Galatians Part 1: Who Do We Listen To?

[Robert]

Paul's letter to the Galatians was in response to what was happening in Galatia after he had left there on his first journey. Galatia was a Gentile province, and Paul and his companion Barnabas had preached the gospel there (Acts 13 and 14). Several churches formed there as the message spread. But soon after Paul went on his way, some of the Jews from Jerusalem (who despised Paul) heard he had preached there, and sought to sabotage his ministry! They went to the province and tried very hard to convince the Gentiles that in order to be a good Christian, that first you had to be a good Jew, and tried to bind them with all sorts of rules. The Jews from Jerusalem even used scripture to back their argument, and they did so very convincingly, to the point where the Christians in Galatia began to waver in their faith!!

When Paul heard about this, the Lord moved him to write a letter to the Galatians, in order to set the record straight, and to cut through all the garbage that the "visitors" from Jerusalem had tried to feed them. The six chapters of Galatians is Paul's refutation to the claims of not just the them, but to any who seek to bind through legalism and "rules-keeping".

As with the other studies, I will do my best to stay with the written material and not "read into" it what is not there. Also, if I don't know what a passage in scripture means, I'll admit it! Just like everyone reading this, I'll be learning at the Lord's feet too!!

Father in heaven, give me a humble heart and a servant's spirit. May what I write not reflect my own thoughts, but Yours alone. Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, and let us sit at Your feet as you teach us through Your precious word. May this poor set of hands be in Your service, and not my own. In Jesus Christ's name we ask and pray this, Amen.


Okay...let's get started!



"Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen." (Galatians 1:1-5, NASB, emphasis mine)

Paul opens with the greeting that he is an authorized representative of the Lord, and able to speak on the matters in the letter with the authority of an apostle. And he wastes no time in doing so: he immediately reaffirms that Jesus Christ was indeed sent by God the Father to die for our sin on the Cross. Through Paul, the Lord affirms that indeed, the believers in Galatia do have peace with Him because of Jesus Christ and no other way.


The Lord (via Paul's pen hand) then cuts right down to the matter:

"I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! (Galatians 1:6-9, NASB, emphasis mine)

Paul speaks directly to the Galatians' wavering faith, and calls them on how so readily they believed what the Judaizers had told them. In comparison to what Paul had taught them, what the Jews who came from Jerusalem had spoken of was not "good news" at all, and served to free no one from anything!!! He tells them that the ones who had come did so specifically to confuse them and lead them astray, warping the true Gospel into something that it was not. So, to set the record straight, Paul tells them that if they hear anything that contradicts what has already been given to them, no matter WHO says it, they were not to believe it...

PERIOD.

Paul continues on:

"For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 1:10-12, NASB, emphasis mine)


We learn here that Paul's motivation is not to make men happy, but to serve the Lord. As a point of fact, Paul makes it clear here that to serve men and to serve God are so diametrically opposed, that "never shall the twain meet", as so to speak! To that end, the Gospel that Paul is preaching is not of man's fashion, but is the very truth from God Almighty, and in preaching it, Paul is doing God's will and not man's.

That should serve to underscore an important point for us: when we serve the Lord, it will not be man's will and he will oppose it. Man's ways and God's ways are worlds' apart, and it is man's very rebellion against God's ways that resulted in sin entering the world.


Paul then related to the Galatians that at one time, he had been what he describes in Philippians 3:5 "a Hebrew of Hebrews":

"For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus." (Galatians 1:13-17, NASB, emphasis mine)

Paul at one time had been so zealous for the Jewish faith, that he had hunted and persecuted those that believed in Jesus Christ, thinking that he was doing God a service! But it was the God whom he thought he was serving, who was (and is!) Jesus Christ, whom called him not just out of Judaism, but to send Paul to spread the Gospel to the very Gentiles that at one time he would not even speak to!

Paul tells them of what happened to him after his conversion:

"Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days. But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ; but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.” And they were glorifying God because of me." (Galatians 1:18-24, NASB, emphasis mine)

The "Cephas" mentioned here is Peter, the same Simon Peter whom the Lord asked to "feed my sheep"; Paul had stayed with him for roughly two weeks. Then, Paul promises to them, before God, that he is not lying to them. In this day and age, it has become commonplace to "swear to God" that one is not lying; but for Paul, to call the Lord as a witness was a gravely serious matter! He was essentially telling the Galatians that, with God Almighty as his witness, that he was telling them the truth. Paul was promising them that the One who had sent him was his "guarantor" and that he was indeed telling them the truth!

Paul then speaks of how the churches in Judea were giving God glory because one whom had sought to destroy them was now preaching and worshiping with them! Not only does this serve to illustrate that indeed Paul was called by the Lord, but also a reason why those in Jerusalem hated him: they felt Paul had betrayed them by turning his back on the "rules" and was now their enemy. In this way, Paul is giving the Galatians what they didn't know about the Judaizers: they were doing this to get back at Paul, at the expense of the churches in Galatia.


In other words: Paul exposes their motives to the Galatians, which calls into question the validity of what they told them.



When we continue in chapter 2, Paul continues to dismantle before the Galatians the lies of those who would bind them in rules.


I bid you all peace.


YBIC,


-Robert

[mattfivefour]

Thanks for this, Robert. These surveys of NT books, chapter by chapter, are very useful for newer Christians ... and even us old folk can find a thing or two. I particularly liked the way you put this:

... the Gospel that Paul is preaching is not of man's fashion, but is the very truth from God Almighty, and in preaching it, Paul is doing God's will and not man's.That should serve to underscore an important point for us: when we serve the Lord, it will not be man's will and he will oppose it. Man's ways and God's ways are worlds' apart, and it is man's very rebellion against God's ways that resulted in sin entering the world.

Well said. That brings the problem of why the opposition to the gospel into sharp focus.