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About Jesus - Steve Sweetman Chapter 1 My
Commentary On Paul's Letter ch. 1:1-5 ch.1:6-10 ch. 1:11-24
This commentary
is based on the NIV translation of the Book of Galatians. Each section of
this study corresponds with the sections found in the NIV, 1973 edition. The People Around 278 BC a
group of people called the "Gauls" migrated from southern Europe
to the Northern shores of what we know as Asia Miner, or modern day The northern
part of The Church Most of the
churches were found in the southern parts of According to
Kenneth Wuest in his commentary on Galatians, he says that Paul
established churches roughly along the line of the Roman provinces. He
would lead people to the Lord in the major cities, establish churches in
those cities and then link them all with smaller churches that could be
found along the road ways that connected these cities. The churches of
We should take
note of who the "judaizers" are as mentioned by Paul in this
letter. These were Jewish people who claimed to be Christian, yet felt
that Gentiles had to first become Jews and follow Jewish tradition before
they could become Christians. These men were teaching that people had to
obey the Law, and be circumcised in order to be made right with God.
Paul’s letter to the Galatians is really a result of their attempt to
steer the church back to Judaism, and away from faith in Jesus alone. They
were in fact trying to mix Judaism with Christianity. This just doesn’t
work. The gospel is not in addition to the Law, but the end of the Law.
(Rom. 10:4) You will see how upset Paul was over this abuse of God’s
grace. Date and Authorship Paul actually
wrote this letter to the Galatians. As far as we know this is the only
letter by Paul that he actually penned himself. He did not dictate the
letter to someone else to write. It seems
uncertain to me just when Paul would have written this letter. Some say he
wrote it around 48 or 49 AD, while others say around 56 AD. Whatever the
case, it appears as if he did write this letter before he wrote the letter
to the Romans. "Paul, an
apostle" is how he opens his letter. He is basically stating the
authority he has in writing this letter. Yet he doesn’t stop there. By
definition, we know that the word "apostle" means "sent
one". Paul goes on to say in verse one who did not send him and who
actually did send him. Paul clearly says that he was "not sent from
men, nor by man". Who then sent Paul? He says that "Jesus Christ
and God the Father sent him" If we are to believe this, we then
should take very seriously what Paul has to say. I am sure that Paul’s
opposition would question his claim of being sent by God. But Paul is
speaking to the Galatians and these people had already accepted Paul’s
authenticity. He was just reminding them that he was indeed sent by God
and not by man, so what he had to say was from God and was important. The words
"who raised Him from the dead", is an attempt to establish right
at the beginning of this letter the fact of the resurrection of Jesus that
is primary to our salvation. Paul goes on to
say "grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ". Paul is greeting these people on the behalf of God Himself,
along with Jesus. Paul was a representative from God and was sent to
deliver a message to these Galatians from Him.. You note in
verse 2 that this letter is directed "to the churches". Once
again, Paul wrote this letter to more than one church.
We should view
the word church here as a community of people who have given their lies to
Jesus. These aren't
ecclesiastical or denominational organizations as we know them today.
We've come a long way since these days, and I believe our journey
has led us away from New Testament thinking when it comes to church.
In verse 4 Paul
says that Jesus gave Himself for our sins for a specific reason. The
reason is to "rescue us from this present evil age". Paul
strongly felt that the age in which he lived was evil. I don’t think
that things have changed for the better in our day. If Paul lived today,
he most likely would feel our day and age is just as evil. The question
can be asked to us today, "do we feel our present age is evil",
if so, does this fact grip our hearts? My guess is that most of us know
our age is evil, but it doesn’t really grip our hearts as it should.
Peter, in Acts 2:40 exhorts his listeners to "save themselves from
this corrupt generation". If we understand Romans 1 and 2 we will
certainly realize that no matter what generation we live in, it is
corrupt. No Other Gospel (ch. 1:6 – 11) "I am
astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called
you…" (ch. 1:6) The Greek word "thauma" means to wonder
at, to marvel at, as to gaze into the sky with awe. I can just see Paul
gazing into the sky above and scratching his head in amazement, wondering
why these people are contemplating changing their minds concerning the
Gospel of Christ that he preached to them. He just shook his head in
astonishment and amazement. "You are
so quickly deserting…" (ch. 1:6) The verb tense shows that the
Galatians hadn’t actually changed their minds as yet. They were in the
process of changing their minds but had not fully completed the process.
