THE SECOND PART: A BIRD’S-EYE VIEW OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians
Message One—Christ versus Religion
Scripture Reading: Gal. 1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19; 3:26-28; 6:15
I. The most crucial and mysterious matter revealed in the Bible is that God’s ultimate intention is to work Himself in Christ into His chosen people—Eph. 3:17a; 4:4-6: (2003 WT, msg. 1)
A. God’s desire to work Himself into our being is the focal point of the divine revelation in the Scriptures—Rom. 8:9-10, 6, 11. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
B. The book of Galatians reveals that God’s intention is for Christ to be wrought into His chosen people that they may become sons of God for His corporate expression—1:15-16; 2:20; 4:19; 3:26; 6:10, 16. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
II. The book of Galatians presents a comparison of God’s two economies—His Old Testament economy and His Testament economy—3:22-29: (2003 WT, msg. 1)
A. The word for God’s Old Testament economy is law, and the word for God’s New Testament economy is Christ—v. 24. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
B. Paul experienced a genuine conversion, a real turn from God’s old economy of law to His new economy of Christ—1:13-16. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
C. Christ, the Spirit, the new creation, and our spirit are the four basic things covered in this book as the underlying thought of God’s economy—2:20; 3:2; 6:15, 18. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
D. God’s New Testament economy is to dispense Himself as the processed and consummated Triune God into our being to be our life and our everything to make Himself one with us and us one with Him so that we may express Him in a corporate way for eternity—Rom. 8:10, 6, 11; 12:4-5; Rev. 21:2, 9-10. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
E. It is not God’s intention to have a group of good people; God wants many sons who are one with Him organically and who possess His life and nature and who thus can be members of the Body of Christ—Rom. 8:14; 12:4-5. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
F. God’s New Testament economy is the dispensing of Himself into His chosen and redeemed people to make them His sons; therefore, sonship is the focal point of God’s economy—Gal. 4:4-6. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
G. As we read the book of Galatians, we need to see that God’s New Testament economy is to put us into Christ and to impart Himself as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit into us to produce an organic union—an organic oneness in life—between us and the Triune God so that we may become His corporate expression—Gal. 3:27-28; 4:19; 6:10, 16. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
III. Galatians reveals that Christ is versus religion with its law—2:16, 20: (2003 WT, msg. 1)
A. Galatians deals with the law given by Moses and with the religion formed according to this law—4:21; 1:13-14. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
B. The law, the base of Judaism, has been terminated and replaced by Christ—Rom. 10:4; Gal. 2:16. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
C. The book of Galatians deals strongly with deviation from Christ by coming back to the law—5:1-2, 4. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
D. The desire of God’s heart cannot be satisfied by our efforts to keep the law; His desire can be satisfied only if we remain with Christ and live Him out—Phil. 1:21a. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
E. To hold to the law after Christ has come is against the basic principle of God’s New Testament economy—Gal. 4:21; 5:4: (2003 WT, msg. 1)
1. It is rebellion against God’s economy to snatch people from Christ and and to bring them back to the law. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
2. Since Christ has come, the function of the law has been terminated; therefore, Christ must replace the law in our life for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose—3:23-25. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
F. The three main negative things dealt with in Galatians are the law, the flesh, and religion; these three go together, for when we are under the law, we are involved with both the flesh and religion—2:16; 3:3; 1:13-14; 6:14. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
G. Paul’s burden in Galatians was to reveal Christ in such a way that He would be not only the focal point of God’s economy but also the focal point of our daily walk—1:15-16. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
IV. God’s New Testament economy is not with man in the old creation but with man in the new creation through the resurrection of Christ—6:14-15; 1:1: (2003 WT, msg. 1)
A. The main issue in Galatians is not circumcision or uncircumcision, religion or no religion; it is an issue of whether or not we are a new creation through an organic union with the Triune God—6:15. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
B. Apparently Paul wrote the book of Galatians to deal with the law; actually this book deals with the old creation. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
C. The new creation is altogether different from any kind of religion; religion is part of the old creation, and everything practiced in the religious world is part of the old creation—v. 14. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
D. Galatians brings us to the new creation by way of the inward revelation of the living person of the Son of God—v. 15; 1:15-16. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
E. The new creation is the mingling of God with man—John 15:4; 1 John 4:15: (2003 WT, msg. 1)
1. The meaning of the new creation is that the processed and consummated Triune God mingles Himself with us and constitutes us with Himself to make us new—Eph. 4:4-6, 24; Col. 3:10-11. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
2. Although we remain God’s creature, we are nonetheless mingled with the Creator. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
3. Because we now one with the Creator, His life becomes our life, and our living becomes His living; this mingling produces a new creation—1 Cor. 6:17. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
F. If we would be in the new creation, we must enter into an organic union with the Triune God; apart from this union we remain in the old creation—2 Cor. 5:17. (2003 WT, msg. 1)
G. The new creation is the new man in Christ, our being regenerated by the Spirit, having God’s life and the divine nature wrought into us, with Christ as its constituent; it is this new creation that fulfills God’s eternal purpose by expressing God in His sonship—Eph. 4:24; John 3:6, 36; 2 Pet. 1:4; Col. 3:10-11. (2003 WT, msg. 1)