📖 Wagalatia — Somo la Kina — Sehemu ya 1: Hakuna Injili Nyingine📖 Galatians Intensive — Unit 1: No Other Gospel

Andiko: Wagalatia 1:1-10Text: Galatians 1:1-10

Karibu katika somo letu la Wagalatia. Kati ya nyaraka zote za Paulo, huu ndio ulioandikwa kwa haraka kubwa kuliko zote na kwa wasiwasi mzito kuliko zote. Hakuna shukrani mwanzoni, hakuna neno la sifa lenye uchangamfu kama katika nyaraka zake nyingine — anatoka moja kwa moja kwenye jina lake hadi kwenye kilio cha mshangao: "Nastaajabu kwamba mnamwacha upesi namna hii." Kitu cha thamani kubwa kilikuwa kikipotea katika makanisa ya Galatia, na Paulo alijua kwamba kama kingepotea, injili yenyewe ingepotea pamoja nacho. Kitu hicho cha thamani kilikuwa neema. Tangu mstari wa kwanza hadi wa mwisho, Wagalatia ni utetezi mkuu wa Paulo wa injili ya neema dhidi ya bandia iliyokuwa ikijipenyeza ili kuchukua nafasi yake. Kwa hiyo hapa ndipo kozi yetu yote inapoanzia, na swali la sehemu hii ya kwanza ndilo muhimu kuliko yote: injili ya kweli ni ipi, na tunaitambuaje injili ya uongo tunapoiona?Welcome to our study of Galatians. Of all Paul's letters, this one is written in the greatest hurry and the deepest alarm. There is no thanksgiving at the start, no warm word of praise as in his other letters — he goes straight from his name to a cry of astonishment: "I marvel that you are turning away so soon." Something precious was being lost in the churches of Galatia, and Paul knew that if it were lost, the gospel itself would be lost with it. That precious thing was grace. From the first verse to the last, Galatians is Paul's great defense of the gospel of grace against a counterfeit that was creeping in to replace it. So this is where our whole course begins, and the question of this first unit is the most important of all: what is the true gospel, and how do we know a false one when we see it?

Mtume — Si wa WanadamuAn Apostle — Not From Men

Paulo anaanza kwa kuthibitisha mamlaka yake: "Paulo, mtume, (si mtume wa wanadamu, wala si kwa mwanadamu, bali kwa Yesu Kristo, na Mungu Baba aliyemfufua katika wafu)" (Wagalatia 1:1). Huu si kiburi. Wasumbufu waliokuwa Galatia walikuwa wakinong'ona kwamba Paulo alikuwa mtume wa daraja la pili aliyeupunguza ujumbe ili kuufanya kuwa rahisi. Kwa hiyo Paulo anajibu mara moja: injili yake haikutoka kwa wanadamu na haiwezi kuhaririwa na wanadamu. Aliipokea kutoka kwa Kristo aliyefufuka Mwenyewe. Jambo hili lina maana kwa kila kinachofuata. Kama injili ingekuwa uvumbuzi wa kibinadamu, wanadamu wangeweza kuiongezea au kuibadilisha wapendavyo. Lakini ni ujumbe wa Mungu Mwenyewe, na hakuna mwanadamu — si Paulo, si mtume, si malaika — mwenye haki ya kuubadilisha.Paul opens by staking his authority: "Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead)" (Galatians 1:1). This is not pride. The troublemakers in Galatia were whispering that Paul was a second-rate apostle who had watered down the message to make it easy. So Paul answers at once: his gospel did not come from men and cannot be edited by men. He received it from the risen Christ Himself. This matters for everything that follows. If the gospel were a human invention, men could add to it or change it as they pleased. But it is God's own message, and no man — not Paul, not an apostle, not an angel — has the right to alter it.

