Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Galatians - Chapter 1

NOTE: Links to References is at the end of the study

Key words: “I (me)” - 35 times, Gospel.

Key verse: 1:6: I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News

  • John Karmelich: “In this chapter, Paul explains how he became a Christian based on his own encounter that he had with the resurrected Jesus. He explains how he changed his life based on that first meeting. Finally, he explains how he got to meet some of the ‘big shots’ in Christianity and to show that he changed from someone who used to persecute Christians to someone who became a Christian himself. …The focus of much of the book of Galatians is on the issue or rebuking the idea that we have to work hard in order to please God with our lives. In effect God’s grace is the ultimate rebuke to the idea of working hard to earning our way into heaven. Grace is God saying to us, the work of our salvation is already done. We get to spend eternity with God in heaven, not because we have earned it, but only due to His grace. Jesus dying for our sins demonstrated that grace for us.””
    • Has meeting Jesus changed your life? And, how?
  • Coffman: “This chapter contains Paul’s salutation (Galatians 1:1-5), the dramatic introduction of his reason for writing the epistle, which was the developing apostasy of the Galatians (Galatians 6-10), a bold defense of his apostleship (Galatians 1:11-17), and the additional evidence of his independence and authority as an apostle (Galatians 1:18-24).”
  • Luther: “Paul’s purpose in this epistle is to discuss and to defend the righteousness that comes by faith, and to refute the Law and the righteousness that comes by works.”
  • Dr. Constable’s Expository Notes: “One receives new life by receiving the Holy Spirit by faith at conversion. Nothing other than faith is necessary for salvation. To teach that one must be circumcised, or baptized, or anything else to receive life is to proclaim the worst of heresies. “New life” comes by faith alone. What makes Christians different is God indwelling them. “Eternal life” is the life of God. … I sometimes compare the Christian life to a three-stage Saturn rocket. The first stage (justification) is an act of God alone, in which He starts us on our journey to a different world. Justification happens in a moment of time, when one trusts in Christ alone for his or her salvation. The second stage (practical sanctification) is a work that God does, but which the Christian can cooperate with by continuing to trust and obey the Lord, or can resist by saying no to the Lord. Christians play a part in their sanctification, which begins with justification and ends at glorification. In our practical sanctification, we are moving away from where we have been, spiritually, toward where we will be, spiritually. The third stage is glorification. This is a work of God alone that takes place in a moment of time, like justification, and in which we finally touch down at our final destination spiritually. We do not need to do anything to qualify for glorification; God will glorify every true Christian, regardless of how far we have advanced in our sanctification. Glorification for Christians takes place at the Rapture of the church or at death, whichever comes first. … I would summarize the message of the book as follows: “Salvation is by God’s grace through faith plus nothing.”…”
  • William Barclay: “The basic fact behind this epistle is that Paul’s gospel was a gospel of free grace. He believed with all his heart that nothing a man could do could ever earn the love of God; and that therefore all a man could do was fling himself on his mercy in an act of faith. All a man could do was take in wondering gratitude what God offered; the important thing was not what we could do for ourselves but what he had done for us. It was this gospel of the free grace of God that Paul had preached. After him there came men preaching a Jewish version of Christianity. They declared that, if a man wished to please God, he must be circumcised and then dedicate his life to carrying out all the rules and regulations of the law. Every time a man performed a deed of the law, so they said, that was a credit entry in his account with God. They were teaching that it was necessary for a man to earn the favor of God. To Paul that was utterly impossible.”

(1) This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.

  • Paul:
    • Paul, which meant “small” or “little,” was his Roman name as a Roman citizen. Saul, which meant “desire,” was his Hebrew name.
    • Acts 13:9: Saul, also known as Paul, was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he looked the sorcerer in the eye.
  • An apostle:
    • Andrew Wommack: “The word “apostle” is a transliteration of the compound Greek word “APOSTOLOS.” APOSTOLOS is comprised of “APO” (“from”) and “STELLO” (“to send”) (Vine’s Expository Dictionary), thus referring to the act of sending someone on a commission to represent the sender. It was used of a messenger who was provided with credentials. Our word “ambassador” would be a good translation (“Galatians in the Greek New Testament” by Kenneth S. Wuest, page 28). It was important that Paul defend his apostleship, for if the false teachers, called Judaizers, could have discredited his apostleship, they would have also discredited the message he was preaching. Therefore, in the very first verse, Paul established his apostleship as the authority from which he spoke.”
    • 1 Corinthians 15:8-10: Last of all, as though I had been born at the wrong time, I also saw him. For I am the least of all the apostles. In fact, I’m not even worthy to be called an apostle after the way I persecuted God’s church. But whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me - and not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.
  • Group of people … human authority:
    • Specifically, the 12 or the church in Jerusalem.
    • Spurgeon: “His enemies had said, “Paul was never one of the Saviour’s twelve apostles; he is not like those who were trained and educated by Christ himself. No doubt he has borrowed his doctrine from them, and he is only a retailer of other men’s goods”.”
  • Christ himself:
    • Paul was DIRECTLY appointed by the risen Jesus Christ. The gospel he preached was not “second-hand” but “first-hand” - straight from the mouth of Jesus.”
    • Alfred E. Bouter: “His apostleship was connected with Christ ascended in the glory whereas the apostleship of the twelve was connected with the Lord on this earth. … That is the great difference.”
    • Acts 22:14-15: “Then he told me, ‘The God of our ancestors has chosen you to know his will and to see the Righteous One and hear him speak. For you are to be his witness, telling everyone what you have seen and heard.
    • Acts 26:16-18: Now get to your feet! For I have appeared to you to appoint you as my servant and witness. Tell people that you have seen me, and tell them what I will show you in the future. And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’
      • Notice that Jesus told Paul that He was going appear to him in the future.
    • 1 Corinthians 11:23: For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself
    • 2 Corinthians 12:2-4: I was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether I was in my body or out of my body, I don’t know - only God knows. Yes, only God knows whether I was in my body or outside my body. But I do know that I was caught up to paradise and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell.

(2) All the brothers and sisters here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia.

  • To the churches of Galatia:
    • Alfred E. Bouter: “Paul’s first missionary journey in Acts 13 and 14 brought him first to Cyprus and then to Antioch in Pisidia… This Roman province of Galatia containing the cities of Derbe, Lystra and Iconium (Acts 14:6) was where Timothy heard the gospel and when Paul came back to Galatia the second time in Acts 16 he found Timothy and he had liberty to take him with him on this second missionary journey, Silas also being with him. Paul then went a third time to that area and that is described in Acts 18. … the third missionary journey ultimately brought him to Ephesus, but again he went through Galatia.”
    • Acts 13:14,42-52: But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services … As Paul and Barnabas left the synagogue that day, the people begged them to speak about these things again the next week. Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, and the two men urged them to continue to rely on the grace of God. The following week almost the entire city turned out to hear them preach the word of the Lord. But when some of the Jews saw the crowds, they were jealous; so they slandered Paul and argued against whatever he said. Then Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and declared, “It was necessary that we first preach the word of God to you Jews. But since you have rejected it and judged yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we will offer it to the Gentiles. For the Lord gave us this command when he said, ‘I have made you a light to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to the farthest corners of the earth.’ When the Gentiles heard this, they were very glad and thanked the Lord for his message; and all who were chosen for eternal life became believers. So the Lord’s message spread throughout that region. Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town. So they shook the dust from their feet as a sign of rejection and went to the town of Iconium. And the believers were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
      • Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Derbe and Lystra were in Galatia.
    • Acts 14:5-7,19-24: Then a mob of Gentiles and Jews, along with their leaders, decided to attack and stone them. When the apostles learned of it, they fled to the region of Lycaonia - to the towns of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding area. And there they preached the Good News. … Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia, where they strengthened the believers. They encouraged them to continue in the faith, reminding them that we must suffer many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God. Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. Then they traveled back through Pisidia to Pamphylia.
    • Acts 16:6: Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.
    • Acts 18:23: After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went back through Galatia and Phrygia, visiting and strengthening all the believers.
    • 1 Corinthians 16:1: Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia.
    • 1 Peter 1:1: This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

(3) May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

  • Grace and peace:
    • Andrew Wommack: “He was stating within his greeting that the source of grace is God. So, who is legalism from? Obviously, the devil.”
    • John Schultz: “The greeting ‘Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ’ is literally the same as in all his other epistles written to churches, with only a slight variation in Colossians and I Thessalonians.”

