Galatians, Introduction & 1:1-5

Galatians, Intro & 1:1-5

Author: Paul

The relationship of Hebrew religion of Judaism is a part of this letter.

In the book of Galatians Paul refers to his previous life in Judaism. He refers both to his affection for the traditions of his “fathers” and his zealousness in the persecution of Christians.

Paul was brought up in a Jewish family that was scattered throughout the Roman empire as a part of the diaspora. He was from the city of Tarsus in the province of Cilicia. Tarsus was a major city for trade, culture, and education. Many would say it is similar to Athens.

Even though he was from outside of Jerusalem, like most Jews of the diaspora Paul identified as a Hebrew. He referred to himself as a Hebrew of the Hebrews.

After he had learned the trade of tentmaking and completed his basic education at the local synagogue in Tarsus, Paul was sent to Jerusalem, where he became the prize pupil in the Pharisaic school of Rabbi Gamaliel. Gamaliel, whose surname was “the Glory of the Law,” was a renowned teacher and grandson of the even more famous Hillel. From Gamaliel, Paul learned that subtle and intricate manner of biblical interpretation he was to put to such good use in Galatians and elsewhere.

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 24.

Prior to his conversion, however, Paul was not merely a scholar; he was also an activist. One of the primary reasons Judaism had spread so extensively throughout the Roman Empire was the ardent missionary spirit that guided its zealous adherents at this time. The Pharisaic Judaism of Palestine, to which Paul was committed heart and soul, was especially known for its aggressive proselytism. Jesus himself referred to this policy in his rebuke of the Pharisees: “You hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are” (Matt 23:15). There is reason to believe that Paul, in his desire to advance in Judaism “beyond many Jews of my own age” (Gal 1:14), already had committed himself as a full-time missionary, perhaps even with a special orientation to the Gentile world, prior to his encounter with the risen Lord on the Damascus Road. Only then he was a missionary of the Jewish faith intent on winning as many converts as possible to the obedience of the law including, no doubt, the requirement of circumcision.

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 24–25.

There seems to be a reference to Paul’s previous missionary work as a Jew in Galatians 5:11 (CSB)11 Now brothers and sisters, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished.

Because Paul was raised a Jew in the hellenistic or Greek culture of Cilicia, he was “acquainted with the major currents of Greek philosophy and could appeal to its tenets in presenting the gospel to a pagan audience, as he did with great finesse in his famous address before the Areopagus in Athens (Acts 17:16–34). On three occasions Paul incorporated quotations from Greek poets in his speeches and letters (Menander, 1 Cor 15:33; Epimenides, Titus 1:12; Aratus, Acts 27:28).”

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 26.

Paul was both a Jew and a citizen of Rome and urged obedience to the civil authority, but as evidenced in Galatians 4, he also knew that the Christian’s prior political allegiance (politeuma, cf. Phil 3:20) was to that heavenly commonwealth, “the Jerusalem that is above” (Gal 4:26).

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 29.

In Galatians 1:15-16 Paul says that God was pleased to reveal His son to him… Paul’s conversion is an amazing testimony to the life changing power of Jesus and His gospel. Paul was converted from persecutor to persecuted. Luke records the conversion of Paul in Acts following the stoning of Stephen. Here we see Paul overseeing the murder of a Christian leader in Acts 7, and then the conversion of the murderer in chapter 8.

Paul’s conversion, like all conversions, is life altering in every single way. He moves from Jewish evangelist and persecutor to Christian missionary and prisoner for the Lord. As Dr. Timothy George writes, “Clearly there is no way to understand Paul’s theology or mission apart from the fundamental fact that stands at the center of his life: on the road to Damascus, Saul of Tarsus and Jesus of Nazareth came face-to-face. After that event neither Saul nor the Christian church was ever the same again.”

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 32.

When Paul was converted to Christ, he did not leave behind his Judaism… Instead, in Christ he received the true meaning of all of God’s promises and dealings with His people from the beginning. The law, the covenant, the temple, the Old Testament sacrifices, the destiny of Israel, and indeed the fate of the world itself were now all illuminated in light of God’s decisive intervention through the life, death, and resurrection of his promised Messiah, Jesus. Paul wrote as a man who had been let in on an incredible secret, a “mystery” that though “hidden for ages and generations” had now been “disclosed to the saints” (Col 1:26). The burden of Paul’s life was to make this secret known to all peoples everywhere, that is, to proclaim the word of God in its fullness to Jew and Gentile alike (Col 1:25).

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 34.

Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ led him to modify radically his understanding of salvation history in light of the traditional apocalyptic expectations. Paul now discovered that what the persecuted Christians had said all along was true: the crucified Jesus is indeed God’s chosen Messiah. His resurrection from the dead (to which Paul was made a witness, 1 Cor 15:8) already has inaugurated the new age. In this sense Christians are those who live at that critical juncture in history known as the fullness of time (Gal 4:4); they are those “on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come” (1 Cor 10:11). In Jesus Christ the future has invaded the present. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor 5:17).

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 34–35.

The problem existed for many Jews with the continued suffering of those who followed Christ. They had looked forward to the fulfillment and freedom that would come through the Messiah. But, with continued suffering and chaos in the world they struggled with the idea that the Messiah had come. They were looking for the universal reign and peace that God had promised.

