.jpg)
AUTHOR
This letter was sent by Paul not to one church in one city but to a group of churches in the region of Galatia. Let’s begin our examination of this letter by reading the opening verses…
Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—and all the brothers and sisters with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Galatians is one of the undisputed letters of the Apostle Paul. Scholars ancient and modern are agreed that Paul was the author of this letter.
DATE
Another thing that modern scholars agree about is the fact that Galatians is one of the earliest documents of the New Testament. Some scholars date Galatians as early as 48 or 49 CE. Others date it a bit later, in the early fifties of the first century. Most likely, either Galatians or 1 Thessalonians is the first letter written by Paul contained in our New Testament. Furthermore, Galatians and 1 Thessalonians are, most likely, the earliest parts of the New Testament as a whole.
THEMES
To understand the themes inherent in Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia, one must understand something of the background to this letter…
We get introduced to Paul in Acts 7:58 when those who stone Stephen, one of the first deacons of the church, leave their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. A couple of verses later we learn that Saul is approving of the stoning of Stephen.
Next, we meet Saul on his way to Damascus where he is headed to arrest any followers of “the Way”. As we have already noted, it is on this trip that Saul meets Jesus. By Acts 13, Saul is off on a different sort of trip, a Christian missionary journey with a man named Barnabas. In Acts 13:9 we learn that Saul is also called Paul. “Saul” is his Hebrew name, and “Paul” is his Roman name.
Paul’s first missionary journey to Galatia (near the southern coast of the middle of modern-day Turkey) is recorded in Acts 13 and 14. Paul visited the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, making converts all along the way.
Apparently after Paul’s first visit to these places, Jewish Christians had come in among Paul’s converts and told the new Gentile Christians that if they wanted to follow Jesus then they would also have to follow the Jewish law, including circumcision. Paul wrote Galatians to refute this idea. In this letter he emphasizes the idea that he would develop even more fully in Romans—that we are justified (declared righteous in God’s sight) by faith in Jesus Christ alone, and not by obeying the Jewish law.
STRUCTURE
The structure of this letter works out like this…
- Introduction (1:1-9)
- Personal: Authentication of the Apostle of Freedom and Faith (1:10-2:21)
- Doctrinal: Justification of the Doctrine of Freedom and Faith (3-4)
- Practical: Practice of the Life of Freedom and Faith. (5:1-6:10)
- Conclusion (6:11-18)
KEY CONCEPT—GRACE
As we have seen before, Paul follows the conventions of first century letter-writing, but he uses those conventions to convey his own unique message, the good news about Jesus Christ. I call the first five verses of Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia his suitcase because what he packs into the first five verses of this letter, he unpacks in the following six chapters. Let’s look at what Paul says here…
First, Paul defends his apostleship with his opening salutation. The Jewish Christians in Galatia who were telling the Gentile Christians they needed to be circumcised, were also telling them that Paul was not a true apostle. Perhaps they pointed out that Paul had not accompanied Jesus during his earthly ministry as Peter and the rest of the first disciples had done. Maybe they also pointed out how Paul had been a persecutor of the first followers of Jesus. However they went about it, the Jewish Christians in Galatia wanted to discredit Paul so that they could be proved right.
Paul addresses their claim right out of the starting gate. Whereas Paul’s letter to the Philippians is gentle and loving, Paul’s letter to the Galatians is combative throughout. Why is Paul so forceful? Because, as we will see in a moment, there is a lot at stake. In fact, the essence of the Gospel is on the line.
So, Paul opens this letter countering the Jewish Christian attack that he is not an apostle. He says he is an apostle, a “sent one”. Moreover, he is not sent from men or by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. It is hard to imagine a higher authority than that which Paul is claiming, unless it be the authority of Jesus himself. And Jesus, Paul says, is the one who has made him an apostle.
When did Paul’s “call” happen? It happened on the road to Damascus. The story is told three times in the book of Acts, first by Luke in chapter 9, then in Paul’s own voice in chapters 22 and 26. Luke wants to make sure there is no way that we can overlook Paul’s conversion and call to be an apostle.
