Talk of JESUS . com

Tag: Church

My HOT reaction to a 1st. c. Hot Topic
As I read my own contemporary REACTION to Paul’s epistle (letter) to the ‘foolish Galatians’ I realized that the Apostle had provoked PREACHING in my own commentary.

Which HOT Topic that matters to YOU will push your button of REACTION?

WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO PERVERSION?

OR YOUR REACTION TO HYPOCRISY?

HOW DO YOU REACT TO SIN?
```
IF you even hold that SIN is identifiable in a man or woman.
```
IS YOUR REACTION TO OPPONENTS OF GOD SIMILAR TO PAUL’S?
```
IF YOU YOURSELF are not opposed to the ONE GOD and JESUS CHRIST?
```
REACTION to Galatians
```
Think of this an extended personal COMMENT and reaction to my own post 
AND then ADD your reaction to Paul's letter with YOUR comment.

Please forgive any overlap of content from Scripture. It is my hope that these exhortations may also convict 21st century christians in addition to the Galatians.
```
HOT topics from Galatians – Perversion of the Gospel

Galatians 1:7b LSB – .. there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Apostasy appears throughout the Holy Bible when God’s people become unholy.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
Paul’s epistle to the churches in Galatia 3:1 ESV

Foolish Reactions of milk-fed christians

(My REACTION to those led to ‘some other gospel,’ as Paul puts it.)

For the turning away^H4878 of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.

See Paul’s reference to foolishness according to Proverbs

God’s reaction to worshipers turning from HIM!

Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine:

the soul who sins shall die.
the word of the LORD through His Prophet Ezekiel 18:4

It is NOT ONLY the flesh which will wither and die; but, SAYS THE LORD, ‘the soul who sins shall die.’

Galatians 4:

SON OF A SLAVE! (What’s your reaction to that?)

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

DOES THIS NOT CONTINUE TO BE THE CONDITION OF EVERY CHRISTIAN BEFORE WE TURN TO JESUS CHRIST?

So why then, O foolish 21st century sinner, do you speak of reparations for slavery when you continue to refuse release from the CHAINS of CULTURE?

We are ENSLAVED by CULTURE! – the PERVERSE cultures of media leavening every moment of our day; the PERVERSE claims of political leaders PAID FOR secretly by those evil ones of Satan to whom their parties are chained.

The list is endless in these last days of this 21st century since the ascension of the risen Christ until HE returns to judge the living and the dead.

What’s your REACTION to HELL?
```
Now there's a HOT Topic to avoid for those who pervert justice and oppose the Gospel of Christ's return. Again Paul's concern for the Galatians ought to mirror our own concern for 21st century church.
```
9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
```
OR, foolish claimant of Christ, is your own perversion of the Gospel leading your own soul into inevitable darkness, death, Judgment and right punishment for preaching culture and not Christ?
```
15 What then has become of your blessedness? .. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
```
DO YOU CHOOSE THE TRUE GOSPEL or have you foolishly followed the descending flow of their cultural gospel (which is false) into the very pit of perdition?
```
17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.
```
The Apostle Paul exhorts so-called christians of the churches of Galatia to return to the GOSPEL OF CHRIST. 

I, too, have cultural HOT buttons of REACTION.
```
false – for it is intolerant of Christ and Scripture

Syncretism

You can’t be Orthodox AND Roman..

You’re no longer Catholic..

You can’t be righteous to Allah if you claim Christ..

Moroni and Smith hid in a secretive and false church of Jesus Christ in these latter days..

Our preaching is NOT Universal and CANNOT accept all religions..

GOD calls SELF-worship ‘SIN.’

Buddha can help you find your true SELF..

Our gods of the earth and nature bring you to the karma of this life..

We are ALL good..

The Bible is just another book.. )

DO YOU SEE THE DANGERS?

Evidence of Christ or Signs of Apostasy?

No Bible translation I know is so brash as to use this HEADING for Paul’s closing argument in his case against some members of the churches we call Galatians;

yet I’ll risk closing this HOT topic with such a summation for a jury of my Christian peers.

4 You are severed [cut away] from Christ, you who would be justified by the law;

you have fallen away from grace.

The GOSPEL of Christ’s grace IS good news not only to the redeemed but in its evidence to others.

17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,

and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh,

for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

CAN THE PERVERSITY OF HYPOCRISY BE ANY MORE OBVIOUS IN ITS WITNESS THOUGH THOSE WHO CLAIM CHRIST?