(4) Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live.

  • Gave his life:
    • Coffman’s Commentary: “The essential Christian doctrine of Christ’s vicarious sacrifice of himself to save people from sin is here emphasized in order to contrast the true source of salvation in Christ with the false premise of the Judaizers which made redemption to depend upon observing forms and ceremonies of the Law of Moses.”
    • Mark 10:45: For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
    • John 3:16: “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
    • John 10:18: No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.”
    • Romans 5:8: But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
    • Galatians 2:20: … I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
    • Ephesians 5:2: Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.
    • 1 Timothy 2:6: He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. This is the message God gave to the world at just the right time.
    • Titus 2:14: He gave his life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us his very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds.
  • Rescue:
    • Bruce Hurt: “Rescued Twice - A wealthy English family once invited friends to spend some time at their beautiful estate. The happy gathering was almost plunged into a terrible tragedy on the first day. When the children went swimming, one of them got into deep water and was drowning. Fortunately, the gardener heard the others screaming and plunged into the pool to rescue the helpless victim. That youngster was Winston Churchill. His parents, deeply grateful to the gardener, asked what they could do to reward him. He hesitated, then said, “I wish my son could go to college someday and become a doctor.” “We’ll pay his way,” replied Churchill’s parents. Years later when Sir Winston was prime minister of England, he was stricken with pneumonia. Greatly concerned, the king summoned the best physician who could be found to the bedside of the ailing leader. That doctor was Sir Alexander Fleming, the developer of penicillin. He was also the son of that gardener who had rescued Winston from drowning as a boy! Later Churchill said, “Rarely, has one man owed his life twice to the same person.””
    • David Guzik: “The idea behind the word deliver [rescue] is not deliverance from the presence of something, but deliverance from the power of something. We will not be delivered from the presence of this present evil age until we go to be with Jesus. But we can experience deliverance from the power of this present evil age right now.”
    • Colossians 1:13: For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,
  • For our sins:
    • Luther: “If our sins can be removed by our own satisfactions, why did the Son of God have to be given for them? … we cannot remove them by works of our own. Sin is a very cruel and powerful tyrant over all men throughout the world, a tyrant who cannot be overthrown and expelled by the power of any creatures, whether angels of men, but only by the infinite and sovereign power of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who was given for it.”
    • Isaiah 53:10: But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.
    • 2 Corinthians 5:21: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
    • Ephesians 2:1-3: Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil - the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
    • Hebrews 9:14: Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God. For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.
    • Hebrews 10:10,12-14: For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time. … But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
  • This evil world [age]:
    • Greek for “world” or “age” - aion - Strong’s 165 = “… a cycle (of time), especially of the present age as contrasted with the future age….”
    • Ken Cayce: “The Greek word for “age” [world] does not refer to a period of time, but an order or system. And in particular to the current world system ruled by Satan.”
    • James A. Fowler: “We have been “saved from this perverse generation” (Acts 2:40). … Because we “have been delivered out of this present evil age,” we do not have to “be conformed to this world, but can be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we might prove what the will of God is” (Romans 12:2).”
    • Ephesians 5:16: Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.
    • Ephesians 6:13: Therefore, put on every piece of God’s armor so you will be able to resist the enemy in the time of evil. Then after the battle you will still be standing firm.
    • 1 John 5:19: We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

(5) All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.

  • Glory to God:
    • Guzik: “False doctrine was a real problem in the Galatian churches, and their false doctrines robbed God of some of the glory due to Him. By emphasizing the rightly recognized glory of God and His plan, Paul hopes to put them more on the right track.”

(6) I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News

  • Alfred E. Bouter: “From verse 6 and onward, Paul presents the case. It is remarkable there is no commendation to begin with, as in other epistles.”
  • Shocked … turning away so soon:
    • John Schultz: “Paul …is amazed that they turn out to be such an easy prey. Paul had probably told them what he also told the elders of the Ephesian church: “I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.” What had happened in the church in Antioch, also happened in the churches in Galatia. People had come and told the Gentile Christians: “Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” What is striking is that Paul does not contrast the message he preached with the message of the Judaizers, but that he identifies the preacher with the message. Evidently, the Galatians were still in the stage in which they related their faith in the truth of the message to their faith in the reliability of the messenger. The fact that Paul takes this approach seems to indicate that the church was still rather immature.”
    • Dr. Robert L. Dean Jr.: “The tone of the apostle Paul is very strong and very harsh. This is because the issues that are at stake are the most important in life, and that is the gospel. … If you add anything to faith you destroy it. Faith plus anything equals nothing. That is the point of this entire passage. … once we start perverting the gospel then what follows is we begin to pervert the Christian life.”
  • Are turning away:
    • Bruce Hurt: “In classical Greek metatithemi was used of a turncoat. The word is used of one altering his opinion or becoming of another mind. The word was also used of desertion or revolt, frequently of a change in religion, philosophy, or morals. … Metatithemi is in the present tense which indicates that when Paul wrote this letter, the Galatians were in the process of defecting. Defection was in progress. If Paul had instead used the perfect tense, Kenneth Wuest observes “that would have indicated that the Galatians had actually and finally turned against grace and had come to a settled attitude in the matter. The mind of Paul wavers between fear and hope as to the outcome. Paul was trying desperately to arrest the progress of this new doctrinal infection if he could. The Judaizers had not yet achieved any decisive success…”. ”
  • Called you:
    • Ken Cayce: “This could be translated, ‘who called you once and for all’, and refers to God’s effectual call to salvation.”
    • Romans 8:29-30: For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, he called them to come to him. And having called them, he gave them right standing with himself. And having given them right standing, he gave them his glory.
    • 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14: As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation - a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
    • 2 Timothy 1:9: For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time - to show us his grace through Christ Jesus.
    • 1 Peter 1:15: But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.
  • Different way:
    • Greek - heteros - Another of a different kind.
    • Alfred E. Bouter: “Paul says as it were, ‘Yes, you think it is the gospel, but it is not the gospel at all, it is a totally different kind of gospel, which is not another one’ (not a gospel of the same kind at all). It sounds a bit complicated, but it is to show it is a counterfeit. For the Galatians the gospel had been, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved,’ but now it was added, ‘you then need to be circumcised.’ This can be checked out in Acts 15 where that situation was again faced.”
    • Andrew Wommack: “Two different Greek words were used in Galatians 1:6-7 for the English word “another.” In Galatians 1:6, the Greek word for “another” is “HETEROS,” and it means “another of a different sort” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary, emphasis mine). That’s why the New International Version translated this phrase as “turning to a different gospel” (emphasis mine). The Greek adjective used in Galatians 1:7 for “another” is “ALLOS,” and it means “another of the same kind” (Vine’s Expository Dictionary, emphasis mine). The Galatians were not turning toward a gospel that was similar in nature to the one they had already received. They were turning to a totally different gospel that Galatians 1:7 states “is really no gospel at all” (NIV).”
    • Ken Cayce: “The Judaizers’ perversion of the true gospel. They added the requirements, ceremonies, and standards of the Old covenant as necessary prerequisites to salvation.”
    • This “other gospel” was refuted at the council at Jerusalem: (Acts chapter 15).
    • Acts 15:1, 5, 10-11, 19-21, 23-29: While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” … But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.” … Peter … So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” … James … “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.” … This is the letter they took with them: “This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings! “We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them! So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided concerning your question. “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”
    • Galatians 3:1, 3: Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. … How foolish can you be? After starting your new lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?
    • Galatians 5:2-7: Listen! I, Paul, tell you this: If you are counting on circumcision to make you right with God, then Christ will be of no benefit to you. I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses. For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace. But we who live by the Spirit eagerly wait to receive by faith the righteousness God has promised to us. For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love. You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth?
    • Galatians 6:12: Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save.
    • 2 Corinthians 11:4: You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or a different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.
    • 1 Timothy 1:8-11: We know that the law is good when used correctly. For the law was not intended for people who do what is right. It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders. The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.

