Galatians Chapter 1

Paul and Barnabas had preached the gospel in the region of Galatia in Acts chapters 13-14 on their first missionary journey.  During this time of ministry, both Jews and Gentiles had accepted the Lord and they established churches in several cities.  Afterward, Jewish Christians from Judea had come to the area and said that the Gentiles who had accepted the Lord needed to be circumcised to be saved.  Paul and Barnabas disputed with them and rejected this idea.  This led to the council in Acts 15 in Jerusalem where the elders of the church ruled that Gentiles did not need to keep the Old Testament Law.  What goes unsaid in Acts 15 is that the Jews who had become Christians in Jerusalem were going to continue to keep the Old Testament Law.  This set up much conflict within the early church.  The church was founded by Jews who were raised under the Old Testament with the animal sacrifices, circumcision and all the customs of the Old Testament.  Even though they had accepted Christ, it was very difficult for them to let go of the past and embrace the New Testament realities in Jesus Christ.  This is the background in which the New Testament epistles were written.

The epistle of Galatians is most likely the writing that was referred to by James in Acts 21:20-21.  Paul was accused of telling Jews who were scattered among the Gentiles to forsake the Law of Moses, that they no longer ought to circumcise their children or to walk according to the customs of the Old Testament.  This was true.  When Paul wrote Galatians, it was written to both Jews and Gentiles who had accepted Christ in the region of Galatia.

This is still a major issue within the church today.  So many are trying to blend the Old Testament Law and New Testament grace under Jesus, and they do not blend.  This mixture is the cause for much confusion within the body of Christ.         

 Galatians 1:1-5 “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 brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: ³ Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Paul was appointed an apostle by our Lord Jesus Christ and God the Father.  He was not appointed by a man or a committee of people.  Paul extended his common greeting to them: Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  If we understand grace, we will be at peace.  If we do not understand grace, we will probably be struggling to attain peace with God.  Jesus gave Himself for our sins.  That is an accomplished fact.  He did this so that He might deliver us from this present evil age.  Notice the word ‘might’.  That means it is conditional; it requires a response of faith or believing on our part.  But it is the will of God our Father that we are delivered from this present evil age.  

 Galatians 1:6-10 “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. ¹⁰ For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.”

These words are still so vital for the day in which we live.  The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is based purely on the grace of God apart from the Old Testament law or our performance.  Our good works are beneficial for us and those around us.  But if we attempt to add good works or the keeping of the Old Testament Law to what Jesus did for us on the cross to be made right with God, we have perverted the gospel.

This phrase ‘turning away’ from the gospel is what Jesus described in the parable of the sower and the seed.  He who received seed on stony places is the person who hears the gospel and immediately received it with joy; yet he is not rooted in grace or righteousness apart from our works but endures only for a while in the gospel.  When tribulation or persecution arises for the sake of the gospel, immediately he stumbles or falls away.  In Galatians 5:4, Paul said they had fallen from grace.  This did not mean they had fallen into sin.  It also did not mean they had lost their salvation.  They had fallen from grace back into an Old Testament law mindset.  They were trying to mix Old Testament law and New Testament grace under Christ Jesus.  They do not mix.

Paul clearly defined that the gospel is the grace of Christ.  We are no longer under the Old Testament Law.  If anyone attempts to put people back under the Old Testament law, it is a perversion of the gospel.  If Paul was only out to please men, he would have compromised on this.  Paul endured much grief in holding to the pure gospel of grace through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Galatians 1:11-24 “But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. ¹² For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.  ¹³ For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.  ¹⁵ But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, ¹⁶ to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, ¹⁷ nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.  ¹⁸ Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)  ²¹ Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. ²³ But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God in me.”

Paul received the Lord Jesus into his life in Acts 9, when he was on his way to Damascus to persecute Christians.  But Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and Paul received Christ into his heart.  Sometime during the next three years of his life, before he went to Jerusalem, Paul went into the region of Arabia.  This is where Paul began to receive the revelation of Christ in us directly from the Lord.  This is when Paul began to receive the revelation of the gospel which he preached.  He did not receive it from discussions with Peter and James and the other apostles.    

Paul said that it pleased God, by His grace, “to reveal His Son in me”.  This revelation of Jesus Christ is the revelation of Christ in you, the hope of glory.  This is the core teaching that Paul elaborates upon in his epistles.  This is the kingdom of God within us that Jesus spoke of in the parable of the sower.  

Paul also taught a clear break from the Old Testament law and customs and embracing grace alone through our Lord Jesus Christ.  This became the source of much contention with the church at Jerusalem.  James and the other leaders at Jerusalem continued to observe the Old Testament laws, the rite of circumcision, the animal sacrifices and the other customs of the Old Testament.  Much of this came to an end at the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. 

 

Keith Oliver