09-10T20:44:19","date_gmt":"2022-09-11T01:44:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/no-other-gospel-exposition-of-galatians-1-by-john-piper\/"},"modified":"2022-09-10T20:44:19","modified_gmt":"2022-09-11T01:44:19","slug":"no-other-gospel-exposition-of-galatians-1-by-john-piper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/no-other-gospel-exposition-of-galatians-1-by-john-piper\/","title":{"rendered":"No Other Gospel – Exposition of Galatians 1 by John Piper"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

What we can see immediately in this first chapter of Galatians, and at the end of verse 9 in particular (\u201cIf anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed\u201d \u2014anathema<\/em>, damned), is that this letter, and in this conference focused on this letter, and the 500-year-old Reformation enflamed by this letter, and the Christian faith that stands or falls with this letter \u2014 what you can see is that the Christian faith, and that Reformation, and this conference, and this letter deal with matters on which your eternal destiny hangs. \u201cIf anyone brings you another gospel, let him be damned!\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cEvery day, people in your church and your family are being lured away from Christ as their supreme treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And therefore, this letter and this conference and the Reformation and Christianity should echo in us with unparalleled seriousness.<\/p>\n

– Unparalleled seriousness in joy<\/em> at the grace and peace that is ours in verse 3, and the deliverance from evil and destruction that is ours in verse 4, and the soul-satisfying glory of God in verse 5.<\/p>\n

– Unparalleled seriousness of astonishment<\/em> (like we see in verse 6) that we or our children or friends would turn away from this grace to a gospel that is no gospel.<\/p>\n

– Unparalleled seriousness of anger<\/em> at anyone who, like those in verse 7, distort the gospel and destroy human souls \u2014 let them be accursed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Eternity at Stake<\/h2>\n

Just think of it. Accursed<\/em>. Whose curse? Paul\u2019s? Paul\u2019s curse is as nothing compared to God\u2019s curse. Paul says in Galatians 3:13, \u201cChrist redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.\u201d But now we have a group, purporting to come from James in Jerusalem (Galatians 2:12), who are directing the Galatians away from the all-sufficient, curse-removing substitution of Christ. So Paul says, Cursed<\/em> \u2014 damned \u2014 be those who lead people away from the curse-removing gospel of Christ.<\/em> Damned be the damners.<\/p>\n

This is happening to people in your church and your family. They are being exposed to kinds of \u201cgospel\u201d \u2014 which are no gospel<\/em> \u2014 every day. They are being lured away from Christ as their supreme treasure and away from grace. And they need to hear from you a very serious word.<\/p>\n

\n

You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. (Galatians 5:4)<\/p>\n

O foolish one! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. . . . Did you suffer so many things in vain \u2014 if indeed it was in vain? (Galatians 3:1, 4)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Woe to the pastor and worship leader who create an entertainment atmosphere in their church where this kind of seriousness feels out of place.<\/p>\n

Authority and Justification<\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n

Two of the great, indispensable truths of the Christian faith that the protestant Reformation recovered in Scripture out from under the mountains of sacramentalism and ritual and meritorious works in the Roman Catholic church were<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the supreme authority of Scripture over all human authority (including the Pope and all Councils), and<\/li>\n
  2. the truth that sinful human beings stand justified before God not on the basis of any righteousness of their own doing, but only on the basis of Christ \u2014 crucified, risen, righteous.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Those two recoveries are sometimes called the formal principle<\/em> of the Reformation (the supreme authority of Scripture) and the material principle<\/em> of the Reformation (the truth of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Christ alone).<\/p>\n

    The reason Paul\u2019s letter to the Galatians was so crucial in the recovery of these truths is that these two principles are exactly what this book deals with. Chapters 1 and 2 deal mainly with the formal principle \u2014 Paul\u2019s apostolic authority. Chapters 3 and 4 deal mainly with the material principle \u2014 the truth of justification by faith apart from works of the law. Chapters 5 and 6 deal mainly with what that looks like in life.<\/p>\n

    From the Bottom Up<\/h2>\n
    <\/div>\n

    My assignment is chapter 1, and so the focus falls heavily not on the material content of the gospel of justification, but on the foundation of the gospel in its divine origin through Paul\u2019s apostolic authority. The way I am going to tackle this is by focusing on Paul\u2019s argument, not in the order that he gave it, but by rebuilding his argument from the deepest foundation that he mentions to the final outcome, with each step in the argument being built on the one that most immediately supports it.<\/p>\n