(7) but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

  • Not the Good News at all:
    • Not another [Greek - allos”] Gospel in the KJV - Another of the same kind (allos).
    • Alfred E. Bouter: “These false teachers added something else to the gospel saying (as it were), ‘You need to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved,’ or ‘You are saved, but now you need to keep the law in order to live a holy life and to be sanctified.’ Paul explains in this epistle to the Galatians, that whatever is done as being under the law of Moses places one under the curse of the same law. We will never be able to please God by placing ourselves under the law whether it is to be saved or whether it is to live for God, there is no way that you can mix law and grace together. If you have grace (and this epistle is one hundred percent grace), and mix one percent of the Mosaic law with it, you do not have anymore this pure grace that Paul defends here. Sad to say, in the history of the church, we see that this mixing has been done over and over again so that the whole has been leavened, the grace which was there has been leavened by a mixture of law and rules and regulations, and so the pure grace was gone. … What Paul presented is very simply this, ‘Salvation is by faith plus nothing.’ However, the evil teachers, as we will see in this book, said ‘Salvation by faith, yes, but you also need circumcision, you also need to keep the law.’ And then, when it comes to the Christian life, they would say, ‘You can live by faith and grace, yes, but you also need to keep the law otherwise you cannot please God.’ That is how the enemy tried to turn those believers away from the true foundation.”
    • Dr. Robert L. Dean Jr.: “To front load the gospel means to make the works right up front - you have to believe and be baptized in order to be saved. That is, if you are baptized then faith alone won’t do it. Or, you have to do good works. If you don’t do good works then you are not saved. That is front loading the gospel. Back loading the gospel is very subtle. Those who back load the gospel, with say that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ … but (and after the “but” comes the kicker) the assurance of salvation then comes from your works. So then assurance no longer derives from the veracity of the promise of God in His Word, assurance derives from one’s own works or fruit.”
  • Those:
    • These are Judaizers (legalistic Jewish Christians) who want to put the Gentiles under the requirements of the law (both written and verbal), including circumcision and the Jewish “traditions of the fathers.”
    • Ken Cayce: “It seemed in all of these churches, the minute he left, people with other doctrines tried to come in and change what Paul had established. This was a warning not to do that. Many Jews had received Christ, but were trying to incorporate Christianity and Judaism. You cannot mix other beliefs with Christianity, and have Christianity remain strong. We should remember that today. Christianity must not be diluted to include other beliefs“”
    • Bible Exposition Commentary: “Modern-day “Judaizers,” like their ancient counterparts, reject the authority of Paul and try to undermine the Gospel which he preached. In Paul’s day, their message was “the Gospel plus Moses.” In our day, it is “the Gospel plus” any number of religious leaders, religious books, or religious organizations. “You cannot be saved unless...” is their message (Acts 15:1); and that “unless” usually includes joining their group and obeying their rules. If you dare to mention the Gospel of grace as preached by Jesus, Paul, and the other Apostles, they reply, ‘But God has given us a new revelation!’”
    • Acts 15:1, 24: While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” … “We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them!
    • 2 Corinthians 11:13-15: These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve.
    • Galatians 5:10: I am trusting the Lord to keep you from believing false teachings. God will judge that person, whoever he is, who has been confusing you.
  • Twist the truth:
    • Andrew Wommack: “The Greek word for “pervert” (“METASTREPHO”) in “pervert the gospel” means “to change” the Gospel, not by denying it but by mixing something with it (“Galatians in the Greek New Testament” by Kenneth S. Wuest). The Galatians were perverting the Gospel by (1) observing special days (Sabbaths), months, seasons, and years (Galatians 4:10); (2) demanding circumcision along with belief in Jesus for salvation…; (3) thinking that part of their righteousness came through observing the Law (Galatians 5:4); and (4) believing that righteousness could be obtained by the strength and ability of their own flesh (Galatians 3:3).”
    • Dr. Robert L. Dean Jr.: “How does Satan blind men today? One way is through religion. True biblical Christianity is not a religion. A religion means that man does the work and then God blesses it, whereas Christianity is a relationship with God because it is based upon the fact that Jesus Christ did the work - God does all the work and man simply accepts it. One the basis of the work of Christ, man is able to have a personal relationship with God that is not based on a series of rituals, a series of commandments, or a series of taboos. … A second way Satan blinds men is through rationalism, through reason. This is what happened in the 19th century Protestant liberalism. The idea was that if man’s intellectual powers are so great then we can then evaluate the Bible to find out what is false just on the basis of our intellect. … Third, and very prominent today, Satan distracts people from the gospel through emotionalism, especially through the subjectivity of a lot of mysticism - How do you know God? Because I feel it. We know Him through the Word, not because of our feelings.”

(8) Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you.

