Josh Benner

Author: the Josh Benner Blog

  • An introduction to the Book of Galatians

    An introduction to the Book of Galatians

    Galatians is a letter that is addressed from the Apostle Paul. 

    Paul wrote at least 13 of the 27 books in the New Testament. All of them were written as letters either to churches or to individual people. I say at least 13 because there’s been a longstanding debate about whether or not he wrote the Book of Hebrews as that letter does not have an identified author. 

    Authorship

    Some scholars debate Paul’s authorship of certain letters, but interestingly, Galatians is almost universally agreed upon to be authentically Pauline. The theology of Galatians is thoroughly Pauline and this letter also includes a high degree of autobiographical material. No serious scholar questions that Galatians is from Paul. 

    Most of what we know about the Apostle Paul comes from his letters and from stories involving Paul in the Book of Acts. 

    Paul tends to not talk a ton about himself in his letters. Just little pieces of information here and there but Galatians is different. From the middle of chapter 1 through about the middle of chapter 2, Paul has a prolonged section where he does talk about himself. He’s talking about his status as an apostle and about his various  travels in the years after he came to faith. 

    Date of Galatians 

    Now if you’ve ever noticed the maps in many Bibles, there will be a map in the back that displays the travels of Paul’s three missionary journeys. 

    The first missionary journey is when Paul visited churches in the region known as Galataia, which is in modern day Turkey. We see these events recorded in Acts chapter 13 and 14, and those travels are Paul’s introduction to this Galatian region. 

    Most converstive Biblical scholars believe that the letter to the Galatians was authored after this first missionary journey which would make Galatians Paul’s earliest writing. In the late 40s to early 50s A.D. That would also make it the earliest writing in the entire New Testament.

    Think about that for a moment. Less than a generation after Jesus walked the earth. With most of the apostles still living and with many others who had personally interacted with Jesus still living, Paul wrote Galatians. Interestingly, Paul will have a prolonged section where he talks about living eyewitnesses to Jesus in 1 Corinthians 15. 

    Who was the Apostle Paul? 

    What do we know about Paul?

    We don’t know exactly when he was born but most scholars think it was shortly after Christ, maybe around the year 4 or 5 A.D. 

    Paul goes by two different names in the New Testament: Saul and Paul. 

    A common misconception is that Saul’s name changes to Paul after his conversion. There is no Biblical evidence to support that. In reality, the name Paul comes from the name Paulos which is a Greco-Roman name. Acts 13:9 says: 

    Saul, who was also called Paul

    And so it appears as though he went by two names. Saul was a Jewish name, likely named after King Saul, the first King of Israel. Like King Saul, Saul/Paul was also from the Tribe of Benjamin. 

    Paul was born in Tarsus, which was one of the most cultured and educated cities of the first century Roman world. It’s unclear how long he stayed there but we also know that part of his formative years were spent in Jerusalem. 

    He talks of this in Acts 22:3: 

    ​​3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers

    Paul was famously a persecutor of the early church. The first time we see Paul in the New Testament is when he’s giving approval to the martyrdom of the Apostle Stephen in Acts 7. 

    Acts 7:58:

    they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 

    There are other references to Paul’s authority. In Acts 26, Paul is reflecting back on his life before coming to faith when he says: 

    9 “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. 10 And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them.

    Paul had been a pharisee: part of the group of religious teachers and experts in the law who we constantly see having conflicts with Jesus in the gospels. 

    He would have grown up celebrating the holy days of the Old Testament and reciting Biblical passages from the Torah. He would have also had his own beliefs about the Messiah of Israel. 

    He talks about his past life in Judaism in Philippians 3. 


    Philippians 3:4-7: 

    If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 

    Paul would have been extremely well versed in the Old Testament. It’s no surprise to consider the many connections and allusions he makes to the Old Testament in his writings. 

    Just considering Galatians, we see Paul connect the idea of justification by faith to Abraham. In Galatians 4, he talks of the sons born to Hagar and Sarah as being symbolic of the covenants of grace and works. He also talks extensively of the law of the Old Testament. 

