Galatians Chapter 1

Galatians Chapter 1

0:00

INTRODUCTION:

Good Morning Church! We are in week 2 of a study on the book of Galatians. Thank you to the Chinn’s for preparing and teaching last week. If you weren’t here, you can check out the outline and overview on our Website or FaceBook page. 

The churches in Galatia were composed of both Jewish and Gentile converts. Paul’s purpose in writing to these churches was to confirm them in the faith because they were facing a theological crisis. The Judaizers, in the early church, were those who taught a combination of God’s grace and human effort. These Judaizers denied the essential truth of the gospel, justification by faith alone rather than human effort. The Judaizers wanted approval from the Jewish leaders by showing how effective they were at converting Gentiles into a form of Judaism. They were also creating a division within the churches of Galatia.  These divisions could actually affect people's eternal salvation and thus Paul's very strong reaction and quick letter to these churches.

As we study Galatians over the next few weeks, consider the questions… Are we in a theological crisis today? In our country? In our world? How about in our relationships?

What has been added to the gospel? 

Today we will be looking at Chapter 1 of the Book of Galatians. The chapter can be outlined in three sections as follows:

• Paul’s greeting

• One true gospel

• Paul’s credentials

Let’s start with the greeting…

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— and all the brothers 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 to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

A few notes here…

• Paul identifies himself and makes a quick defense of the fact that he is, in fact, an apostle because Jesus Christ and God the Father made him one. He's not a man-made or self-made apostle.

• Paul had a team ”brothers”  and was quick to give them credit. Paul’s team- Titus, Silas, Luke, Timothy, Tychicus, Trophimus, and a multitude of ministry partners in all the churches he had been to.

• Here he addresses more than one church- the churches of Galatia. This is the only time. Galatia was divided into 4 areas. Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra.

• Before his greeting is over, he is reminding them that Jesus Christ, gave himself up for our sins and deliverance, according to the will of God the Father..

Next Paul moves into the reason he is writing.

Galatians 1:6–9

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble 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 the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

• Galatians begins more abruptly than most of Paul's other letters in the New Testament. Rather than giving an extended prologue, Paul launches into his reasons for writing as mentioned in the intro.

• I can imagine him thinking “it’s only been a minute since they had so joyfully received the good news that Jesus died to pay the full price for their sin” that Paul is astounded by how quickly they are deserting Christ to follow this "other gospel."

• Paul quickly clarifies: There is no "other gospel," only a distortion of the true gospel. With all of his authority as an apostle, Paul declares that anyone who teaches any other gospel other than what Paul taught them is "accursed". That stands even if Paul himself or an angel from heaven would try to teach them a different gospel. Paul stands on the truth that salvation comes by God's grace alone through faith alone in Christ's payment for our sin on the cross.

• He is challenging the Galatian believers to get back to the true gospel because the “other gospel” basically negates the value and reason of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Now let's look at the third section within this chapter…

Galatians 1:10–24

For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.

Here Paul is spending some time reminding the Galatians who he was and who he is in Christ.

• Paul asks a question that is a good question for us today. Am I looking for man’s approval or God’s? He states that he could not be a servant of Christ if he is still seeking the approval of man. We will talk about that a little more during our discussion time.

• Paul emphasizes that he knows just as much about Judaism as any of his accusers. After all, he persecuted and tried to destroy Christianity as a zealous young Pharisee. But then God showed His Son to Paul, and everything changed. 

• To defend the true gospel, Paul must also defend the fact that he is truly an apostle. In New Testament terms, an apostle was someone who spent time with Christ and was officially sent by Christ to be His representative in the world. The Judaizers apparently were saying that Paul didn't qualify; he wasn't one of the original 12 disciples. In fact, they said he was merely taught by those other apostles, giving him no authority to speak for Christ on his own. Paul answered their charges by showing, from the story of his life before and after his conversion, that none of the other apostles trained him. Instead, Christ was revealed to him, as was the truth of the gospel of the grace of God. 

• Paul understood that he had been selected even before his birth to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. After his conversion, he didn't go to the apostles, he went off by himself for three years, coming to know the truth of the gospel through special revelations from God. Even after that, he preached in Syria and Cilicia for a time. Though he had met with Peter and Jesus' brother James at one point, he was unknown in the region around Jerusalem and Judea. All that was known about him was the radical change from Jesus-persecutor to Jesus-preacher.

CONCLUSION:

• Galatians 1 is the introduction to Paul's letter to the Galatian church, which deals with a significant theological crisis—distortion of the Gospel by others. Paul defends the divine authority of his apostleship and the Gospel's unity, denouncing any perversion of the Christ-centered message by false teachers. 

• Pro Tip - Let me throw this out there as well...or let you in on a well known “secret”.....God is STILL performing radical change right now.  He did not stop with the Saul to Paul conversion.  Paul's charge to the Galatians holds fast today and this is just Chapter 1.  

• He is charging us to be bold and remember who Jesus was then and who Jesus is today.  Paul is calling us out to stay focused on the True Gospel that he preached then and we hear today.  It has not changed, but we must be careful to not get caught up in a theological crisis of sorts like the Galatians and distort what Jesus has done for us.