Friday, July 7, 2017

Lesson 3 The Unity of the Gospel July 8-14 2017

Lesson 3July 8-14

The Unity of the Gospel


Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Gal. 2:1-14, 1 Cor. 1:10-13, Gen. 17:1-21, John 8:31-36, Col. 3:11.
Memory Text: “Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind”(Philippians 2:2, ESV).
Protestant reformer John Calvin believed that disunity and division were the devil’s chief device against the church, and he warned that Christians should avoid schism like the plague.
But should unity be preserved at the cost of truth? Imagine if Martin Luther, the father of the Protestant Reformation, had in the name of unity chosen to recant his views on salvation by faith alone when he was brought to trial at the Diet of Worms.
“Had the Reformer yielded a single point, Satan and his hosts would have gained the victory. But his unwavering firmness was the means of emancipating the church, and beginning a new and better era.” — Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 166.
In Galatians 2:1-14, we find the apostle doing all in his power to maintain the unity of the apostolic circle in the midst of attempts by some believers to destroy it. But as important as that unity was to Paul, he refused to allow the truth of the gospel to be compromised to achieve it. While there is room for diversity within unity, the gospel must never be compromised in the process.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 15.
SundayJuly 9

The Importance of Unity

Read 1 Corinthians 1:10-13. What does this passage tell us about how important Paul believed unity in the church was?
Having refuted the allegations that his gospel was not God-given, Paul directs his attention in Galatians 2:1, 2 to another charge being made against him. The false teachers in Galatia claimed that Paul’s gospel was not in harmony with what Peter and the other apostles taught. Paul, they were saying, was a renegade.
In response to this charge, Paul recounts a trip he made to Jerusalem at least fourteen years after his conversion. Though we’re not totally sure when that trip took place, no trip in antiquity was an easy affair. If he traveled by land from Antioch to Jerusalem, the three-hundred-mile trip would have taken at least three weeks and would have involved all kinds of hardships and dangers. Yet, in spite of such difficulties, Paul undertook the journey, not because the apostles had summoned him but because the Spirit had. And while he was there, he set his gospel before the apostles.
Why did he do that? Certainly not because he had any doubt about what he was teaching. He certainly did not need any kind of reassurance from them. After all, he already had been proclaiming the same gospel for fourteen years. And though he did not need their permission or approval, either, he highly valued the other apostles’ support and encouragement.
Thus, the accusation that his message was different was not only an attack on Paul but also an attack on the unity of the apostles, and on the church itself. Maintaining apostolic unity was vital, because a division between Paul’s Gentile mission and the mother-church in Jerusalem would have had disastrous consequences. With no fellowship between the Gentile and Jewish Christians, then “Christ would be divided, and all the energy which Paul had devoted, and hoped to devote, to the evangelizing of the Gentile world would be frustrated.” — F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians (Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1982), p. 111.
What are some issues that threaten the unity of the church today? More important, after we define them, how do we deal with them? What issues are more important than unity itself?
MondayJuly 10

Circumcision and the False Brothers

Why was circumcision such a focal point in the dispute between Paul and certain Jewish Christians? See Gen. 17:1-22; Gal. 2:3-5; 5:2, 6; Acts 15:1, 5. Why is it not that hard to understand how some could have believed that even the Gentiles needed to undergo it?
Circumcision was the sign of the covenant relationship that God established with Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation. Although circumcision was only for Abraham’s male descendants, everyone was invited into the covenant relationship with God. The sign of circumcision was given to Abraham in Genesis 17. This occurred after Abraham’s disastrous attempt — by fathering a child with his wife’s Egyptian slave — to help God fulfill His promise to him of a son.
Circumcision was a fitting sign of the covenant. It was a reminder that the best-laid plans of humans can never accomplish what God has promised. Outward circumcision was to be a symbol of circumcision of the heart (Deut. 10:16, 30:6, Jer. 4:4, Rom. 2:29). It represents a stripping away of our confidence in ourselves and a faithful dependence on God instead.
During Paul’s time, however, circumcision had become a prized sign of national and religious identity — not what it was originally intended to signify. About one hundred fifty years before Jesus’ birth, some overly zealous patriots not only forced all uncircumcised Jews in Palestine to be circumcised, but they also required it of all men living in the surrounding nations who fell under their jurisdiction. Some even believed circumcision was a passport to salvation. This can be seen in ancient epigrams that confidently declare things such as, “ ‘Circumcised men do not descend into Gehenna [hell].’ ” — C. E. B. Cranfield, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark Ltd., 1975), p. 172.
It would be a mistake to assume that Paul was opposed to circumcision itself. What Paul objected to was the insistence that Gentiles had to submit to circumcision. The false teachers said: “ ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved’ ” (Acts 15:1, NKJV). The issue, then, was not really about circumcision but about salvation. Salvation is either by faith in Christ alone, or it is something earned by human obedience.
Maybe today circumcision isn’t the issue. But what (if anything) do we as a church struggle with that parallels this problem?
TuesdayJuly 11

Unity in Diversity

Read Galatians 2:1-10. Paul says that the false brothers “slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery” (Gal. 2:4, ESV). What are Christians free from? Read John 8:31-36; Rom. 6:6, 7; 8:2, 3; Gal. 3:23-25; 4:7, 8; Heb. 2:14, 15. How do we experience for ourselves the reality of this freedom?
Freedom, as a description of the Christian experience, is an important concept for Paul. He used the word more frequently than any other author in the New Testament did, and in the book of Galatians the words free and freedom occur numerous times. Freedom, however, for the Christian means freedom in Christ. It is the opportunity to live a life of unhindered devotion to God. It involves freedom from being enslaved to the desires of our sinful nature (Romans 6), freedom from the condemnation of the law (Rom. 8:1, 2), and freedom from the power of death (1 Cor. 15:55).
The apostles recognized that Paul “had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised” (Gal. 2:7, ESV). What does this suggest about the nature of unity and diversity within the church?
The apostles acknowledged that God had called Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, just as He had called Peter to preach to the Jews. In both cases, the gospel was the same, but the way it was presented depended on the people the apostles were trying to reach. The gospel would bring “this oneness which is the basis of Christian unity, precisely as unity in diversity.” — James D. G. Dunn, The Epistle to the Galatians (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, Inc., 1993), p. 106.
How open should we be to methods of evangelism and witnessing that take us out of our “comfort zone”? Are there some forms of evangelism that bother you? If so, what are they, why do they bother you, and how do we know if a new method is good?
WednesdayJuly 12

