Title: Galatians: An Introduction

Text: Gal. 1:1-5

Paul visited churches in both Northern and Southern Galatia during his three missionary journeys. That area lies in modern day Turkey. This letter was intended to be a circular, it was written to all the churches in that area and they were to share the letter with one another.

It is one of Paul’s most commanding letters. Dr. Timothy George writes that Philippians is a love letter on the theme of joy, Romans a reflection of the mind of a master theologian expounding on the doctrines of Grace and Ephesians is an uplifting commentary on the body of Christ. But, Galatians bristles with passion, sarcasm, and anger touched with tenderness. He writes that Galatians is touched with he tenderness of a distraught mother enduring the pains of childbirth all over again, because her children, who should have known better, were in danger of committing spiritual suicide. (NAC, Vol. 30, p.22) In this letter the apostle forcefully proclaims the doctrine of Justification by faith alone. It has been called the “magna Charta” of faith.

Aside from it’s theological value the letter also contains one of the most important autobiographical sketches of Paul’s life in the Bible, providing us significant information about his life between his conversion and his missionary journeys.

The book is also a bit unique in the fact that even liberal scholars, who like to raise doubts about much if not most of the Bible, agree the apostle Paul wrote this letter. It bears his name, tells his story and expounds the truth that was the focus of his life – justification by faith in Jesus Christ.

The first two chapters are a defense of Paul’s apostleship, which was being questioned and attacked by false teachers. The 3 and 4^th chapters are a theological and practical discussion of the doctrine of salvation. The last two chapters deal with the consequences of saving faith.

Hopefully as we go through this letter you will be able to understand or at least get a feeling as to why it was necessary for Paul, under the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit to write the things he did.

After Paul had spent time in the region and evangelized and established churches he received disturbing news that there were religious activists in the region stirring up controversy, and teaching the gospel Paul presented was insufficient for salvation (1:7). In addition to faith in Christ these teachers insisted that a person must be circumcised according to the Law of Moses (5:12), they must observe holy days and keep the Sabbath (4:10), and adhere to Jewish ceremonial law (5:3). Their teaching also reflected Gnostic ideas as well (4:3, 9). These false teachers, who were called Judaizers, suggested Paul was an inferior apostle, if he was really an apostle at all, and his gospel was not authoritative. What was most troubling to Paul was that the Galatian believers were quickly buying into this and forsaking the truth Paul taught them. They were giving up their freedom in Christ for bondage to the law. It broke Paul’s heart, it angered him and he set about to correct the situation.

I. A summary defense of his ministry

Paul begins this letter with a summary defense of his ministry. He was an apostle. Apostle is the noun form of a verb which means “to send.” An apostle in the narrow sense is literally an envoy or ambassador, one who has been sent in the service of another. The United States sends ambassadors to other countries these ambassadors represent our government in those countries. Paul was an ambassador, sent out on a mission with authority to preach the gospel and plant Christianity.

But, Paul wrote, his authority did not come from men. He was not sent from men nor the agency of man. Later in chapter two Paul discusses his interaction with the mother church in Jerusalem fourteen years after his conversion which affirmed the truth of what he wrote here. Paul made it clear he was called and commissioned by Jesus Christ himself, and God the Father.

The grammatical construction of this phrase is important. Paul was making an important theological statement, that might otherwise be overlooked except for the grammatical construction. Both Jesus Christ and God are governed by the same preposition and Jesus Christ is placed first followed by God the Father which is a reversal of the usual sequence. In doing this Paul makes two theological points. First that there is no distinction between the calling of Christ and the calling of God, which is important in his claim of authority and second he was declaring the essential and eternal unity between the Father and the Son. That’s important because then just as it is today the question being asked and debated is who is Jesus. Paul makes a bold affirmation by linking Jesus Christ and God the Father in an unqualified way.

When we consider who He was, who those closest to Him declared Him to be, who He claimed to be and what He did there is only one conclusion Jesus Christ was God. He is the eternal Son who willingly left the glories of heaven to accomplish the Father’s plan of redemption. He took upon Himself the very nature of our humanity, becoming bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh to reconcile our sinfulness with the Father’s holiness. God vindicated Him by raising Him from the dead. Paul wrote to the Romans in Rom 4:25 “He died for our sins and rose again to make us right with God. . .” (TLB)

It was this risen, vindicated, glorified Jesus who commissioned Paul and gave Him the gospel that he proclaimed to all the Galatian churches and to all men.

II. A summary of the gospel of salvation v. 3

In verse three Paul sends the Galatian Christian a message of grace and peace. In a sense he follows the traditional form of greeting, but for Paul grace and peace are filled with theological meaning. The represent a summary statement of the gospel message. The nature of salvation is peace, or reconciliation - peace with God, peace with men, peace within.

The source of salvation is grace, God's free favor, irrespective of any human merit or works, His loving-kindness to the undeserving. And this grace and peace flow from the Father and the Son together.

III. A summary of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ

The distinctiveness of Christ’s death is revealed in the expression “who gave Himself for our sins.” Dr John Stott says the death of Jesus Christ was primarily neither a display of love, nor an example of heroism, but a sacrifice for sin. The phrase 'for our sins' echos the Old Testament idea of the sin-offering. The New Testament teaches that Christ's death was a sin-offering, the unique sacrifice by which our sins are forgiven and put away. Later in the this letter (3:13) Paul writes that Christ actually became 'a curse for us'. He bore in his righteous body the curse or judgment which our sins deserved. Once we understand Christ 'gave himself for our sins', we realize that as sinners we are unable to save ourselves. What that means is that contrary to what false teachers say there is nothing we can add to the work of Christ, nothing we need to add to the work of Christ on the cross.

Paul adds in verse 4 that He gave Himself for our sins, to rescue us from this present age. If the nature of Christ's death on the cross was “for our sins”, its object or it’s purpose was 'to rescue us out of this present age of wickedness. This verse in Galatians is the only place in the New Testament where this word translated rescue is used metaphorically of salvation. Christ died to rescue us, but not out of 'this present evil world', as the some translations say. The more accurate translation is “this present evil age.” God's purpose is not to take us out of this world, but that we should stay in the world and be salt and light. But Christ died to rescue us out of this present age which is under the control the devil. The bible divides history into two ages: 'this age' and 'the age to come'. It tells us 'the age to come' has already dawned, because Christ inaugurated it, although the present age has not yet finally passed away. The two ages overlap one another. Christian conversion means that we have been rescued from the old age and being transferred into the new age. So the Christian life is living in the here and now the life of the age to come. The purpose of Christ's death, was not only to bring us forgiveness, but that, having been forgiven, we should live a new life. And this was accomplished according to the will of God.

In these introductory verses of the Paul revealed three acts in God’s divine plan for man's salvation. Act 1 is the death of Christ for our sins to rescue us out of this present evil age. Act 2 is the commissioning of Paul as an apostle to bear witness to the Christ who died and rose again. And Act 3 is the gift to all who believe of the grace and peace Christ secured and Paul bore witness to. In each the Father and the Son have acted and continue to act together. The sin-bearing death of Jesus was both an act of self-sacrifice and according to the will of God the Father. The apostolic authority of Paul was 'through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead'. And the grace and peace which we enjoy as a result are also 'from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ'. It is through Christ alone we are made right with God the Father and there can never be anything added to that great sacrifice and it is to Christ the Son and God the Father whose will’s were united in perfect harmony on the cross that all glory belong. To God be the glory, great things He hath done so loved He the world that He gave us His Son, who yielded His life an atonement for sin and opened the life-gate that all may go in. Will you accept what He did for you and will you live for Him and give Him the glory?