STUDIES IN GALATIANS

�� The author of a tract entitled Come To Jesus got engaged in a theological dispute, and he wrote another publication in which he cut his opponent to pieces with razor sharp sarcasm.� He let a friend read it and then asked if he had any suggestions for a title.� His friend said, "How about Go To The Devil by the author of Come To Jesus."� The author recognized the inconsistency and responded to the rebuke by not publishing the product of his anger.� Be ye angry and sin� not said Paul.� That is a easier thing to preach than to practice.� Many men of God have failed by displaying improper anger.� Moses let out a burst of rage and it cost him the privilege of entering the promised land.� Jonah's character will always be marred by the fact that he was angry at God's mercy being shown to those who deserve judgment.� The fact is, it is very hard for any servant of God to keep a proper balance, and be able to hate sin and love the sinner.

�� The book of Galatians is an example of the fact that it can be done.� This is the only letter we have by Paul that was obviously written in anger.� Paul was fighting mad as he dictated this Epistle.� He reveals more of his emotions in this letter than anywhere.� He is angry at the Judaisers for trying to get the Galatians to give up their liberty in Christ and go back under the law.� He is angry and frustrated at the Galatians because they are so foolish as to even consider such a move.�

�� Henricksen writes of the Epistle, "The spiritual atmosphere is charged.� It is sultry, sweltering.� A storm is threatening.� The sky is darkening.� In the distance one can see flashes of lightning....when each line of verses 1‑5 is read in the light of the letters occasion and purpose the atmospheric turbulence is immediately detected."� Every commentary points to the atmosphere of anger surrounding this letter.� Paul uses restraint in the first few verses, but as soon as he gets through the introduction he lets go with both barrels, and in verses 6‑9 he blasts both the Galatians for their folly in listening, and the Judaisers for their folly in preaching a perversion of the Gospel.� Let them be cursed says Paul, and then he repeats it for emphasis.�

�� Paul is angry because he loves Christ and the church too much to see it injured by the folly of man.� A study of this letter will not only help us grasp better what we have in Christ, but it will help us also to see just what we should get angry about as believers.� We are too often angry at the wrong things, and not angry about the things that made Paul angry.� Jesus and Paul both got angry when other people were being robbed of their liberty by legalism.�

�� Paul did not thank God for the Galatians, or for anything about them, as he does in all of his other letters. It is not only what he writes but what he leaves unwritten that tells us of his anger.� There is a legitimate place for anger in the Christian life, and even toward fellow Christians.� If it is handled properly it becomes a powerful blessing.� Paul's anger that motivated him to write this letter changed the course of human history.� We must grasp something of the background of this letter before we study its contents, or we will never come to appreciate its contents.�

�� All of the first Christians were Jews, and as Jews they continued to live under the law of Moses even as Christians.� They did not immediately throw off the Old Testament, for it was their Bible, and the law of Moses was still their guide, and the temple was still their holy place of worship.� Most all of the leaders of the early church were also Jews.� When Paul began to bring Gentile converts into the church, and establish Gentile churches, the Jewish leaders felt it was their duty to go to these Gentiles and make it clear to them what was required of them to be good Christians. �These Judaisers, as they were called, were sincere Christians, in many cases, who wanted to make sure the Gentiles obeyed the law of Moses.�

�� The problem was that they cast doubt on the sufficiency of Christ.� They said that faith in Christ was not enough, for you must also keep the law.� This was confusing to the Gentile Christians, but they had no basis to argue with men of authority.� They assumed that they must know what they were talking about, and since they wanted to do what God demanded they began to conform and make their Christianity a part of the Old Testament system of law.�

�� When Paul heard this he was angry, for this action robbed the Christian of the liberty that Christ brought, and put them back under legalism.� Galatians is the great proclamation of religious liberty in Christ.� G. Campbell Morgan said, "The essential message of the letter has to do with liberty."� Hendriksen called Galatians, "The Christian Declaration of Independence."� If Paul had not written this letter and fought against those who sought to lead Christians back into bondage to the law, Christianity may have become a mere branch on the tree of Judaism. Christians would have been just another sect like the Pharisees and Saducees.� Thanks to Paul the church escaped from the bondage and limitations of the law, and launched out into the vast uncharted world of the Gentiles with a message of good news to all people.

