Greetings (Gal. 1:1-5)

Introduction

The letter to the Galatians is one of Paul’s first writings. It was probably composed around A.D. 48-A.D. 52. The later date is dependent on what is called the Northern Galatian theory. This postulates that Paul founded the Galatian churches on his secondary missionary journey as described in Acts 16. The Southern theory says he did on the first Journey described in Acts 13-14.

If Paul had founded them on his second missionary journey, then this would have been after the Jerusalem council. This is seen in Acts 15 where there had been some people were teaching that unless one was circumcised according to the custom of Moses they could not be saved (15:1).

Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem to discuss this and come to a conclusion on the matter. There was much discussion in the council amongst the elders and apostles which led to Peter standing and saying Acts 15:7-11 “And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

All of this finally led to the decision and teaching that Acts 15:19-20 “Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.” This led to the decree from the council

Acts 15:28-29 “For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

I went through all of that to demonstrate that Paul makes no mention of the council in the letter to the Galatians. It seems that if the Jerusalem council had made this decision before Paul founded the churches at Galatia, he would have referenced this authoritative decree. He does not so it seems the letter was written before.

This also gives more reason why Paul pushes his apostolic authority to make these decisions. He has his teaching from Jesus and that should be enough for the people to know what he said is correct and they should follow this teaching.

So it seems the first missionary journey is when he founded the churches at Galatia. We see in Acts 13-14 where Paul evangelized the Galatians. This would lend itself to the Southern Galatian theory. That Paul founded the Galatian churches on his first journey. This would have been around A.D. 47/48. Which explains why Paul is astonished at how quickly they have departed from the true gospel (Gal. 1:6).

Paul wrote this to correct the straying Galatians. To bring them back to the gospel that saves from an abhorrent gospel that is not a gospel at all.

These Galatians drifted away from the true gospel because some agitators came in. Some agitators that Paul says later in the epistle that he wished they would “emasculate themselves!” (Gal. 5:12).

These agitators were Judaizers. Men who were teaching “that one must adopt the Jewish way of life according to the OT…that one must observe the OT law to be saved” (Schreiner, Handbook on Acts and Paul’s Letters, 232).

The points within the book itself that lend credence to this view is where Paul speaks quite clearly that we are not justified by the works of the law. He mentions this six different times throughout the letter. Three of those times are in Gal. 2:16 “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

The other three times are in Gal. 3:2 “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?

Gal. 3:5 “Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—”

Gal. 3:10 “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”

Then Paul has twenty more references to the Mosaic law in the rest of the letter (2:19, 21; 3:10, 11, 12, 13, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24; 4:4, 5, 21; 5:3, 4, 14, 18; 6:13). There are other mentions but they are in reference to other types of law (i.e., “law of Christ” 6:2, there is no law against the fruit of the Spirit 5:23).

We see in another area where the Galatians were beginning to keep feasts, festivals, and days from the OT calendar (4:10). It seems clear that the law of Moses and keeping it for some reason is the main thrust of why Paul had to write to the Galatians. Why the Galatians were drifting from the true gospel to an abhorrent gospel.

Looking back to how quickly they departed from the true faith. This is not anything that should cause us difficulty to believe. We see people stray quickly today. We see this taught in a parable from Jesus too.

In the parable of the soils in Luke 8:4-15. Here we see that a farmer spread his seed on the ground and this seed fell on differing soils. One landed on the path and never took root and was taken by the birds of the air before it could take hold. Another soil landed on the rock and quickly sprouted and quickly withered.

The next seed landed amongst the thorns. It grew up but got chocked out by the thorns. The other fell on good soil and sprouted a tremendous spoil.

The parable then tells us that the seed that fell on the path are those who hear the word of God but it is snatched away by the devil before it can have any effect.

The rock are those who receive the word with joy and believe but have no root and fall away in testing.

The seed that fell on the thorny soil are those who hear and receive it but get caught up in the cares of the world and their fruit does not produce to maturity.

Then the good soil are those who hear and hold fast to it and bear much fruit.

The reason I went to this parable is because in it we see that people who have believed can falter quickly. I believe that the only soil in this parable that was not descriptive of believers was the first soil. All the other soils believed or produced fruit but faltered except the last that was faithful all the way.

Anyway, the main point is that people can quickly fall away and become deceived if they are not continually walking in faith. That is what is the important aspect of this.

Just as Paul says in Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

And in Gal. 3:2 “Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?”

And Gal. 3:11 “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

We live by faith and trust in the Lord to guide and direct us. Not the law or anything that is made up by man. The law was of God but it was only a tutor a guardian until Christ came (Gal. 3:23-26 “Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” )

This is what Galatians is all about, the defense of the gospel, the grace of God, how we are to live by faith and not works of the law.

We are saved by grace through faith. We live our lives by faith. We are sanctified by faith in Christ for our growth. We rest in Him alone because it is He who saves and secures and will ultimately bring us all home.

It is because of this why the apostle Paul started the letter with an immediate defense of his apostolic authority.

Apostolic Authority (1:1-2)

Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.

Paul makes it very clear that he is an apostle from Jesus Christ and not from man. He does so because an apostle was “an envoy, an ambassador, or a missionary.” (Hans Dieter Betz, “Apostle,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 309.)

This could be messengers without extraordinary status or of messengers with extraordinary status. (William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 122.)

If the messenger was just from a man then he may have no authority. This title apostle would have been known as something like a mail deliverer. “Christianity, therefore, appears to have picked a secular term and made it into a specific office and title.” (Hans Dieter Betz, “Apostle,” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 309.)