    The Christian response to the law seems to be a major impetus for the writing of this letter. In Acts chapter 9, Paul has a dramatic conversion where Jesus appears to him on the Road to Damascus. This is probably around the year 34-35, a year or two after the resurrection of Jesus. 

    We see his call by Jesus. 

    Acts 9:1-6: 

     Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. 4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 

    5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6 But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”

    The great persecutor of Christians becomes a Christian. 

    And we know that Paul himself was heavily persecuted throughout his ministry. 

    Acts 16:20-23, just after Paul has arrived in Philippi, he’s attacked by an angry mob: 

    20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely.

    Paul was imprisoned multiple times, beaten multiple times, his life was endangered multiple times. On his first visit to the Galatian region, he gets stoned by an angry crowd in Acts 14.

    Five of Paul’s letters were written while imprisoned: Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and 2 Timothy. 

    2 Timothy was his final letter, written shortly before he was martyred. From that letter, even after the various persecutions, beatings, and imprisonments, Paul seemed to know that he didn’t have much time left. 

    2 Timothy 4:6-8: 

    6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. 

    Other information about Paul. 

    To supplement his ministerial earnings, he also worked as a tentmaker. He was likely never married. No wife is ever mentioned and Paul talks about the gift of singleness in 1 Corinthians 7. 

    Paul seemed to have been afflicted in his missionary journeys at different times by poor health. We see that in Galatians where Paul is thanking the Galatian Churches for their kindness to him. 

    Galatians 4:13-15: 

    it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me.

    The fact that he refers to them being willing to gouge out their eyes has provoked many to suggest that Paul might have had poor eyesight. 

    In Galatians 6:11, Paul draws attention to his handwriting: 

    See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.

    While Galatians is his letter, he most likely did not write in his own hand, but dictated the letter through a scribe. 

    Paul also refers to his thorn in the flesh in 2 Corinthians 12. 

    Occasion for writing

    Think of all of the many different Christian denominations today. Thousands of them. So many different schools of thought, different ways people read the Bible. 

    Well in the early church, they had a lot of theological disagreements too. Christianity was new. There were a lot of theological questions related to the connection of Christianity to Judaism. There were questions of if Christians still needed to follow laws in the Old Testament: did you still have to eat a kosher diet? Did you still have to observe Old Testament holy days and a weekly Sabbath? Did men still need to be circumcised? 

    In Galatians, Paul is addressing some of those very issues as people had sought to still enforce elements of the Old Testament law on new converts to Christianity. 

    Because of that, justification by faith is a major them of this book. 

    He states this most clearly in Galatians 2:16: 

     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. 

    But there are numerous other references in this letter to justification by faith. 

    And so Paul is combatting these false teachings in the Galatian churches with the truth of the gospel. 

    Early in the letter, Paul expresses his concerns over people being led astray from the truth of the gospel. 

    Galatians 1:6-7: 

    6 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— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

    We see his frustrations with the fruit of these false teachings in chapter 3 when Paul says: 

    O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

    Themes

    The last thing I’ll touch on as I introduce us to Galatians. The primary themes of this book. Some of them I’ve already covered.

    I would argue that justification by faith is the main theme of Galatians. Galatians is Paul’s love letter to the Doctrine of Justification by Faith. 

    Other significant themes in Galatians include the relationship of the gospel to the law, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and Paul’s apostolic authority. 

    I’ll close with this. 

    One of the key verses in the book. 

    Galatians 1:11-12: 

    11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ

    The gospel is God’s gospel. It is not invented or created by men. It is not up for a vote. It is not dependent upon popularity. 

    The message that we are sinners and that there is grace through Jesus Christ is a message offered to the whole world and it is the only message that points to eternal life. 

    Galatians points us to that gospel. And it points us to the life that we have in Christ in light of that gospel. 

    Galatians is a great book. We’re going to have a great study in this book. 