�� If Christianity would have had to require circumcision and dietary regulations of the law of Moses, it never would have had a universal appeal.� The whole mission and history of the church depended on Paul gaining a victory on this issue.� That is why this letter is one of the most revolutionary documents in the history of mankind.� We are what we are today in large measure due to this letter.� Wilbur M. Smith put it, "Had the Judaisers in the early church been allowed to force the Christian Gospel into a Judaistic strait jacket, the church would have always remained weak, narrow, and small, and you and I possibly would never have heard the Gospel."�

�� Merrill C. Tenney wrote, "Few books have had a more profound influence on the history of mankind... Christianity might have been just one more Jewish sect, and the thought of the Western world might have been entirely pagan had it never been written."� No wonder Luther loved this book so dearly.� It was the battle cry of the Reformation.� The battle Paul fought was fought all over again, and thanks to Paul's letter Christian liberty won out again over legalism and bondage to law.� Luther said, "The Epistle to the Galatians is my Epistle.� To it I am as it were in wedlock.� It is my Katherine."� I don't know how Katherine his wife felt about this competition, but thanks to Luther's love of Galatians.� We are under Protestant liberty rather than legalistic bondage.�

�� The value of this background is that it makes this letter exciting to study because it has already been a major influence in our lives, even if we have never read it.� The truth of this letter has benefited us even without us knowing it.� It becomes even more precious, however, as we enter consciously into its riches.� In our study we are not trying to understand something that is irrelevant, but we are trying to gain a deeper appreciation of what is highly irrelevant to our lives so that we can apply it more fully and personally.� A knowledge of this book will add greatly to the joy and liberty that is ours in Christ.� It will protect us from getting sidetracked in a world of many voices, and it will make us more effective communicators of the Gospel of grace.�

�� There are two extremes that people fall into in their search for the ideal life.� The one is legalism and the other is license.� The first says touch not, taste not, handle not, and the second says eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die.� Neither of them represent the biblical path to the abundant life.� Paul in this letter shows us that the way to get the best of both of these extremes, and avoid the dangers of both, is by liberty in bondage to Christ.�

�� If you are a slave to anyone or anything but Christ you are in bondage, but if you are a slave to Christ, you are the most free of all people.� If the Son shall make you free you are free indeed.� You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free.� This is what the Galatian letter is all about.� It is the Christian guide to the balance life of liberty.� Charles Erdman divides the book into three sections of two chapters each.� The first two deal with the Apostle of liberty; the second two with the doctrine of liberty, and the last two with the life of liberty.� We have then in this letter a personal, doctrinal, and practical perspective on Christian liberty.

�� Paul begins with the personal, and he exposes his soul for all to see.� We get to see Paul as never before.� We get to see him when he is angry and frustrated, and in a state of shocked bewilderment.� In the letter to the Philippians all is peace and joy, but in this letter we see him on the battlefield engaging the enemy.� His whole ministry is at stake, and the foundation of the Gospel is at stake, and he fights with all the weapons at his disposal.� The very fact that this letter exists teaches us plenty.�� It destroys completely the idea that the saints of God are meant to be happy little islands isolated from the turmoil of the world.� This letter shatters that myth and shows us that Christians are to be right in the middle of the battlefield.� There are always forces trying to move Christians off center and get them to go to one extreme or the other, and so we must constantly fight for liberty and balance.�

�� One of the paradoxes of life that stands out here is the fact that it was other Christians who caused Paul his grief and heartache.� Paul could glory in his sufferings at the hands of unbelievers for the sake of the Gospel, but there was nothing to rejoice about when Christians perverted the Gospel and tried to ensnare others, and destroy his work and authority.� The Judaisers accused Paul of getting so involved with the Gentiles that he had gone astray and had forsaken the law of Moses.� They cast doubt on Paul's authority and threatened to undermine all he had done in bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles.�

�� All of this was done by sincere Christians who disagreed with Paul and his approach to the Gentiles.� We see the paradox of Christian history here.� Most men of God have their greatest problems, not in relation to the world, but in relation to other groups of Christians who disagree with their emphasis.� Being stoned and blasted by the world is almost pleasure compared to the criticism and folly one has to endure from others within the kingdom.� Paul would have been able to say amen to this poem:

To live above with the saints we love

Oh that will be glory.

But to live below with the saints we know

That's a different story.

�� Galatians is a record of just how serious and harmful the battles can be within the body of Christ when any portion of the body gets off center and begins to teach anything that robs Jesus of His sovereign role as all‑sufficient Savior.� Liberty in Christ means that there is only one requirement to be a Christian, and that is faith in Christ.� Any other requirement is imposed by men and is a threat to both our liberty and the sufficiency of Christ as Savior.� It is sad but it is a fact of life that the fight for Christian liberty and balance is as much a fight with other Christians as it is with the world.