There was still hope for them. Paul says that
the Galatians were deserting the one who called them. They were not
deserting Paul, the messenger who brought them this Good News. They were
deserting God and Christ Jesus Himself. This is a major defection. These people
were turning to a different gospel. The Greek implies something that is
not just different but something that is the opposite to what they had
already accepted as truth. This was not a shift in thinking, a minor
change on some points. This was a desertion to something altogether
different. It was an altogether different gospel, although Paul has to say
in verse 7 that this is actually "no gospel at all". The word
gospel simply means "good news", and the so-called good news
that they were in the process of believing was far from good news. It
wasn’t good news at all. It wasn’t gospel. It was heresy. There is
nothing good about working for your salvation when you already understood
it to be free. "Some
people are throwing you into confusion and trying to pervert the gospel of
Christ". Paul is speaking of the Judaizers. These men were teaching a
good news of works, that is, in order to be saved you had to do certain
things which was diametrically opposed to Paul’s gospel of trusting in
Jesus alone. This was leading to confusion on the part of the Galatians.
The Judaizers were perverting the gospel, as Paul puts it. Paul tells the
Galatians that even if we, or an angel from Heaven preach any other gospel
other than the one he preached, "let him be eternally
condemned". These are strong words. Paul was saying, even if I change
my mind, and preach to you something different, let me go to hell for
ever. The same would even apply to an angel. Paul meant business here. He
was upset. He did not want to see his work go down the drain. Most of all,
he did not want to see these people lose their salvation. For if a person
who would teach another gospel would deserve eternal condemnation, then
too would the person who accepts this false teaching deserve such a reward
as hell. To me, this suggests
that one who is saved has the possibility of losing his salvation.
Verse 10 says,
"am I now trying to win the approval of men"? Certainly not. By
speaking these words he would definitely lose the approval of many. He was
trying to please God by preaching His Gospel. Paul says that
he was "not trying to please men". He was not saying this in an
arrogant, or disobedient spirit. He was not trying to be a rugged
individualist. His heart’s desire was to please God by serving man. Many
times in today’s world we hear people repeating these words, but they
are often doing so from a spirit of rebellion, not from a real spirit of
wanting to please God. There is a
difference between pleasing man and serving man. Paul did not please men
but he certainly served men. How did Paul give his life to God? He did so
by serving men as he preached the good news to them. Paul went through
exceeding great hardships in order to bring salvation to as many who would
accept it. Paul was a true servant of God. The Greek word
"doulos" means bond servant. Paul claimed to be a bond servant.
A bond servant was one who chose to serve a master. He was allowed to go
free if he wanted to, but he chose to stay and serve his master
voluntarily. Paul chose to serve God by serving man, but he did not please
man. He pleased God by serving man. The Bible often
speaks about the "fear of the Lord".
Paul met Jesus on a road, and from that day onward, he had a
healthy fear of God. The
fear of the Lord that the Bible talks about is more than reverence.
It is being afraid of God. He
is awesome. Paul
Called by God (ch. 1:11 – 24 ) Paul, in this
portion of chapter one is trying to make a strong point that his ministry
and his revelation is very much independent from man, especially from the
apostles in Jerusalem. He says in verse 11, "I want you to
know". These are words of emphases. What does Paul want these people
to know? "The gospel I preach is not from man". No man either
spoke or taught him this gospel. He received it "by revelation from
Jesus Christ". In verse 17 he makes this point again by saying,
"I did not consult any man. I did not go up to Continuing on
with the idea that his ministry came from Jesus and not from man, he says
in verse 18 that after three years he went up to Back in verse
13 Paul reminds the Galatians of his former life in Judaism when he
"violently persecuted the church". Note the adjective
"violently". We do not have much specific information in the
Bible to give us any specifics on how violent he was. We see him giving
approval of Stephen’s murder in Acts 7. (Acts 8:1) Beyond this,
Scripture is pretty silent. Maybe Paul did not want to glorify his past
sinful life, so that is why we don’t read about his violence. We simply
know that he "violently persecuted the church". Paul’s goal
as stated in verse 14 was to destroy the church. Both words,
"persecuted" and "destroyed" are very strong words in
the original text. The verb tense used by Paul is an ongoing action. That
is to say, he continuously tried to persecute and destroy the church. Also in verse
14 Paul says that "he was extremely zealous of the tradition of my
ancestors". Paul’s use of adjectives such as "extremely"
is not by accident. He is making his point very emphatically. Because he
violently persecuted the church, he was saying that he was not influenced
by any man in the church to become a Christian. He says this
clearly in verse 15. "But when God, who set me apart from birth, and
called me by His grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I
might preach Him among the Gentiles..." It was God Himself who called
Paul to salvation, and not only to salvation, but also to be the apostle
to the Gentile nations. He did not receive salvation as a result of
Peter’s, or anyone else’s preaching. God Himself preached to Paul. As
a matter of fact God had decided to call Paul long before He actually did.
Paul claims that he was chosen by God from his mother’s womb. After Paul’s
conversion he went out into the deserts of After Paul left
Peter in
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