Confrontation in Antioch (Gal. 2:11-13)

Some time after Paul’s consultation in Jerusalem, Peter made a visit to Antioch in Syria, the location of the first Gentile church and the base of Paul’s missionary activities described in Acts. While there, Peter ate freely with the Gentile Christians, but when a group of Jewish Christians arrived from James, Peter — fearful of what they would think — changed his behavior entirely.
Why should Peter have known better? Compare Gal. 2:11-13 and Acts 10:28. What does his action tell us about just how powerfully ingrained culture and tradition can be in our lives?
Some have mistakenly assumed that Peter and the other Jews with him had ceased following the Old Testament laws about clean and unclean food. This, however, does not seem to be the case. If Peter and all the Jewish Christians had abandoned the Jewish food laws, a major uproar in the church certainly would have followed. If so, there would surely be some record of it, but there is not. It is more likely that the issue was about table-fellowship with Gentiles. Because many Jews saw Gentiles as unclean, it was a practice among some to avoid social contact with Gentiles as much as possible.
Peter had struggled with this issue himself, and it was only a vision from God that helped him to see it clearly. Peter said to Cornelius, the Roman centurion, after he entered his house, “ ‘You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean’ ” (Acts 10:28, ESV). Although he knew better, he was so afraid of offending his own countrymen that he reverted back to his old ways. That’s, apparently, how strong the pull of culture and tradition was in Peter’s life.
Paul, though, called Peter’s actions exactly what they were: the Greek word he used in Galatians 2:13 is hypocrisy. Even Barnabas, he said, was “carried away with their hypocrisy” (NKJV). Strong words from one man of God to another.
Why is it so easy to be a hypocrite? (Isn’t it, perhaps, that we tend to blind ourselves to our own faults while eagerly looking for faults in others?) What kind of hypocrisy do you find in your own life? More important, how can you recognize it and then root it out?
ThursdayJuly 13

Paul’s Concern (Gal. 2:14)

The situation in Antioch surely was tense: Paul and Peter, two leaders in the church, were in open conflict. And Paul holds nothing back as he calls Peter to account for his behavior.
What reasons does Paul give for publicly confronting Peter? Gal. 2:11-14.
As Paul saw it, the problem was not that Peter had decided to eat with the visitors from Jerusalem. Ancient traditions about hospitality certainly would have required as much.
The issue was “the truth of the gospel.” That is, it wasn’t just an issue of fellowship or dining practices. Peter’s actions, in a real sense, compromised the whole message of the gospel.
Read Galatians 3:28 and Colossians 3:11. How does the truth in these texts help us to understand Paul’s strong reaction?
During Paul’s meeting in Jerusalem with Peter and the other apostles, they had come to the conclusion that Gentiles could enjoy all of the blessings in Christ without first having to submit to circumcision. Peter’s action now put that agreement in jeopardy. Where once Jewish and Gentile Christians had joined in an environment of open fellowship, now the congregation was divided, and this held the prospect of a divided church in the future.
From Paul’s perspective, Peter’s behavior implied that the Gentile Christians were second-rate believers at best, and he believed that Peter’s actions would place strong pressure upon the Gentiles to conform if they wanted to experience full fellowship. Thus Paul says, “ ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?’ ” (Gal. 2:14, ESV). The phrase “to live like Jews” can be more literally translated “to judaize.” This word was a common expression that meant “to adopt a Jewish way of life.” It was used of Gentiles who attended a synagogue and participated in other Jewish customs. It was also the reason that Paul’s opponents in Galatia, whom he calls the false brothers, are often referred to as “the Judaizers.”
As if Peter’s actions weren’t bad enough, Barnabas got caught up in this behavior, as well — someone who also should have known better. What a clear example of the power of “peer pressure”! How can we learn to protect ourselves from being swayed in the wrong direction by those around us?
FridayJuly 14
“Even the best of men, if left to themselves, will make grave blunders. The more responsibilities placed upon the human agent, the higher his position to dictate and control, the more mischief he is sure to do in perverting minds and hearts if he does not carefully follow the way of the Lord. At Antioch Peter failed in the principles of integrity. Paul had to withstand his subverting influence face to face. This is recorded that others may profit by it, and that the lesson may be a solemn warning to the men in high places, that they may not fail in integrity, but keep close to principle.” — Ellen G. White Comments, The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, p. 1108.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Very few people enjoy confrontation, but sometimes it is necessary. In what circumstances should a church condemn error and discipline those who refuse to accept correction?
  2. As the Seventh-day Adventist Church grows around the world, it becomes more and more diverse at the same time. What steps can the church take to make sure that unity is not lost in the midst of such diversity? How can we learn to accept and even enjoy the diversity of cultures and traditions among us, while at the same time maintaining unity?
  3. When sharing the gospel in a different culture, what are the essential elements that should not change, and what can be changed? How do we learn to distinguish between what must remain and what we can, if necessary, let go of?
Summary: The insistence by some Jewish Christians that Gentiles must be circumcised in order to become true followers of Christ posed a serious threat to the unity of the early church. Instead of letting this issue divide the church into two different movements, the apostles worked together, in spite of conflicts among themselves, to ensure that the body of Christ stayed united and faithful to the truth of the gospel.
Inside Story~ 

