Last week, we finished with Apostle Paul’s last Letter of 2 Corinthians.
This week, we are still with Paul as he continues battling the spiritual warfare against the Galatian Churches: encouraging the Believer’s there to continue steadfast in the true and faithful Gospel of Yeshua Ha’Mashiach (Jesus, the Messiah/Christ) which he had ministered to them, and to turn a deaf ear to false doctrines undermining the true Gospel via troublemakers infiltrating the Churches.
Paul probably wrote the Galatians epistles from Ephesus, around 53 or 54 AD (the dating may be in question as to the exact dating). Paul wrote to the Galatian Saints because they had been beguiled by smooth-talkers, strayed from the path of Truth, and was embracing false teachings. Paul reminds them that the Gospel message he brought to them was based on salvation through Yeshua, only: he defends his Apostolic calling/mission by reminding them of his own earlier opposition to the Church … how Yeshua saved him, and how his conversion led to his missionary work there among them.
In his letters to the Galatians, Paul emphasizes that Believers are justified by Yeshua alone: they are part of a diverse Family, and equipped by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (the Holy Spirit) to love Elohim and others.
Further background for those liking more information: What happened to
the Galatian Christians? Paul's legacy in Southern Galatia: http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1015-87582014000200001
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GALATIANS ~ Chapter 1
Salutation = Greeting
“From Paul, an Apostle – not from man nor through man … but through *Yeshua Ha’Mashiach and **Elohim, Who raised Him from the dead; and from all the brethren who are with me, to the churches of Galatia.
Grace be to you, and peace, from Elohim & Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, Who gave Himself for our sins so that he might, according to the Will of Elohim, save us from this present wicked world. To Him be the glory forever and ever! Amen. (vv. 1 – 5)
Reasons for Writing
I am dumbfounded that you have so quickly deserted Him Who called you into the grace of ***Christ, and have gone over to a different “****gospel”. No, it is not another gospel. But there are people who trouble you, and who want to pervert the Gospel of Christ. Yet, even if we, or an *****angel from Heaven were to preach to you a different gospel contrary to the one we have preached to you, may he be accursed (doomed, under a curse, detestable, foul, loathed)! Let me repeat what I have just said: If anyone shall proclaim to you a gospel different from what you have received from us, let there be a curse on him! (vv. 6 – 9)
Paul’s Message from Elohim – Not from Tradition
Do you think, now, that I am trying to win favor of men? Or, is it #Elohei Ha’Elohim’s approval I want? Am I seeking to please men? If I were trying to please men, I would not be what I am – a servant of Christ. Brethren, I want you to know that the Gospel that I preached to you is not an invention of man. I did not get it fr4om any man … and I was not taught it; I got it from Yeshua Ha’Mashiach by a revelation (shocking eye-opener).
You have heard of my former conduct in the orthodox Jewish religion, how I fanatical I was in persecuting the Church of God, and in trying to destroy it. I was far advanced in Judaism, surpassing many my own age and race, and far more zealous of the traditions of the fathers. But Elohim – who had chosen me from the time of my birth – called me by His grace at a time pleasing to Him. And when He revealed His Son to me, so that I should preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, I di not at once consult some human authority. No, I did not go up to Jerusalem to confer with those who were already apostles before me. But I went to Arabia and, when I came back again, it was to Damascus.
3 years later, I went to Jerusalem to make the acquaintance of Peter, and I stayed with him for 15 days. But I did not want to meet any of the other apostles, except ##James, Yeshua’s brother. As God as my witness, I am not lying when I write these things to you.
After that I went t=into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. My face was as yet unknown to the Christian congregations (gatherings of Christians) of Judea.
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They knew only by hearsay that “he who once persecuted us is now preaching the Gospel – the Faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised Elohei Ha’Elohim because of me.” (vv. 10 – 24)
*Yeshua Ha’Mashiach = Jesus (Greek), the Messiah (Hebrew): “Mashiach” is simply the Hebrew word for “Messiah”, which means, the ‘Anointed One’. “Yeshua Ha’Mashiach” written out in Hebrew looks like this: ישוע המשיח.
**Elohim (Hebrew: אֱלֹהִים, romanized: ʾĚlōhīm: [(eloˈ(h)im]) is a Hebrew word meaning "Gods – Father, Son, & Holy Spirit". Although the word is plural in form, in the Hebrew Bible it usually refers to a single deity “Behold, the Lord – the Lord is One”, particularly the God of Israel.
***Christ (from the Hebrew word, Ha’Mashiach ישוע המשיח & the Greek word, Christos/khris-tos) = The Anointed, Yeshua the Messiah, in both languages.
****Gospel: the word is derived from the Anglo-Saxon term, god-spell, meaning “good story”; Biblically speaking, gospel is a rendering of the Latin evangelium and the Greek euangelion, meaning “good news” or “good telling”.
*****Angel: (n) – a spiritual being in position of attendant, agent, or messenger of Elohim (often represented in human form with wings and a long robe).
#Elohei Ha’Elohim (Hebrew word: אֱלֹהֵי הָאֱלֹהִים)) = God of gods; above all gods.
##James: one of the four brothers of Yeshua (born naturally of his earth mother, Mary) – James was at first unconvinced of Yeshua’s claims; Yeshua’s brothers and sisters at one time thought Yeshua was mad, and ridiculed Him and His controversial ministry. And though James was part of the group at the Last Supper in the Upper Room … it was not until the resurrection that James was fully committed as a follower of Yeshua. From that point on, James was identified with the disciple group in Jerusalem. He was also at the Ascension & Pentecost happenings, and within 10 years became the leader of those in Jerusalem who acknowledged Yeshua as Lord and Savior (the long-awaited Jewish Messiah). As a symbol of the respect James enjoyed in Jerusalem, he became known as “the Just”.
When Paul escaped from prison and fled to the house of Mary, Mark’s mother, he asked that word be sent to James. Later, when the conservative followers of Yeshua were uneasy because Paul was heavily involved in ministry to the Gentiles, James was one of those who presided at the conference in Jerusalem and issued the agreement where Paul was approved as the Apostle to the Gentiles. A few years later, when tensions over the question whether a man could be a Christian without first becoming circumcised as Jew, made another conference necessary – it was James who proposed the solution which vindicated Paul. It was James who warned Paul of plots against him after his 3rd missionary journey.
**2 CORINTHIANS 13: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2022/06/2-corinthians-chapter-13thursday-bible.html