  • God’s curse:
    • Andrew Wommack: “The Greek word for “accursed” here is “ANATHEMA,” and it means “a person or thing doomed to destruction” (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon). … The counterparts for this word in the Hebrew mean to be appointed to utter destruction and to be completely destroyed. These words were used in Numbers 21:3 to describe the children of Israel utterly destroying the Canaanites, and also in Joshua 6:16-17 concerning the city of Jericho and its inhabitants being an accursed thing unto the Lord and appointed to utter destruction.”
    • Chuck Smith: “If any man would preach another gospel, even if an angel of heaven would come and preach another gospel,” even if Moroni would come and say, You’ve got to wear certain kind of underwear in order to be righteous and you must go through the temple rites and you must continue to be a faithful Mormon if you are to be saved; you see, that’s adding to the salvation through the grace of God offered to us through Jesus Christ. That’s putting the burden back on you. … It is an interesting observation that I have made concerning those who are Buddhists. When a person tells me, Well, I’m a Buddhist, I usually ask them, Well, have you achieved then the perfection and that complete peace in Buddhism? And they will always respond by saying, I am working towards it. Never have I found one who has claimed to achieve. They’re always working towards it. It’s always this carrot out here at the end of the stick. I’m still working. I hope, you know. But I keep trying. If I work a little harder I might achieve, I might attain, I might find the peace and satisfaction. I’m working towards it.”
  • Angel from heaven:
    • John Karmelich: “Let me use the Mormon theology as an example here. They believe that there was an angel named Moroni that gave Joseph Smith the message that they preach. Do I believe that Joseph Smith really saw that angel? Yes I do. The issue is what was that message that he received? Without getting into a long discussion about their theology, the point here is that they believe one must work hard in order to prove their devotion to God and prove they are worthy to enter heaven. … It is an alternative ‘gospel’ because they don’t accept the idea that Jesus is God, and that God Himself paid for our sins, but an angel sent by God.”
    • Islam claims that Mohammed received his revelations from the angel Gabriel, and Mormonism claims that Joseph Smith received his revelations from the angel Moroni.
    • Kevin Backus (The Journal of Modern Ministry, Volume 5, Issue 1, Winter 2008): “Do Mormons believe in Jesus? Yes, make no mistake about that. But the Jesus of Mormonism is not the Jesus of the historic Christian faith. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints proclaims a Jesus who is radically different from the Christ of Scripture.”
    • 2 Corinthians 11:14: But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
  • The one we preached to you:
    • Don Samdahl: The different kind of gospel was “faith + works for salvation. … Paul ’s gospel was faith + 0.”
    • Leland Maples (Right Division Blogs - Paul Meant Business): “We do not have to wonder of what this gospel consists. Paul states it emphatically in his letter to the church at Corinth … Let us review Paul’s gospel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4):
         (1) Christ died (according to the scriptures)
         (2) Christ died for our sins (according to the scriptures)
         (3) Christ was buried (according to the scriptures)
         (4) Christ rose again the third day (according to the scriptures)
      Notice Christ's four steps and that each were according to the scriptures. Paul refers to this gospel as the “grace of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6) All four steps are performed by Jesus Christ.”
      We live in a religious world that accepts many different gospels. Some are fairly lenient … just be sincere, try your best, be kind to others, etc. Some are fairly strict … you must live it, you must be baptized, you must speak in tongues, you must keep the sabbath, you must keep communion, you must keep the ten commandments, etc. Others require weeks of training, more religious education or a time of testing. What is interesting about both the lenient and the strict, is that neither side guarantees assurance of heaven. We just kind of ‘do our best and hope for the best.’ …
      The Gospel of the marvelous grace of GOD is the Good News that the Law has been honored, the claims of the Law have been met. JESUS fulfilled every jot and every tittle of the holy Law, and satisfied Almighty GOD. The Good News is that JESUS honored the Law in every minute detail of His living; that He met the penalty of the Law in His sacrificial death. At the right hand of Almighty GOD, the risen man - the Man CHRIST JESUS - is witness of GOD’s eternal satisfaction concerning the finished work of His only begotten Son, who took a body that in the flesh He might do what the Law had never done (nor could ever have done in the flesh). …
      The Gospel brings the Good News that there is forgiveness with GOD now, since JESUS satisfied the Law of GOD. The Gospel brings the Good News that life eternal can be ours if we will only accept the gift that GOD purchased in the death of JESUS, through the shed blood of His cross. …
      If we accept the Son of GOD, and are born into the family of GOD, we will not stand before Him to be judged. We are heirs of GOD and joint-heirs with JESUS CHRIST through the miracle of the new birth.”
    • Romans 3:20, 28: For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are. … So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
    • Romans 8:3-4: The law of Moses was unable to save us because of the weakness of our sinful nature. So God did what the law could not do. He sent his own Son in a body like the bodies we sinners have. And in that body God declared an end to sin’s control over us by giving his Son as a sacrifice for our sins. He did this so that the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit.
    • 1 Corinthians 15:1-4: Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you - unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place. I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.

(9) I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

  • Say again … said before:
    • James A. Fowler: “Based on the wording in the original Greek language, it is doubtful that Paul is merely reiterating what he said in the previous sentence. Instead, he is explaining that he had forewarned them during his previous visit to the churches of Galatia, and is “now” (as opposed to “then”) repeating his warning of the consequences of attempting to make the gospel something other than the dynamic reality of Jesus Christ.”
  • Cursed:
    • Andrew Wommack: “To leave no doubt, Paul was, in a sense, saying, “I said it once and I will say it again, if anyone preaches a gospel to you that is different, let him be accursed – eternally condemned!” No one could misunderstand that.”

(10) Obviously,I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

  • Approval of people … pleasing people:
    • Dr. Constable: “The false teachers evidently charged Paul with preaching in order to curry the favor of his listeners, perhaps even to gain a large number of converts so as to enhance his own reputation (cf.2 Corinthians 10:1). They might have been charging him with preaching “easy believism,” since he advocated faith in Christ alone for salvation.”
      I myself have been accused of teaching “cheap grace,” not realizing that it was more expensive than all the wealth in the world - Jesus Christ’s blood!
    • 1 Thessalonians 2:4: For we speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News. Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives of our hearts.

(11) Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning.

  • Human reasoning:
    • MacArthur “The gospel Paul preached was not human in origin or it would have been like all other human religion, permeated with works righteousness born of man’s pride and Satan’s deception … Man’s sinful pride is offended by the idea that only God’s mercy and grace can save him from sin, and he therefore insists on having a part in his own salvation. The very fact that Paul preached a message of salvation in which works play absolutely no part was itself evidence that his message was from God and not…man.”
    • James A. Fowler: “The gospel is not some systematized construct of human thought, for man’s natural reasoning would never have devised a triune God and a dying Savior. The gospel is not a continued development of Jewish religious tradition authorized by the original apostles in Jerusalem. The gospel is not something that Paul invented as his own personal interpretation and opinion. The gospel is not “according to man,” but “according to God,” as the divine dynamic of His own Being and life. There are many forms of “self-made religion” (cf. Colossians 2:23) that are “according to man,” but they are not God's gospel in Jesus Christ.”
    • Colossians 2:8: Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.

(12) I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

  • My message:
    • Wuest: “Paul uses the personal pronoun here to show that he is laying emphasis upon the special education he had received for his ministry of the gospel. He had not, like his converts, learnt it from human teachers, but by direct communion with God, as the Twelve had learnt it from Christ’s teaching. Paul is studiously careful to show his independence of the Twelve… The entire tenor of this section indicates that Paul’s commission had been declared inferior to that of the Twelve, and that he had this in view when he was defending his apostleship from the attacks of the Judaizers.”
    • Romans 16:25: Now all glory to God, who is able to make you strong, just as my Good News says. This message about Jesus Christ has revealed his plan for you Gentiles, a plan kept secret from the beginning of time.
  • No one taught me:
    • John Piper: “The point of Galatians 1:11-24 is to argue that Paul was not a second-hander. He was not a Johnny-come-lately to the apostolic band. He argues that there is enough public information about his life before and after his encounter with the living Christ that no one can reasonably assert that he is a second-hander. He makes a persuasive case … that his apostleship and his gospel came to him independently from the Jerusalem apostles, and that he stands on an equal footing before Christ with Peter, James, and John.”
  • Direct revelation:
    • Ken Cayce: “Paul was 3 years in the desert, and the Holy Spirit of God taught him during that time. Paul’s first encounter with the Lord on the road to Damascus was a revealing in itself. When the Light of Jesus shines upon you, you are never the same as you were before. Immediately, Paul was transformed from a doubter to a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
    • Coffman’s Commentary: “…there is a strong inference that Arabia was the place where Christ met him to expound the truth of the gospel. It could also have been there that Paul experienced the visit (whether in the body or out of it being unknown) to the third heaven and to Paradise. It should be carefully noted that the revelation did not “flash into Paul’s mind,” as some claim; but it was conveyed personally by Jesus Christ our Lord.”
    • John MacArthur: “It is one thing to claim direct revelation from God but another to prove it. Throughout the history of the church many people have falsely claimed such revelation, as many do today. But Paul was not content merely to make the claim. Nor did he expect his readers to believe him simply on the basis of personal assertions. In the next 12 verses (Galatians 1:13-24), therefore, the apostle proceeds to substantiate his claim by presenting irrefutable evidence of that divine revelation and of his apostolic credentials.”

(13) You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion - how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it.

