From the recording Galatians

  The People & the Place, “the churches of Galatia” (1:2). 


      Read any commentary debate & uncertainty over the place, exactly where Galatia was but can be fairly sure who they were. 


      ‘Galatians’ is an abbreviation of ‘Gallo-Grecians’ 


      The ‘Grecian’ part of the name is simple enough, relates to Greece, these people were Greek in language & culture. 
      The ‘Gallo’ part relates to ‘Gaul’, they were from ‘Gaul’ in France originally and invaded down through Macedonia and into Turkey ~300BC.  


      These ‘Gauls’ were Celtic people. A name we understand. There culture and heritage are still with us. Many of us have Celtic blood in us. 


      Much on NT maybe seems far away. Written to Jews & Greeks. This letter is written to Celtic people, to our people, perhaps making it the ‘nearest’ of the NT epistles to us. 


  Problem of Galatians: false teachers had come in (1:8;3:1;5:710), challenging the very fundamentals of the gospel; teaching faith in Christ, His death  & resurrection + something else, (2:3-5;3:1-2,10;4:10,21;5:1-4). Whenever we do that, add anything to the gospel, we destroy the gospel (3:4;4:10-11;5:2-4). In this case addition = subtraction, hence the warning in Rev22:18-19. What was being added to the gospel?  


1.    Good Works in General – “works of law” (2:16) & (3:1-2,10) – familiar with the concepts of ‘good works’ gospel. Churchianity, Christ + good life + church membership. 


2.    Religious Activities in Particular (4:10) – Jewish feast days & temple attendance. 


3.    Circumcision Specifically (5:1-4) – not just good works now, nothing good/bad about circumcision – surgical procedure – didn’t really matter of itself, Paul had Timothy circumcised in Acts16:3. A religious ordinance, the significance lay in how men regarded it. If their faith lay in Christ + circumcision – no gospel and no salvation. Cf. baptism, can’t even put faith in a God given thing, only in Christ. Christ + nothing else. The significance of baptism – symbolic (Rom6) and its importance lies in the relationship between the believer and God which already exists and not on the baptism itself (1Pet3:21), cf. Acts9:36-37 – the relationship was right & then the act. Hence heaven is full of unbaptised believers (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob   


4.    (Matt22:32), Elijah (Matt17), David & thief on the cross, but is devoid of baptised unbelievers! 



1)    Pauls Apostolic Authority (1:1-2) 
2)    Person and Work of Christ (1:3-4) 
3)    The Purpose of our Redemption (1:4) 


  The above 3 concerns in the introduction are reflected in the rest of the epistle as a whole: 


1)    Pauls Apostolic Authority (Chps1-2) 
  Challenged by the Galatians and defended in Chps1&2. 
2)    Person and Work of Christ (Chps3-4) 
  The centrality of the cross (3:1,13), introduced in 2:20. 
  Justification by faith (3:2ff), introduced in 2:16-21. 
3)    The Purpose of our Redemption (Chps5-6) 
  Explained practically in Chps 5 &6. 
i.    Liberty from the law (5:1ff) 
ii.    Freedom from the flesh (5:16ff) 
iii.    Service for the saviour (Chp6) 

Notice some of the prominent themes in the Galatian epistle: 


1.    The theme of the Cross: 
  Presented Doctrinally  - 1:4 
  Presented Personally – 2:20 
  Presented Evangelically - 3:1 
  See the Power of it – 3:13 
  See the Purpose of it – 3:13 
  See the Purity of it – 5:24 

2.    The theme of the Curse: 
  The Curse of Apostasy (1:8,9) 
   The Curse of the Law (3:10) 
   The Curse of the Tree (3:13) 
  

  
3.    The theme (centrality) of Christ: 
   Christ is the source/origin of Pauls Apostolic authority (1:1) 
   Christ is the origin of Grace & Peace (1:3) 
   Christ is the means of our salvation (1:4) 
   Christ is the content of the Gospel (1:7) 
   Christ is the object of Paul’s service (1:10) 
   Christ is the source of revelation (1:12) 
   Christ is the object of faith (2:16)  

Not only an epistle of themes but also of contrasts: 
  The present (1:4) & the eternal (1:5) 
  Liberty & Bondage (2:4;5:1) 
  Jew & Gentile (2:9,14) 
  Faith & Works (2:16,3:2) 
  Life & Death (2:19-20) 
  Flesh & Spirit (3:3,5:16-26) 
  Jew & Gentile, Bond & Free, Male & Female (3:28) 
  Sowing & Reaping (6:7ff) 