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  • The Son of God allows us to be God’s sons. STUDYING JOHN 5:18

    The Son of God allows us to be God’s sons. STUDYING JOHN 5:18

    In John 5, Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath which draws the ire from the Pharisees who had more restrictive views of Sabbath practices. In John 5:17, Jesus says: 

    “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

    In response to Jesus pointing to God as his Father, the Pharisees begin to actively conspire against Jesus. 

    18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. 

    We know the end of the story. Jesus is ultimately crucified. But it is because Jesus said that God was his father that jump started the Pharisees in their conspiracy against him. 

    In an event which is not recorded in John, Jesus is before the Pharisees. The sonship question comes up again. 

    Matthew 26:63-64: 

    the high priest said to him, “I adjure you by the living God, tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.” 64 Jesus said to him, “You have said so. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

    That’s the final straw in Matthew’s gospel and the Pharisees seek to have Jesus crucified. 

    Then the high priest tore his robes and said, “He has uttered blasphemy. What further witnesses do we need? You have now heard his blasphemy. 66 What is your judgment?” They answered, “He deserves death.” 67 Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, 68 saying, “Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?” (Matthew 26:65-68). 

    The pharisees look at the words of Christ as blasphemy. 

    But it wasn’t. It was the truth. 

    Incarnationally, morally, theologically, Jesus is the Son of God and God is his father. 

    But in John 5, we see the opposition rising. 

    What started as a miracle turned into a Sabbath controversy. 

    And what became a Sabbath controversy was intensified by Jesus pointing to himself and his relation to God. 

    The sonship of Christ and the fatherhood of God points us to the gospel. 

    We are God’s children, created in his image who had forsaken God through our sin. 

    Jesus is the perfect Son of God who was forsaken so we could be forgiven for our sins. 

    As radical as it is that Jesus addressed God as his father, he invited us to do the same when he taught the disciples how to pray in the Sermon on the Mount. 

    your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this: 

    “Our Father in heaven, 

    hallowed be your name. (Matthew 6:9)  

    The Apostle Paul says in the opening salutations of all of his letters: grace and peace to you from God our father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

    The fatherhood of God is bestowed upon the people of God because Jesus is the true Son of God. 

    Jesus is the son of God who allows us to be adopted as God’s children and to approach God as our own father. 

    John 1:12 says: 

     to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God

    The adoption language is used by Paul at the beginning of his letter to the Ephesians. 

    3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:3-5) 

    That’s the Good News of the Gospel. The Son of God allows us to call God our father. 

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  • Sermon – The Only New Year’s Resolution that matters

    During Israel’s history, the Israelites had lost the promised land and the temple had been destroyed. In the Book of Haggai, they’ve returned to the land and 20 years have past. The Israelites have not yet started rebuilding the temple. They were putting their own wants and desires over the will of God. For Christians, we must start with God.

    Sermon manuscript

  • People missed the significance of the first Christmas – but how do you respond to Jesus this Christmas?

    People missed the significance of the first Christmas – but how do you respond to Jesus this Christmas?

    There are the important days that we know are important at the time. And there are the important days when we only know of their significance with hindsight. 

    A couple weeks ago, we had the anniversary of an important day in American history when we remembered the 80th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attacks on December 7, 1941. 

    Other important days in American history. 

    November 22, 1963, the day President Kennedy died. 

    September 11, 2001.

    You knew those were historic days at the time. 

    And that’s also true in our personal lives. 

    There are some days that you know are monumental days at the time. 

    The day you get married. The day kids are born. 

    But as we begin in our passage this morning, I want to talk for a moment about the days that matter but that we don’t know matter until after the fact. 

    On June 28, 1914, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary was killed. It was a story at the time, but to observers, it seemed like a regional matter that wouldn’t extend much past Eastern Europe. In reality that event was the spark that led to the outbreak of World War I, the most destructive war the world had ever seen at that time.

    The days that matter that you don’t know matter. 

    The first time you ever heard of Covid-19 in China, you probably never imagined that it was going to turn our world upside down. 

    Think about the day the lightbulb was invented. The world was going to change but most people had no idea.