  • I followed the Jewish religion:
    • Ken Cayce: “The Jewish religious system of works righteousness, based not primarily on the Old Testament text, but on rabbinic interpretations and traditions. In fact, Paul will argue that a proper understanding of the Old Testament can lead only to Christ and His gospel of grace through faith.”
    • Bullinger: “As the worship of the Father (Jehovah) at the time of Christ had degenerated into “the Jews’ religion”, so now the worship of Christ has become the religion “of Christendom.”
    • Wuest: “The Judaism with which Paul was acquainted and in which his life had been immersed, was apostate. He knew nothing before his conversion, of the supernatural Judaism in which the Levitical sacrifices were the outward expression of an inward faith in a coming substitutionary atonement for sin. Judaism in Paul’s time was a mere ethical cult basing salvation on good works, and observing the sacrifices as a mere form. But when he was rethinking the Old Testament economy in the light of the revelations received in Arabia, the supernatural significance of it all opened up to him. But in this verse he is speaking of the apostate Judaism of his early life.”
    • Acts 23:6: Paul realized that some members of the high council were Sadducees and some were Pharisees, so he shouted, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, as were my ancestors! And I am on trial because my hope is in the resurrection of the dead!”
    • Philippians 3:5-6: I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin - a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.
  • Religion:
    • Bruce Hurt: “Two kinds of religion exist in our world: Religion A and Religion B. The first is “faith” in name only (2 Timothy 3:5). It’s the outward practice of Christianity without genuine faith in the living Lord. Religion B, on the other hand, is a life-transforming, destiny-changing experience. It’s a definite commitment to the crucified and risen Savior, which establishes an ongoing personal relationship between a forgiven sinner and a gracious God.”
  • I violently persecuted God’s church:
    • Alfred E. Bouter: “This is seen in Paul’s history in the book of Acts, from chapter 8 on. Paul voted for Stephen’s death and when the Lord spoke to him He said, ‘Why do you push your feet against the pricks?’ which is an indication that Paul’s conscience bothered him. Paul saw something in Stephen when he was stoned to death that never left him, his conscience was touched by that but he went on in the persecution, he went on in Judaism nevertheless. He had a place as a trailblazer in rabbinic Judaism (he advanced in it) and so he excessively persecuted the church. Let me just state the passages that you could read to see this: Acts 8, 9, 22, 24 and 26, 1 Corinthians 15, 1 Timothy 1 and also Philippians 3. There we have glimpses of what Paul had done and how the Lord came into his life. But he had a very dominant place in Judaism, he was taught at the feet of Gamaliel, a well respected teacher (Acts 5:34) and then he was probably in Tarsus for a while at the university there before coming back to Jerusalem, the Lord being already glorified in heaven, and he persecuted the Christians there. Judaism at that time was not what God had given through Moses or restored through Ezra; here Judaism was what man had made from what God had given originally. The scribes, a few generations after Ezra, introduced a lot of human reasoning to protect the law, to ensure that the Jews would not transgress it anymore as they had done before the Babylonian captivity. But later this reasoning was put on the same level as the law and gradually even placed above it (they came up with the idea that the “oral law,” meaning their interpretations and traditions, had been given by God to Moses the same time He gave him the written law, and that the ‘oral law’ had been memorized from generation to generation, but now - still according to these scribes - the time had come to put it in writing).”
    • Philippians 3:6: I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.

(14) I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.

  • Far ahead in my zeal:
    • Acts 22:3: Then Paul said, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, and I was brought up and educated here in Jerusalem under Gamaliel. As his student, I was carefully trained in our Jewish laws and customs. I became very zealous to honor God in everything I did, just like all of you today.
    • Acts 26:5,9: If they would admit it, they know that I have been a member of the Pharisees, the strictest sect of our religion. … “I used to believe that I ought to do everything I could to oppose the very name of Jesus the Nazarene.
    • Philippians 3:5: I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin - a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law.
  • Traditions of my ancestors:
    • Jesus was criticized by the Jewish leaders for not observing their “traditions” which were not in the Scripture:
      • Mark 7:1-5, 8-9: One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hand] in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to - such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles. So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.” … you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.
    • Ken Cayce: “The oral teaching about Old Testament law commonly known as the “Halakah.” This collection of interpretations of the law eventually carried the same authority as, or even greater than the law (Torah), itself. Its regulations were so hopelessly complex and burdensome that even the most astute rabbinical scholars could not master it by either interpretation or conduct.”
    • MacArthur: “Ancestral traditions refers to the body of oral teachings about the Old Testament law that came to have equal authority with the law commonly known as the Halakah, this collection of Torah interpretations became a fence around God’s revealed law and all but hid it from view. Over a period of several hundred years, it had expanded into a mammoth accumulation of religious, moral, legal, practical, and ceremonial regulations that defied comprehension, much less total compliance. It contained such vast amounts of minutiae that even the most learned rabbinical scholars could not master it either by interpretation or in behavior. Yet the more complex and burdensome it became, the more zealously Jewish legalists revered and propagated it.”

(15) But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him

  • Before I was born:
    • Steps in progression:
      1. Separation before birth.
      2. Chosen.
      3. Called.
    • Andrew Wommack: “This was also said of Isaiah (Isaiah 49:1 and 5), Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5), and John the Baptist (Luke 1:15). By example, we can see this was also true of Samson (Judges 16:17), and certainly, this was true of Jesus.”
    • Andrew Wommack: “God has a pre-designed purpose for each one of our lives. Our gifts and talents are uniquely designed to accomplish that purpose. However, that does not mean we have no freedom to choose and that whatever we become is God’s will (see notes 1 and 2 at Romans 8:29). No, God has a plan for each one of us, but we have the choice to walk in that plan or not.”
    • John Karmelich: “I’ve had many people tell me that they can look back at their lives even before they were saved and see how God had His hands on them the whole time. I can see that in my own life as well. The point is Paul realizes that God was guiding his entire life even when he was condemning other Christians.”
    • Psalm 139:13-16: You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
    • Isaiah 49:1: Listen to me, all you in distant lands! Pay attention, you who are far away! The Lord called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name.
    • Jeremiah 1:5: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
    • Luke 1:13-5: But the angel said, “…you are to name him John. … He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.

(16) to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being.

  • To the Gentiles:
    • Acts 9:15: But the Lord said, “Go, for Saul is my chosen instrument to take my message to the Gentiles and to kings, as well as to the people of Israel.
    • Acts 26:17-18: And I will rescue you from both your own people and the Gentiles. Yes, I am sending you to the Gentiles to open their eyes, so they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God. Then they will receive forgiveness for their sins and be given a place among God’s people, who are set apart by faith in me.’
    • Romans 11:13: I am saying all this especially for you Gentiles. God has appointed me as the apostle to the Gentiles.…
    • Galatians 2:7: Instead, they saw that God had given me the responsibility of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as he had given Peter the responsibility of preaching to the Jews.


Above image from preceptaustin.org

(17) Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.

  • Jerusalem:
    • Alfred E. Bouter: “Paul did not immediately go up to Jerusalem, the religious center, the center of Judaism; nor to the assembly which was there, although he went there later. The point is that he did not get his orders from there: Jerusalem was not the headquarters of the assembly; rather it was the Lord in the glory, for He was in charge.”
  • Arabia:
    • Wuest: “…needed to be alone with God. He needed time and isolation in order to think. The revelation of the Son of God had blasted away the foundations of the Pharisaic thought structure which he had been building up with such consummate skill and zeal, and it had come tumbling down in ruins about his head. This revelation also furnished him with another foundation upon which to build a new theological structure. But the replacement of the ruined structure with a new one could not be the work of a day or a month. There in Arabia, isolated from all human contact, alone with God, the great apostle restudied his Old Testament scriptures, not now with the Pharisaic traditions vitiating his thinking, but, led by the Holy Spirit, with the central fact of the Cross of the Lord Jesus as the controlling factor in his meditations. Out of all this study emerged the Pauline system of doctrine as we have it presented in Romans.”
  • Returned to … Damascus:
    • Dr. Constable: “he “returned . . . to Damascus,” rather than Jerusalem, still feeling no need to obtain the blessing of the other apostles. Paul was not being arrogant or uncooperative by behaving as he did. He simply was preparing himself, since he believed in the divine origin and authority of his commission.”

