BibleTalk with Jeff Asher

Is the Law Contrary to the Promise? (Galatians 3:19-22)

Paul raises and answers a fifth question which the Circumcision may have posed as an objection to the Gospel: "Was the Law Contrary to the Promise?"  This question is posed to cathc Paul between the horns of a dilemma. He must be wrong about the Law since God's purpose was to save the Jews, but Paul says the Law can only condemn.  

Why Was the Law Given? (Galatians 3:23-29)

The sixth and final question that Paul answers in establishing the superiority of the Gospel over the Law of Moses: "Why was the Law Given?" Paul explains the positive and essential role that the Law played for both Jews and Gentiles respecting the redemptive plan.

Under Tutors and Governors (Galatians 4:1-12)

Paul expands on the imagery introduced at the end of Chapter Three to drive home the point that they were heirs of the promimse to Abraham before and without being under the Law. To seek the Law was to return to the same kind of ineffectual religion they had escaped in turning to Christ from idolatry.   

Amos 5:1-27

Amos sings the funeral dirge for Samaria. It is complete overthrow and national destruction. The idolatrous shrines at Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba shall be brought down to nothing. Israerl is going into captivity beyond Damascus.

Amos 4:6-13

Prepare to meet your God! God declares that His longsuffering has passed concerning Samaria. They have resisted His chastening of famine, drought, plague, pestilence and invasion. Now, God of Hosts is coming to tread them beneath His feet.

Amos 2:9-3:8

Jeff Asher discusses Amos 2:9-3:8 giving emphasis to the faithfulness of God to keep His word whether it is a promise to bless, or a promise to curse. God had kept His covenant with Israel, but they had not kept theirs with Him. God's longsuffering and patience ran out. The prophet announces Jehovah's intent, "I will punish you for your iniquities." The prophet them laments, "The Lion hath roared who will not fear?"

The Conversion of a Great Company of Priests

The success of the Gospel is evident in the first five chapters of Acts. What began with about "three thousand souls" soon increased by the addition of "about five thousand" men, and then "multitudes of both men and women." The growth of the church is described in Acts 6 as "multiplied greatly." However, it is the conversion of this "great company of the priests." That defined the power of the Gospel to convict men that Jesus was the Christ.   

The Curse of the Law

Jeff Asher continues to consider Paul's defense of the Gospel demonstrating its superiority over the Law of Moses as a system of justification. In Galatians 3:10-14, Paul affirms the inability of the Law to justify sinners because "cursed is everyone that continues not in all things which are written in the Book of the Law to do them." 

Though It Be but a Man’s Covenant...

Paul continues to demonstrate the superiority of the Gospel over the Law of Moses in Galatians 3:15-18. In these verses, he anticiates and objection to the Gospel based on the fact that the Law was 430 years after the promises made to Abraham. Jeff Asher discusses Paul's line of defense giving special attention to Galatians 3:17. 

Bible Examples of Legalism

Have you ever been called a "legalist," it wasn't intended as a compliment. Jesus and His Apostles exposed "legalism" as hypocrisy. Certainly the New Testament church wants to avoid "legalsim;" however, what is it? Jeff Asher defines "legalism" and allows the Scriptures to exemplify this hypocritical practice.