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What an Introduction!
Galatians 1:1-9
Paul starts off cool, and
then heats up quickly. He cuts
to the chase calmly and directly and doesn't mince words.
Galatians is God's rebuttal
of legalism of every description. The Mosaic Law is neither discredited,
despised, nor disregarded. Its majesty, perfection, demands, fullness, and
purpose are maintained. Yet these very qualities make it utterly impossible
for man to come this route to God. Another way is opened for man to be
justified before God, a way which entirely bypasses the Mosaic Law. The new
route is by faith.
Justification by faith is
the theme, with the emphasis upon faith.
Three epistles in the New
Testament quote Habakkuk 2:4, "The just shall live by his faith." Romans
1:17 emphasizes the just. Hebrews 10:38 emphasizes shall live. Galatians
3:11 emphasizes by faith.
In Galatians Paul is
defending the gospel from those who would add law to justification by faith.
Faith plus law was the thrust of Judaism. Faith plus nothing was the answer
of Paul. The Judaizers again questioned Paul's authority as an apostle and
his teaching that simple faith was adequate for salvation. Paul mildly
defends his apostleship and demonstrates the sufficiency of the gospel of
grace to save.
Notice this cool greeting,
different from what we got used to as we watched him deal w/ the church at
Paul, an apostle, (not of
men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him
from the dead;) [Gal. 1:1].
Actually there is no
parenthesis necessary in this verse. Paul is simply stating that he is an
apostle. No more trying to prove it, these folks didn't need that evidently,
just a reminder of the facts.
The word apostle is used in a twofold sense:
1. One of the Twelve (Acts
1:21-26)
(a) With Jesus during His
three year ministry (v. 21);
(b) Witness of His
postresurrection ministry (v. 22);
(c)
2. One sent forth. This is
the wider sense as used in Acts 11:22.
Paul, I believe, took the
place of Judas. After the resurrection of Jesus, Matthias was chosen by the
disciples to fill the place of Judas, but no information is given about
Matthias except the account given in Acts 1:15-26. They cast lots, rather
than relying on the Lord to help them choose, and Matthias is never
mentioned again. If the Holy Spirit had chosen him, certainly somewhere
along the way He would have set His seal upon this man. Paul, however,
proved he was an apostle, and Matthias did not. The election of Matthias as
an apostle was held before Pentecost, which was before the Holy Spirit came
into the church. For that reason I do not think that the Holy Spirit had
anything to do with the selection of Matthias. We must be very careful in
our churches that we do not have decisions, votes, and elections which are
not ordered by the Holy Spirit. I believe that Paul is the man whom the
Spirit of God chose to take Judas' place.
In this verse Paul also
says that he is not "of men." The preposition apo conveys the meaning of
"not from men," that is, it is not legalistic. He is not an apostle by
appointment or commission after having attended a school or having taken a
prescribed course.
Paul also declares that his
apostleship is not "by man." The preposition dia indicates that it was not
through man, that is, not ritualistic by means of laying on of hands, as by
a church. Paul did not have the other apostles lay their hands on his head
and say, "Hocus pocus, you are an apostle."
Paul was an apostle. How?
He was an apostle by Jesus Christ. Jesus called him, and set him apart for
the office (see Acts 9:15-16).
Now I am an ordained
minister from men and through men. I was told that I had to go to Bible
college and obtain certain degrees before I could be ordained. I did that.
That was from men. That was the legalistic side. Next I went before a church
body that examined me. Their decision was that I should be an ordained
minister. I knelt, and a group of men put their hands on me and said, "You
are now an ordained minister." That is the kind of minister I am. Paul said,
"I am not that kind of an apostle. Men had nothing to do with it. I am an
apostle directly by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the
dead."
And all the brethren which
are with me, unto the churches of
You will notice that Paul's
greeting is cool, brief, formal, and terse. No one is personally mentioned.
He is not writing just to one church. He is writing to several churches --
"churches of
The word church is used in
two ways in the New Testament. One meaning of church includes the entire
body of believers, of all different groups, who have trusted Christ as
Savior. The other meaning of church refers to local assemblies, which is how
Paul uses the word here. There were churches, or local assemblies, in many
parts of
Grace be to you and peace
from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ [Gal. 1:3].
This is Paul's formal
greeting that he uses in most of his epistles. The word grace (charis) in
this verse was the gentile form of greeting in that day, while peace
(shalom) was the religious greeting of the Jews. Now the grace of God must
be experienced before the peace that is from God the Father can be
experienced.