David’s Amazing Discovery, Part 1

David Pan stared at the words in his Bengali-language Bible: “The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.” As a teacher in a traditional Christian faith, David was amazed he had never noticed those words.
What did it mean? Which day was the seventh day? According to his calendar, the seventh day was Saturday. He didn’t know anyone who worshiped on Saturday. “I must ask the bishop about this,” he told his wife, Swarna. “Surely he’ll have an answer.”
“Forget what the Bible says,” the bishop advised David. “Continue to worship on Sunday as you’ve always done.”
The bishop’s answer puzzled David even more. Why was the bishop unwilling to discuss the Sabbath with me? he wondered.
Arriving home, David shared his perplexity with Swarna. “The Bible says plainly that we should keep the seventh day holy. But the Bishop couldn’t give me a satisfying answer to why we worship on Sunday. I don’t know what to do.”
“Perhaps we should fast and pray about it,” Swarna suggested. “If we’ve been worshiping on the wrong day, God will show us.” As David and Swarna fasted and prayed the conviction remained that they should worship on the seventh day Sabbath.
The next day a visitor came to their house. “Have you ever heard of a church that worships on Saturday, the seventh day of the week?” David asked him.
“Yes,” the visitor replied. “There’s a church in Calcutta that holds services on Saturday.” The visitor gave the church’s address.
The next Saturday morning David and Swarna went to Calcutta and found the church. They were delighted to find people there studying the Bible. After the service the couple visited with a businessman named John and his wife. During their conversation David and Swarna told them of their search for truth. “We want someone to come to our home to tell us more about why you keep Saturday,” David said.
“We’ll come,” John promised.
Soon afterward John and another man visited David and Swarna in their home. Before long David and his family invited John and a friend to hold Sabbath services in their home. A few others from the church in Calcutta came to support the couple in their search for truth.
Satisfied that the Seventh-day Adventist Church was teaching Bible truth, David resigned his job as a teacher in his church and began sharing the Sabbath truth with others. After more than seven months of study, David and Swarna were baptized along with many others with whom they had shared their new faith.
To be continued.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.  email: info@adventistmission.org  website: www.adventistmission.org
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Thursday, June 29, 2017

Lesson 2 Paul's Authority and Gospel July 1-7 2017

Lesson 2July 1-7

Paul’s Authority and Gospel


Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: 2 Pet. 3:15, 16; Galatians 1; Phil. 1:1; Gal. 5:12.
Memory Text: “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10, NKJV).
Students at a university built a center on their campus where everyone — regardless of race, gender, social status, or religious beliefs — would be welcome. Imagine if years later these students returned to the campus only to discover that other students had redesigned the center. Instead of the large room with plenty of space for socializing — designed to bring a sense of unity to everyone there — the room had been subdivided into many smaller rooms with entrance restrictions based on race, gender, and so forth. The students responsible for the redesign might have argued that their authority to make these changes came from centuries-old established practice.
This is something like the situation that Paul faced when he wrote his letter to the churches in Galatia. His plan that Gentiles could join on the basis of faith alone was being challenged by false teachers who insisted that Gentiles must also be circumcised before they could become members.
This position, Paul saw, was an attack on the essence of the gospel itself; thus, he had to respond. The response is the letter to the Galatians.
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 8.
SundayJuly 2

Paul, the Letter Writer

Read 2 Peter 3:15, 16. What do these verses tell us about how the early church viewed Paul’s writing? What does this teach us about how inspiration works?
When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he was not trying to produce a literary masterpiece. Instead, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, Paul was addressing specific situations that involved him and the believers in Galatia.
Letters like Galatians played an essential role in Paul’s apostolic ministry. As the missionary to the Gentile world, Paul founded a number of churches scattered around the Mediterranean. Although he visited these churches whenever he could, he couldn’t stay in one place too long. To compensate for his absence, Paul wrote letters to the churches in order to give them guidance. Over time, copies of Paul’s letters were shared with other churches (Col. 4:16). Although some of Paul’s letters have been lost, at least thirteen books in the New Testament bear his name. As the above words from Peter show, too, at some point Paul’s writings were viewed as Scripture. This shows just how much authority his ministry eventually gained early on in the history of the church.
At one time some Christians believed that the format of Paul’s letters was unique — a special format created by the Spirit in order to contain God’s inspired Word. This view changed when two young scholars from Oxford, Bernard Grenfell and Arthur Hunt, discovered in Egypt about five hundred thousand fragments of ancient papyri (documents written on papyrus, a popular writing material used several hundred years before and after Christ). In addition to finding some of the oldest copies of the New Testament, they found invoices, tax returns, receipts, and personal letters.
Much to everyone’s surprise, the basic format of Paul’s letters turned out to be common to all letter writers in his day. The format included (1) an opening salutation that mentioned the sender and the recipient, and then included a greeting; (2) a word of thanksgiving; (3) the main body of the letter; and, finally, (4) a closing remark.
In short, Paul was following the basic format of his time, speaking to his contemporaries through a medium and style that they would be familiar with.
If the Bible were to be written today, what kind of medium, format, and style do you think the Lord would use to reach us now?
MondayJuly 3