�� As Christians we are constantly facing appeals to jump on the bandwagon of other Christians and go off the deep end of one extreme or the other.� Satan knows there is great power when the church is united and that it becomes weak and ineffective when it fights itself and create division.� That is why the church is constantly being broken into divisive groups who have their own pet theology, and that is why it is so important to study this letter of Paul that will help us stay on the right track and maintain our liberty in Christ.�

2. AN APOSTLE OF AUTHORITY�� Based on Gal. 1

�� Charles Dickens tells of how men react to bad news.� Martin Chuzzlewit learns that the 50 acre tract in America in which he had invested all his savings turns out to be a hideous swamp.� He sinks into a fever because of his sorrow, but Mark Topley who savings were also sunk in that same swamp refuses to be overpowered by calamity.� He gives himself a blow on the chest and says to himself, "Things is looking as bad as they can look, young man.� You'll not have such another opportunity for showing your jolly disposition, my fine fellow, as long as you live.� And, therefore, now is the time to come out strong, as never!"

�� This is the very kind of positive thinking that must have gone through Paul's mind when he heard that his investment in the Galatian church was threatened. He had preached his heart out to these people, and now they were ready to forsake their freedom in Christ and enter into the bondage of the law.� Paul could have thrown his hands up in despair and given up on the Galatians.� He could have layed down and died of grief at his loss and the terrible fickleness of human nature, but instead he said, now is the time to be strong.� If ever I spoke with authority to defeat the forces of evil, it must be now or never.� Paul did not greet bad news with an attitude of defeat, but with an attitude of determination to never admit defeat.� This letter was his weapon, and it has been the primary tool for many a victory since.

�� Paul must have said I'll never have a greater opportunity to defend the Gospel of grace than this, and so I must come out strong now or never!� The first thing Paul does in this letter is to defend his authority as an Apostle.� Paul usually just states the fact of his authority, but here he is fighting those who reject his authority, and so we see the letter is different right from the start.� We usually skip through Paul's introductions with little attention.� Quite often the preface or the introduction is skipped to get right to the body of a book.� I use to do it all the time until I realized that the key for a full appreciation of the book is often found in the introduction.� Information on the author and his or her background, and what they had in mind in writing the book, can make the book so much more meaningful.�

�� The Bible is often boring to people because its historical setting is not grasped.� We cannot see how it relates to our lives because we have not taken the time to understand its original setting and the purpose for which is was written.� We must be able to enter into the emotions of Paul's letter and understand what he is doing if we are to appreciate its relevance for today.� The best of Bible students have their dry days, however.� John Bunyan wrote in his Grace Abounding, "I have sometimes seen more in a line of the Bible then I could well tell how to stand under, and yet at another time the whole Bible has been to me as dry as a stick; or rather my heart has been so dead and dry unto it that I could not conceive the least dram of refreshment, though I looked it all over."

�� We cannot escape the dry spells of life, but these are of little consequence in our lives if we develop the habit of finding refreshment at the fountain of the Word regularly.� One of the ways to add value to Bible study is to get all the information you can on the author and his purpose.� We want to do just that with this letter to Galatians.� The more we can understand Paul's feelings and intentions the more meaningful this letter will be.�

�� Let's begin with the name Paul.� We all know that Paul's name is Saul in the book of Acts when he first appears on the stage of biblical history.� After his conversion and his appointment as God's ambassador to the Gentiles he is called Paul.� Many have assumed that his name was changed, but the likelihood is that he had both names from birth.� This is the conviction of men like J. Gresham Machen and John Brown, who are great scholars on the life of Paul.� Their reasoning makes sense.� As a Pharisee it was natural for Paul to go by the name of Saul.� This was his Jewish name, but when he became Apostle to the Gentiles it was equally natural for him to go by his Roman name of Paul.� He was a Roman citizen by birth, and so it is likely that he was given this Roman name at birth.� Paul means little or small, and is a name more likely to be given to a little baby than one given to a grown man at the time of his conversion.

�� God chose this man even before his birth to accomplish the great task of getting the Gospel to the Gentiles, and one of the ways of preparing him �was to see that he was born in Tarsus, a great Gentile center, where he would be exposed to the very people and culture he would spend his life reaching.� He had his Roman citizenship at birth, and likely also his Gentile name of Paul.