Who gave himself for our
sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to
the will of God and our Father [Gal. 1:4].
This is another marvelous
verse --
Jesus Christ "gave himself
for our sins." There is nothing that we can add to the value of His
sacrifice. Nothing! He gave Himself. What do you have to give? Anything? Can
you add anything to His sacrifice? He gave Himself. How wonderful and
glorious that is! I am speechless when I read a verse like this. He gave
Himself! When you give yourself, you have given everything -- who you are,
what you have, your time, your talent -- everything. He gave Himself. He
couldn't give any more.
Paul calls Him, "our
Lord Jesus Christ." He is my Savior. Can you say, "The Lord is my Shepherd?"
It is one thing to say He is a Shepherd; it is another thing to make it
possessive. The Lord is my Shepherd. The Lord is my Savior. Can you say that
He is yours?
Paul goes on to say, "that
he might deliver us from this present evil world." There is, therefore, a
present value of the gospel which proves its power and genuineness. The
gospel can deliver you. I have received letters from many who have turned to
Christ and have been delivered. They have been delivered from drugs, from
alcohol, and from sex sins. Christ alone can deliver in cases like that.
This proves the genuineness of the gospel. Christ gave Himself for our sins.
He took your place and my place on that cross. He died for us and rose from
the dead "that he might deliver us from this present evil world."
Notice that His deliverance
is "according to the will of God and our Father." He can deliver us -- and
it will not be according to law. But it must be according to the will of
God. The will of God is that, after He has saved us, we are not to live in
sin. How wonderful this is! He can deliver us. He wants to deliver us. He
will deliver us, and He will do it according to the will of God.
This concludes Paul's
salutation. Although it contains some glorious truths, I think you will have
to admit that it is a cool, impersonal greeting from the apostle Paul.
Paul now states his
subject. He goes from cold to hot. In fact, he is hot under the collar. Why?
Because there are those who are mutilating the gospel. Paul would give his
life for the gospel.
I marvel that ye are so
soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another
gospel [Gal. 1:6].
There are two aspects of
the gospel, and it can be used in two senses: (1) the facts of the gospel,
and (2) the interpretation of the facts. The facts of the gospel are the
death, burial, and bodily resurrection of Christ. Paul said to the
Corinthians, "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also
received [Paul didn't originate the gospel; he received it], how that Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and
that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures" (1Cor.
15:3-4). These are the historical facts of the gospel which cannot be
changed. You have never preached the gospel unless you have stated these
facts. The second aspect of the gospel is the interpretation of the facts.
They are to be received by faith plus nothing.
Now the subject of Paul's
letter to the Galatian believers concerns the interpretation of the facts of
the gospel. The Judaizers had followed Paul into the Galatian country. They
did not challenge the facts of the gospel. After all, five hundred people at
once saw the Lord Jesus after His resurrection. When you have that many
people around as witnesses, you don't run around denying the facts of the
gospel. The heresy they were promoting concerned the interpretation of those
facts. They were very sly and subtle and said something like this, "Did
Brother Paul come here among you?" The folk would say, "Yes, he came and
preached the gospel and we accepted it. We are converted. We know Christ as
our Savior, and we are in the body of believers." The Judaizers would
respond, "Oh, that's wonderful. Brother Paul is accurate as far as he goes,
but he doesn't go far enough. Did he tell you that you should keep the
Mosaic Law? Oh, he didn't? Well, he should have told you that. Yes, you are
to trust Christ, but you must also follow the Mosaic Law or you won't be
saved."
This is one of the oldest
heresies known, and it is still with us today. It is adding something to the
gospel of grace; it is doing something rather than simply believing
something. It is faith plus something rather than faith plus nothing. Every
cult and "ism" has something for you to do in order to be saved.
It is interesting that Paul
said to the Philippian jailer, "...Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
thou shalt be saved..." (Acts 16:31). Simon Peter said to the Sanhedrin,
"Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Christ told
the apostles to preach the gospel of salvation by grace. They were not to do
anything to gain their salvation, but they were to trust what Christ already
had done for them. The gospel shuts out all works.
Now Paul is writing to the
Galatian believers and saying, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from
him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel" --
Which is not another; but
there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ [Gal.
1:7].