(18) Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days.

  • Three years later:
    • Acts 9:26-28: When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to meet with the believers, but they were all afraid of him. They did not believe he had truly become a believer! Then Barnabas brought him to the apostles and told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the way to Damascus and how the Lord had spoken to Saul. He also told them that Saul had preached boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus. So Saul stayed with the apostles and went all around Jerusalem with them, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord.
  • Went to Jerusalem:
    • Paul’s visits to Jerusalem:
      1. The visit after he left Damascus (Acts 9:26-30; Galatians 1:18-20)
      2. The famine visit (Acts 11:27-30; Galatians 2:1-10)
      3. The visit to attend the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-29)
      4. The visit at the end of the second missionary journey (Acts 18:22)
      5. The final visit that resulted in Paul’s Caesarean imprisonment (Acts 21:15 - 23:35)
  • To get to know Peter … fifteen days:
    • Alfred E. Bouter: “Paul went up to see Peter and remained with him fifteen days (1:18) so he had time enough to explain to him what his calling was, and Peter had time enough to judge whether it was of God. The time was not long enough for Peter to have taught Paul a lot of things; that was not the purpose of his visit, the purpose was to get acquainted and to have confidence in each other. Peter worked later in the same area that Paul had worked and in 2 Peter 3:15 he confirmed Paul’s writings to the Hebrew Christians saying, “as our beloved brother Paul also has written to you according to the wisdom given to him.” So there was a very nice co-operation between the two. The Judaizers sought to drive a wedge between Paul on the one hand and Peter on the other suggesting that the twelve, being called by the Lord on this earth, were real apostles, whereas this self-proclaimed apostle was not really a vessel of the same order. But that is not true. The apostleship that Paul had from the exalted Lord had a very special character that comes out in his writings. He was not inferior at all.”

(19) The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother.

  • James:
    • James was the leader of the church in Jerusalem. James and Jesus’ other brothers and sisters did not believe Jesus to be the Christ, until He arose from the dead.
    • Chuck Smith: “This is the James who authored the epistle of James. This is the James who became one of the leaders in the early church. This is not James, the brother of John the fisherman. He was beheaded before Paul got there. This is James, the brother of Jesus Christ mentioned in Mark’s gospel and Paul here identifies him.”
    • Galatians 2:9: In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews.

(20) I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.

  • Not a lie:
    • Paul stated before God that he was not lying, but it was the Judaizers, the legalistic Jews, who were lying to the Galatians. Paul is telling the Galatians that they could travel to Jerusalem and verify Paul’s story with Peter and James.

(21) After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia.

  • North … Syria and Cilicia:
    • Ken Cayce: “Paul apparently spent about 14 years in ‘the regions of Syria and Cilicia’…This area included his home town of Tarsus. … When word of revival in that area reached Jerusalem, they sent Barnabas (Acts 11).

(22-23) And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!”

  • Persecute us:
    • Acts 9:1-2: Meanwhile, Saul was uttering threats with every breath and was eager to kill the Lord’s followers. So he went to the high priest. He requested letters addressed to the synagogues in Damascus, asking for their cooperation in the arrest of any followers of the Way he found there. He wanted to bring them - both men and women - back to Jerusalem in chains.
    • Acts 22:4: And I persecuted the followers of the Way, hounding some to death, arresting both men and women and throwing them in prison.

(24) And they praised God because of me.

  • They praised God because of me:
    • Dr. Harold H. Buls: “The Christians in Judea had a high opinion of God because of what Paul was preaching. Paul is implicitly saying to the Galatians: ‘Why should you have a low opinion of my preaching. Your view is contrary to that of the Judean Christians.‘”

Galatians Chapter 1 Study References

NOTE: While the following sources contain valuable information, I do not necessarily agree with all the information and opinions presented in the sources.

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Galatians - Introduction

Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians - Introduction


Above image from preceptaustin.org

Basic Outline:

  • Chapters 1 and 2, Paul defends his apostleship and his gospel.
  • Chapters 3 and 4, Paul contrasts bondage to the law with the freedom of grace.
  • Chapters 5 and 6, Paul describes the characteristics of the life of a believer justified by grace.

OUTLINE (NIV Study Bible):

  • Introduction (1:1-10)
    • Greetings (1:1-5)
    • Denunciation (1:6-10)
  • Personal: Authentication of the Apostle of Liberty and Faith (1:11-2:21)
    • Paul’s Gospel Was Received by Special Revelation (1:11-12)
    • Paul’s Gospel Was Independent of the Jerusalem Apostles and the Judean Churches (1:13-2:21)
      • Evidenced by his early activities as a Christian (1:13-17)
      • Evidenced by his first post-Christian visit to Jerusalem (1:18-24)
      • Evidenced by his second post-Christian visit to Jerusalem (2:1-10)
      • Evidenced by his rebuke of Peter at Antioch (2:11-21)
  • Doctrinal: Justification of the Doctrine of Liberty and Faith (chapters 3-4)
    • The Galatians’ Experience of the Gospel (3:1-5)
    • The Experience of Abraham (3:6-9)
    • The Curse of the Law (3:10-14)
    • The Priority of the Promise (3:15-18)
    • The Purpose of the Law (3:19-25)
    • Sons, Not Slaves (3:26-4:7)
    • The Danger of Turning Back (4:8-11)
    • Appeal to Embrace the Freedom of God’s Children (4:12-20)
    • God’s Children Are Children of the Free Woman (4:21-31)
  • Practical: Practice of the Life of Liberty and Faith (5:1-6:10)
    • Exhortation to Freedom (5:1-12)
    • Life by the Spirit, Not by the Flesh (5:13-26)
    • Call for Mutual Help (6:1-10)
  • Conclusion and Benediction (6:11-18)

Ray Pritchard: “Galatians is spiritual dynamite. This is a dangerous book! Read it at your own risk. Martin Luther read it and an explosion went off in his heart that led to the Protestant Reformation. John Wesley heard a sermon based on Luther’s commentary on Galatians and was profoundly converted. From Luther to Calvin to Wesley to the Puritans to Spurgeon to Billy Graham, there is a direct line from this ancient epistle to who we are and what we believe today.”

Merrill Tenney: “Christianity might have been just one more Jewish sect, and the thought of the Western world might have been entirely pagan had it never been written… Galatians embodies the germinal teaching on Christian freedom which separated Christianity from Judaism, and which launched it upon a career of missionary conquest. It was the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation, because its teaching of salvation by grace alone became the dominant theme of the preaching of the Reformers.”

KEY VERSES:

  • Galatians 1:6-7, 9: I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. … I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.
  • Galatians 2:14, 16: When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions? … Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
  • Galatians 2:19-21: For when I tried to keep the law, it condemned me. So I died to the law - I stopped trying to meet all its requirements - so that I might live for God. My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die
  • Galatians 3:1-2: Oh, foolish Galatians! Who has cast an evil spell on you? For the meaning of Jesus Christ’s death was made as clear to you as if you had seen a picture of his death on the cross. Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ.
  • Galatians 3:26, 28: For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. … There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
  • Galatians 4:6: And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
  • Galatians 4:21-26: Tell me, you who want to live under the law, do you know what the law actually says? The Scriptures say that Abraham had two sons, one from his slave wife and one from his freeborn wife. The son of the slave wife was born in a human attempt to bring about the fulfillment of God’s promise. But the son of the freeborn wife was born as God’s own fulfillment of his promise. These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia, because she and her children live in slavery to the law. But the other woman, Sarah, represents the heavenly Jerusalem. She is the free woman, and she is our mother.
  • Galatians 5:1: So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law.
  • Galatians 5:4: For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law, you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God’s grace.
  • Galatians 5:6: For when we place our faith in Christ Jesus, there is no benefit in being circumcised or being uncircumcised. What is important is faith expressing itself in love.
  • Galatians 5:12-13: I just wish that those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision would mutilate themselves. For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But don’t use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love.
  • Galatians 5:17: The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.
  • Galatians 5:22-25: But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
  • Galatians 6:7-10: Don’t be misled - you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone - especially to those in the family of faith.
  • Galatians 6:11: NOTICE WHAT LARGE LETTERS I USE AS I WRITE THESE CLOSING WORDS IN MY OWN HANDWRITING.
  • Galatians 6:14: As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.

