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FROM THE PASTOR'S STUDY

Topic: Galatians Chapter Two: Message Outlines (Include Audio)

Galatians 2:1-10 (3)

by Darrel Cline
(darrelcline biblical-thinking.org)

Chapter # 2 Paragraph # 1 Study # 3
March 20, 2011
Dayton, Texas
(Download Audio)

Thesis:The biblical concept of "false brethren" is one of people who "believe" that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, but also "believe" that the appropriation of that reality consists of human diligence in obedience to divine imperatives.

Introduction:In our last study, I attempted to make a case for the idea that "faith" is the crucial intermediate reality of any form of "salvation". That case is rooted in the fact that not even apostleship guarantees fidelity to the twin truths of the Gospel which Paul preached to the nations. Paul's "private" presentation of the Gospel to the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem was rooted in fear that even apostles would crater on the facts of the Gospel. This means that they could. This also means that, if they did, "salvation by faith" would, as a key doctrine of salvation, die out among men and, consequently, "salvation" would not come to men even though Christ died for our sins and rose again on the third day.

In this study, I want to pursue Paul's "fear" and its root: if apostles could be brought to rejection of the Gospel of salvation by faith, where is any sense of security? Clearly, if our salvation is "rooted" in the truths that Christ died for our sins and rose again, we are "secure"; but, if our salvation is rooted in "faith" in those truths, how are we "secure" at all?


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