The Preeminence of the Gospel

The Galatian church represented a a common problem churches have today.

whenever the church sees growth, there are also growing pains

One fellow pastor shared a story of a young woman that recently gave her life to Christ

she didn’t have “church cloths” so she went out and bought a new dress

that Sunday morning she came to the pastor and recounted the story of needing and buying a dress

later, an older woman in the church commented on the inappropriateness of the dress

while this is simply a story of growing pains, the problems in Galatia are much greater

An Brief Greeting

Paul generally follows the traditional formula for a salutation

name of the sender

the name of the recipient

and a greeting - “Grace and peace”

Paul begins by defending his apostleship

this is interesting because Paul had already been to the cities of Galatia

they knew him, his conversion, his support by the Antioch and Jerusalem church

in light of what we are going to see later, and the problems that have arisen in the churches of the region, it was important that Paul explain his credentials

Paul defends his apostleship

Not appointed by men, but Christ and the Father

this is to combat the arguments for the trouble makers were introduced to later

its also in sharp contrast to the self appointed apostleship of today

The brothers with him

This adds credibility to the arguments he’s about to make

to know that it isn’t just Paul but also some others

A Doxology (v3-5)

This doxology is important to the message of Galatians

It sets the theological tone and stresses from the onset of the epistle the preeminence of the Gospel

It shows us what Paul believes to be truly important

Grace and peace are the offers God and Christ give to us

Gave himself for our sins

to deliver us from the present age of evil

according to the will of our God and father

whom be glory for every and ever

The Problem of Heresy

V6-10

Paul typically includes in his salutation a encouragement or compliment along with a prayer of thanksgiving

That’s not the case here

instead Paul dives right into a two part rebuke

Paul Rebuked the Galatians

The Galatians were deserting God

The word for deserting has the meaning of “in the process of leaving”

to alter or change

It was often used in a military or political sense to describe a traitor

Someone that switched sides during battle

This change in doctrine was more than just changing a belief

it was literally a betrayal of the God who called them

They were turning to different gospel

some translations say “another” and while that is a good translation, different is a better translation

the Greek word here, heteros, means a different kind

it appears paul chose this word specifically to emphasize that this new teaching they were following was not just a another option, but a different doctrine altogether

So much so that as you read on, he tells us there is no other Gospel

in verse 7 he uses a different word for “another”

Here he uses “allos” which means “another of the same kind”

we would use this to speak of another cup of coffee

Here Paul is expressing the fact that there is only 1 Gospel

while there may be different teaching that resemble the Gospel, they are not gospels

They are different

and in reality, there is only 1

The Danger of False Teachers

They are to be anathema (cursed)

Could you imagine the backlash there would be today if pastors got up and started saying this about the false gospels being preached in America?

Thankfully there is a resurgence of sound doctrine and fearless preachers who are willing to stand and boldly proclaim anathema toward those teaching heresy

Christian American culture today rightly reminds people that Jesus said “do not judge” but often forgets that we are also called to discern and rebuke

Following Paul’s example, heresy is to be rebuked

In fact, it was so important to Paul that he said it twice

Not only did he announce this curse on those we will refer to as the judizers, but he even included himself if he were to ever teach a false gospel

False gospels are pleasing to man

In case you couldn’t tell, Paul felt the need to state that he is not seeking mans approval

Because, you know, announcing curses upon people is so often approved

He makes this statement, because false gospels are pleasing to man

It’s pleasing for believers to believe we had something to do with our salvation

Like the old woman from the story I told, it lets her feel superior in some minor way over the young lady trying her best

It also lets us keep control over our life

If we have some say in our salvation, then we don’t need to fully submit to the Lord’s authority

To Paul heresy is important

He doesn’t come into this letter saying “do this” or “don’t do that”

instead he defends sound doctrine

Why? Christ paid for our sin but if we believe we can work our way to salvation then we will die in our sin

The book of Galatian is a treatise on sola fida

by faith alone

it was the book that opened Martin Luther’s eyes to a proper view of salvation

But it also opens our eyes to another problem the church faces

it shows how fragile young believers are to false doctrines

It shows us that we have a responsibility to not just share the Gospel but teach the Gospel

We have a responsibility to not just evangelize but disciple

As one author put it, talking about the apostle Paul,

He prayed for them, wrote to them, and later revisited them because he took with utmost seriousness the work of “evangelistic follow-through.” We do poor service to Christ and his church when we indiscriminately lead men and women to profess faith in Christ but then leave them vulnerable, like the exposed infants of ancient Rome, to the ravenous wolves that seek their destruction.