Injili Yafafanuliwa: NeemaThe Gospel Defined: Grace

Kabla Paulo hajaikabili injili ya uongo, anaitaja ile ya kweli. Anayasalimu makanisa kwa maneno haya: "Neema na iwe kwenu na amani zitokazo kwa Mungu Baba, na Bwana wetu Yesu Kristo; ambaye alijitoa nafsi yake kwa ajili ya dhambi zetu, ili tuokolewe katika ulimwengu huu mbovu wa sasa, kama apendavyo Mungu, Baba yetu" (Wagalatia 1:3-4). Hiyo ndiyo injili katika sentensi moja. Ni neema — upendeleo wa Mungu wa bure usiostahiliwa — nayo inategemea kabisa kile ambacho Kristo amekifanya: Alijitoa nafsi yake kwa ajili ya dhambi zetu. Habari njema si ushauri juu ya kile tunachopaswa kufanya ili kupanda juu kumfikia Mungu; ni tangazo la kile ambacho Mungu amefanya ili kushuka chini na kutuokoa. Kristo "alijitoa nafsi yake." Kazi imekamilika, gharama imelipwa, nayo inapokelewa si kwa kuistahili bali kwa imani. Lishike jambo hili kwa uthabiti, kwa sababu kila injili ya uongo tutakayoisoma katika kozi hii inaishambulia hasa mahali hapa.Before Paul confronts the false gospel, he names the true one. He greets the churches with "grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father" (Galatians 1:3-4). There is the gospel in a single sentence. It is grace — God's free and unearned favor — and it rests entirely on what Christ has done: He gave Himself for our sins. The good news is not advice about what we must do to climb up to God; it is the announcement of what God has done to come down and rescue us. Christ "gave Himself." The work is finished, the price is paid, and it is received not by earning but by faith. Hold this firmly, because every false gospel we will study in this course attacks it at exactly this point.

Hakuna Shukrani — Waraka wa HofuNo Thanksgiving — A Letter in Alarm

Sasa unakuja mshtuko. Mahali ambapo kila waraka mwingine wa Paulo unasimama kidogo ili kumshukuru Mungu kwa ajili ya wasomaji wake, huu haufanyi hivyo. Badala yake: "Nastaajabu kwamba mnamwacha upesi namna hii yeye aliyewaita katika neema ya Kristo, mkaiendea injili ya namna nyingine" (Wagalatia 1:6). Angalia ni nini wanachogeuka kukiacha: si fundisho tu, bali Yeye — Mungu Mwenyewe, aliyewaita katika neema ya Kristo. Kuiacha neema ni kumwacha Mungu. Na angalia maneno "upesi namna hii." Sumu inafanya kazi haraka. Ulikuwa umepita muda mfupi tu tangu walipoamini, na tayari bandia ilikuwa ikiwavuta mbali.Now comes the shock. Where every other letter of Paul pauses to thank God for his readers, this one does not. Instead: "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel" (Galatians 1:6). Notice what they are turning from: not merely from a doctrine, but from Him — from God Himself, who had called them in the grace of Christ. To abandon grace is to abandon God. And notice the words "so soon." The poison works fast. It had been only a short time since they believed, and already the counterfeit was pulling them away.

Injili ya Namna Nyingine — Ambayo Si InjiliA Different Gospel — Which Is No Gospel

Paulo anayaita mafundisho hayo mapya "injili ya namna nyingine; wala si nyingine" (Wagalatia 1:7). Hakuna injili mbili, toleo la Paulo na toleo lililoboreshwa. Kuna injili moja, na kitu kingine chochote si injili kabisa bali ni upotoshaji wake: "wapo watu wawataabishao, wataka kuigeuza Injili ya Kristo." Wasumbufu hao walikuwa akina nani? Walikuwa walimu, ambao baadaye waliitwa Wayahudishaji (Judaizers), ambao hawakumkana Kristo. Walifurahi kumwongeza katika ujumbe wao. Lakini walisisitiza kwamba imani katika Kristo haitoshi — kwamba ili kuokolewa kweli mtu lazima pia aishike sheria ya Musa, kuanzia na tohara. Kwa maneno mengine, walihubiri neema pamoja na matendo. Na Paulo anasema kwamba neema pamoja na kitu chochote si neema tena, na injili ya neema-pamoja-na-matendo si injili kabisa.Paul calls the new teaching "a different gospel, which is not another" (Galatians 1:7). There are not two gospels, a Paul-version and an improved version. There is one gospel, and anything else is not a gospel at all but a perversion of it: "there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ." Who were these troublers? They were teachers, later called Judaizers, who did not deny Christ. They were happy to add Him to their message. But they insisted that faith in Christ was not enough — that to be truly saved a man must also keep the law of Moses, beginning with circumcision. In other words, they preached grace plus works. And Paul says that grace plus anything is no longer grace, and a gospel of grace-plus-works is no gospel at all.

Kila injili ya uongo ni neema iliyoongezewa kitu, neema iliyopunguzwa kitu, au neema iliyobadilishwa kwa kitu kingine. Wagalatia 1 linalipa kanisa injili yenyewe na pia kipimo ambacho kwacho kila bandia hufichuliwa.Every false gospel is grace with something added, grace with something taken away, or grace traded for something else. Galatians 1 gives the church both the gospel and the test by which every counterfeit is exposed.