    Let me illustrate, since this is hard to grasp in the abstract, but easy to see from examples. Suppose you say to me, \u201cI can\u2019t talk now, I\u2019m late, I have to hurry, or I\u2019ll miss my train.\u201d Now if I want to tell someone what you said, I could just repeat it as you said it. Or I could analyze it, and then rebuild it starting with the deepest foundation and ending with the final outcome. So, it would go like this: \u201cHe was late. Therefore, he was about to miss his train. Therefore, he was in a great hurry. Therefore, he couldn\u2019t talk to you.\u201d The order of the four statements in my exposition is totally different from the order you spoke them. But the logic is exactly the same.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201cBe done with man-pleasing, or you will not be a reliable witness to the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Here\u2019s the reason I find this so helpful to preach like this (It\u2019s not the only way!). Where there are only four statements you can see immediately and intuitively what the logical connections are \u2014 what\u2019s the cause and what\u2019s the effect. But when you are dealing with 24 verses, as we are in Galatians 1, you can easily lose track of how the pieces fit together. That\u2019s one of the things I think preaching is for: to make the structure of the argument plain.<\/em> One way to do that is to rebuild it from the most foundational to the final outcome, with each step in the argument built on the one that most immediately supports it.<\/p>\n

    We\u2019re going to work our way from the bottom up through eight steps in Paul\u2019s argument to the final outcome of his astonishment at the Galatians\u2019 departure from the gospel \u2014 which he hopes he can stop.<\/p>\n

    1. God set Paul apart for his salvation and his apostleship before he was born.<\/h2>\n
    <\/div>\n

    That\u2019s where everything starts.<\/p>\n

    \n

    But when he who had set me apart before I was born<\/em>, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.\u201d (Galatians 1:15\u201316)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    God chose Paul before he was born to be his emissary to the Gentiles. This is not even a main clause. Why point this out, as if in passing? It has at least two relevant implications:<\/p>\n

    The mission to include Gentiles through Paul was not an afterthought in the mind of God.<\/h3>\n
    <\/div>\n

    It\u2019s not as though God looked down and saw how slow the twelve apostles were going about the Great Commission and said, \u201cWell they are not doing the job I gave them; I\u2019ll need plan B. I\u2019ll find an enterprising Jew with some real diaspora experience and see what we can get going among the Gentiles with him. Hardly! God planned to spearhead the Gentile mission in the world with Paul before Paul was born (verses 15\u201316). Neither the Gentile mission nor Paul\u2019s leadership in it was Plan B. God planned Paul\u2019s apostleship before there were any apostles. That\u2019s the first implication of Paul\u2019s being set aside before birth. The apostleship he is defending was plan A, not an afterthought.<\/p>\n

    Paul did not simply put himself forward for the job.<\/h3>\n
    <\/div>\n

    God put Paul forward for the job, and he did it on the Damascus Road when Paul was a Christ-hating, Christian-persecuting Pharisee. Look at verses 13 and 14:<\/p>\n

    \n

    For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    In other words, when God chose me before I was born to be his apostle to the Gentiles, he planned to let me become a hateful persecutor of his children, so that it would be crystal clear that, when he called me, it was totally his doing. \u201cHe chose me before I was born and let me become an enemy of the church for all those years so that it would be plain that his calling me was utterly and totally gracious. I had no desire to be an apostle or even a Christian. I hated Christians. I was advancing in zeal against<\/em> the church, not for<\/em> the church.\u201d<\/p>\n

    The fact that Paul is a Christian and an apostle to the Gentiles is utterly inexplicable from any human standpoint. This leads now to step two in Paul\u2019s argument.<\/p>\n

    2. God called Paul to himself by revealing Christ to him.<\/h2>\n
    <\/div>\n

    As Paul said in Romans 8:30, \u201cThose whom he predestined he also called.\u201d So, again verses 15-16:<\/p>\n