Paul’s Calling

Though Paul’s epistles generally follow the basic format of ancient letters, Galatians contains a number of unique features not found in Paul’s other epistles. When recognized, these differences can help us better understand the situation Paul was addressing.
Compare Paul’s opening salutation in Galatians 1:1, 2 with what he writes in Ephesians 1:1, Philippians 1:1, and 2 Thessalonians 1:1. In what ways is Paul’s salutation in Galatians similar to and different from the others?
Paul’s opening salutation in Galatians is not only a bit longer than in his others, but he goes out of his way to describe the basis of his apostolic authority. Literally, the word apostle means “someone who is sent” or “a messenger.” In the New Testament, in the strictest sense, it refers to the original twelve followers of Jesus and others whom Christ sent to tell people about Him (Gal. 1:19, 1 Cor. 15:7). Paul declares that he belongs to this select group.
The fact that Paul so strongly denies that his apostleship rests on any human being suggests that there was an attempt by some in Galatia to undermine his apostolic authority. Why? As we have seen, some in the church were not happy with Paul’s message that salvation was based on faith in Christ alone and not on works of the law. They felt that Paul’s gospel was undermining obedience. These troublemakers were subtle. They knew that the foundation of Paul’s gospel message was directly tied to the source of his apostolic authority (John 3:34), and they determined to launch a powerful attack against that authority.
Yet, they did not directly deny Paul’s apostleship; they merely argued that it was not really too significant. They likely claimed that Paul was not one of Jesus’ original followers; his authority, therefore, was not from God but from humans — perhaps from the church leaders from Antioch who commissioned Paul and Barnabas as missionaries (Acts 13:1-3). Or, perhaps, it came only from Ananias, who baptized Paul in the first place (Acts 9:10-18). Paul, in their opinion, was simply a messenger from Antioch or Damascus — nothing more! Consequently, they argued that his message was merely his own opinion, not the Word of God.
Paul recognized the danger these allegations posed, and so he immediately defends his God-given apostleship.
In what ways, even subtly, is the authority of Scripture being challenged today within the confines of our church? How can we recognize these challenges? More important, how have they (perhaps) influenced your own thinking in regard to the authority of the Bible?
TuesdayJuly 4

Paul’s Gospel

In addition to defending his apostleship, what else does Paul emphasize in his opening greeting to the Galatians? Compare Gal. 1:3-5 with Eph. 1:2, Phil. 1:2, and Col. 1:2.
One of the unique features of Paul’s letters is the way he links the words grace and peace in the greetings. The combination of these two words is a modification of the most characteristic greetings in the Greek and Jewish world. Where a Greek author would write “Greetings” (chairein), Paul writes “Grace,” a similar-sounding word in Greek (charis). To this Paul adds the typical Jewish greeting of “Peace.”
The combination of these two words is not a mere pleasantry. On the contrary, the words basically describe his gospel message. (In fact, Paul uses these two words more than any other author in the New Testament.) The grace and peace are not from Paul but from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
What aspects of the gospel does Paul include in Galatians 1:1-6?
Although Paul has little space in his opening greeting to develop the nature of the gospel, he masterfully describes the essence of the gospel in only a few short verses. What is the central truth upon which the gospel resides? According to Paul, it is not our conformity to the law — the point that Paul’s opponents were trumpeting. On the contrary, the gospel rests fully on what Christ accomplished for us through His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. Christ’s death and resurrection did something that we never could do for ourselves. They broke the power of sin and death, freeing His followers from the power of evil, which holds so many in fear and bondage.
As Paul reflects on the wonderful news of the grace and peace that God created for us in Christ, he falls into a spontaneous doxology, which appears in verse 5.
In about as many words as Paul used in Galatians 1:1-5, write down your understanding of what the gospel is all about. Bring your words to class on Sabbath.
WednesdayJuly 5

No Other Gospel

What normally follows the opening greeting in Paul’s letters? How is Galatians different? Compare Gal. 1:6 with Rom. 1:8, 1 Cor. 1:4, Phil. 1:3, and 1 Thess. 1:2.
Although Paul addresses all kinds of local challenges and problems in his letters to the churches, he still made it a practice to follow his opening greeting with a word of prayer or thanksgiving to God for the faith of his readers. He even does this in his letters to the Corinthians, who were struggling with all kinds of questionable behavior (compare 1 Cor. 1:4 and 5:1). The situation in Galatia is so upsetting, however, that Paul omits the thanksgiving entirely and gets right to the point.
What strong words does Paul use that demonstrate the degree of his concern about what was happening in Galatia? Read Gal. 1:6-9, 5:12.
Paul does not hold back any words in his accusation against the Galatians. Simply put, he charges them with betraying their calling as Christians. In fact, the word turning (NJKV), which appears in verse 6, often was used to describe soldiers who gave up their loyalty to their country by deserting the army. Spiritually speaking, Paul is saying that the Galatians were turncoats who were turning their backs on God.
How were the Galatians deserting God? By turning to a different gospel. Paul is not saying that there is more than one gospel but that there were some in the church who — by teaching that faith in Christ was not enough (Acts 15:1-5) — were acting as if there were another one. Paul is so upset by this distortion of the gospel that he desires that anyone who preaches a different gospel might fall under the curse of God! (Gal. 1:8). Paul is so emphatic about this point that he basically says the same thing twice (Gal. 1:9).
There is, today, a tendency even in our church (in some places) to emphasize experience over doctrine. What matters most (we are told) is our experience, our relationship with God. However important experience is, what does Paul’s writing here teach us about the importance of correct doctrine?
ThursdayJuly 6