Related verses in Acts chapter 15 regarding Gentiles and the Law:

    Acts 15:1, 5, 10-11, 19-21, 23-29: While Paul and Barnabas were at Antioch of Syria, some men from Judea arrived and began to teach the believers: “Unless you are circumcised as required by the law of Moses, you cannot be saved.” … But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, “The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.” … Peter … So why are you now challenging God by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.” … James … “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write and tell them to abstain from eating food offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from eating the meat of strangled animals, and from consuming blood. For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations.” … This is the letter they took with them: “This letter is from the apostles and elders, your brothers in Jerusalem. It is written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia. Greetings! “We understand that some men from here have troubled you and upset you with their teaching, but we did not send them! So we decided, having come to complete agreement, to send you official representatives, along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are sending Judas and Silas to confirm what we have decided concerning your question. “For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no greater burden on you than these few requirements: You must abstain from eating food offered to idols, from consuming blood or the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you do this, you will do well. Farewell.”

KEY WORDS:

  • Law: 29 times
  • Gospel: 15 times.
  • Spirit: 10 times.
  • Liberty (freedom): 11 times.
  • Grace: 7 times.

As we often do in our studies of a book in the Bible, we start with the Who, What, When and Where as any good reporter / investigator would do:

WHO:

  • Written by Paul to the Galatian Gentile believers against the Judaizers (1:7 - those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ; 5:12 - those troublemakers who want to mutilate you by circumcision).
  • James A. Fowler: “…the original recipients of Paul’s letter to the Galatians were citizens of such cities as Lystra, Iconium and Derbe where Paul had established churches on his first missionary journey. Paul had obviously planted these churches (1:8,11; 4:19,20) and the Christians in the churches had a great fondness and appreciation for Paul as their founding father (4:14,15).”
  • Galatia derived its name from its inhabitants, who were Gauls that had invaded and settled in Asia Minor at various periods during the third century B.C. The Gauls were Celts from the modern-day area of France.

WHAT:

  • Theme: Justification by Faith and not by Works of the Law.
  • Dr. Bob Utley: “This doctrinally oriented letter, possibly Paul’s first, was a precursor to Romans and its development of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith apart from Judaism’s emphasis on a works righteousness by obedience to the Mosaic Law and traditions of the elders (i.e., Oral Traditions).
    1. Salvation cannot be found in both human performance and grace.
    2. Salvation must be found in either human performance or grace.
    3. Christlikeness will follow a true conversion.
    4. Theologically there is a distinction between Judaism’s legalism which brought salvation and Christian legalism, which attempts to judge and restrict Christian freedom. Paul denounces Judaism’s performance based model as worthy of damnation, but is willing to work with Christian legalism (i.e., weak faith, cf. Romans 14:1-15:15; 1 Corinthians 8-10). It is the free gospel of salvation by grace through faith that Paul defends, yet he still recognizes the legalistic tendencies in some believers.”
  • Dr. Bob Utley: “Galatians focuses on the differences between the Old Covenant (OT) in Moses and the New Covenant (NT) in Christ. The first was understood by the rabbis (Paul does not react against the Mosaic covenant, but its misinterpretation and application by Jewish tradition) to base God’s acceptance on human performance, but the second was based on a new heart and a new spirit (cf. Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 36:22-38). Both were based on God’s grace; both desire a righteous people. The difference between them is how that righteousness is accomplished. This is developed in the NT book of Hebrews.”
  • Scofield: “The Galatian error had two forms, both of which are refuted. The first is the teaching that obedience to the law is mingled with faith as the ground of the sinner’s justification; the second, that the justified believer is made perfect by keeping the law. Paul meets the first form of the error by a demonstration that justification is through the Abrahamic Covenant ( Genesis 15:18 ), and that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after the confirmation of that covenant, and the true purpose of which was condemnation, not justification, cannot disannul a salvation which rests upon the earlier covenant. Paul meets the second and more subtle form by vindicating the office of the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier.”
  • John Stanko: “Paul begins with disbelief that the Galatians were allowing themselves to be influenced to mix law and grace, both doctrinally and practically, and were willingly putting themselves under the law. The Galatians were being told that Gentiles needed circumcision and had to come under the Law of Moses to be saved and to live a life pleasing to the Lord.”
  • Wil Pounds: “Galatians is a powerful polemic against the Judaizers who were trying to draw the churches of Galatia away from salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was ‘the battle cry of the Reformation’ under Martin Luther. … It has been called the ‘Magna Carta of Christian Liberty.’”
  • Adam Clarke Commentary: “The purpose of the epistle was to root out the errors of doctrine introduced by the Judaizers and to hold the Galatians to their earlier faith. To do this it was necessary to establish his apostolic authority and the divine origin of his gospel. He also desired to show the practical value or application of his teaching. He especially shows the value of Christian freedom and at the same time shows that it is not license. In fulfilling these purposes he gave us an inspired classic upon the fundamental doctrine of justification by faith and forever settled the disturbing question of the relation of Christians to the Jewish law.”
  • Ray Stedman: “You who have read this little letter carefully will have noticed that it is very closely related to the epistles to the Romans and to the Hebrews. These three letters of the New Testament form what might be regarded as an inspired commentary on a single verse from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. It was to that Old Testament prophet that God gave the great truth, ‘the righteous shall live by his faith,’ (Habakkuk 2:4 RSV). All three of these letters quote this verse, ‘The just [or the righteous] shall live by faith.’ … in Galatians, the emphasis is upon the words ‘shall live’ -- what it means to live as a righteous person, justified in Christ. This is the letter about liberty which is the fullest expression of life.”
  • Ray Stedman: “Galatians comes to grips with the question of what real Christian life is like. The answer can be characterized by one word, ‘liberty.’ The Christian is called to liberty in Jesus Christ.”
  • D. Kenneth L. Boles: “When the early Judaizers tried to bind men to the old commandments from Sinai, Galatians set them free. When the apostate church of the Dark Ages tried to bind men to a papal system of salvation by penance and works, Galatians set them free. When modern legalists try to bind us to a joyless religion of superior ‘tightness,’ Galatians sets us free.”
  • Dr. Constable: “ Galatians upset Paul exceedingly, because whenever we add anything to faith for salvation, inevitably we neglect faith.… Galatians is not only a proclamation of liberty, it is also a protest against legalism. … legalism is the conviction that we can make ourselves acceptable to God by keeping rules. Often the rules in view are those imposed by man, not those required by God. However, misapplying biblical laws is also a form of legalism. As a practice, legalism is the keeping of rules with a view to gaining merit with God. In a larger sense, legalism is the belief that we can make ourselves acceptable to God by our good works. Of course, the only thing that makes us acceptable to God is our trust in Christ’s good works. He satisfied God’s demands for us. We are saved by good works, but it is Christ’s good works, not ours. … To add to faith is to trust ceremony, which is to deny Christ, which is to be cut off from Christ, which is to fall from grace… I would summarize the message of the book as follows: ‘Salvation is by God’s grace through faith plus nothing.’"
  • John MacArthur: “The central theme of Galatians (like that of Romans) is justification by faith. Paul defends that doctrine (which is the heart of the gospel) both in its theological (chapters. 3, 4) and practical (chapters 5, 6) ramifications. He also defends his position as an apostle (chapters 1, 2) since, as in Corinth, false teachers had attempted to gain a hearing for their heretical teaching by undermining Paul’s credibility. The main theological themes of Galatians are strikingly similar to those of Romans, e.g., the inability of the law to justify (2:16; cf. Rom. 3:20); the believer’s deadness to the law (2:19; cf. Rom. 7:4); the believer’s crucifixion with Christ (2:20; cf. Rom. 6:6); Abraham’s justification by faith (3:6; cf. Rom. 4:3); that believers are Abraham’s spiritual children (3:7; cf. Rom. 4:10, 11) and therefore blessed (3:9; cf. Rom. 4:23, 24); that the law brings not salvation but God’s wrath (3:10; cf. Rom. 4:15); that the just shall live by faith (3:11; cf. Rom. 1:17); the universality of sin (3:22; cf. Rom. 11:32); that believers are spiritually baptized into Christ (3:27; cf. Rom. 6:3); believers’ adoption as God’s spiritual children (4:5-7; cf. Rom. 8:14-17); that love fulfills the law (5:14; cf. Rom. 13:8-10); the importance of walking in the Spirit (5:16; cf. Rom. 8:4); the warfare of the flesh against the Spirit (5.:17; cf. Rom. 7:23, 25); and the importance of believers bearing one another’s’ burdens (6:2; cf. Rom. 15:1).”
  • James A. Fowler: “An underlying sub-theme of the epistle might be entitled, ‘The Gospel versus Religion.”
  • Marshall Beeber: “Galatians was written by a champion of freedom who saw that neither Gentiles nor Jews could be delivered from their sins by self-effort in keeping a set of ethical principles.”
  • Charles Welch: “According to the teaching of the rabbis, there were 248 commands and 365 prohibitions of the Mosaic law, which formed part of the ‘Hedge of the law.’”
  • Charles R. Swindoll: “In advance of the Jerusalem Council, Paul’s letter speaks wisdom and clarity into the first real controversy that plagued the church in its early years - the relationship between Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles.”
  • Hebrews 8:13: When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

