Church Family,
One of the most fascinating individuals to study in church history is Martin Luther. On October 31, 1517, Luther nailed “95 Theses” to the door of the church in Wittenburg. Luther wanted to reform the church and was addressing the concerns he had with how the Roman Catholic Church was selling indulgences for forgiveness of sins. Luther was convinced that the main authority for every Christian should be God’s Word. Further, he was convinced that salvation was by grace through faith, alone. This challenge by Luther to get back to God’s Word and to preach and teach that salvation is by faith only without works was a catalyst for the Protestant Reformation.
Luther wanted to get the truth of the Gospel into the hands of the common German people. He translated the Bible into German and spent the rest of life his teaching and preaching that salvation came by grace through faith.
Luther fought against any and all teachings of the church that he felt like were adding to Scripture. He was a monk who abandoned the idea of celibacy and actually took a former nun as his wife. He was bold in declaring that you should never add anything to the Gospel.
For the next few months, we are going to take time studying one of Luther’s favorite books of the Bible, Galatians. In fact, in talking about the book, Martin Luther once said: “The Epistle to the Galatians is my epistle, to which I have wedded myself. It is my Catherine Von Bora.”
He said he felt like Galatians was as important to him as his wife, Catherine! When the leader of the Protestant Reformation makes a claim like that, it makes me excited to dive into this great book! This book clearly proclaims the Gospel and shows that we are saved by grace, not by works of the law.
We are calling this study of Galatians, “Jesus + Nothing = Everything.” Do you truly believe that? That Jesus is enough? Paul challenges us throughout Galatians to not add anything to the Gospel. All we need is Jesus! Galatians 2:20 reminds us that it isn’t about us. We have been crucified with Christ, and we no live, but Christ lives in us!
Paul wrote Galatians to combat false teachers who were trying to add to the Gospel. They were saying that it wasn’t just trusting in Jesus that led to salvation, but you also had to be circumcised and follow different laws. Paul makes sure that the church in Galatia understands that you can’t add anything to the Gospel. He wants us all to see that Jesus + Nothing = Everything!
Let’s remind ourselves of who Jesus is and what He has done for us as we study this incredible book together! Join me in praying that God speaks to us as we journey through Galatians.
In Him,
Pastor Zach Crook