Perversion of the FLESH? vs. Fruit of the SPIRIT?

WHICH do YOU choose AND what evidence does every juror see, you who have been given the Gospel?

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident:

sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies,

and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
Paul’s epistle [instructive letter to the churches] to the Galatians 5:22-23a ESV

against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

ARE YOU a christian wearing the Cross of Christ while living in the flesh just as Paul calls out to the Galatians to return to the GOSPEL of CHRIST?
- Does REACTION to your christian claim lead to further apostasy from God?
Does Paul’s HOT Topic #2 for the saints of the churches in Galatia CONVICT YOU?

WHAT FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT do you lack?

OR

Is your witness as a christian saint somewhat steeped in the unholiness of the fruit of the flesh?

COMMENTS? or Questions?
June 20, 2023
Hot Topics from Galatians #2 – Apostasy
Apostasy appears throughout the Holy Bible when God’s people become unholy.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

HOT topic #2 – apostasy

Although Paul does not specifically name apostasy for the Galatians he will when writing to the Thessalonians.
```
[Circumcision may be a HOT Topic of the flesh of 2023 CE,
but this physical SIGN from a broken covenant was just one sign of apostasy,

SINCE MANY OPPOSE and deny Almighty God 
and the Lamb of the NEW COVENANT Christ Jesus!
```
Galatians HOT topic #1: Perversion of the Gospel

In our first look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians (possibly sent from ACHAIA) we quickly discovered that the Apostle’s #1 HOT topic and concern for these new churches is perversion of the gospel of Christ.

WE easily get pulled off-topic. CIRCUMCISION is NOT the issue.

Even for the Jews circumcision is NOT the issue, but an excuse to JUDEIZE Greek and Roman converts by forcing a sign of a broken covenant on the flesh of men.

So apostasy is an unnamed HOT topic in his letter to the Galatian churches. Apostasy is a HOT topic result of false teaching by others which the Apostle to the Gentiles addresses.

What is it?

To oversimplify, apostasy is akin to adultery against God.

And as we see the cultural custom of wedding bands, so too the Jews viewed circumcision of a man as a visual sign of their covenant with God.

Apostasy defined:

מְשׁוּבָה

The KJV translates Strong’s H4878 in the following manner: backsliding (11x), turning away (1x).

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Jeremiah 2:19 KJV 2:19 תְּיַסְּרֵךְ רָעָתֵךְ וּמְשֻֽׁבוֹתַיִךְ תּוֹכִחֻךְ וּדְעִי וּרְאִי כִּי־ רַע וָמָר עָזְבֵךְ אֶת־יְהוָה אֱלֹהָיִךְ וְלֹא פַחְדָּתִי אֵלַיִךְ נְאֻם־אֲדֹנָי יְהוִה צְבָאֽוֹת׃

When the Jews broke their covenant with the LORD,

a NEW Covenant was needed

– NOT a cultural covenant ONLY for the Jews, but a lasting covenant

— a NEW testament of God’s love for men and women made in His Image — mortals from every culture of the world HE created.

we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law
Epistle from Paul to the Galatians 2:15 excerpt ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.

And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Galatians 3:

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?

It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
Paul’s epistle to the churches in Galatia 3:1 ESV

Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
- all who rely on works of the law are under a curse 10a
- “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” – 10b
  - Deuteronomy 27:26 אָרוּר אֲשֶׁר לֹא־ יָקִים אֶת־דִּבְרֵי הַתּוֹרָֽה־הַזֹּאת לַעֲשׂוֹת אוֹתָם וְאָמַר כָּל־הָעָם אָמֵֽן׃ פ
IT’S A BIG DEAL TO THE JEWS who knew AND tried to practice ALL THE LAWS OF SCRIPTURE.

19 Why then the law?

It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made.
```
The ONLY sinless offspring (son of man) IS Christ: descendent AND predecessor of Abraham (to whom the covenant was given with its sign) AND of Moses (to whom was given the LAW of perfection by which ALL are transgressors (sinners) come under its curse.
```
24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith.

25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
```
Certainly this was Paul's GOSPEL PREACHED to the GALATIANS at first.
```
Galatians 4:

8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.

9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?

15 What then has become of your blessedness? .. 16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?

17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them.

Galatians 5:

4 You are severed [cut away] from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.

5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.

6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
- Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
- This persuasion is not from him who calls you.
- 9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
- do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,
- but through love serve one another.
The GOSPEL of Christ’s grace IS good news not only to the redeemed but by its evidence to others.