The word pervert is the
Greek word metastrephai. It is a strong word, related to 'catastrophe' in
English, and used by Dr. Luke in speaking of the sun turned to darkness (see
Acts 2:20), and by James, speaking of laughter turned to mourning (see James
4:9). To attempt to change the gospel has the effect of making it the very
opposite of what it really is. This is important to see.
But though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be accursed [Gal. 1:8].
This verse is as strong as
anything could possibly be. Paul says that if an angel dared to declare any
other message than the gospel, he would be dismissed with a strong
invective.
If an angel should appear
to me right now and say, "You are right as far as you go, but you also have
to do something to be saved"; or if an angel should appear to you and say,
"Jerry is correct as far as he goes, but you have to do something else,"
both you and I should say, "Get out of here; I'm not listening to you
although you are an angel from heaven."
In our day we hear many
speakers who are trying to give us another "gospel." They may look like
angels to you -- after all, Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light, and his ministers are transformed as the ministers of righteousness
(see 2Cor. 11:14-15). Now hear Paul --
As we said before, so say I
now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have
received, let him be accursed [Gal. 1:9].
In strong language Paul
says, "...let him be accursed," which literally means let him be damned. I
cannot make that statement any stronger.
The gospel shuts out all
works. Romans 4:5 says, "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him
that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." I find
many who think they have to become good enough to be saved. Once upon a time
a friend told me, "I want to become a Christian. I am going to try to be a
little better, and if I improve, I am going to become a Christian." I said
to him, "If you improve, you will never become a Christian. The only class
that God is saving is the ungodly. The Lord Jesus said He didn't come to
call the righteous; He came to call sinners. The reason He said that was
because there is none righteous, no, not one. Even the righteousness of man
is as filthy rags in God's sight. Law condemns us, and it must make us
speechless before grace can save us."
Romans 3:19 tells us that,
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become
guilty before God." The real difficulty is not that people should be "good
enough" to be saved, but that they are not "bad enough" to be saved.
Humanity refuses to recognize its lost condition before God. This is the
human predicament.
The Judaizers did not deny
the facts of the gospel -- that Jesus died and rose again. What they denied
was that this was adequate. They insisted that you have to keep the Law plus
trusting Christ. Paul is saying that whoever tries to mingle law and grace
-- let him be damned! Why? Because they pervert the gospel. They do not deny
the fact of the gospel, but they misinterpret those facts. They pervert the
gospel.
For do I now persuade men,
or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not
be the servant of Christ [Gal. 1:10].
The word persuade means "to
make a friend of." The Scofield Reference Bible translates it "seek the
favor of." In 1 Thessalonians 2:4 and 1 Thessalonians 4:1 it is "please God"
in contrast to self or others. The preaching of the gospel is not pleasing
to lost man. No man can please both God and man.
If you preach the gospel of
grace today, you may get into trouble because it is the gospel of the grace
of God that the sinner hates. Many unsaved church members do not want to
hear the message of grace. They want to hear a message that appeals to the
flesh. The gospel of grace puts us in the dust and makes us beggars before
God.
By nature man responds to
legalism. He thinks he doesn't need a Savior. All he needs is a helper.
Those who preach law are popular. Today they preach about the cross, but not
about our sinful condition. They
never say that we deserve hell, rather they just talk about commitment. Let
us be honest, Christ does not want your old life and He does not want mine.
We have nothing to commit to Him.
God is not even asking you
to live the Christian life. In fact, you cannot live it. God is asking that
He might live the Christian life through you. The Epistle to the Galatians
teaches this. But first of all we must come to Christ as sinners and be
saved. Our churches are filled today with people who are not saved. Do you
know why? They have never come to Christ and received Him as Savior. They
feel like they have something to commit to Him. You have nothing to commit
to Him, my friend. He wants to commit something to you. He is the One who
died, and He is on the giving end. "For the wages of sin is death; but the
gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 6:23). It
is just as simple as that. Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior?
This is the important thing.
Man tries to balance his
good works against his sins and have enough on the plus side to be saved.
The apostle Paul, you recall, tried to do this. And he had a whole lot on
the plus side. But one day he came to Christ. Then he said, "What was gain
for me became loss, and what was loss became gain" (see Phil. 3:7-8). The
Holy Spirit witnesses to grace today. This is gospel conviction that leads
to faith. Actually the law denies the fall of man -- this was the position
of Cain. Grace acknowledges the fall of man, as Abel did when he brought his
offering to God.
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