I like the way Paul sums up his conversion and call the third time it is told in the book of Acts. Paul says, “I saw a light… I heard a voice… I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.” It was through his conversion on the road to Damascus that Paul received his apostleship. God made it clear to Paul, through Ananias who baptized him, that he was being sent to preach the good news about Jesus to the Gentiles.
After the salutation at the opening of Galatians, Paul moves on to the second part of his greeting. In every one of his letters, Paul prays for the grace of God to be upon the people to whom he writes. And this isn’t just some little nicety. The Greek word for “grace” sums up Paul’s answer to the Jewish Christians who are saying that the Gentile Christians must be circumcised. Notice, there is nothing about God’s law in Paul’s opening salvo. His message is all about grace.
And what is grace? The word in Greek is Χάρις. There are two main ideas packed into this little word. William Barclay says the first idea is that of sheer beauty. There is something charming about grace. To be a Christian is to have experienced grace, and if you have experienced grace, there is something lovely about your life.
The second idea packed into this little word Χάρις is that of “undeserved favor”. In other words, God’s grace cannot be earned. We don’t merit grace by keeping the law. As Paul points out in each of his letters, we don’t keep the law anyway, so how can we earn anything thereby? God shows us his favor in his Son Jesus Christ simply because he loves us and chooses to bestow his favor upon us by forgiving us of our sins. As someone once said, grace is…
God’s
Riches
At
Christ’s
Expense
Now, notice also how Paul skillfully addresses his Jewish listeners by using the word “peace”. The Hebrew word is “shalom” and it means health in all its dimensions: physical, emotional, and spiritual. Paul’s greeting in every one of his letters unites the great Old Testament word “peace” with the great New Testament word “grace”. “Grace and peace.” These words appear in thirteen letters attributed to Paul in the New Testament. This is strategic on Paul’s part. And the order of the words (grace and peace) suggests that peace follows from grace as a result. Paul spells this out in Romans 5:1-5…
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Later, in Galatians 5, Paul is going to spell out how peace is part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. If we have experienced God’s grace, it is because God has planted the Holy Spirit in our hearts. And once planted in our hearts, the Spirit produces the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
So, Paul uses his opening prayer to wish to the Galatian Christians grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul packs so much important truth into his tiny little suitcase!
Having already mentioned the resurrection of Jesus, Paul is going to go ahead and spell out the rest of the good news that he summarized in 1 Corinthians 15. But he uses slightly different language here, very evocative language, to convey that good news. Paul says that Jesus is the one “who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age”. Bishop J. B. Lightfoot once wrote that the verb rescue strikes the keynote of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. “The Gospel is a rescue, an emancipation from a state of bondage.” John Stott says, “Christianity is, in fact, a rescue religion.”[1]
The Greek verb for rescue is a strong one. It is used in the book of Acts to describe the rescue of the Israelites from their Egyptian slavery (Acts 7:34). It is used to describe the rescue of Peter from prison and from the hand of King Herod (Acts 12:11). It is used to describe the rescue of Paul from a mob that was about to lynch him (Acts 23:27).
In Galatians, Paul says that Jesus gave himself for our sins. This is how we are rescued. We are not rescued by pulling ourselves up by our own moral bootstraps. We are not rescued by keeping the law or carrying out a ritual. We are rescued solely by something Jesus did. He gave himself for our sins on the cross. Jesus’ death and resurrection are the heart of the good news. And Paul never wanders far at all from that good news. He is always reminding his readers of it.
The word for “rescue” means a complete rescue, total deliverance. And what does Jesus rescue us from? He rescues us from this present evil age.
Remember the Jewish belief in the two ages? This present age in which we live is, according to Paul, evil. And Jesus is in the process of rescuing us from this present evil age that he might deliver us to the age to come, eternal life. But in fact, according to the New Testament view, these two ages overlap. The moment we put our trust in Jesus, we already have the life of the age to come.
Notice again, there is nothing here about works, nothing about what we do. It is all about what God has done through Christ, and what he is doing.