This is why Paul makes it such a point to address that he is sent by Christ and God the Father. The Father who raised Jesus from the dead. Paul is saying that I am speaking authoritatively for the Lord because the Lord has given me the authority to speak authoritatively for Him.

I am not going to say what I am about to say on my authority or any other man’s authority but by the authority of the Lord alone. He is addressing this to all the churches in Galatia. This was not just a church in Galatia but the many different house churches there.

This letter would have circulated through the churches there and would have been read by all, even those who were teaching the false gospel.

We see in this statement a guns blazing here I am to set the record straight message.

Just like the action movies like Delta Force, Rambo, Die Hard, and others. We see in them a one man army that is forceful and commanding and has the power to stop all kinds of things. They allow for no fear or worry to creep in because they have a mission and a job to do and they will do it regardless what comes their way.

This is what we see with Paul here. He says I am of the authority to tell you all I am about to tell you. I have my calling from the Lord (c.f., Gal. 1:15-16 “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 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;”) and I will do what He has called me to do. And what I have been called to do is to make sure you know the true gospel and I will do this even if it makes others mad because my authority is from God and I serve Him alone.

But even though he comes in like this, he does have a gentleness to him.

Gentleness in Frustration

Verse three shines the grace that Paul had received himself from the Lord. He exudes it to the Galatians because of the harshness that will follow. He does so because:

1) it was the common greeting of the day to write grace to you in a letter

2) peace was a traditional Hebrew greeting (i.e., shalom), and Paul combines these two in his letters to demonstrate that he wants them to experience these blessings

3) grace is also the means of salvation and peace will come to those who have experienced God’s grace.

He tells them, as he tells us now, that these two blessings only come from God alone. God is the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is our savior. Jesus is the savior that Paul told the Galatians about.

Jesus is the savior who came and fulfilled the law and the prophets and therefore has abolished the requirements to keep the law (c.f., Matt. 5:17).

Paul is in effect saying with this statement, “The grace you have always wanted and the peace you have always hoped for are now offered to you by God and Christ.” (Grant Osborne, Galatians: Verse by Verse (The Salutation and Power of the Cross (1:3–5).

So, we see him starting with his apostolic authority and then moving into the grace of God for them. Paul is using the authoritative aspect of God to the fullest extent.

But even more than that, Paul is emphasizing that those who are in Christ are the children of God.

He says that God is Father three times in these five verses. He is pushing the love and authority that a father has over his children and that He is the messenger of this Father to His children.

This Father is full of grace and love but He wants all to be delivered.

What we see here in its entirety is “God and Christ are completely at one in the bestowal of salvation: the grace which lies behind this salvation is indiscriminately called ‘the grace of God’ (Gal. 2:21) and the grace of Christ’ (Gal. 1:6), and the peace which this salvation produces is indiscriminately called ‘the peace of God’ (Phil. 4:7) and ‘the peace of Christ’ (Col. 3:15).” (F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1982), 74–75.)

Which is seen fully in the:

Simplicity of the Gospel (4-5)

We see in these last two verses what the grace of God is.

God graced us so we can have peace with Him through Jesus Christ giving Himself for us.

He came and gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this evil and wicked age.

It is through this alone that we have peace with God. His grace is given through Christ alone. Nothing else added can give this to us. We can serve with diligence after we have received this grace, but the peace we receive is from the grace of God alone and nothing we do.

This is a quick summary of the gospel. We see the same terminology in 1 Cor. 15:3 “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,”

Paul’s discussion of redemption in Gal. 3:13-14 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.”

The deliverance this gave us from this age in Col. 1:13 -14 “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

This deliverance is referring not only to our salvation but also of the sanctification that comes with Christ and the fulness of life we have with Him. (Gal. 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” )

Paul does this to extend the fact that the gospel he will defend is Christ alone. He is showing that the only hope for sinful humanity is the grace of God found in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

As Grant Osborne has written, “The gospel is encapsulated in the trumpet call of victory and salvation: “who gave himself for our sins.” (22). This is what the gospel is about. Jesus gave himself for our sins. He did the work. We do nothing to add to what He did because He did all that was necessary.

It is because of Him and our great God and Father that we have salvation. We did not do it and cannot do it. Only Christ could and only Christ did. This is what Paul is saying here. He is saying tat Christ gave Himself for us and because off this we can be delivered. It is all Him and Him alone.

This was brought about by the will of God who had this planned from the beginning. It is His glory and purpose to do this. What a glorious thing this is. What majesty this is.

What love this is that we have this gift from the amazing God and Father through Jesus Christ. This is love divine and true. This is amazing grace. This is salvation and nothing else can add to this because He did it all.

Conclusion

Charles Wesley said it almost as good as the apostle Paul when he penned the Hymn “And Can It Be.” It goes like this:

And can it be that I should gain An int'rest in the Savior's blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain? For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me?

He left His Father's throne above, So free, so infinite His grace; Emptied Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race; 'Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me. Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me!

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him is mine! Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach th'eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Amazing love! how can it be That Thou, my God, should die for me!

This is the gospel that Paul is sent to say. This is the gospel that Paul is defending in this letter. This is what Paul wants us all to know. Jesus did it all for us and we were to sinful to do it ourselves. We needed him so nothing we do will save us or add to it. Just seek Him and follow Him in faith and He will save you everlastingly and in the present times through sanctification and will ultimately save you in glory.