WHEN:

  • Paul visited Galatia during his first, second & third missionary journeys.
  • Paul probably wrote Galatians in the fall of 49 A.D. from Antioch, defending the true gospel of grace and his apostleship.
  • Coffman: “It is believed by some that Galatians was written circa A.D. 50, shortly after the Jerusalem Council.”
  • Charles R. Swindoll: “Paul wrote the book a few months before his attendance at the Jerusalem Council in AD 49, a meeting where the apostles would take up this very topic (Acts 15:1-30).”

WHERE:


Above image from www.bible-history.com/new-testament/pauls-first-missionary-journey.html

  • Ray Stedman: “They were churches begun by Paul when he was on his very first missionary journey, traveling with Barnabas into the cities of Antioch, Iconium, Derbe and Lystra. In Lystra, on one occasion, he was stoned and dragged outside the city and left for dead after having first been welcomed and treated as a god. In all these cities he experienced persecution. These were the cities of Galatia. The name of the province comes from the same root as the word Gaul. … Gaul is the ancient name for France. About 300 years before Christ some Gauls from what is now France had invaded the Roman Empire and sacked the city of Rome. Then they crossed into northern Greece and continued across the Dardanelles straits into Asia Minor.”
  • Lorraine O. Schultz: “Paul’s letter was probably addressed to the four southern churches, the ones he visited on his first missionary journey. … Iconium was an important city, mentioned six times in the New Testament. … Lystra was the hometown of Timothy. … Derbe was a secluded town, some 60 miles southeast of Lystra. Derbe was the only town of the four cities that Paul and Barnabas visited in Galatia in which they were not persecuted.”
  • Acts 13:14: But Paul and Barnabas traveled inland to Antioch of Pisidia. On the Sabbath they went to the synagogue for the services.
  • Acts 14:1-3, 8, 10-12, 19-21: The same thing happened in Iconium. Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue and preached with such power that a great number of both Jews and Greeks became believers. Some of the Jews, however, spurned God’s message and poisoned the minds of the Gentiles against Paul and Barnabas. But the apostles stayed there a long time, preaching boldly about the grace of the Lord. And the Lord proved their message was true by giving them power to do miraculous signs and wonders. … While they were at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas came upon a man with crippled feet. … Paul called to him in a loud voice, “Stand up!” And the man jumped to his feet and started walking. When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in their local dialect, “These men are gods in human form!” They decided that Barnabas was the Greek god Zeus and that Paul was Hermes, since he was the chief speaker.… Then some Jews arrived from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowds to their side. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of town, thinking he was dead. But as the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe. After preaching the Good News in Derbe and making many disciples, Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of Pisidia,
  • Acts 16:1-6: Paul went first to Derbe and then to Lystra, where there was a young disciple named Timothy. His mother was a Jewish believer, but his father was a Greek. Timothy was well thought of by the believers in Lystra and Iconium, so Paul wanted him to join them on their journey. … Then they went from town to town, instructing the believers to follow the decisions made by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in their faith and grew larger every day. Next Paul and Silas traveled through the area of Phrygia and Galatia, because the Holy Spirit had prevented them from preaching the word in the province of Asia at that time.
  • Acts 18:23: After spending some time in Antioch, Paul went back through Galatia and Phrygia, visiting and strengthening all the believers.
  • 2 Timothy 4:10: … Crescens has gone to Galatia, and Titus has gone to Dalmatia.
  • 1 Peter 1:1: This letter is from Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. I am writing to God’s chosen people who are living as foreigners in the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia.

WHY:

  • Wil Pounds: “Word had reached Paul that the Galatian Christians were falling away from the true Gospel of grace which he had preached, and were turning to a legalistic system of merit salvation (1:6-9). He wrote to correct this error which was introduced by false teachers. … Paul wrote to correct two errors: Do you have to become a Jew before you can be saved? The second error was, ‘If Christ has set us free, then we can live as we please!’ (cf. 5:1, 13). He demonstrates clearly the only way sinful man can stand before a holy God is by God’s grace made available through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, and we are also sanctified by grace through faith (3:3). The Judaizers taught that works was necessary for salvation and sanctification. It was a religion based on legalism. Someone said, ‘Judaism was the cradle of Christianity and very nearly its grave.’Galatians answers clearly the question posed in Acts 16:31, ‘What must I do to be saved?’ Are we saved by believing or achieving? Paul declared, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.’ Because Christ has done it all, there remains nothing for us to do except believe in His finished work, and receive the free gift of eternal life. He gives evidences to that declaration in Galatians. We are free of the law. Not only is the Christian saved by grace through faith, but the saved sinner lives by grace through faith. ‘Grace is the way to life and the way of life.’”
  • Arno Clemens Gaebelein: “Circumcision was especially emphasized by them. They had been to Antioch and taught "except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1). … they tried to undermine the apostleship of Paul and they attacked his authority.”
  • Marshall Beeber: “The book is the earliest of Paul’s extant writings. It summarizes the heart of ‘the gospel which [he preached] among both Jews and Gentiles’ (Galatians 2:2). In it he showed that man’s chief problem is obtaining a right standing with God. Since humanity is incapable of establishing this himself because ‘a man is not justified by the works of the law’ (2:16), it must be provided for him by another. Messiah Yeshua has given this standing, for He ‘gave himself for your sins, that He might deliver us out of this present evil world’ (1:4). His provision is available to those who put their full trust in Him, for ‘the promise by faith in Messiah [is] given to them that believe’ (3:22). This standing is not simply a legal fiction, applied only externally or ceremonially, but it becomes part of the inner life through union with Yeshua. ‘I have been crucified with Messiah; and it is no longer I that live, but Messiah liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me’ (2:20). Salvation is thus not only the application of a new life, but is also its impartation.”
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