The Origin of Paul’s Gospel

The troublemakers in Galatia were claiming that Paul’s gospel was really driven by his desire to obtain the approval of others. What might Paul have done differently in his letter if he were merely seeking human approval? Consider Gal. 1:6-9, 11-24.
Why did Paul not require Gentile converts to be circumcised? Paul’s opponents claimed it was because Paul wanted conversions at any cost. Maybe they thought that because Paul knew Gentiles would have reservations about circumcision, he didn’t require it. He was a people-pleaser! In response to such allegations, Paul points his opponents to the strong words he had just written in verses 8 and 9.
If all he wanted were approval, he would surely have answered otherwise.
Why does Paul say it is impossible to be a follower of Christ while trying to please people?
After Paul’s statement in verses 11 and 12 that he received his gospel and authority directly from God, how do his words in verses 13-24 make his point?
Verses 13-24 provide an autobiographical account of Paul’s situation before his conversion (vss. 13, 14), at his conversion (vss. 15, 16), and afterward (vss. 16-24). Paul claims that the circumstances that surrounded each of these events make it absolutely impossible for anyone to claim that he received his gospel from anyone but God. Paul is not going to sit by and allow anyone to disparage his message by questioning his calling. He knows what happened to him, he knows what he was called to teach, and he is going to do it, no matter the cost.
How certain are you of your calling in Christ? How can you know for sure what God has called you to do? At the same time, even if you are sure of your calling, why must you learn to listen to the counsel of others?
FridayJuly 7
Further Thought: “In almost every church there were some members who were Jews by birth. To these converts the Jewish teachers found ready access, and through them gained a foot-hold in the churches. It was impossible, by scriptural arguments, to overthrow the doctrines taught by Paul; hence they resorted to the most unscrupulous measures to counteract his influence and weaken his authority. They declared that he had not been a disciple of Jesus, and had received no commission from [H]im; yet he had presumed to teach doctrines directly opposed to those held by Peter, James, and the other apostles. . . .
“Paul’s soul was stirred as he saw the evils that threatened speedily to destroy these churches. He immediately wrote to the Galatians, exposing their false theories, and with great severity rebuking those who had departed from the faith.” — Ellen G. White, Sketches From the Life of Paul, pp. 188, 189.

Discussion Questions:

  1. In class, read your explanations of what you understand the gospel to be. What can we learn from one another’s writings?
  2. In Paul’s greeting to the Galatians, he declared that Jesus’ death occurred for a specific reason. What was that reason, and what meaning does that have for us today?
  3. In Galatians 1:14 Paul says he was extremely zealous for the traditions of his fathers. By “traditions,” he probably means the oral traditions of the Pharisees. What place (if any) is there for traditions in our faith? What warning might Paul’s experience offer for us today in regard to the whole question of tradition?
  4. Why was Paul so seemingly “intolerant” of those who believed differently from what he said and did? Read again some of the things he wrote about those who had a different view of the gospel. How might someone holding such a strong, uncompromising stance be viewed in our church today?
Summary: The false teachers in Galatia were trying to undermine Paul’s ministry by claiming that his apostleship and gospel message were not God-given. Paul confronts both of these accusations in the opening verses of his letter to the Galatians. He boldly declares that there is only one way of salvation, and describes how the events surrounding his conversion demonstrate that his calling and gospel only could be from God.
Inside Story~ 

Rescue in the River, Part 2

The atmosphere grew tense. Some of the rowdies threatened the baptismal candidates with sticks. “We don’t want Christians in our village," one man shouted. “We have our own gods and our own ways of worship. You must not follow these men who have come to teach their religion. You must continue in the way of our ancestors."
“It doesn’t look like we’ll have a baptism today,” one of the pastors whispered to the other pastors. Perhaps they would have to return on another day.
Just then the pastors heard a young woman’s voice rise above the angry shouts of the crowd. It was Rebecca Tudu, one of the baptismal candidates. “Nobody is going to stop me from being baptized today,” she shouted. “We live in a free country. I will worship whatever God I choose. I choose Jesus Christ, and I am going to be baptized today whether you like it or not.”
With those words Rebecca marched through the mob and on toward the meeting hall. None of the men moved to stop her. Seeing her fearless spirit, 15 other baptismal candidates followed her.
Those 16 new believers were baptized that day while the angry villagers looked on. The believers, empowered by the Holy Spirit and Rebecca’s brave action, took a bold stand for Jesus Christ.
Benjamin was among those baptized that day. His baptism brought another miracle into his life. Before his baptism his eyesight was so poor that he was could barely see. But after his baptism his eyesight improved, and now he is able to read the Bible without difficulty.
“Twice God has revealed Himself to me,” Benjamin testified. “I have no doubt that God is alive and hears my prayers.” Benjamin spends much of his time giving his testimony to the people in the nearby villages.
A week after her baptism Rebecca went to her home village to tell her parents what she had learned during the past few weeks. She shared the Bible truths she treasured and told them about the excitement on the day of the baptism. Her parents were eager to learn more about God and asked Rebecca to invite the pastors to visit their village and teach them.
The pastors came and studied with Rebecca’s parents for several weeks. One happy day Rebecca stood by a riverbank and watched her parents be baptized. Her two brothers also took their stand, along with others from her village.
The author, C. S. Marandi, was the president of the Bihar Section, Ranchi, Bihar, India, before his retirement.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.  email: info@adventistmission.org  website: www.adventistmission.org
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Saturday, June 24, 2017

Lesson 1 Paul : Apostle to the Gentiles June 24-30

The Gospel in Galatians
Sabbath School Lesson Begins
Bible Study Guide - 3rd Quarter 2017