Na AlaaniweLet Him Be Accursed

Kisha Paulo anasema jambo zito kuliko yote katika nyaraka zake zote, naye analisema mara mbili: "Lakini ijapokuwa sisi, au malaika wa mbinguni, atawahubiri ninyi injili yo yote isipokuwa ile tuliyowahubiri, na alaaniwe. Kama tulivyotangulia kusema, na sasa nasema tena, Mtu awaye yote akiwahubiri ninyi injili yo yote isipokuwa ile mliyoipokea, na alaaniwe" (Wagalatia 1:8-9). Neno lililotafsiriwa alaaniwe ni anathema — aliyetengwa kwa ajili ya maangamizi, aliyekatiliwa mbali na Mungu. Fikiria jinsi hili lilivyo zito. Paulo hasemi, "kama mwalimu wa uongo akija." Anasema, "ijapokuwa sisi — ijapokuwa mimi, Paulo, mimi mwenyewe — au malaika wa mbinguni akihubiri injili nyingine, na alaaniwe." Hakuna mjumbe aliye juu kiasi hicho, hakuna sifa za kuvutia kiasi hicho, zinazoweza kuipindua injili ya neema. Ujumbe haubadiliki; mjumbe hayuko juu yake. Laana hii ya mara mbili ndiyo fimbo ya kupimia kozi yetu yote: kila tunapolipima fundisho, la kale au la kisasa, hiki ndicho kiwango tunachokiinua — je, linahubiri injili ya neema ya Kristo, au linahubiri nyingine?Then Paul says the most severe thing in any of his letters, and he says it twice: "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8-9). The word translated accursed is anathema — devoted to destruction, cut off from God. Think how strong this is. Paul does not say, "if a false teacher comes." He says, "even if we — even if I, Paul, myself — or an angel from heaven should preach another gospel, let him be accursed." No messenger is so high, no credentials so impressive, that they can overrule the gospel of grace. The message is fixed; the messenger is not above it. This twofold curse is the measuring rod for our entire course: whenever we weigh a teaching, ancient or modern, this is the standard we hold up — does it preach the gospel of the grace of Christ, or does it preach another?

Si Kutafuta Kuwapendeza WanadamuNot Seeking to Please Men

Paulo anamalizia ufunguzi huu kwa swali linalofichua kiini cha jambo: "Je! Ni wanadamu ninaotaka kuwavuta sasa, au ni Mungu? Au ninatafuta kuwapendeza wanadamu? Kama ningekuwa hata sasa nikiwapendeza wanadamu, singekuwa mtumwa wa Kristo" (Wagalatia 1:10). Walimu wa uongo waliilainisha injili ili kuifanya ipendeze na kupata wafuasi. Paulo hatafanya hivyo. Injili iliyopunguzwa ili kuwapendeza watu ni injili iliyoacha kuwa injili. Mtumishi wa Kristo lazima aseme kile ambacho Mungu amesema, iwe wanadamu wanakipenda au wanakichukia.Paul ends this opening with a question that exposes the heart of the matter: "For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10). The false teachers softened the gospel to make it pleasant and to win a following. Paul will not. A gospel trimmed to please people is a gospel that has stopped being the gospel. The servant of Christ must speak what God has said, whether men love it or hate it.

Ndani ya Duara: Injili Moja, Tofauti NyingiInside the Circle: One Gospel, Many Differences

Ni muhimu sana kuona hasa mahali laana hii inapoangukia — na mahali isipoangukia. Paulo anatamka anathema juu ya wale wanaoipotosha injili yenyewe, wanaobadilisha njia ambayo mwenye dhambi hufanywa kuwa sawa mbele za Mungu. Hatamki laana hiyo juu ya kila tofauti ya maoni kati ya waumini. Fikiria duara. Katikati yake inasimama injili — kwamba Yesu aliishi maisha makamilifu, alikufa msalabani kwa ajili ya dhambi zetu, alifufuka siku ya tatu, na kwamba lazima tutubu, tumwamini, na kumfanya kuwa Bwana — pamoja na mafundisho ya msingi yanayoilinda: Utatu, Mungu mmoja katika Nafsi tatu, na mamlaka na kutokosea kwa Maandiko. Yeyote anayeshika yaliyo ndani ya duara hilo anashika injili moja ya kweli, naye ni ndugu au dada katika Kristo.It is vital to see exactly where this curse falls — and where it does not. Paul pronounces anathema on those who pervert the gospel itself, who change the way a sinner is made right with God. He does not pronounce it on every disagreement between believers. Picture a circle. At its center stands the gospel — that Jesus lived a perfect life, died on the cross for our sins, rose again the third day, and that we must repent, believe in Him, and make Him Lord — together with the essential doctrines that guard it: the Trinity, one God in three Persons, and the authority and infallibility of Scripture. Whoever holds what is inside that circle holds the one true gospel, and is a brother or sister in Christ.

