Galatians 1 Part 2
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What I want to accomplish today
Verse 3
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Observations
Key Words
Thus the order of God’s Fatherhood may be expressed from the most proper to most general like this:
Father as personal name:
1) Father of God the Son
2) Father of those united to the Son
Father as an essential name:
3) Father of image-bearing humans
4) Father of all creation
At the heart of the Church’s confession of Jesus as Lord is the simple fact of the authority of the risen Christ in the life of the Church and its members (cf. 1 Cor. 4:19; Jas. 4:15). Jesus’ designation as Lord is attested early in the Church’s existence, e.g., in the Aramaic prayer “MARANATHA” “Our Lord, come” (1 Cor. 16:22). In Hellenistic usage Gk. kýrios was applied to various deities, but always in conjunction with the name of the deity. While such Gentile cultic language should not be considered the source of the epithet as applied to Jesus, it is apparent that once the designation was established, comparison with other divine “lords” became possible. This was particularly true in connection with the differentiation between the Christian eucharist and the cultic meals of other groups (e.g., the dinner at the table of the Lord Serapis; cf. 1 Cor. 8:5–6; 11:20). The eucharist meal and the confession “Jesus is Lord” contributed significantly to the designation of Jesus as “Lord” among Christians, as did the frequent application of Ps. 110:1, interpreted messianically, to Jesus (Acts 2:34–35; cf. Matt. 22:41–45; Heb. 10:12–13).
Startling as it might have seemed to non-Christian Jews, the designation of Jesus as Lord did call to mind the Greek-speaking Jewish use of kýrios as an equivalent to Heb. YHWH, at least implying that Jesus shared in the authority of the God of Israel. Old Testament passages referring to Yahweh (LXX Gk. kýrios) could be applied to Jesus (1 Pet. 2:3, using Ps. 34:8 [MT 9]; 1 Pet. 3:14–15, possibly relying on Isa. 8:12–13). Furthermore, Christ, the risen and exalted Lord, was involved in the creation of the world (cf. John 1:3; Col. 1:16–17) and rules over all (Rom. 14:9; Phil. 2:9–11 [cf. Isa. 45:23]; Rev. 17:14).
Commentary
Paul wishes for the Galatians a state of friendship with God, and, along with it, all good things; for the favour of God is the source from which we derive every kind of prosperity. He presents both petitions to Christ, as well as to the Father; because without Christ neither grace, nor any real prosperity, can be obtained.
Verse 4
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Observations
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Commentary
1:4 present evil age. Only Christ, in His death and resurrection, can deliver the sinner from the order of united human rebellion against God. Believers no longer belong to this age but have been brought by Christ, through the Spirit, into “the age to come” (Eph. 1:21), which Paul will later refer to as the “new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15).
1:4 gave himself. Christ’s death was a voluntary self-sacrifice (John 10:17–18; Eph. 5:2). world. Or age. according to the will of God. Christ’s redemptive work was according to the divine will (Eph. 1:5, 9, 11), thus the false gospel must be denounced and the true gospel defended.
Christ then, by his death, did merit and purchase, for all those for whom he died, all those things which in the Scripture are assigned to be the fruits and effects of his death. These are the things purchased and merited by his blood-shedding and death; which may be referred unto two heads:—First, Such as are privative; as,—1. Deliverance from the hand of our enemies, Luke. 1:74; from the wrath to come, 1 Thess. 1:10. 2. The destruction and abolition of death in his power, Heb. 2:14; 3. Of the works of the devil, 1 John 3:8. 4. Deliverance from the curse of the law, Gal. 3:13; 5. From our vain conversation, 1 Pet. 1:18; 6. From the present evil world, Gal. 1:4; 7.
Thirdly, For the world corrupted, or that universal corruption which is in all things in it, as Gal. 1:4,