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Galatians 1:1-12

False Teachers and Faithless Christians

Paul, an Apostle

Galatians 1:1-2

1Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—2and all the brothers and sisters with me,

To the churches in Galatia:

Paul claims for himself the very title that the false teachers were evidently denying him. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is the title Jesus used for his special representatives or delegates. From the wider company of disciples he chose twelve, named them “apostles,” and sent them out to preach. Thus they were personally chosen, called, and commissioned by Jesus Christ and authorized to teach in his name. The word apostle was not a general word that could be applied to every Christian like the words believer, saint, brother, or sister. It was a special term reserved for the Twelve and for one or two others the risen Christ had personally appointed.

Paul claimed to belong to this select company of apostles. Notice how he clearly distinguishes himself from other Christians who were with him at the time of writing. He calls them “all the brothers and sisters with me.” He is happy to associate them with him in the salutation, but he unashamedly puts himself first and gives himself a title that he does not give to them. He alone among them is an apostle.

Paul leaves us in no doubt about the nature of his apostleship. He makes a forceful statement that his apostolic commission was neither directly nor indirectly human; it was wholly divine. It was “by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” God the Father chose Paul to be an apostle and appointed him to this office through Jesus Christ, whom he raised from the dead. It was the risen Lord who commissioned Paul on the Damascus road, and in his letters Paul several times refers to this sight of the risen Christ as an essential condition of his apostleship.

Why did Paul assert and defend his apostleship? It was because the gospel that he preached was at stake. If Paul were not an apostle of Jesus Christ, then people could, and no doubt would, reject his gospel. This he could not bear. For what Paul spoke was Christ’s message on Christ’s authority. So he defended his apostolic authority in order to defend his message.

A Rescue Religion

Galatians 1:3-5

3Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

As in all his letters, Paul sends the Galatians a message of grace and peace. These are no formal and meaningless terms. They are filled with theological substance. In fact, they summarize Paul’s gospel of salvation. The nature of salvation is peace, or reconciliation—peace with God, peace with others, peace within. The source of salvation is grace, God’s free favor, regardless of any human merit or works, his lovingkindness to the undeserving. And this grace and peace flow from the Father and the Son together.

Paul immediately goes on to the great historical event in which God’s grace was exhibited and from which his peace is derived, namely, the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Although Paul has declared that God the Father raised Christ from the dead, he writes now that it was by giving himself to die on the cross that he saves us.

The character of Christ’s death is indicated in the expression “who gave himself for our sins.” The death of Jesus Christ was primarily neither a display of love nor an example of heroism, but a sacrifice for sin. Christ’s death was a sin offering, the unique sacrifice by which our sins may be forgiven and put away. He bore in his righteous person the curse or judgment that our sins deserved.

If the nature of Christ’s death on the cross was “for our sins,” its object was “to rescue us from the present evil age.” Christianity is a rescue religion. From what does Christ rescue us by his death? Not from the evil world but from this evil age. Christian conversion means being rescued from the old age and being transferred into the new age, “the age to come.” The Christian life means living in this age the life of the age to come. The purpose of Christ’s death, therefore, was not only to bring us forgiveness, but that, having been forgiven, we should live a new life, the life of the age to come.

Both our rescue out of this present evil age and the means by which it has been effected are “according to the will of our God and Father.” We must never imply either that the Son volunteered to do something against the Father’s will or that the Father required the Son to do something against his own will. In the cross the will of the Father and the will of the Son were in perfect harmony.

No wonder Paul ends this first section of his letter with a doxology: “to whom be glory [the glory that is his due, the glory that belongs to him] for ever and ever. Amen.”

A Different Gospel?

Galatians 1:6

6I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

In every other letter, after greeting his readers, Paul goes on to pray for them or to praise and thank God. Only in the letter to the Galatians are there no prayer, no praise, no thanksgiving, and no commendation. Instead he addresses himself to his theme at once with a note of extreme urgency. He expresses astonishment at the fickleness and instability of the Galatians.

The Galatians are religious turncoats, spiritual deserters. They are turning away from him who called them in the grace of Christ and are embracing another gospel. The true gospel is good news of a God who is gracious to undeserving sinners. But the Galatian converts, who had received this gospel of grace, were now turning away to another gospel, a gospel of works.

The false teachers who were influencing them were evidently “Judaizers.” They did not deny that you must believe in Jesus for salvation, but they stressed that you must be circumcised and keep the law as well. In other words, by your obedience to the law you must finish what Christ has begun. You must add your works to the work of Christ.

This doctrine Paul simply will not tolerate. Add human merits to the merit of Christ and human works to the work of Christ? God forbid! The work of Christ is a finished work; the gospel of Christ is a gospel of free grace. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, without any admixture of human works or merits. It is due solely to God’s gracious call and not to any good works of our own.

Paul goes further than this. He says that the defection of the Galatian converts was in their experience as well as in their theology. He accuses them not of deserting the gospel of grace for another gospel, but of “deserting the one who called” them in grace. Theology and experience, Christian faith and Christian life, belong together and cannot be separated. Let the Galatians beware, who have so readily and rashly started turning away. It is impossible to forsake the gospel without forsaking God. To turn from the gospel of grace is to turn from the God of grace.

False Teaching Causes Turmoil

Galatians 1:7

7which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

False teachers had thrown the Galatian congregations into a state of turmoil—intellectual confusion on the one hand and warring factions on the other. It is interesting that the Council at Jerusalem, which probably met just after Paul wrote this letter, would use the same verb in their letter to the churches: “We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said” (Acts 15:24).

This trouble was caused by false doctrine. The Judaizers were trying to “pervert” the gospel of Christ. They were not just corrupting the gospel but reversing it, turning it back to front and upside down. You cannot modify or supplement the gospel without radically changing its character.

So the two chief characteristics of the false teachers are that they were troubling the church and changing the gospel. These two go together. To tamper with the gospel is always to trouble the church. You cannot touch the gospel and leave the church untouched, because the church is created and lives by the gospel.

Indeed, the church’s greatest troublemakers (now as then) are not those outside who oppose, ridicule, and persecute it, but those inside who try to change the gospel. They are the ones who trouble the church. Conversely, the only way to be a good church person is to be a good gospel person. The best way to serve the church is to believe and to preach the gospel.

Under God’s Curse

Galatians 1:8-9

8But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

After utter astonishment, Paul’s second reaction to...