PAUL ANSWERS HIS ACCUSERS
Jesse M. Hendley
Galatians 1:10
Paul answers his accusers! They had accused him of
pleasing men and not pleasing God. They thought they
had God on their side! They thought that men would
be saved by keeping the Law of Moses, going back to
the Old Testament and being circumcised (the ritual
of circumcision). When Paul came preaching that you
don't have to keep the Law in the Old Testament and
be circumcised for salvation, and that a person is
saved just by faith in Jesus, they said to Paul,
"You are a pleaser of men and not of God."
Their Accusation
So Paul answers them saying, "Am I now persuading
men or God?" Notice the accusation! They charged
Paul with being an opportunist, a men-pleaser! The
word peitho "to please, to persuade, to win over, to
strive to please, to set at ease, to rest." So there
are people who are opportunists. There are people
who seek only to please men instead of God. Now we
want to please God. We're not out to displease men,
but when God's truth about salvation displeases men
we can't help it. We've got to hold to the truth. If
we don't who will be saved? We will not ourselves be
saved nor anyone else, so we must be true to God's
Word.
These Judaizers knew that trying to please God by
keeping the rules and the Law of Moses was hard work
and they thought it necessary for salvation, for
forgiveness, for heaven. They accused Paul of trying
to make it easy by simply trusting Jesus as their
Saviour. They rightly recognized that preachers
should please God by preaching, whatever man's
attitude of acceptance or rejection; but they missed
it entirely by trying to work for it rather than by
trusting in Christ!
Many people think they're pleasing God by their
works when He's cursing them. There are people
driving around with "GOD IS LOVE" on their auto-
mobiles while they're living in sin. They've
rejected Jesus and they're lost. Yet they ...
Jesse M. Hendley
Galatians 1:10
Paul answers his accusers! They had accused him of
pleasing men and not pleasing God. They thought they
had God on their side! They thought that men would
be saved by keeping the Law of Moses, going back to
the Old Testament and being circumcised (the ritual
of circumcision). When Paul came preaching that you
don't have to keep the Law in the Old Testament and
be circumcised for salvation, and that a person is
saved just by faith in Jesus, they said to Paul,
"You are a pleaser of men and not of God."
Their Accusation
So Paul answers them saying, "Am I now persuading
men or God?" Notice the accusation! They charged
Paul with being an opportunist, a men-pleaser! The
word peitho "to please, to persuade, to win over, to
strive to please, to set at ease, to rest." So there
are people who are opportunists. There are people
who seek only to please men instead of God. Now we
want to please God. We're not out to displease men,
but when God's truth about salvation displeases men
we can't help it. We've got to hold to the truth. If
we don't who will be saved? We will not ourselves be
saved nor anyone else, so we must be true to God's
Word.
These Judaizers knew that trying to please God by
keeping the rules and the Law of Moses was hard work
and they thought it necessary for salvation, for
forgiveness, for heaven. They accused Paul of trying
to make it easy by simply trusting Jesus as their
Saviour. They rightly recognized that preachers
should please God by preaching, whatever man's
attitude of acceptance or rejection; but they missed
it entirely by trying to work for it rather than by
trusting in Christ!
Many people think they're pleasing God by their
works when He's cursing them. There are people
driving around with "GOD IS LOVE" on their auto-
mobiles while they're living in sin. They've
rejected Jesus and they're lost. Yet they ...
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