Chuck Larsen

According to Paul grace and peace come from God the Father and His Son our Lord Jesus Christ. Then in Galatians 1:4, Paul says something more about Jesus. He “gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” Notice Paul’s identification of himself as a sinner. It was “our sins” he says that Jesus died for. The law condemns us all to hell. If the law is our standard not only will we live with uncertainty and stress, we will eventually end up condemned to hell. Paul realizes that it includes himself. Jesus had to die for us. If man can make himself acceptable to God by works of the law, He would not have had to die for our sins. If the legalists of Paul’s day are right in that there are still stipulations of law that essential for our salvation, we shouldn’t have needed a savior. But Paul knew he did. Sinners know that they do. The healthy don’t need a physician only the sick. The righteous don’t need a savior only sinners do.

Many people refer to Jesus as our example. Although this is absolutely true. Jesus set an example for us to follow. He is much more than our example. When you’re drowning you don’t need someone standing on the dock doing the dog paddle shouting “go like this.” We need someone to save us. That’s what Jesus did and then he illustrates a lifestyle that’s worth living. Kenneth Boles writes, “Paul wants to establish from the beginning what is the important theme of Christianity. Salvation is not based on man’s ability to keep God’s rules, but on Christ’s ransom, paid with his blood. It was Christ ‘who gave himself as a ransom for all men’ (1 Tim 2:6, cf. Mark 10:45). As the Galatians will be reminded, the atoning sacrifice of Christ is not compatible with man-made salvation. Either Jesus saves us, or we save ourselves.”

It was God’s will that Jesus would die for our sins to “rescue us from this present evil age.” The Greek word for “rescue” or “deliver” in this verse is used five times in the book of Acts to described how God rescued people who could not rescue or “deliver” themselves: The rescue of Joseph from his afflictions (7:10), the deliverance of Israel from Egypt (7:34), the rescue of Peter from prison (12:11), the rescue of Paul from the temple mob (23:27), and the deliverance of Paul from the Jews (26:17). The interesting thing is that even the Law of Moses was included in the idea of “this evil age” in Galatians 4:3. Jesus died not to enable us to live out the law, but to save us from it. The law condemns us all and it’s too late to win God’s approval by keeping the law. The law has never and will never make anyone acceptable to God. Jesus save us from the law and makes us acceptable to God by His righteousness not our own.

Paul isn’t the only believer or Apostle that preaches the good news of God’s grace. We are saved by grace through faith plus nothing. The law is always alien to the concept of Grace. If it’s by grace it’s not law. If it’s by Law there’s no grace. Paul will make this clear in his letter, but in Galatians 1:2 he says that his letter to them on this subject is not only from him but also “…all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of Galatia.” I believe Paul is insisting that they are also joint writers with him. He means something very specific when he says that these brothers are “with” him.

I think the Greek preposition will shed some light on this for us. In English the word “with” means many different things and only the context can help us determine which definition is best. I can fight “with” my brother. This actually means “against.” I can fight “with” the 51st Airborne. This actually means “alongside of” for a common cause. It’s this later sense that the Greek preposition “syn” signifies. In this case Paul is saying that the other “brothers” are in complete agreement with him. Paul usually names his co-writers of letters but in this case he left their names out. Many commentators say that they wish Paul had included their names so there would be more information on which to base some interpretation or the “the letter could be better defined historically and geographically” (UBS handbook). But Paul wants his readers to know that his message is not dependent on others. He leaves the “brothers” anonymous. The divine origin of Paul’s message is all that matters as he prepares to defend himself against the attacks of the legalists and religious leaders of his day.

He then identifies his recipients as the “churches in Galatia.” These churches were planted on Paul’s first missionary journey after he had assumed the leadership role from Barnabbas. After the event on Cyprus in Acts 13 where Saul – the Pharisee – became Paul the apostle to the gentiles, John Mark left the ministry and returned to Antioch. I’ve always been of the opinion that Paul’s new leadership with a gentile focus was too distasteful for the Jewish John Mark who became Peter’s disciple. Paul’s message was the divinely inspired message of salvation by grace through faith apart from the Law. Those who had strong religious convictions had difficulty with this message. Even Peter struggled with it when God insisted he violate the dietary law and eat like the Gentiles ate. People are so offended by the gospel of God’s grace that all across Galatia Paul and his companions were beaten, stoned, imprisoned and driven out of town. Christ calls us to leave everything behind and follow Him. For most people, the most difficult thing to leave behind is not their money it is their religion.

The first word in the letter Paul wrote to the Galatians is “Paul.” Up to Acts 13:9, The Apostle was called by his Jewish name, Saul. It made him acceptable to his Jewish audiences. When he joined Barnabas and John Mark on the first missionary journey to Galatia, his role changed radically. To begin with the journey was led by Barnabbas who brought his cousin, John Mark, along. Both Barnabbas and John Mark were solid Jewish believers. I would argue that their intention was to go to the Jews only, but while on the Island of Cyprus a “Jewish” false prophet attempted to prevent the governor, Sergius Paulus, a Roman Official, from accepting the faith. It was then that Paul stepped up and cursed the false “Jewish” prophet with blindness. Sergius Paulus became the first gentile convert under the Apostle Paul’s ministry. It is interesting that after Acts 13:9, Saul becomes Paul from that point on. Some early church fathers think that Saul took his gentile name at that time to honor his first convert who had the same name. But I see it as part of God’s plan to move Paul from a Jewish focus to a gentile focus.

Being of the tribe of Benjamin (As we read in Philippians), I’m fairly certain that his parents named Saul after the first King of Israel. Saul, the King, was head and shoulders taller than most of the men in Israel at that time and it made him stand out. It is interesting that “Paul” means “small” or “little.” Maybe that was an intentional change for this proud Pharisee who was humbled and knocked to his knees and blinded by the Lord. Paul’s blindness led to his salvation, but not so with the “Jewish” false prophet. Instead it led to the salvation of Paul’s first gentile convert. The Jews who insisted on forcing the Law into the salvation equation were as furious with Paul’s message as the Religious leaders were of Jesus who put Himself above the Law. Religious people hated Jesus. Religious people hated Paul. Religious people are violently opposed to a salvation message that is freely offered to irreligious people.

The second thing worth noting in Galatians 1:1is that Paul calls himself an “Apostle – not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead.” Paul’s apostleship to the gentiles came directly from God. As Rushdoony observes, “Paul is emphatic because there was a major effort to belittle his calling, his teaching, and his person.” This attack on Paul came from the Judaizers who insisted on connecting obedience to the law with salvation by grace through faith. Paul preached a Gospel that put the person and work of Christ at the center. It forced each person to see their sinfulness and their need for a savior. It took God’s divine intervention in this hyper-religious Pharisee’s life to get his attention. It takes divine intervention today as well for religious people to get the truth of the Gospel. Jesus did not come to set up another religion but to destroy all religion. It always takes divine intervention to set man free from the law of sin and death.