    It’s always a fascinating thought to me. That such significant days can be days when you don’t know it at the time. 

    I think of one of the most significant days in my life. February 20, 2017. It was on that day that I talked to a girl on eharmony.com who I thought looked cute. I had no idea at the time, but that was the first day I ever talked to my wife. 

    Think about the day a famous person was born. No one knows it at the time. A future president, or leading actor, or star athlete could be in the process of being born this very morning and we wouldn’t know it. 

    And I think of that with the events surrounding the first Christmas Eve. 

    Human history was about to forever change. 

    For people who lived in Bethlehem on that first Christmas Eve, their little town was about to be center stage to events that we’d be talking about 2,000 years later, events that were so significant that time itself is calculated by its proximity to them. 

    And for the average person living in Bethlehem on that first Christmas Eve, they would have had no idea. 

    Think about that. 

    SONG – WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

    One of my favorite newer Christmas songs of the last several years comes from the Christian band Casting Crowns. The song is titled “While you were sleeping.” 

    And the song considers this world-changing event. Christ coming into the world, and how it happened on – for many people – just any other ordinary night. 

    The song says: 

    O Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping

    For God became a man

    And stepped into your world today

    O Bethlehem, you will go down in history

    As a city with no room for its King

    While you were sleeping

    While you were sleeping

    The world kept turning. On that first Christmas and over the coming weeks and months, people continued to live their lives. 

    For the average person living at the time, that seems to be the most likely response at the advent of Christ. Unawareness. Obliviousness. 

    But there were some who had heard about the birth of Jesus. You have wise men who sought this newborn baby out. You have King Herod who heard the news but who was not overjoyed at the prospect of another king living in his territory. And you have Herod’s priests and scribes, those who were most learned in the Old Testament, yet who would miss the significance of the moment.  

    The first Christmas, many didn’t realize what had happened. But since that first Christmas, the rest of history has been turned upside down. 

    It was easy to be blissfully unaware of Jesus as a baby. But what do you do with him as a man? What do you do with him as a teacher? What do you do with him as a prophet? What do you do with him as a savior? What do you do with him as Lod? 

    Some will continue to ignore him, some will continue to miss the significance of who he is, some will continue to actively oppose him. 

    But will you come to him and worship him?

    It might have been easy to dismiss a baby, but that baby grew and became the savior of the world. That baby went to the cross. That tomb was empty on the third day. 

    What do you do with all of that? 

    Will you continue to overlook the significance of Jesus and who he is? 

    Or will you come to him and worship him as Lord? 

    People ignored and overlooked the significance on the first Christmas but what are you doing with Jesus this Christmas? 

    He invites you to come to him, to know him. 

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  • Why do Matthew and Luke give two different genealogies for Jesus

    Why do Matthew and Luke give two different genealogies for Jesus

    The gospels of Matthew and Luke both give genealogies for Jesus. 

    But they’re different. 

    Not just a little different. 

    From David to Joseph, they’re almost entirely different. Only two names are found in both genealogies in that time period. The genealogies are much more similar from Abraham to David. Matthew has an extra name. That’s not so unusual. Ancient genealogies are not always exhaustive. So person A can be referred to as the father of person B but it might actually be his grandfather or great grandfather, etc. 

    When you get to David, the genealogies diverge in two different directions. 

    Matthew’s genealogy goes from David to Solomon and through Solomon’s line. 

    Luke’s genealogy goes from David to another of his sons, Nathan, and Nathan’s line. 

    Both list Zerubbabel and both list Shealtiel and that is where the commonalities begin and end. 

    But why? 

    There are all sorts of theories. 

    And I’ll be honest. Any solution to this problem is purely speculative. 

    THEORY 1 – JOSEPH’S LINE AND MARY’S LINE

    One of the oldest theories which goes back to the early church is the suggestion that they’re giving genealogies for both Joseph and for Mary. 

    Simple. 

    That’s possible but it shouldn’t be assumed, most importantly because the text never tells us that. 

