The Pauline epistles were written to the churches and individuals who already believed in Christ so throughout Paul calls for the fruit of repentance and faith.
The apostle Paul wrote the book of Galatians in the form of letters that were written to the churches he established in the southern part of Galatia including Perga, Pisidian, Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe during his first missionary journey. Paul probably sent the letter from his home church in Antioch, sometime before the Jerusalem council. Many …show more content…
Faith is just as profound a concept as repentance. Faith requires acting on the truth believed. In the Key New Testament Themes, the illustration of sitting in a chair is used. If we believe a chair is strong enough to hold us up, we can sit on the chair and let our full weight rest on it. Likewise, if we believe on Jesus Christ can save and protect us, we will not only have this idea in our minds, we can also rest our full weight on him. We can, and will, trust in him alone for our salvation. If we do not trust in him alone, it is a sign we do not believe (Martin, year unknown)
In Galatians Paul repeatedly refers to Abraham, mentioned him eight times in Galatians 3 alone. This leaves us to believe that Paul preached the true gospel that was centered on Jesus Christ’s atoning death that was foretold by the Old Testament prophets. Paul’s teaching was that we only had to rely fully on Christ’s self-sacrifice for salvation and a new …show more content…
When Abraham believed God’s promises to him, God counted his faith as righteousness. Paul uses this precedent to show that God’s promises to Abraham are for all who “hear with faith” and not just the people of Israel. In Galatians 3:10-14 (Student Study Bible), “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, ‘cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them’. Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith’. But the law is not of faith, rather ‘the one who does them shall live by them.’ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘cursed is everyone who is hanged on tree’ – so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that ‘we might receive the promised Spirit through