Galatians - part 1 - Unlocking The Bible

David Pawson - ’Unlocking the Bible’ Podcast

Part 73 of the David Pawson 'Unlocking the Bible' Podcast series

David Pawson says of Galatians, that it is the Magna Carta of Christian Liberty. It wrestles with issues caused by the differences between Judaism and Christianity in the early church. It came to a head with the issue of whether a person is saved by faith or by works. The Judaisers were saying that they needed to start with faith and then go on to keep the Law. So Paul asked the Galatians: having started in the Spirit, are you going to continue in the flesh? Paul was fighting for ‘faith alone’ as the means of salvation. He emphasized the need to ‘go on believing’. David says to introduce the Law at any stage is to put believers under a curse because the only pass mark Jesus would accept for the Law is 100%. Galatians explains why God gave the Law. In speaking on the 3 themes of the book, David says that Legalism is an enemy of Liberty but what people don’t always realize is that License is too. It is a delicate edge we walk in the Liberty of the Spirit. It’s so easy to slip either into Legalism or into License. Real freedom is the freedom not to sin.