Martin Luther and Galatians


The Protestant world is getting ready to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, when Martin Luther — guided by the Holy Spirit — brought to millions crucial biblical truths that were long hidden under centuries of superstition and tradition. One could argue that out of the pages of Galatians (along with Romans) Protestantism itself was born half a millennium ago! It was while reading Galatians that Martin Luther first was touched with the glorious good news of righteousness by faith, the great truth that spawned the Protestant Reformation, which freed millions from centuries of theological and ecclesiastical error. What he read in this book changed Luther, and the world has never been the same again.
Seventh-day Adventists, many centuries after Luther, also are indebted to Galatians. Through the study of Galatians, E. J. Waggoner and A. T. Jones helped the Adventist Church in the 1880s and 90s rediscover the truth of righteousness by faith.
What is it about Galatians that has made it such a backbone of the Protestant Reformation? Why has it been able to touch the hearts of so many, such as Martin Luther? In a manner unlike any other book in the Bible, Galatians addresses a number of themes crucial to the Christian soul. It is in Galatians that Paul tackles issues such as freedom, the role of the law in salvation, our condition in Christ, and the nature of the Spirit-led life, as well as the age-old question, How can sinful humans be made right before a holy and just God? It was this question, perhaps more than any other, that spurred Martin Luther on the track he started and from which he never turned back.
Of course, other books, such as Romans, address some of these same questions, but Galatians is different. Not only is it more succinct, but its rich themes are written in a powerfully personal and impassioned pastoral tone that can’t help but touch hearts open to the Spirit of God, even today.
Although Paul’s letter speaks to us personally, our understanding can be strengthened if we are aware of the original historical situation that Paul, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, was addressing.
Many scholars believe that Galatians may be the earliest of Paul’s letters. It was written in A.D. 49, shortly after the famous Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). Therefore, the book may be the oldest Christian document known. As Acts and Galatians make clear, the early church found itself in a fierce battle over the nature of salvation, especially in the case of Gentiles. According to a group of Jewish believers, known as Judaizers, belief in Jesus alone was not good enough for Gentiles. Gentiles must also be circumcised and follow the laws of Moses (Acts 15:1). It is no surprise, then, that when Paul founded a church of Gentiles in Galatia, some of these Judaizers traveled there to “straighten things out.”
When word of this problem reached Paul, he reacted fervently. Recognizing that this false gospel of salvation by faith and works threatened to undermine the work of Christ, Paul wrote the Galatians an impassioned defense of the gospel. In the strongest of words, he identified this false teaching for what it really was — legalism, pure and simple.
This quarter’s Bible study guide invites us to journey with the apostle Paul as he pleads with the Galatians to remain true to Jesus. At the same time, it also gives us a chance to reflect on our own understanding of the truths that opened the way for Martin Luther’s ultimate break with Rome and the restoration of the biblical gospel.
Carl Cosaert, PhD, is a professor of biblical studies at Walla Walla University in College Place, Washington.

Lesson 1June 24-30

Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles


Sabbath Afternoon
Read for This Week’s Study: Acts 6:9-15, 9:1-9, 1 Sam. 16:7, Matt. 7:1, Acts 11:19-21, 15:1-5.
Memory Text: “When they heard these things they became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life’” (Acts 11:18, NKJV).
It’s not that hard to understand Saul of Tarsus (also known as the apostle Paul after his conversion), and why he did what he did. As a devout Jew who was taught all his life about the importance of the law and about the soon-coming political redemption of Israel, the idea of the long-awaited Messiah being ignominiously executed like the worst of criminals was just too much for him to tolerate.
No wonder, then, he was convinced that the followers of Jesus were being disloyal to the Torah and, thus, hindering God’s plan for Israel. Their claims that the crucified Jesus was the Messiah and that He had risen from the dead were, he believed, rank apostasy. There could be no tolerance for such nonsense or for anyone who refused to give up those notions. Saul was determined to be God’s agent to rid Israel of these beliefs. Hence, he first appears in the pages of Scripture as a violent persecutor of his fellow Jews, those who believed that Jesus was the Messiah.
God, however, had far different plans for Saul, plans that he never could have anticipated for himself: not only was this Jew going to preach Jesus as the Messiah, he was going to do it among the Gentiles!
Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, July 1.
SundayJune 25

Persecutor of Christians

Saul of Tarsus first appears in Acts as one involved in the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:58) and then in connection with the more wide-scale persecution that broke out in Jerusalem (Acts 8:1-5). Peter, Stephen, Philip, and Paul play a significant role in the book of Acts because they were involved in events that led to the spread of the Christian faith beyond the Jewish world. Stephen is of particular significance because his preaching and martyrdom appear to have had a profound influence on Saul of Tarsus.
Stephen himself was a Greek-speaking Jew, and one of the original seven deacons (Acts 6:3-6). According to Acts, a group of Greek-speaking Jews who had come to live in Jerusalem (Acts 6:9) entered into a dispute with Stephen over the content of his preaching about Jesus. It is possible, maybe even likely, that Saul of Tarsus was involved in these debates.
Read Acts 6:9-15. What charges were brought against Stephen? What do these charges remind you of? (See also Matt. 26:59-61.)
The fierce hostility toward Stephen’s preaching appears to have resulted from two different things. On the one hand, Stephen drew the ire of his opponents by not placing primary importance on the Jewish law and the temple, which had become the focal point of Judaism and were treasured symbols of religious and national identity. But Stephen did more than merely downplay these two treasured icons; he vigorously proclaimed that Jesus, the crucified and risen Messiah, was the true center of the Jewish faith.
No wonder, then, that he angered the Pharisee Saul
(Phil. 3:3-6 ). The Pharisees were a Jewish religious group that followed Jewish laws very strictly. Saul saw that the great prophetic promises of God’s kingdom had not yet been fulfilled (Daniel 2, Zech. 8:23, Isaiah 40-55), and he probably believed it was his task to help God bring that day about — which could be done by cleansing Israel of religious corruption, including the idea that this Jesus was the Messiah.
Convinced he was right, Saul was willing to put those whom he thought wrong to death. While we need zeal and fervor for what we believe, how do we learn to temper our zeal with the realization that, at times, we just might be wrong?
MondayJune 26

