Galatians 1
This is probably the very first of Paul’s letters that have survived to become part of the New Testament. It may have been written as early as AD 48.
Paul first stayed in Galatia because he was ill (4:13–15). The people were very kind to him, and received the gospel willingly. But now they have been visited by Jewish teachers with a different message. These teachers distort the gospel by insisting that Gentile Christians must be circumcised and keep the Jewish law.
Paul quickly sees the danger. If this teaching catches on, it will destroy the gospel. The Jews are adding an extra requirement to simple faith in Christ. They want the Galatians to show their Christian difference in the same ways that Jews have shown their Jewish difference—by circumcision, sabbath-keeping and food laws.
Paul argues that faith in Jesus and his death on the cross is all that is needed for salvation. It was faith, not circumcision, which put Abraham right with God. Being circumcised, keeping the sabbath and eating Jewish food can’t possibly add to what Jesus has already done!
Where is Galatia?
Galatia is a Roman province in Asia Minor. The area splits north and south.
Northern Galatia is a mountainous area of Asia Minor, where Celts from Gaul settled in the 3rd century BC. It is called ‘Galatia’ after the Gauls.
Southern Galatia is a district added by the Romans, including the cities of Antioch (known locally as Pisidia, to distinguish it from Antioch in Syria) and Iconium. These are places Paul and Barnabas visited in AD 47–48, on their first missionary journey (Acts 13 and 14). We don’t know if Paul visited the north, nor to which part of Galatia he wrote this letter.
Paul says that we are saved from sin and death and judgment by God’s grace. Abraham was the first person to trust God’s promises—promises which the whole human race is invited to share. Those who have the same faith as Abraham are his true descendants. Race, sex and status don’t matter. God doesn’t see Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and those who are free. He sees faith. He sees those who belong to Jesus. He sees his children.
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1 Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
No Other Gospel
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Paul Called by God
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
DISCOVERING GALATIANS
Paul introduces himself and greets the Galatian Christians
Paul introduces himself as an apostle (1:1–5). This is what his critics have been trying to deny. After all, Paul wasn’t one of the original twelve apostles who were chosen and commissioned by Jesus.
But Paul announces that he is a true apostle because God the Father and Jesus have called and sent him. He hasn’t been elected by the other apostles and he certainly hasn’t appointed himself. His status comes from the will of God.
Paul begins so strongly because he wants the Galatians to know that what he says to them is true. He greets them with God’s grace and peace. He reminds them that Jesus gave himself to die on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. In doing this he was fulfilling God’s will. He was rescuing us from the evil of this world, so that we can live the life of heaven while we are still on earth.
The one and only gospel
Paul attacks those who are altering the gospel
(1:6–10)
Having greeted the Galatians, Paul comes straight to the point. He is astonished that the Galatians have so quickly abandoned their faith in the gospel.
The Galatians have fallen for new teachers who are changing the gospel. They are stripping new Christians of their freedom and putting them in the old prison of the law. Paul curses these teachers in the most solemn terms. It doesn’t matter who they are—apostles or angels from heaven—no one has the right to tamper with the gospel. They are doing a terrible thing. They are robbing people of faith.
There is only one gospel, revealed by God himself
(1:11–17)
Paul explains that he received the gospel directly from God. He didn’t invent it himself, nor did he learn it from someone else. It was a revelation from Jesus Christ.
Paul tells the Galatians the story of his conversion. He was once the finest and keenest of Jews, vigorously persecuting the Christian church. But then God showed him who Jesus really is—the Messiah, Son of God and Saviour of the world. God turned Paul, on the road to Damascus, from fanaticism to faith. After his conversion, he spent some three years in the desert of Arabia, east of Damascus. There he absorbed the revelation of Jesus and thought through the implications for his life and future work.
Paul didn’t depend on the original apostles
(1:18–24)
God had always intended to do this—to call Saul of Tarsus to become Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles. Paul insists that he didn’t get his message from the apostles in Jerusalem. He didn’t visit Peter and James until three years later—by which time he had fully digested the revelation of the Damascus road.
Blessed Father, you are above all in gifts, and out of your giving you have taught me the way to a fuller identification of myself with you. Not only your gift of Jesus and your gift of the Spirit, but every day your gifts are about me like manna in the wilderness. All I have belongs to you, and of my money I am only a trustee. Command its use as shall please you and give me the experience of the giver’s joy. Let me see clearly the sin of covetousness and deepen my hatred of its practice. In the name of your unspeakable Gift be praise and dominion forever. Amen.
If the Incarnation Was a Phantom, Salvation Is a Phantom
Galatians 4:4; 1 Timothy 2:5; 1 John 4:2; 2 John 7
Preaching Themes: Birth of Jesus, Humanity of Jesus
This Only-begotten Son of God for our sins came down from heaven upon earth, and took upon Him this human nature of like passions with us, and was begotten of the holy virgin and of the Holy Ghost, and was made man, not in seeming and mere show, but in truth; nor yet by passing through the virgin as through a channel; but was of her made truly flesh, and truly nourished with milk, and did truly eat as we do, and truly drink as we do. For if the Incarnation was a phantom, salvation is a phantom also.
CYRIL OF JERUSALEM (CA. 315–386)