AN APOSTLE.� An Apostle is one sent with the authority with the one who sends.� There are other words for send in the New Testament, but this word for Apostle stresses that the one sent has the authority of the one who is sending, and is also fully responsible to the sender.� In Heb. 3:1 Jesus is called the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.� He spoke to us more directly from God than did Moses, and he speaks directly to God on our behalf.� The term Apostle carries in it the idea of highest authority.� Communication with an Apostle is dealing as direct as possible, unless it be face to face.� Jesus bestowed the highest dignity on his Apostles when He said in John 17:18, "As the Father has sent me into the world, so send I you."� An Apostle is one who speaks for Christ directly, and with His approval and authority.

�� Paul says his authority is not for men.� He does not waste any time before he gets to the real issues.� He begins to defend his authority immediately.� He says right off that he is not an Apostle because of human agency, but he has his authority directly from God.� You don't go around defending your credentials like this unless someone is attacking them.� Paul is making clear he is equal with the twelve Apostles in authority.� It is obvious that the Judaisers have tried� to undermine Paul's ministry by attacking his authority.� They apparently accused him of being a maverick who has gone off on a tangent and whose doctrines threaten to overthrow the foundations of true religion, by which they meant the Old Testament laws.

�� They could say that Paul was not chosen by Christ as were the other Apostles.� They said he received his authority from men.� These were very serious charges, and you can see how easy it would have been to get Gentiles to question Paul's authority.� Who was he to tell them what God required when others were telling them the law of Moses was their foundation?� Paul knows that the cause of Christian liberty in Christ depends upon the Galatians respect for his authority.� If they are not convinced that he bears the authority of an ambassador sent directly by God, they will follow those authorities who are coaxing them to submit to the law of Moses.

�� The first major issue of this letter, therefore, is the issue of authority.� Either the Galatians are obligated to obey the revelation that God gave to Moses, or God has given a new revelation of liberty in Christ through the Apostle Paul.� Which they follow depends upon their being convinced that Paul is truly God's spokesman, and not just the agent of men who are sponsoring a new approach to religion.� There is probably no issue that is more relevant to every age than the issue of authority.� Everything we are and believe is based on some authority.� The authorities we accept determine what we become.�

�� If we accept the authority of the book of Mormon, we will be Mormons.� If we yield to the authority of the Koran, we will be Mohammedan.� If we buy into the views of Jehovah Witnesses, we will become one.� We are creatures of authority.� We do not swallow color liquid by the tablespoon because we have studied its nature.� We take it on the authority of others who say it will help a problem.� Because this is so, it is very important to determine the validity of any authority.� We cannot afford to just accept any authority.� We have an obligation to investigate and prove the worth of any authority.� Paul makes this clear by the very fact of the existence of this letter.� It is in large measure a defense of his authority.� He did not just say he was an authority.� He had to prove it and demonstrate the validity of his claim to be a spokesman for God.

�� We take Paul's authority for granted, but the early church did not.� They had no New Testament to go by.� They had only the Old Testament and Paul was challenging the authority of its laws.� That is why he had to show to the Galatians how God worked in his life, and how the truth of the Gospel makes the law obsolete.� He had to show by sound argument and historical facts that it was so.� He had to show them how his battle for the truth of Christian liberty even won out over the Apostle Peter.� This was the kind of evidence that was necessary to convince them that his authority was equal to the Twelve.�

�� Paul is not being proud in this letter when he speaks of the other Apostles as adding nothing to him.� If you don't know the great issue behind this letter, you might think that Paul had little respect for the Twelve when he visited them in Jerusalem.� In chapter 2 Paul refers to those of repute and in verse 6 says, "What they were makes no difference to me, God shows no partiality."� You can only grasp what Paul is doing here when you know that he is defending his authority as an Apostle equal to the other Apostles.� God chose him for an unique ministry to the Gentiles just as He chose Peter for a ministry to the Jews.� Paul is not being disrespectful, but he is trying to show that the Judaisers are wrong when they deny his authority, and say it is of man.� He proves it is of God by showing that the other Apostles had to acknowledge his authority.�

�� All through history the primary battle has been the one over authority.� Paul won out and the New Testament became the primary authority for the church.� In time there were traditions that came to have an equal place with the Scripture as a source of authority in the church.� What the early church fathers believed was quoted as an authoritative guide, and not because it was necessarily biblical, but because of who they were.�� The church began to substitute the authority of men for the Word of God.� The church places men's interpretation of the Word of God on a level equal to the Word itself.� This robbed the Word of its authority, and put it into the hands of men.�

�� One of the purposes of the Reformation was to restore the Word of God to its place as the soul authority for faith and practice.� Whatever can be demonstrated to be biblical becomes authoritative for the church.� Many groups claim to support all kinds of contradictory ideas on Scripture, however, and, therefore, there is no way to escape the need to appeal to reason.� We must give sufficient evidence to show that a view is truly the message God has conveyed through His Word.� Paul defends his authority by appealing to evidence.� The mind must be convinced before any authority can be accepted.� Reason is not the ultimate authority, but it is necessary to combine it with the revelation of God.�

�� Our minds must be persuaded concerning any view of Scripture before we can honestly accept a view as the Word of God.� We must demand of any interpretation what Paul gives to the Galatians to support his teaching on justification by faith, and that is reasonable evidence which makes it superior to any� rival claim.� Paul goes into all sorts of arguments to show that faith in Christ alone is all that God requires, and that the law is now obsolete as a means of salvation.� He gives the Galatians evidence to satisfy their minds.� He knows that the truth can only survive by minds being persuaded that it is in fact the truth.�

�� So often Christians give the impression that the truth of God's Word is different than any other kind of truth, but not so.� It must appeal to and persuade the mind before it is believed and submitted to as authority.� Several centuries ago Cotton Mather, the great American Puritan, gave this as the Puritan view of the relation of reason and revelation:� "The light of reason is the law of God, the voice of reason is the voice of God. We never have to do with reason but at the same time we have to do with God, and our submission to the rules of reason is an obedience to God., As often as I have evident reason set before me let me think upon it. Therein the great God speaks to me."

�� Paul certainly believe this, even though he knew the mind of fallen man was depraved and its wisdom folly. He urged Christians to let the mind of Christ be in them and to be transformed by the renewing of their minds, for it is the mind that he appeals to all along in defending his authority. He calls them foolish for not seeing the obvious evidence of the truth of the Gospel. He goes to great length to make it clear to them that God has demonstrated in his life the truth of the Gospel he preaches. Evidence and argument is what this letter is all about.� He spent his life in debate and argument proving that Jesus was the Messiah and that we are saved by faith in Him.

�� What does this mean for us today? It means that the power of persuasion is the greatest power their is for the capturing of men's minds. Men will accept as their authority for life that which has enough evidence to persuade them that it is God's Word to them.� Christians who are truly concerned about the truth will be open to new light, and be ever in search for more evidence to support his convictions.� No Christian can have a valid reason to oppose scholarship and the search for more light to give us a better understanding of the Word of God. It is not the Bible only that is the Word of God, but the Bible rightly interpreted and understood. Many texts of the Bible are used to teach error and even heresy.

�� Paul got his revelation direct from God, but it comes to us through the agency of men. His Greek letters have had to come to us by means of men who put it into English. In a day of many translations we need to recognize that none of them are the final authority.� We need to study all that the Bible says on an issue and not just take any text and build our theology on that. We need to examine all the evidence and be fully persuaded in our minds that a certain teaching is the Word of God.� If opinions differ, then we need to weigh the evidence for the different views and choose that which is most reasonable and which has the most evidence to support it.� We are in the same boat as the Galatians who had to weight Paul's reasons for his authority. This is part of what it means to be loving God with all or our minds.

3. A LIVING AUTHORITY base on Gal. 1:1ff

�� A Christian school teacher offered a dollar to the one who could give her the name of the most famous man in history. She wanted them to say Jesus, of course. They all began to shout out names like Washington, Lincoln, Edison, and Columbus, and finally a little Jewish boy said Jesus. When he came up to get his dollar the teacher asked him, "You are a Jewish boy, why did you say Jesus?" He said, "I wanted to say Moses, but business is business."

�� Paul was under great pressure to choose Moses also as the greatest authority in the realm of religion. The Judaisers demanded it and were accusing him of error in not giving Moses his rightful place. Paul, however, also felt that business was business and his business was to exalt the Living Christ to the place of supreme authority. The issue of authority was crucial to Paul and has been ever since. John R. Stott wrote, "After the question of religion itself, which involves the nature of God's being and activity, the next most vital question is that of authority." It was a key issue in the life of Jesus also. The people heard him gladly because he spoke with authority and not as the scribes.

�� When Jesus was about to leave this earth he said, "All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me..." The Greek word is exousia which means authority. Jesus is the final and ultimate authority in the universe. It is Paul's goal to see that Christians put Jesus where He belongs, and that is in the place of supreme authority.

