Paul’s letter to the Galatians. Talk 1. Why Galatians is important
Welcome to a new series of talks in which we will be studying Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In this talk we’ll be looking at the first five verses, but I’ll begin by giving you three reasons why Galatians is important.
1. It has made a significant impact on the history of the church
It’s clear from what Paul writes in the letter that the young Christian Church was facing very real problems. Christianity had its beginnings in Judaism and the majority of the first Christians were Jewish. But as more and more Gentiles became Christians the question arose as to whether the Gentile Christians needed to obey all the laws of the Old Testament.
The most significant of these was the Jewish rite of circumcision, and some were insisting that Gentiles who became Christians needed to be circumcised if they were to be saved (Acts 15:1). The matter was so serious that the apostles convened a special meeting to discuss the matter, sometimes referred to as the council of Jerusalem, details of which are given us in Acts 15. It was probably around this time (AD49) that Paul wrote his letter to the churches in Galatia, where the problem was particularly acute. Humanly speaking, if the church had insisted on circumcision, Christianity would have made little impact on the Gentiles and almost certainly would never have grown to become the world’s largest religion as it is today.
And Galatians was again to become highly significant in church history several hundred years later, when, as a result of reading it, an Augustinian friar named Martin Luther (1483-1546) became convinced that Christians are saved through faith, and not as a result of their own efforts, which is the main theme of the letter.
2. It’s the first thing Paul wrote explaining that salvation is by faith and not by works
In the first two chapters, speaking from his experience, Paul insists that his apostolic authority comes from none other than God himself (1:1), and that the gospel he preaches is the only true gospel (1:6-10), because he received it by revelation from Jesus (11-12), not as a result of human consultation (1:16). Only later, in response to a revelation, did he go up to Jerusalem and set before the church leaders there the gospel that he preached to the Gentiles (2:1-2) and Titus, who was a Gentile Christian accompanying Paul, was not compelled to be circumcised (2:3). In fact, James, Peter, and John had recognised the special ministry that God had given to Paul to preach the gospel to the Gentiles (2:7-9) and in 2:15-16 Paul reports how he had said to them:
We who are Jews by birth and not ‘Gentile sinners’ know that a man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
Having recounted his own experience in chapters 1 and 2, at the beginning of chapter 3 Paul appeals to the Galatians’ own experience of how the Holy Spirit works among them, not because they observe the law but because they believe (1-6). This is followed in the rest of chapter 3 and throughout chapter 4, by a theological explanation of why we are made right with God, not by our good works, but by our trusting in Jesus, something which Paul develops later in greater detail in his letter to the Romans. But that leads us to the third reason why Galatians is important:
3. It’s of practical relevance to our daily lives
Paul’s teaching that justification is by faith and not by works is not just a theological theory. It’s of vital importance to our lives, and not only to our initial experience of salvation, but also to how we live our Christian lives from day to day. So in chapters 5 and 6 Paul offers a practical application of all he’s been saying in the first four chapters.
Christ has set us free from the law of the Old Testament and we’re not to let ourselves get tangled up in it again (5:1). We’re free from it, but we’re not to use our freedom as an excuse for wrong-doing. The important thing is to serve one another in love (5:13) because love fulfils all the requirements of the law (5:14). In fact, the whole law can be summarised in the commandment, Love your neighbour as yourself. We can do this if we live by the Spirit, and if we live by the Spirit we are not under the law (16-18).
In verses 19-21 Paul lists what he calls the works of the flesh – the kind of things the Spirit will not prompt us to do – and in verses 22-23 he tells us of those things which will be evident in our lives if we follow the leading of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. He calls these the fruit of the Spirit.
Finally, in chapter 6, we fulfil the law of Christ (2) (the law of love)
· by gently restoring those who have sinned (1)
· by carrying each other’s burdens (2)
· by carrying our own burdens (4)
· by pleasing the Spirit (8)
· by doing good to all (10).
Of course there is far more in Galatians than the brief summary I have given so far, and we’ll be looking at each chapter in more detail in future talks. But I hope I’ve said enough to persuade you that Galatians is well worth studying, because, as we have seen:
It has made a significant impact on the history of the church
It’s the first thing Paul wrote explaining that salvation is by faith and not by works
It’s of practical relevance to our daily lives.
But now, let’s make a start by reading the first six verses of chapter 1.
1. Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead 2. and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia: 3. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4. who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5. to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 6. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel..
Paul, an apostle
Paul begins his letter with his name, which was the custom at the time (unlike our custom of leaving our name until the end of a letter). He then immediately reminds the Galatians of his apostolic calling. (For a detailed study of apostles in the New Testament, please see Body Builders – Gifts to make God’s people grow, Chapter Two). The word apostolos in Greek literally means someone who is sent, but usually carried the idea of someone who had been given special authority to speak on behalf of someone else, rather like an ambassador. The more important the person he was representing, the more important the ambassador himself, and Paul knew that he was representing the highest authority of all.
sent not from men nor by man
Acts records how, before his conversion, Paul had already been an ambassador – an ambassador sent by man to persecute the church (Acts 9:1-2, 22:4-5, 26:9-12).
but by Jesus Christ and God the Father
But now he is God’s ambassador. He needs to remind the Galatians of this, because they had so quickly moved away from the truth of the gospel he had preached to them and in doing so had deserted him (v6).
who raised him from the dead
It was the risen Christ who had appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road and given him his apostolic authority.
v.2 and all the brothers with me
We don’t know who these brothers were as Paul does not name them and we can’t be sure of the exact timing of the letter. However, despite the apostolic authority he had been given, Paul was not a loner. Whatever our gifting, we all need the fellowship, encouragement and support of fellow Christians. Perhaps Paul’s reason for mentioning them here is to stress that, although the Galatians were deserting him, there were still those who were loyal to him and the message he preached.
To the churches in Galatia
There has been some debate as to who these churches were. Those who are interested should consult the commentaries. But what’s important is that they were churches that Paul had planted and had originally received gladly his message of salvation through faith in Christ and not by observance of the law.
v.3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Paul often sent this greeting at the beginning of his letters, but this was no mere formality. It’s a measure of the stature of the man that he could speak grace and peace over those who were rejecting his message.
v.4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father
the present evil age
Since the coming of Jesus the Christian message has transformed society wherever it has been accepted, yet who can doubt, as we look at the world around us today, that we are still living in the present evil age of which Paul speaks in this verse? Yet there is hope in this verse, because it’s the present age that is evil. The Bible is very clear that things will be different in the age to come!
who gave himself for our sins to rescue us
We have all played our part in contributing to the evil of this present age. We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But Jesus came to rescue us. He did this by giving himself for our sins. He did this by dying on the cross and taking on himself the punishment our sins deserved. In doing so he has rescued us from the penalty of sin, he continues to rescue us from the power of sin, and one day, in the age to come, he will rescue us from the presence of sin.
according to the will of our God and Father
And he did this according to the will of God. God wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). But, as Paul tells us throughout Galatians, a vital aspect of the truth is that salvation is through faith and not by works. How grateful we should be for that! Our good works could never save us, but by his death on the cross Jesus has made salvation available to all who will believe. No wonder Paul could say in verse 5:
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Next time, we’ll pick up where we left off, beginning with verse 6.