Saul’s Conversion

“And he said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ Then the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads’ ” (Acts 9:5, NKJV).
Although Saul’s persecution of the early church begins rather inconspicuously (as he only holds the coats of Stephen’s executioners), it quickly intensifies (see Acts 8:1-3; 9:1, 2, 13, 14, 21; 22:3-5). Several of the words Luke uses to describe Saul paint a picture of a wild, ferocious beast or a pillaging soldier bent on the destruction of his opponent. The word translated “ravaging” in Acts 8:3 (ESV), for example, is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament (Ps. 80:13) to describe the uncontrolled and destructive behavior of a wild boar. Saul’s crusade against the Christians was clearly not a half-hearted matter of convenience; it was a deliberate and sustained plan to exterminate the Christian faith.
Look at the three descriptions of Saul’s conversion (Acts 9:1-18, 22:6-21, and 26:12-19). What role did the grace of God have in this experience? In other words, how much did Saul deserve the goodness that the Lord showed toward him?
Saul’s conversion, from a human perspective, must have seemed impossible (hence the skepticism that many expressed when they first heard about it).
The only thing Saul deserved was punishment, but God extended grace to this fervent Jew instead. It is important to note, however, that Saul’s conversion did not happen in a vacuum, nor was it forced.
Saul was no atheist. He was a religious man, though gravely mistaken in his understanding of God. Jesus’ words to Saul, “ ‘ “It is hard for you to kick against the goads” ’ ” (Acts 26:14, ESV), indicate that the Spirit had been convicting Saul. In the ancient world, a “goad” was a stick with a sharp point used to prod oxen whenever they resisted plowing. Saul had resisted God’s prodding for some time, but finally on his way to Damascus, through a miraculous encounter with the risen Jesus, Saul chose to fight no longer.
Think back about your own conversion experience. Maybe it wasn’t as dramatic as Saul’s (most aren’t), but in what similar ways were you the recipient of God’s grace? Why is it important never to forget what we have been given in Christ?
TuesdayJune 27

Saul in Damascus

During Saul’s encounter with Jesus, he was blinded and then instructed to go to the house of a man named Judas and to wait there for another man, Ananias. No doubt Saul’s physical blindness was a powerful reminder of the greater spiritual blindness that led him to persecute the followers of Jesus.
The appearance of Jesus to him on the Damascus road changed everything. Where Saul had thought he had been so right, he had been dead wrong. Rather than working for God, he had been working against Him. Saul entered Damascus a different man than the proud and zealous Pharisee who had left Jerusalem. Instead of eating and drinking, Saul spent his first three days in Damascus in fasting and prayer as he reflected on all that had happened.
Read Acts 9:10-14. Imagine what must have been going on in the mind of Ananias: not only was Saul, the persecutor, now a believer in Jesus, he was also Paul, God’s chosen apostle to take the gospel to the Gentile world (see Acts 26:16-18).
No wonder Ananias was a little confused. If the church in Jerusalem was hesitant to accept Paul some three years after his conversion (Acts 9:26-30), one can imagine what questions and concerns filled the hearts of the believers in Damascus only days after the event!
Notice, too, that Ananias was given a vision by the Lord telling him the surprising and unexpected news about Saul of Tarsus; anything less than a vision might not have convinced him that what he was told about Saul was true — that the enemy of the Jewish believers had now become one of them.
Saul had left Jerusalem with the authority and commission of the chief priests to root out the Christian faith (Acts 26:12); God had, however, a vastly different commission for Saul, one that rested on far greater authority. Saul was to take the gospel to the Gentile world, an idea that must have been even more shocking to Ananias and the other Jewish believers than was the conversion of Saul himself.
Where Saul had sought to curtail the spread of the Christian faith, now God would use him to spread it far beyond anything that Jewish believers ever would have imagined.
Read 1 Samuel 16:7, Matthew 7:1, and 1 Corinthians 4:5. What is the message of these texts in regard to why we must be careful in how we view the spiritual experience of other people? What mistakes have you made in your judgments about others, and what have you learned from those mistakes?
WednesdayJune 28

The Gospel Goes to the Gentiles

Where was the first Gentile church established? What events caused the believers to go there? (Acts 11:19-21, 26). What does that remind you of from Old Testament times? (See Daniel 2.)
The persecution that broke out in Jerusalem after Stephen’s death caused a number of Jewish believers to flee three hundred miles north to Antioch. As capital of the Roman province of Syria, Antioch was second only to Rome and Alexandria in significance. Its population, estimated at five hundred thousand, was extremely cosmopolitan, making it an ideal location not only for a church with
large numbers of both Jews and Gentiles but as the starting base for the worldwide mission of the early church.
What occurred in Antioch that resulted in Barnabas’ visit to the city and his subsequent decision to invite Paul to join him in Antioch? What kind of picture is presented of the church there? (Acts 11:20-26).
Constructing a chronology of Paul’s life is difficult, but it appears that some five years passed between his post-conversion visit to Jerusalem (Acts 9:26-30) and the invitation by Barnabas to join him in Antioch. What was Paul doing all those years? It is hard to say for sure. But based on his comments in Galatians 1:21, he may have been preaching the gospel in the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Some have suggested that, perhaps, it was during this time that he was disinherited by his family (Phil. 3:8) and suffered a number of the hardships he describes in 2 Corinthians 11:23-28. The church in Antioch blossomed under the guidance of the Spirit. The description in Acts 13:1 indicates that the cosmopolitan nature of the city was soon reflected in the ethnic and cultural diversity of the church itself. (Barnabas was from Cyprus, Lucius from Cyrene, Paul from Cilicia, Simeon presumably from Africa, and consider all the Gentile converts, too.) The Spirit now sought to take the gospel to even more Gentiles by using Antioch as the base for more far-reaching missionary activities, beyond Syria and Judea.
Read again Acts 11:19-26. What can we learn from the church at Antioch, a very culturally and ethnically diverse church, that could help churches today emulate the good that existed there?
ThursdayJune 29