�� Sir Bernard Lovell, Prof. Of Radio Astronomy at the University of Manchester tells of the financial troubles they had in construction of the radio telescope at Jadrell Bank. One of his colleagues said to him jokingly, "Why don't you issue a gramophone record with some strange noises on it and claim that you have received messages from intelligent beings on the planet Mars? The sales would be immense and our financial problems at an end!" Dr Lovell responded that our authority and careers in scientific research would also be at and end." Any authority that cannot hold up under investigation will collapse and that is why any ideas than men to endure has to be supported by unimpeachable authority.� That is why Paul begins his letter to the Galatians by stating that his authority is not based on the sand of human sources , bur on the solid rock of the will of Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead.

�� Paul makes reference to the resurrection of Christ n this first verse, not just because it is a precious truth, but because it is so relevant to the battle he is fighting here. He wants to establish right from the start that there is a great contrast between the authority of those who oppose him and himself. His authority is not the dead letter of the law, but the Living Lord. The Judaisers look to a book, while he looks to the author of the book, and that is the risen Lord who is guiding his people into new light. He has fulfilled the law and now has a new and final revelation for his people.

�� Paul knew he had an advantage over his opponents because of the Living Christ. They tried to make it sound like he could not be equal with the 12 Apostles because he was not selected by Christ in his earthly ministry. Paul countered that argument by reminding them that he was the only Apostle selected by the risen and ascended Lord. His was the only appointment made directly from heaven.� Imagine that your mother left you with a note to shovel the driveway when you get home from school. And as you are getting ready to do it she comes home and says never mind the neighbor is going to do it with his power mower. Would you ignore the living revelation of this change of plans, or would you persist in keeping the letter of the law that you have in print? You would recognize that the note has been made void and obsolete by the living voice of the author of it.

�� Paul's reference to the risen Christ is not incidental, but is a vital factor in Paul's defense. It is the living authority of Christ as opposed to the dead authority of Moses that is the issue here. The mere claim is not enough in itself, however, for if it was we would be obligated to listen to the authority of all the cults and false teachers who make great claims to authority.� Paul goes on and gives evidence to support his claim. This whole letter is an appeal to the minds of the Galatians. Paul is saying "Look at the facts of my life and examine the doctrines that I preach in the light of the way God has worked in history. Then you will see it is nothing short folly to reject the truth that I have brought to you."

�� Once the authority of Paul was established and the truth of the Gospel of grace was established, then those who followed him did not need to receive their authority directly from Christ. It does not make any difference who preaches the Gospel now, for it is the revelation of God, and even if one does not believe it, if he preaches it there can be results for the kingdom of God. It is the power of God unto salvation, and an atheist could explain the Gospel to someone and they could receive Christ as Savior and have eternal life.� The authority of the Gospel no longer depends upon the authority of the people who preach it. It did with Paul, however, and that is why this defense of his authority is such a vital factor in the history of the church.� It was a battle that Paul had to win, and we can all thank God that he did.

�� Paul did not abuse his authority, but took the matter very seriously.� When he wrote to the Corinthians on some issues of which he had no direct word from Christ he made it clear that he was only sharing his enlightened convictions, and not speaking with the authority of a spokesman directly from God.� Only a man with a very high view of his responsibility as a spokesman for God would call attention to the fact that he did not always speak with equal authority.

�� Many godly people through the ages have spoken with deep conviction on every subject under the sun.� We can respect their convictions, and possibly even agree that they were right in the context of which they spoke.� However, the Christian of today cannot rely on the authority of people of the past.� The battle of the Reformation was over the issue of the authority of the church and its decisions of the past.� The Catholic church took the position that it could never be wrong in its official teaching.�� This has been a tough view to defend in the light of the folly of the past.

�� The Reformed position denied that absolute authority of the church.� The Westminister Confession states it clearly.� "The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error.....all synods or councils since the time of the Apostles, whether general or particular, may err, and may have erred; therefore, they are not to be made the rule of faith or practice, but to be used as a health in both."

�� It is a hard paradox to accept sometimes, but the fact is, the only way to keep Jesus and His Word as our absolute authority is to be constantly questioning the authority of those who claim to speak for Him.� It is a sign of immaturity to never question authority.� The child whose parents tell him there is no God, and that religion is of no value, will never be a mature person if he does not question that authority.� The child whose parents tell him his church and his denomination has all the truth,� and that all others are wrong, will never be a mature Christian if he never rebels against that authority.� No Christian is truly mature until they come to the point where they live under the dire