Paul’s solution to this problem is found in the teaching of the tension between the already and the not yet. The “Already” of Christ’s finished work and the “Not Yet” of the consummation of redemption. The whole of Paul’s theology revolves around these two truths: the saving significance of Jesus’ death and resurrection on the one hand and the hope of his return in glory on the other.

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 35.

In the Galatian church there were Jewish Christian missionaries who sought to see Christ through the law. This meant that they taught that all converts both Jews and Gentiles must continue submission to the strict adherence to the law including circumcision. Paul however taught the opposite. Instead of coming to Christ and living for Christ through the Law, Paul teaches that only through Christ and his finished work on the cross can we begin to understand the true meaning of the law, God’s covenant, and God’s burden and revelation to Israel.

Date

There is some disagreement on the date and occasion of the writing, but that doesn’t bring in any dispute to the truth or the authorship of the book.

I ascribe to an early dating of this letter in Paul’s ministry. Most likely coinciding with what happens in Acts 15 and the Jerusalem council. The council convened to discuss whether or not the gentile converts must follow the strict jewish laws of food and circumcision. Those referred to in the book of Acts that were stirring the issue up are likely the same ones that Paul is writing against in the book of Galatians. If this is the occasion of the writing of Galatians then Paul wrote it around 49-50 AD.

The book of Galatians seems to be written in three sections…

The foundation of the gospel and his relationship with the churchThe doctrinal teaching against the false teachersThe application of the truths of the gospel in the life of those who follow Jesus

Galatians 1:1-5

Galatians 1:1–2 (CSB)

Paul, an apostle—not from men or by man, but by 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.

Here we see the author as we have discussed at length… but Paul makes it clear that the one who set him apart is more important than the one who has written the letter. But, that the fact that Christ has set him apart in this way is significant as it relates to his ministry and specifically to situation in the Galatian church.

Paul hangs the whole letter on two things that are present in the beginning… "the vindication of his own apostolic authority in the context of salvation history and the divine initiative God has taken to redeem lost men and women through Jesus Christ and him alone.”

Timothy George, Galatians, vol. 30, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1994), 76.

The word ‘apostle’ was not a general word which could be applied to every Christian like the words ‘believer’, ‘saint’ or ‘brother’. It was a special term reserved for the Twelve and for one or two others whom the risen Christ had personally appointed. There can, therefore, be no apostolic succession, other than a loyalty to the apostolic doctrine of the New Testament. The apostles had no successors. In the nature of the case no-one could succeed them. They were unique.

John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 13.

Paul’s authority was not derived from men, but from Christ. He is claiming an authority that his opponents have denied him.

Paul continues his greeting with the foundation of his life and his message- the gospel.

Galatians 1:3–4 (CSB)

3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

Grace and peace are not small words… they are giants of truth and should be read and understood here with the full weight of the work of Christ present in them.

“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 favour, 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.”

John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 16.

Paul speaks immediately of the cross in verse 4, when he writes about the grace and peace of God that comes from Christ.

To give us peace, and as an act of grace… .

Jesus died for our sins

The death of Christ is first a sacrifice for our sins. Later in chapter 3 Paul expounds on this as we learn that Christ became a curse for us by bearing the judgement and weight of our sins on Himself.

Jesus died to recuse us from this present age of wickedness

Christianity is a rescue religion… Through Christ we have been set free from the bondage of sin and death.

For God’s purpose is not to take us out of the world, but that we should stay in it and be both ‘the light of the world’ and ‘the salt of the earth’. But Christ died to rescue us ‘out of this present age of wickedness’ (neb), or, as perhaps it should be rendered, ‘out of this present age of the wicked one’, since he (the devil) is its lord. Let me explain this. The Bible divides history into two ages: ‘this age’ and ‘the age to come’. It tells us, moreover, that ‘the age to come’ has come already, because Christ inaugurated it, although the present age has not yet finally passed away. So the two ages are running their course in parallel. They overlap one another. Christian conversion means being rescued from the old age and being transferred into the new age, ‘the age to come’. And the Christian life is living in this age the life of the age to come.

The purpose of Christ’s death, therefore, was not only to bring us forgiveness, but that, having been forgiven, we should live a new life, the life of the age to come. Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age

neb New English Bible: New Testament, 1961.

John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 18.

Jesus died according to the will of God

Both our rescue out of this present evil age and the means by which it has been effected are according to the will of God. They are certainly not according to our will, as if we had achieved our own rescue. Nor are they just according to Christ’s will, as if the Father were reluctant to act. In the cross the will of the Father and the will of the Son were in perfect harmony.

John R. W. Stott, The Message of Galatians: Only One Way, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1986), 18.

Because of who He is, and what He has done all glory belongs to the Lord now, and forever more.

Galatians 1:5 (CSB)

5 To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Questions or thoughts for reflection and application:

What’s your story of conversion?

Don’t ever discount or normalize your conversion. Every time God transforms and saves it a divine work. It is always amazing… and every salvation is from the evil age and into the eternal kingdom of God.

Do you struggle with legalism or are you afraid of liberty?

We must make sure that our faith, teaching, and obedience are grounded in the actual Bible and not the result of what we are afraid of.

Rails on cliffs illustration… guard rails on dangerous roads…

God intends for us to live fully and abundantly… this means we are not legalists, nor are we abusers of grace… Instead we walk fully and faithfully with the Word… but like the Galatians we must be grounded in the truth to be able notice false teachings, and also be able to live faithful.