Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Thursday, March 12, Galatians 1:4

"who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:"

So in this greeting we are getting a foretaste of what is to come. Paul has established that he is an apostle, and that he was given this office by the Godhead. He has a team with him to proclaim Christ to the world. He is now explaining the purpose of Christ's work on the cross, showing that we have nothing to do with our "deliverance" from this present evil world, but it is all the work of Christ, which he will establish in detail as the letter progresses.

This passage coincides with the end of 2 Corinthians 5, a passage we just left maybe a month or so ago: "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (20-21)

One of the hardest things for a born-again believer to grasp is how, once they are saved, that others cannot see the wonderful work of God. And one of the most dangerous things some do is try to compromise with the world, naively deceiving them into thinking that they are right with God when they are not.

In this letter, we find a group who are trying to add burdens to those who want to follow Christ. In other letters, we find some who take away from the work of Christ by syncretizing with world religions, making Christ as just another "way", and instead of the simple truth that sinners need to be reconciled to God through Him, find all sorts of other qualifications to water down the truth.

In the persecutions of Rome, many times all the Christians needed to do was add Ceasar to their "god list". They could have a "Jesus" god as well. The world is quite similar. As long as you have an emasculated Jesus who is just another god among many, they are fine. But if you tell them about the real Jesus, you are now their enemy. In the time of Rome, you would be considered an "atheist", because you rejected all of their gods. Now, you are simply a hateful bigot, and the words of the Bible contain "hate speech" and need to be censored.

This is "the present evil world". It is in this world where all believers once lived, until the Holy Spirit revealed their sinfulness to them, and they repented and were saved, or "delivered".

If Christ was simply providing another "pathway to god", there would have been no need for Him to give Himself as a sacrifice for sin. But all were already under the wrath of God and needed to be reconciled. Mankind is unique in that we all came from the same seed of Adam, one father and mother, and uniquely one Seed from that line God inserted Himself in the form of the Son. For only the Righteous God could deliver us, and it required sacrifice.

Why God chose this way is beyond me, but He did, and that is the only way you can be reconciled to Him. And when you fall upon Christ, He will deliver you from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father. Turn to Him today!

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

*KJV used*

Memory Helps

"WHO GAVE HIMSELF for our sins, (6wds)
that he might DELIVER us from (6)
this PRESENT EVIL WORLD, (4)
ACCORDING to the will (4)
of GOD AND OUR FATHER:" (5)

I'll always first break the verses into small phrases, because the mind can grasp a few sets containing a few words easier than one long set of a lot of words. The word pattern I've used is 6-6-4-4-5

Then you "divide and conquer", so that instead of trying to memorize a stack of 25 words in a row, you "break up the bundle" into smaller segments and learn them one phrase at a time.

And as always, I use word pictures for key words, then attach the rest of the phrase to these "anchors".

I'll use pictures to spark my memory. For this one, since it begins with "Who", I may use my word picture for "who", which is a "hoot" owl, who knocked on my door. He is a post man "WHO GAVE" me, all by "HIMSELF" by "delivery" (deliver) a "PRESENT". It is a "black globe" (EVIL WORLD) that is playing an "accordion" (ACCORDING). And behind him is that huge throne (GOD AND OUR FATHER) that takes the awful gift and throws it far away from me.

Linking verse numbers:

I use my friend "Ray" (R=4) as my memory character for verses 4. Wearing a big bow "Tie" (for chapter 1, T=1) In this addition to my word picture, Ray is the delivery boy and "gave" me the "who" owl that was on his shoulder. To make this work, make sure you see your memory character very well in the word picture.

That way I link 1:3 to the verse.