17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,

and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh,

for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

Perversion of the FLESH? vs. Fruit of the SPIRIT?

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident:

sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies,

and things like these.

I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
```
THE PERVERSITY OF HYPOCRISY BECOMES OBVIOUS IN ITS WITNESS THROUGH THOSE WHO CLAIM CHRIST?
```
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
Paul’s epistle [instructive letter to the churches] to the Galatians 5:22-23a ESV

against such things there is no law.

24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Let’s just leave it there.

a side note on Circumcision

Technically the HOT topic of Apostasy is circumcision which Paul mentions seven [7] times in his epistle to the men of the churches of Galatia and frequently in his other epistles to the churches.

WHY?
- Jewish men apostate from the LORD could make false claim to this covenant long-ago broken between the Hebrews and God
  - (much like a christian wearing the Cross of Christ while living in the flesh as Paul calls out to the Galatians).
- Such claims certainly lead to further apostasy from God by the witness of such hypocrisy justifying further sin forbidden by the LAW and perversion of the flesh!
Does Paul’s HOT Topic #2 for the saints of the churches in Galatia CONVICT YOU?

WHAT FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT do you lack?

OR

Is your witness as a christian saint somewhat steeped in the unholiness of the fruit of the flesh?

COMMENTS? or Questions?
June 19, 2023
Corinth – 1st Church Plant in ACHAIA
So why did Paul leave Athens, Greece? These apostles to the Gentiles are sent to Corinth by the Holy Spirit to plant a church in Achaia.

ACTS of the Apostles 18:
```
THIS summary of Paul's first two missions INCLUDES a 20 YEAR TIMELINE OF THE EARLY CHURCH. 
```
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
You’ll recall the Apostle’s great proclamation of the Gospel at the Areopagus of Mars Hill in the shadow of a Roman built-back-better ancient Acropolis. (The same philosophers’ debates continue into this distant millennium.)

Lectures about God in Athens’ University of Idols

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” – ACTS of the Apostles 17:32 ESV

So Paul went out from their midst.
```
We will talk about those new disciples who joined Paul's mission in Athens once we arrive in Corinth.
```
ACTS of the Apostles 18:
The Mission to Corinth
Gospel of Luke 10:
a Timeline of 2 missions
A.D. 30’s –
A.D. 40’s –
~A.D. 47- 49 + Paul’s Mission with Barnabas
~A.D. 49 – 51 + Paul’s Second Mission with Silas & others
Missionaries with Paul sent out to the STATES of Rome
The Mission to Corinth

17:33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.
```
Prior to leaving Athens Dionysius and Damaris AND others join 'them.' 
TWO new believers plus unnamed 'others.' 
```
Please don’t forget that Jesus, the Twelve Apostles, rabbis, and even those Greek philosophers who invited Paul to address them at the Areopagus in Athens all had followers. Some disciples (or followers) of these men frequently traveled with these teaching mentors to learn more.

Paul and the missionaries of the early church are no exception. The apostle to the gentiles does not preach the Gospel in Athens or anywhere else without the witness of other disciples of Jesus Christ.

ἀποστέλλω
```
Lexicon :: Strong's G649 - apostellō
```
Paul has disciples of the Way of Jesus Christ with him — other apostles SENT by the Holy Spirit – and others followers sent to become ministers of Christ’s church in all the world.

Gospel of Luke 10:

Now after this the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent G649 them in G649 pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come.

4 “Go! Behold, I send G649 you out G649 as lambs in the midst of wolves.

What kind of MAN would send out 70 missionaries with the Gospel into the midst of wolves?

JESUS!

“The one who listens to you listens to Me, and the one who rejects you rejects Me. And he who rejects Me rejects the One who sent G649 Me.”
Gospel of Luke 10:16 LSB – the Word of Jesus by the Authority of God the Father to seventy disciples

Paul will later write to his disciple Timothy, whom he has already circumcised to keep the young man from the wolves seeking their lives —

For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
1 Timothy 2:7 ESV

Jesus had brought Paul to Himself years ago in Syria, then to Cypress and Galatia previously with Barnabas. Now with Silas and several others the Apostle of the Gentiles journeys through Syria, Galatia, Macedonia, briefly to Greece and here to ACHAIA and its important city of Corinth.

