Weekly Pursuit – Week 4 of December
Verse:
Gal. 1:4 “Who gave Himself for our sins that He might rescue us out of the present evil age according to the will of our God and Father.”
Excerpts:
An age is a part of the world as the satanic system. An age refers to a section, an aspect, the present or modern appearance, of the system of Satan, which is used by him to usurp and occupy people and keep them away from God and His purpose…. As the Devil God’s enemy is involved with sins, and as Satan he is involved with the evil age. God’s enemy is subtle, lurking behind sins and the evil age. Apart from the crucifixion of Christ, we have no way to deal with sins, behind which the Devil hides, or the evil age, behind which Satan hides. Christ was crucified for our sins so that He might rescue us from this evil age. This indicates that only Christ can save us from the Devil and Satan. Both sins and the evil age have been dealt with by Christ crucified. He gave Himself for us on the cross according to the will of God. He died for our sins so that we might be delivered from the present evil age. Therefore, if we would be delivered from this evil age, our sins must be dealt with. If we, through the preaching of the gospel, help others to have the forgiveness of sins, they will begin to realize that they need to be rescued from the present evil age.
Literally, the Greek word translated “rescue” in Galatians 1:4 means to pluck out, to draw out, to extricate. The present evil age in this verse, according to the context of the book, refers to the religious world, the religious course of the world, which at Paul’s time was the Jewish religion. This is confirmed by Galatians 6:14 and 15, where circumcision is considered part of the world—the religious world to which the Apostle Paul is crucified. Here Paul emphasizes that the purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for our sins was to rescue us, to pluck us out, from the Jewish religion, the present evil age. This is to release God’s chosen people from the custody of the law (Gal. 3:23), to bring them out of the sheepfold (John 10:1, 3), according to the will of God. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 72)
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