Conflict Within the Church

Of course, nothing human is perfect, and it wasn’t long before trouble began within the early community of faith.
For starters, not everyone was pleased with the entry of Gentile believers into the early church. The disagreement was not over the concept of a Gentile mission, but over the basis on which Gentiles should be allowed to join. Some felt that faith in Jesus alone was not sufficient as the defining mark of the Christian; faith, they argued, must be supplemented with circumcision and obedience to the law of Moses. To be a true Christian, they asserted, Gentiles needed to be circumcised. (We can, in Acts 10:1-11:18, see the extent of the division between Jews and Gentiles through Peter’s experience with Cornelius and the reaction that followed.)
The official visits from Jerusalem, which monitored Philip’s work among the Samaritans (Acts 8:14) and the work with Gentiles in Antioch (Acts 11:22), may suggest some concern about the inclusion of non-Jews in the Christian community. Yet, the reaction to Peter’s baptism of Cornelius, an uncircumcised Roman soldier, is a clear example of the disagreement that existed on the Gentile question among the earlier believers. The inclusion of an occasional Gentile such as Cornelius may have made some feel uncomfortable, but Paul’s intentional efforts to open wide the doors of the church for Gentiles on the basis of faith in Jesus alone resulted in deliberate attempts by some to undermine Paul’s ministry.
How did certain believers from Judea try to counteract Paul’s work with Gentile Christians in Antioch? Acts 15:1-5.
Although the Jerusalem Council, in Acts 15, ultimately sided with Paul on the issue of circumcision, the opposition to Paul’s ministry continued. About seven years later, during Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem, many were still suspicious about Paul’s gospel. In fact, when Paul visited the temple, he nearly lost his life when Jews from Asia cried out, “Men of Israel, help: This is the man, that teacheth all men every where against the people, and the law, and this place” (Acts 21:28; see also 21:20, 21).
Put yourself in the position of these Jewish believers who were concerned about Paul’s teaching. Why do their concern and opposition make some sense? What can we learn from this about how our own preconceived ideas, as well as cultural (and even religious) notions, can lead us astray? How can we learn to protect ourselves from making the same kind of errors, no matter how well-intentioned we are?
FridayJune 30
Further Thought: For the relationship between personal conversion and the church, read Ellen G. White, “Individual Independence”, pp. 430-434, in Testimonies for the Church, vol. 3. For a helpful map of the early life of Paul and commentary on his conversion, see The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 6, pp. 226-234.
“Paul had formerly been known as a zealous defender of the Jewish religion and an untiring persecutor of the followers of Jesus. Courageous, independent, persevering, his talents and training would have enabled him to serve in almost any capacity. He could reason with extraordinary clearness, and by his withering sarcasm could place an opponent in no enviable light. And now the Jews saw this young man of unusual promise united with those whom he formerly persecuted, and fearlessly preaching in the name of Jesus.
“A general slain in battle is lost to his army, but his death gives no additional strength to the enemy. But when a man of prominence joins the opposing force, not only are his services lost, but those to whom he joins himself gain a decided advantage. Saul of Tarsus, on his way to Damascus, might easily have been struck dead by the Lord, and much strength would have been withdrawn from the persecuting power. But God in His providence not only spared Saul’s life, but converted him, thus transferring a champion from the side of the enemy to the side of Christ. An eloquent speaker and a severe critic, Paul, with his stern purpose and undaunted courage, possessed the very qualifications needed in the early church.” — Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 124.

Discussion Questions:

  1. What lesson can we learn from the fact that some of Paul’s harshest opponents were fellow Jews who believed in Jesus?
  2. How can you stand up for matters of religious principle and at the same time make sure that you are not fighting against God?
Summary: Saul’s encounter with the risen Jesus on the Damascus road was the defining moment in his life and in the history of the early church. God changed the one-time persecutor of the church and made him His chosen apostle to bring the gospel to the Gentile world. Paul’s inclusion of Gentiles in the church by faith alone, however, proved a difficult concept for some within the church to accept — a powerful example of how preconceptions and prejudice can hinder our mission.
Inside Story~ 

Rescue in the River, Part 1

Benjamin Murmu was crippled by polio, but managed to get around with a cane. He was well known in the hills of Bihar, India-as a witch doctor, and later as a political leader. Then one day, God revealed Himself to Benjamin.
While riding his horse, Benjamin came to a river that he needed to cross. The river was swollen, and the current looked dangerous. Slowly Benjamin urged the horse into the swirling waters. The horse struggled to keep its head above water, but the swift current quickly swept horse and rider downstream.
Thrashing its legs, the horse tried to find a foothold, but the water was too deep. Benjamin couldn’t swim; his only hope for survival was to cling to the horse. His heart beat wildly as he tried to guide his horse toward shore, but the animal was helpless against the current. Fearing certain death, Benjamin cried out to God for the first time in his life. “God! If You are there, please help me! Help me!"
Suddenly Benjamin saw two men beside him in the water. Without a word they grabbed the horse and pulled both horse and rider to solid ground. Benjamin lay on the shore, trying to catch his breath. When he turned to thank the two men who had rescued him, they were gone. His eyes scanned the flat, treeless landscape in search of the men, but they had simply disappeared.
Slowly Benjamin realized that God had answered his prayer and sent angels to rescue him. That moment marked the turning point in his life. There on the riverbank, still shaking from his ordeal, Benjamin made up his mind to become a Christian.
Some time later Seventh-day Adventist evangelists held meetings in Benjamin’s village. Benjamin attended and accepted the truth that he learned there. He asked to be baptized at the end of the meetings.
But not everyone was happy to have the evangelists preach in their village. Several times people tried to disrupt the meetings, but their efforts were largely unsuccessful, and a number of new believers asked to be baptized.
On the day of the baptism the pastors encountered a crowd of drunken men along the road that led from the meeting place to the baptismal site. The men allowed the pastors to pass by, but then they blocked the road and didn’t allow the believers to pass.
Meanwhile the pastors waited for the new believers to arrive. But as time passed and no one came, the pastors grew concerned. They sang and prayed for some time, but still the new believers didn’t come. To be continued.
Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.  email: info@adventistmission.org  website: www.adventistmission.org
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