    It would be highly unusual to give a woman’s genealogy in ancient times. Although as one scholar pointed out, a virgin birth is also highly unusual. 

    THEORY 2 – A ROYAL LINE AND A LEGAL LINE

    Perhaps one of the genealogies is royal and one is legal. 

    This is ultimately where I land and what I believe is the most like scenario. 

    What’s that mean? 

    So Matthew’s genealogy goes from David to Solomon to Rehoboam to Abidjan, etc. 

    That is the Israelite monarchy of the Old Testament. They’re the kings.

    Those people can be found in Old Testament genealogies. 

    Matthew gives the kings. Luke does not. 

    But both go through David. 

    So one suggestion is that Jesus is in the line of David, but while the royal line goes from David through Solomon, Jesus isn’t part of the Solomonic line. 

    Is that to say that Jesus is not a legitimate royal?

    It’s not saying that. 

    Perhaps the direct royal line had died off and Joseph was next in line. 

    So in that, Matthew could be giving the line of the monarchy which ends up at Joseph. 

    Even if not, Jesus is the divinely appointed Davidic King. We see several instances in the Old Testament where God makes a choice which goes against birth order. Judah was not the oldest of the 12 tribes. Jacob was younger than Esau. Abel was favored over Cain. 

    Certainly we should not think that either of the gospel writers were just arbitrarily listing names. Luke’s genealogy is interesting because it goes another route off of the Davidic line. Luke is very meticulous and detail oriented in his gospel. He knew the Old Testament. Why did he do that? 

    I think he did it because it was true. That was the line. 

    That does not mean Matthew’s genealogy is wrong. 

    Again, the theory that I think makes the most sense is that Matthew is giving the kings. Keep in mind that the monarchy ends long before Jesus. There are people living in the world today who are descendants of monarchies that are no longer in power. 

    And from the line of the kings, Matthew is pointing to Jesus as the final and ultimate king. That also goes with the kingship theme in this gospel. 

    There are other theories. 

    OTHER THEORIES

    Maybe it’s as simple as Matthew and Luke showing that Joseph himself was related to David from both sides of his family. 

    Maybe Joseph’s parents died and he was adopted and it’s giving the lines of his blood family and his adoptive family. 

    Jesus was adopted by Joseph. Maybe Joseph too had been adopted. 

    And there are other theories. 

    Maybe Joseph’s mom was a widow and his dad had a half brother who married the mother to give Joseph’s father a legal heir and the gospels are giving that genealogy and the genealogy of his biological father. 

    Again, it’s not a new thing that Matthew and Luke have different genealogies. Theologians and scholars have been wrestling with this throughout church history. We have church theologians commenting on this in the third century, but I think it’s safe to say that the question goes back further than that. 

    AN IMPORTANT LESSON ABOUT THE BIBLE

    But here are a couple things to keep in mind. 

    Because sometimes skeptics will point to these different genealogies as a known on the historicity of the Bible. 

    People like to sometimes make it seem like way back in the early history of the church, like they edited the Bible. But the Bible gives us two different genealogies for Jesus and throughout the history of the church, both were left in the gospels because they were original to the books. 

    And that should mean something. 

    It’s a powerful reminder of the efforts throughout the history of the church to preserve the Biblical text and not be editors. But letting the text speak for itself. 

    The Bible is the word of God. 

    All scripture is God breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). 

    Hebrews 4:12 says: 

    the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword

    The Word of God does not need to be explained away. 

    Thomas Jefferson was famous for producing his own “bible” where he cut out the parts he disagreed with. That’s not how you treat the Word of God. 

    Matthew and Luke gave those two genealogies, as we have them. 

    And they’re both God’s word. 

    For the skeptics and those who want to use this against the historicity of the Bible or even for the Christian who’s uncomfortable with the discrepancy, that needn’t be so. Just because we don’t know exactly why the genealogies are different does not imply that a solution doesn’t exist. 

    Again, there are no shortage of plausible theories. 

    We just don’t know exactly which one it is. 

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