Week 42: The Letters to the Galatians and the Thessalonians
Week 42: The Letters to the Galatians and the Thessalonians
For the next seven weeks we will be reviewing the twenty letters of the New Testament, and then for the final four weeks of the year we will seek to grasp the main themes of the book of Revelation.
Our studies in the New Testament letters will inevitably be inadequate, since in some cases we give only a day or two to important letters. Yet it may be helpful to try to gain an overview of the letters and so of the life in the Spirit that they depict.
We begin with the Letter to the Galatians because I believe it to have been Paul’s first letter, addressed to the churches of the four cities he visited on his first missionary journey. The main reason for this belief is that Galatians contains no reference to the Council of Jerusalem and its decrees, although they would have been directly relevant to the controversy that had erupted in the Galatian churches. So surely it must be dated before the Council, even probably written while Paul was on his way up to the Council. One senses the apostle’s hot indignation that the Judaizers were undermining his apostolic authority and perverting the gospel of grace.
The Letters to the Thessalonians, on the other hand, were written after Paul’s visit to Thessalonica during his second missionary journey. Because he had had to be smuggled out of the city by night and had not returned, his enemies had launched a smear campaign against him. It is evident that at least in 1 Thessalonians Paul was defending himself against the accusations of his detractors.
Sunday: No Other Gospel
Monday: Authentic Freedom
Tuesday: The Fruit of the Spirit
Wednesday: Placarding Christ Crucified
Thursday: Evangelism through the Local Church
Friday: Metaphors of Ministry
Saturday: Glory Revealed