Galatians 1 (3)

Pray Psalm 119.41, 42.
Let your steadfast love come to me, O LORD,
your salvation according to your promise;
then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me,
for I trust in your word.

Sing Psalm 119.41, 42
(Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth)
Let Your mercies come to me, Your salvation by Your Word.
From reproaches set me free, for I trust in You, O LORD.
Let my life an answer be for those who may question me.

Read Galatians 1.1-10; meditate on verse 10.

Preparation
1. Whom was Paul trying to please?

2. Whom did he hope to persuade?

Meditation
This seems like a strange verb to use in relation to God and the Gospel.

Paul is saying that, in his work as an apostle of God (v. 1) and his ministry of the Word and Gospel of God (vv. 6, 7, 11, 12), his desire was to persuade God, not men. If he were trying to persuade men, then he would couch his preaching and teaching in language and according to demands to which they could readily accede.

In the case of the Galatians, he would have tried to convince them to receive the Gospel by saying, in essence, that they could remain Jews and retain all their familiar and comfortable religious practices, simply adding Jesus to the formula, but leaving nothing behind. He would not have challenged their holding to the elementary principles and practices of their Greek, Roman, and pagan culture, or the rites and protocols of their Jewish faith (4.8-11). All they would have had to do would have been to fit Jesus in and they would be fine.

But Paul was not trying to persuade men. He was trying to persuade God. But of what? Of the genuineness and faithfulness of his ministry, for one, since he would not accommodate his message to the preferences of men. But even more, like the suppliants throughout the psalter who sought to get God to act in one way or another by reminding Him of His promises, Paul was hoping to persuade God to act according to His Word and promises, and to pour out the blessings of His Spirit on his ministry.

This gets at the question of Paul’s orientation and motive in ministry. He did everything only to please God. He sought only to see God do the things He had promised when the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed. Unless God is persuaded that our preaching and teaching are true, according to His Word, He will not be moved to bless our work, for His way of working is always according to what He has declared or promised.

Paul sought to persuade God to do His work among the Galatians, whereas the false preachers were merely trying to convince men to receive their teaching and thus become their disciples and, incidentally, supporters.

Whom are we trying to persuade?

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Do we now seek to persuade people?
Do we seek to please people?
Because as Paul stated, If we are people-pleasers then we would still be enslaved to that way of life and thinking—we would definitely not be persuading God of our seriousness to be bondservants of Christ (Gal. 1.10).

However, if our one goal in life is to please God, to: love Him supremely and live for Him single-mindedly, then we can assuredly say with Paul, that we too are “persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8.38). And nothing will be able to push us off the Jesus Path that we so long to traverse.

For we are “not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Rom. 1.16, 17). We will not be diverted by any other means to salvation, “which is not another” (Gal. 1.7) means, but merely a big whopping lie from the father of lies (Jn. 8.44).

“Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4.12). Or can be saved. No other way (Jn. 14.6).

Although circumcision is a painful procedure for an older person, and no doubt for infants as well, it is a matter that is run and done. An out-patient procedure with a bit of recovery. But hey, once it’s done, it’s done. So much easier than having to daily keep God’s Law and live for Him only. Or as Jesus said, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me” (Lk. 9.23). Or that pesky notion that we must keep His commandments to prove our love for Him (Jn. 14.15; 15.14).

But in this love for Him, we persuade Him of our wholehearted desire to serve Him. If we have wandered, He welcomes us back. If we have been trying to please ourselves or other people, He forgives when we ask.
As the prophet Samuel said to God’s disobedient people: “Do not fear. You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside; for then you would go after empty things which cannot profit or deliver, for they are nothing. For the LORD will not forsake His people, for His great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you His people” (1 Sam. 12.20-22).

“Seek the LORD and live” (Amos 5.6); and seek to persuade Him “of the genuineness and faithfulness” of your work in the Kingdom for Him and for His glory. Circumcision, and/or any other gewgaw of faux faith, are not the means to that end.

Reflection
1. Prayer is a way we try to persuade God. Explain.

2. What would you like to persuade God to do in you, for you, or with you today?

3. What can you do to keep from adding other requirements to the Gospel of grace?

The essential point is that we preach God, not people. All human beings are liars, and so whatever they make up in their own mind is uncertain, dubious and unstable. In his own being, God is eternal, and so he always stays the same and does not change… Rudolph Gwalther (1519-1586), Sermons on Galatians

Pray Psalm 119.43-48.
Thank God for His Word. Plead with His Spirit to take you deeper into the Scriptures and to equip you for every good work that is before you today. Commit yourself to growing in the Word of God and the power of His grace.

Sing Psalm 119.43-48
(Dix: For the Beauty of the Earth)
Let my words be Your words, LORD; strengthen me to keep Your Law.
All my hope is in Your Word, and I seek Your precepts all.
I will ever keep Your Word, for I trust in You, O LORD!

LORD, take not Your Word from me, for I trust it day by day.
I will walk in liberty as Your precepts I obey.
I shall keep Your truth, O LORD, for I hope in all Your Word.

I will speak Your Word to kings, and I will not be ashamed.
In Your Word my glad heart sings, as Your truth I have proclaimed.
In Your Law will I delight, which I love with all my might.

To Your Law I lift my hands to embrace and hold it dear.
In Your truth my glad heart stands, knowing You are ever near.
I will meditate, O LORD, on Your statutes and Your Word.

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.