    \n

    But when he who had set me apart<\/em> before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me<\/em> . . .<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Before he was born, God destines him for his calling, then decades later in the midst of Paul\u2019s hatred of Christians, God sovereignly takes what he had predestined. He calls Paul to himself. How? By revealing Christ to him on the Damascus Road. Verse 16: \u201cHe was pleased to reveal his Son to me.\u201d It was more than a blinding physical encounter. God revealed Christ deeply to Paul \u2014 in Paul<\/em> as verse 16 literally says. Paul saw the utter truth and beauty and worth of the Jesus he had been persecuting. And he saw that here was the end \u2014 the destruction \u2014 of all his religion. All his achievements were rubbish. And if this Jesus was anything, he was everything<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    \n

    \u201cChrist alone is the sum and total of your right standing with God. Don\u2019t leave him as your supreme treasure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    What would he do? Everything had to change. How could he even imagine what it would be like to serve the one he had tried to destroy? How could he imagine preaching a gospel that he hated and rethinking his entire understanding of the Old Testament? His answer is step three in the argument.<\/p>\n

    3. He avoided all contact with the twelve apostles by going to Arabia for three years and then spent only fifteen days getting to know Peter.<\/h2>\n
    <\/div>\n

    The point of verses 16\u201321 is that Paul did not consult with flesh and blood while his understanding of the gospel was taking shape. He did not depend on the twelve for his gospel or his apostolic commissioning. He only went to get to know Peter after three years. If his gospel and his authority were going to be valid, two things would need to be true: (1) His apostleship and gospel would need to be from Christ, not the apostles, and (2) his message \u2014 his gospel \u2014 would need to be in harmony with theirs. Independence in authority. Unity in message.<\/em> That\u2019s what verses 16\u201321 aim to show.<\/p>\n

    \n

    When God was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone [literally flesh and blood<\/em> \u2014 I realized immediately this is not a time to depend on any human input; God is calling me to be a agent of divine revelation]; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me [you can hear the implication that he realizes he is being made an apostle like them], but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.<\/p>\n

    Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit [histore\u014d<\/em> \u2014 to get to know] Cephas and remained with him fifteen days [the implication being: I did not go to school with him. I did not get my gospel from him. The time was short \u2014 two weeks. I had been preparing for three years already, and the aim was to meet him. You\u2019ll see in chapter 2 that the next visit was fourteen years later and Paul explicitly says in 2:6, \u201cthey added nothing to me.\u201d]. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord\u2019s brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    So the point of those verses (16\u201321) was that, flesh and blood \u2014 that is neither the Jerusalem apostles nor any other human \u2014 did not call me; flesh and blood did not reveal Christ to me; and flesh and blood did not teach me the gospel. I am not dependent on Peter, James, and John. There is no apostolic succession to me. I am not secondary in apostolic authority.<\/p>\n

    4. Paul is a radically new man whose change can only be accounted for by the risen Christ and to the glory of God.<\/h2>\n
    <\/div>\n

    He ends his description of this period of non-influence from the apostles in verses 21\u201324 with the amazing impact he had on the Christians in Judea.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ [during all these years he was not circulating in the territory of the apostles \u2014 they don\u2019t know him in that region]. They only were hearing it said, \u201cHe who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.\u201d And they glorified God because of me.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

    Paul the persecutor and destroyer of Christians, Paul the Pharisee, \u201cwho was advancing in Judaism beyond many of [his] own age among my people, so extremely zealous was [he] for the traditions of [the] fathers\u201d (verse 14) \u2014 this Paul was preaching the faith he had tried to destroy. Indeed, at enormous cost. And they gave God glory. Paul\u2019s point is: there is no adequate explanation for my life, apart from the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ.<\/em><\/p>\n

    This leads, then, to step five in the argument. All of verses 13\u2013 24 are written in support for this.<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

    You can read the rest of the sermon at DesiringGod.org.<\/p>\n

    By John Piper. \u00a9 Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org<\/em><\/p>\n

    Sermon video, pictures, and text originally found at DesiringGod.org. Used with permission.<\/p>\n

    <\/div>\n
    \n
    Share This On:<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    What we can see immediately in this first chapter of Galatians, and at the end of verse 9 in particular (\u201cIf anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed\u201d \u2014anathema, damned), is that this letter, and in this conference focused on this letter, and the 500-year-old … Continue reading “No Other Gospel – Exposition of Galatians 1 by John Piper”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33321","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33321"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33321\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}