Kuzunguka nje ya duara kuna mambo mengi ambayo Wakristo wa kweli, wanaotegemea neema ile ile, wametofautiana kwa muda mrefu: namna na maana ya ubatizo, jinsi tunavyoishika Meza ya Bwana, kuoshana miguu, mitindo ya ibada, karama za roho, jinsi kanisa linavyotawaliwa, nafasi za wanaume na wanawake katika uongozi, na undani wa nyakati za mwisho. Haya si maswali madogo wala yasiyo na umuhimu, nasi tunapaswa kuyachunguza kwa uangalifu. Lakini hayo si injili, na kutofautiana juu yake si kuhubiri "injili nyingine." Mbaptisti na Mpresbiteri wanaweza kutofautiana kuhusu ubatizo na bado wakakumbatiana kama ndugu, kwa sababu wote wawili wanategemea neema ya Kristo. Hatupaswi kumgawia kila anayetofautiana nasi laana ya Wagalatia 1; Paulo anaiweka kwa ajili ya wale wanaobadilisha kiini.Around the outside of the circle lie many matters on which true Christians, who rest on the same grace, have long differed: the mode and meaning of baptism, how we keep the Lord's Supper, foot washing, styles of worship, spiritual gifts, how a church is governed, the roles of men and women in leadership, and the details of the end times. These are not small or unimportant questions, and we should study them with care. But they are not the gospel, and to differ over them is not to preach "another gospel." A Baptist and a Presbyterian may disagree about baptism and still embrace as brothers, because both rest on the grace of Christ. We must not hand out the curse of Galatians 1 to everyone who differs from us; Paul reserves it for those who change the center.

Kwa upande mwingine — na hili linatazama mbele kwenye sehemu zitakazofuata — baadhi ya vuguvugu hazitofautiani tu katika mambo ya nje; zinaingia hadi kiini na kukibadilisha. Kundi linapokana uungu kamili wa Kristo, au linapomgeuza Mungu mmoja kuwa kitu kingine zaidi ya Baba, Mwana, na Roho Mtakatifu, au linapoweka ufunuo mpya kando ya kazi iliyokamilika ya msalaba, limevuka mstari ambao Paulo anauchora hapa. Ndiyo sababu baadaye katika kozi hii tutapima Umormoni, Mashahidi wa Yehova, na injili ya mafanikio kwa kiwango hiki hiki. Kipimo hakibadiliki kamwe: si, "je, wanatofautiana nasi?" bali, "je, wanahubiri injili ya neema ya Kristo, au nyingine?"By contrast — and this looks ahead to the units to come — some movements do not merely differ on the outside matters; they reach into the center and change it. When a group denies the full deity of Christ, or remakes the one God into something other than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or sets a new revelation beside the finished work of the cross, it has crossed the line Paul draws here. That is why later in this course we will weigh Mormonism, the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the prosperity gospel by this same standard. The test never changes: not, "do they differ from us?" but, "do they preach the gospel of the grace of Christ, or another?"

Kwa hiyo tunaanza pale Paulo anapoanzia. Injili ni neema — Kristo aliyejitoa nafsi yake kwa ajili ya dhambi zetu, anayepokelewa kwa imani peke yake. Ujumbe wowote unaoiongezea neema hiyo, unaoipunguza, au unaoibadilisha kwa kitu kingine ni injili ya namna nyingine, na injili ya namna nyingine si injili. Hii ndiyo kweli ambayo sehemu nyingine ya Wagalatia itaitetea, nacho ndicho kipimo tutakachokibeba katika kila sehemu ya kozi hii.So we begin where Paul begins. The gospel is grace — Christ who gave Himself for our sins, received by faith alone. Any message that adds to that grace, takes away from it, or trades it for something else is a different gospel, and a different gospel is no gospel. This is the truth the rest of Galatians will defend, and it is the test we will carry into every unit of this course.

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