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 brothers who are with me, To the churches of
Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father
and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to
deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and
Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
I usually think of Galatians as
being Romans lite. The material that Paul presents here is much expanded in the
Roman letter. Paul wants the church in Galatia to recognize his authority as an
apostle. Then, based on that, he will instruct them (and us) concerning
justification by faith alone. Galatians helps us to understand the historical
aspects of the Acts of the Apostles in relation to Paul’s life. In a couple of weeks, we will look at Paul’s growth in Christ.
Now let’s look at these first few verses.
Paul’s relationship to the Galatian
churches was based on the fact that he was the founding pastor in most cases.
He was their apostle who had brought the gospel to them and as such was able to
provide them with the necessary information to counteract false teachings that
had come in after he had left. First of all,
we need to see that…
Paul
qualifies as an apostle. Let’s go back and see what happened when
there was a gap in the apostle’s ranks. Acts
1:21-23 So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the
Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the
baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men
must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 23 And they
put forward two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and
Matthias.
With the departure of Judas, the twelve apostles were now lacking a
member. So Peter stood up in their meeting and quoted Scripture to show that
they needed to appoint another. Here Peter lays out the qualifications. A man
who has been with them during the time they were following in the footsteps of
Jesus. Also, this man needed to be a witness to the resurrection.
They cast lots to choose
between two men who seemed to qualify. I’m not sure exactly what that means but
the lot fell on a man named Matthias and he was numbered with the eleven.
A number of times I have heard
fairly knowledgeable people say that this was probably a mistake. Because this
man is never mentioned again. It’s true that his name does not appear again. My
first response to that is most of the apostles were never mentioned again by
name. However, in Acts chapter 6 the apostles called the church together to
choose men to help the apostles. When they did, Luke tells us that “the twelve
summoned the full number of the disciples”. I submit to you that Matthias was
counted in that group. Also, when Paul records the appearances of Jesus after
the resurrection he says that one of his appearances was “to the twelve” (1
Corinthians 15:5).
Judas’ replacement was
appointed by the people of the early church. A few years later Paul was…
Appointed
by Jesus. Let’s look at one of Paul’s accounts of that appointment.
Acts 26:15b-18 ‘I am Jesus whom you
are persecuting. 16 But rise and stand upon your feet, for I
have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness
to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to
you, 17 delivering you from your people and from the
Gentiles—to whom I am sending you 18 to open their eyes, so
that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in me.
Luke’s account in Acts chapter
nine tells us that Paul, then known as Saul of Tarsus, was breathing threats
and murder against the disciples of the Lord.
In Paul’s account, he simply says that he journeyed to
Damascus with the arrest warrants for those who followed the Way! Along the
road to Damascus, he saw a great light —
brighter than the sun – that blinded him. Then a voice spoke to him saying,
“Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” Saul’s reply was, “Who are you, Lord?”
With that question, he was given the answer that I just
read for you. Note that he did not say “I am Jesus the Lord of the church which
you are persecuting”. Instead, he said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.”
When someone persecutes the church they persecute the head — the Lord Jesus — not
just his body on earth.
With that recognition the Lord
Jesus himself, in the flesh, appointed him. The word “apostle” is not used. But
the meaning is very clear. The word “apostle” means “one who is sent”. In our text, we can see that Jesus said: “I am sending you”! Paul became a “sent
one” with direct instructions. He was to go to the Gentiles and bring them out
of darkness into the light. To deliver them from the power of Satan and give
them over to God. He became the apostle to the Gentiles that day on the
Damascus Road. As such…
Paul
speaks grace to the Galatians. This was a common part of
his greetings in his letters. In writing the greeting to the Romans and 1
Corinthians Paul included the phrase “Grace to you”. Throughout his other letters, the concept of grace is often
presented. Usually, it is also connected
to the word “peace”. When Paul spoke grace to the Galatians he wanted them to
understand that the grace and peace he was wishing for them came from God our
Father and…
From
the Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s look at John 1:16-18. For from his fullness we have all received,
grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace
and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen
God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
Grace, God’s grace, means
God’s goodness toward those who deserve only punishment. Peter refers to God as
“the God of all grace” (1 Peter 5:10). Grace and truth came to mankind through
Jesus Christ (John 1:17). In fact, Jesus came to earth “full of grace and
truth” (John 1:14). And the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ was given to the
church through faith in the work of Jesus on the cross. All have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God but we are justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:23-24).
Since Jesus was full of grace
we have all received from him grace on top of grace. So we are able to, when
addressing our friends, speak “grace” and “peace”. We have this gift because of
Jesus…
Who
gave himself for our sins. Paul makes it clear in Titus 2:11-14. For the grace of God has
appeared, bringing salvation for all people, 12 training us to
renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled,
upright, and godly lives in the present age, 13 waiting for our
blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus
Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all
lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are
zealous for good works.
“The grace of God” that has
appeared is Jesus. He brought salvation for all people. He enables us to be
trained to live a godly life. Because of the grace of God, we are able to live a life that is pleasing to God while in
the middle of this corrupt world! In our own strength and righteousness, we can never earn the right to
become a child of God. In order for us — or anyone else for that matter — to be
redeemed and purified God had to send His Son to become sin for us so that we
could become the righteousness of God in him. He did this…
To
deliver us from this evil age. Let’s look at Ephesians
2:4-7. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he
loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us
alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and
raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ
Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the
immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
His great love makes all
things become good. He does this just because he loves us! Before a person
comes to faith in Christ he, or she, is living like the rest of the world
around. Without Jesus, mankind is subject
to the prince of the power of the air! Such people live in a condition the
Bible calls “the flesh”. Later in Galatians Paul describes that condition. (Galatians
5:19-21) “Now the works of the flesh are
evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry,
sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions,
divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not
inherit the kingdom of God.” In 1 Corinthians 6:9b-11a, Paul describes the
unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God in the following way. “neither the sexually immoral, nor
idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10 nor
thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will
inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you.”
In contrast, those who follow Christ will manifest the fruit of the
Spirit love,
joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentlenesses, self-control; against such things, there is no law. (Galatians
5:22b-23) And rather than being like those listed in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, the
Christ follower has been washed, you
were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by
the Spirit of our God as described in 1 Corinthians 6:11b. Since we have
been so changed by the power of God we are able to have peace. When we lay
aside our anxiety and submit everything to God in prayer “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your
hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:7) Yes, God’s grace
gives peace!
Paul was the only apostle
directly appointed by Jesus after his resurrection from the dead. God’s grace
is poured out upon us as God’s goodwill.
First, there is common grace meaning all of the good things done to all
mankind. And then there is special grace that is designed to bring us to
salvation. Christ Jesus came to the earth for the special purpose of paying the
price for our sins. We need to recognize the fact that the power of sin in
mankind is so great that it can only be paid for by the Son of God himself! We
need to remember that all have sinned, there is only one exception, Jesus
himself. And, the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal
life. Have you asked him to forgive your sins? Have you asked him to be your
Lord and give you eternal life? If not this can be the day of your salvation?
All
scripture quotes are from: The Holy Bible: English standard version. 2001.
Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