Do vs. Done. Every other religion in the world is all about doing. Do this. Do that. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. But Christianity says, “Done!” What were Jesus’ last words on the cross? “It is finished.”
Paul says this is “according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” It is according to the will of our God and Father, not according to our will that we are rescued. It is to God’s glory for ever and ever, not to our own glory. That is good news, because if God has begun a good work in us, he will surely complete it, as Paul says to the Philippians. “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)
I love this little illustration from Joseph Stowell. He writes,
We have a nickname for tow trucks here in America: a wrecker. When I was in England, I noticed their tow trucks all have one big word on them: RECOVERY. When I saw that, I thought, Same vehicle, same instruments, same mission — totally different perspective. We say, “There goes a wrecker.” They say, “Here comes recovery.” A lot of people in the body of Christ move like a wrecker, but Christ came on a recovery mission.
How do you view God and his Son Jesus? Are you afraid that they are coming to haul your life off to the dump like a wrecker? Or have you experienced God’s grace? If you have experienced God’s grace in Jesus Christ then when you think of God and his Son, you think “recovery”, you think “rescue”. And that makes all the difference in the world.
People who try to earn God’s grace by their good works often drive through life like a “wrecker”. They are constantly noticing and pointing out how other people don’t measure up. I feel sorry for such people because not only are they hard on others, but they are hard on themselves. They feel unworthy and they make others feel unworthy. But people who have experienced God’s grace have begun to experience recovery and rescue, and they embody a message of grace and hope and recovery for others.
When the world looks at the church, what do they see? Do they see a bunch of wreckers? Or do they see a bunch of recovery vehicles?
If you have been raised, and trained, and soaked in the wrecker mentality, I know what you are thinking about now. You are thinking, “Indiscriminate grace! That’s what Will Vaus is advocating. Cheap grace. And all that won’t build up the church or make a better society.”
Not so. Paul answers the same charge in this letter. Theologians have a fancy name for it. It’s called “antinomianism” which means anti-law-ism. Paul wasn’t against the law. He just knew it couldn’t save anyone. He also knew that a real experience of grace does not produce antinomianism. Instead, a real experience of grace produces real followers of Jesus… every time. Listen to what Paul says in Galatians 5:1…
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
Got that? Paul calls the attempt to be saved by obeying the law “slavery”. It’s also called “legalism” and it will tie you up in knots. “Stand firm in your freedom from the law,” Paul says. Being a Christian means that you experience true freedom.
But Paul doesn’t end there. In Galatians 5:13 he says,
You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
The one who has experienced God’s grace in Jesus Christ doesn’t use their freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Rather, that person is so full of love that God’s love naturally flows out of them to others. And as Paul says elsewhere, love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8)
I once had a boy in confirmation class whose mother asked him what he was learning. He said, “Mom, it’s all about grace.”
His mother queried further, “What does that mean to you, Chris?”
“It means that after confirmation I don’t have to go to church anymore.”
I think Chris was saying that a bit tongue in cheek. And his mother was sure to explain to him that wasn’t what grace meant.
But sometimes we act like legalism and antinomianism are the only alternatives. We bounce to extremes all the time. And to those extremes, Paul speaks a third, healthier alternative. It is the alternative of grace and freedom through the indwelling Holy Spirit who makes us want to do what God wants.
This is the message that Paul carries in the suitcase of his heart. And he is going to take the whole letter to the Galatians to unpack that message that he sums up in these five little verses at the very beginning.
Grace and apostleship. If you begin to understand those two concepts, then you will begin to understand Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Actually… all you must understand is grace because Paul was called to be an apostle by grace. But of course, grace is one of those things you must experience to understand.
Grace is kind of like ice cream. There are people who can tell you all the scientific qualities of ice cream and how it’s made. But that is nothing compared to tasting the ice cream. God invites you today to taste the ice cream, to experience the grace of his Son Jesus Christ. God has handed you the “menu”, now all you have to do is give him your “order”. Ask him for grace and he will give it to you… and it will change your life. “O taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8)
Comments