I. How we got here.
A. The Gospel Perverted. 1:6-7 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
B. Paul establishes his right to preach the Gospel. 1:11 “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
C. The argument With Peter. 2:11,14
D. The Gospel Defined. 2:16 “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”
E. The Gospel Walked.
1. “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
2. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
3. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
4. Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
5. Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness"?”
F. Paul’s Abraham analogy. (Genesis 15:6)
G. A Blessing and a Curse. 3:14 Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.
H. To give a human example. With a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, "And to offsprings," referring to many, but referring to one, "And to your offspring," who is Christ.
I. Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made,
For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”