Galatians 6 -- The Church's Declaration Of Independence

6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. This book begins with Jesus rescuing us from this evil age and concludes with us being the ones to restore a person caught in sin. Paul was caught in sin when he was Saul of Tarsus and Ananias “restored him gently”. He was riding around the country seizing Christians and turning them over to the Jewish leaders to be tried and even stoned to death. He was blind, thinking he was serving the Lord when he didn’t even know who the Lord was. When the Lord healed him, laying His hands on him, Paul’s sight was restored and he saw the Body of Christ. Salvation comes to Israel when the Lord restores His people. Restore us, O God; make your face shine on us, that we may be saved. Ps. 80:3 This experience of Paul is similar to Abraham’s experience. Lot was living in Sodom, there was a war between the Kings in Sodom and the four kings led by Chedorlaomer. Lot was taken captive and Abraham pursued the kings and restored Lot and all he had. In this experience Paul would have been Lot, taken captive by these four kings representing this evil age, and Abraham would be represented by the Christians and Ananias. This experience is where we first see Melchizedek. That is, this is where Paul first sees Jesus. Abraham was one that “lived by the Spirit”, he “walked by faith”. If you are a son of Abraham, if you are one that walks by faith, one who lives by the Spirit, then you also should restore those who are caught by sin. That is the goal of the book of Galatians. We see the same thing with Peter. Think about his experience on the mount of transfiguration where he suggested building tabernacles to Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. God was very clear, “this is my beloved Son, hear Him!” That is the message of the book of Galatians. Jesus, as our Melchizedek is greater than Moses and the law. We have a superior covenant with Jesus, why would we want to insult Him by building a tabernacle to Moses?