1)    Pauls Apostolic Authority (1:1-2) 
  “an apostle” – A man with a mission –  “one sent” 
  A man with a message – the gospel (1:4,6ff)     
  What motivates such a man? – “not of men, neither by man”  - “not from  men neither through  men.” His mission & message do not originate from a human source nor through a human channel but directly from Christ. 
  Notice how the Father is described here, “who raised him from the dead.” This was of exceptional importance in the issue of Paul’s apostleship. To be an apostle, a man had to have been an eyewitness of Jesus Christ (Acts1:21-22; 1Co9:1). Paul came to faith in Christ after His death. Pauls apostleship was only thus possible because of the reality of the resurrection. Only because Christ had been raised from the dead could Paul have the experience of Acts9 on the Damascus road. 
  We have to come to grips with what motivated a man like Paul, a Pharisee & persecutor of Christians to make an about turn, join the   
Christians whom he persecuted and then die for the Christ whom he once hated! Paul tells us the answer here & in 1Co15:8 & Acts9 – He saw the resurrected Christ – and that turned his life upside down! Nothing less than this would have done. 
  “And all the brethren which are with me” (v2). In identifying himself in fellowship with his brethren he is touching on one of the accusations laid against him by the Galatians, namely that the gospel which Paul preaches was his own invention (1:11ff ) and was out of sync with the other apostles (2:1ff). 

     
2)    Person and Work of Christ (1:3-4) 
  Note the double greeting: “Grace…peace.” 
      “Grace”  – recalls the traditional Gk. Greeting  
      “Peace” – recalls the traditional Heb. Greeting – “shalom” 
      The Christian greeting incorporates & surpasses both. 
      Note the significance: salvation by grace through faith was being challenged (2:16ff) and thus the peace we have with God would be destroyed (3:10). 
  “Who gave himself for our sins” – Not just for our PERSON (Eph5:2) but for our PROBLEMS, not just for mySELF  but for my SINS. 


     

  
3)    The Purpose of our Redemption (1:4) 
  Not saved to wallow in muck of our own misery. 
  “deliver”  – to take out of – “rescue from the power of” (Boice). Presently this is to be evidenced by; separation & sanctification (1Thess4:3; Rom12:1,2). One day this deliverance will be made complete & final by translation (1Thess4:16-17). 
  One day we will be “caught up” until then we must learn to ‘let go’ 
  Cf. Lot & his separation from Sodom: 
      Symbolically – no leaven in Lot’s house (Gen19:3) 
      Spiritually – He abhorred the values of Sodom (Gen19:7; 2Pet2:7) 
      Socially – His daughters were virgins (Gen19:8), no small thing in Sodom. 
  Ultimately he was ‘plucked out’ from very presence of Sodom (19:16) 
  Even in the story of Lot there is a warning about attachment to the world (19:26), “But his wife looked back.” Much drawing her back to Sodom, 2 lovely daughters, 2 sons-in-law who stayed, a lovely home, maybe grandchildren. Her husbands back was turned, she lagged behind, she had 2 choices, to press forward & catch him up or to turn back. A split second decision betrayed the affections of her heart! She chose Sodom & she chose judgment! 
  The greatest slap in the face we as Christians can give God is to hold onto this, “present evil world,” when Christ died to free us from it. 
 
  Note the “world” isn’t viewed here geographically but morally, not as a site but as a system, “age” – the ideas, manner of life, way of working, thought processes, values, politics & philosophies, anti-God. 
 
  In contrast to this “present” and transient world, the believer is linked to an eternal & unchanging God, “glory for ever and ever,” literally, “unto   
the ages of ages.” We don’t live for time but for eternity. Not for earth but for heaven. 
  There is in almost all Pauls epistles a section for praise after the introduction (1Co1:4-9; Eph1:15;Phil1:3-6;Col1:2-6;1Thess1). Lets try to find it in Galatians. Can’t find it! Not here! Nothing to praise? Reflect? 
 A free to download audio recording and bible study notes of a sermon preached in our systematic exposition of Paul's letter to the Galatians - chapter 1 


Yours by God's Grace in Christ  


Dr J Stewart Gillespie