Paul and his company of Christians from Antioch and many other places will build yet another church for the Corinthians and Christ Jesus here in the months to come.

a 20 YEAR Timeline of 2 missions

PAUL, as before, has fled Athens with the young lambs of Christ’s fold not only preserving his own life from the pack of Jewish and Hellenist wolves but done so to continue on the Lord Jesus’ mission before harm might be inflicted on any in his care.

A.D. 30’s –

Jesus crucified and raised from the dead!

The risen Christ instructs the Twelve (now including Mathias) until Pentecost and appears to more than 500 witnesses before the Lord ascends into Heaven. Jesus’ brothers James (who will later lead the Jerusalem church) and Jude now believe and proclaim Jesus as Lord.

The Apostles and others receive the Holy Spirit in Jerusalem and go out to Jews and Samaritans with the Gospel.

After Saul of Tarsus (Paul) had pursued and killed many disciples of the risen Lord, Jesus confronts him near Damascus, later sending Saul into all the world as His vessel with the Gospel. Paul then goes to Arabia.

A.D. 40’s –

Three years after Paul’s conversion and ten years after Jesus’ resurrection Peter, who earlier had miraculously escaped prison in Jerusalem, takes the Gospel to the Gentiles, including Romans.

Then in ~A.D. 44 the Apostle James is murdered and once again Peter is freed from prison in Jerusalem by angels.

The Apostles have begun their journey into all the world, occasionally returning to Jerusalem where Jesus’ half-brother James is now leader of the local church.

~A.D. 47- 49 + Paul’s 1st Mission with Barnabas

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
Acts of the Apostles 13:1-3 ESV – commissioning of Paul and Barnabas for 1st mission

49 And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50 But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to mistreat them and to stone them, they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, and there they continued to preach the gospel.
Acts of the Apostles 14:5-7 ESV

I reiterate this from Paul’s first mission to emphasize both the persecution by Jews and Gentiles AND the persistence of the Apostles in uplifting these new churches with letters and returning to them on other missions. Barnabas and Mark returned to Cypress. On this mission Paul began by returning to these same churches of his earlier mission in the same regions of Galacia.

‘Go into all of the world‘ of the Hellenist Roman Aegean with the Gospel

~A.D. 49 – 51 + Paul’s Second Mission with Silas & others

A.D. 49 – the Council at Jerusalem

In the year of our Lord 49 the Council at Jerusalem was followed by several notable witnesses of Christ in various ways.
- James, brother of Jesus & leader of the church in Jerusalem writes a letter primarily to the Jews of the dispersion,
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Letter of James 1:2-4 ESV
- Paul writes a letter to the Galatians, saints of the churches he and Barnabas have just planted in the region of Galatia including Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.
I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
from Paul and all the brothers who are with me.. To the churches of Galatia: 1:6-7 ESV
- The Emperor Claudius expelled most Jews (including the sect of Christians) from Rome
  - Those expelled from Rome included Priscilla and Anguilla, who the Lord will use in an important new missing in ACHAIA.
Missionaries in Corinth sent out to the STATES of Rome

Again, in A.D. 50 Paul has been sent out with the Gospel to several states of Roman influence – each with its own culture – each with its unique mixture of Hellenists, Italians more connected to Rome’s politics, Jews (some connected to the politics of Jerusalem), just regular residents, travelers, merchants, foreigners and of course, varying numbers of active and retired Roman soldiers.

Acts 18 ESV – Paul in Corinth
```
NOTE all the other apostles sent to Corinth in ACHAIA with Paul.
```
After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Part of the kingdom was now annexed to the Roman Empire, being united with Bithynia in a double province called Pontus and Bithynia: this part included only the seaboard between Heraclea (today Ereğli) and Amisus (Samsun), the ora Pontica.[18] The larger part of Pontus, however, was included in the province of Galatia.
Source: Wikipedia

5 When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them,

“Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
```
Once again, the Apostle sent into all the world has taken the Gospel first to his brothers in the faith of God - the Jews. AND once again as in other cities before many BUT NOT ALL Jews reject Paul and the Good News of the Messiah - the Christ, Jesus.
```
7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue.

(ALSO) 8 Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord (Jesus) , together with his entire household.
```
These two local men of Corinth are important and influential Jews, but they cannot dissuade the outside influences of Jewish zealots who have rejected their own Messiah.
```
And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized.
Acts of the Apostles 18:8b ESV

Acts for a 21st c. Church

– a history of the 1st century church –

To Be Continued… in Corinth.
June 2, 2023