Book of Galatians Part 1
Good morning everyone. The last time I spoke, I mentioned that we'd done a study of Galations at House Church and some of you expressed an interest in going through it here. This is therefore the start of what will be a short series of messages going though it and bringing out the key messages that we can learn today.
The first thing to note is that it was written to the churches in Galatia, which was a region which is now in modern day Turkey. There was the Roman region of Galatia and a specific territory of the same name, I haven't seen any maps with a place called Galatia so it was like saying that it was to the churches in Wales rather than Cardiff, Llanelli or anywhere specific. It does not specify exactly where he sent the letter but in verse two it says churches in Galatia which indicates that there was more than one church probably a network of churches spread around the region. The letter would have been copied and circulated around the churches. When the bible was compiled, these copies were brought together and compared and the majority of the texts were used to make up the bible we know today. There is much debate over the accuracy of the bible and the degree to which chinese whispers have distorted it, however what's emerged has done so by the will of God and I'm sure if there were major inaccuracies, God's had nearly 2000 years to sort it out.
The book starts off by underlying Paul's credentials which shows by who's authority he is speaking. Chapter 1 is all about Paul setting the scene in terms of his background, his current position and authority and underlining the seriousness of the problem that had come to his attention.
Gal 1:1 "Paul, an apostle (not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead),"
This is saying that he was not an apostle of man, but an apostle of Jesus and God who raised Him. This does a couple of things, firstly it shows that he was not representing himself after all he was a persecuting Pharisee. It also shows that he's not taken instruction second hand from the disciples, he's taken it from Jesus himself and he was therefore an Ambassador or Apostle of the Risen Jesus and God who raised Him, not sent by the others. He was therefore bang up to date and came with the highest authority. This is a point he makes at the start of Corinthians, Philipians, Colossians and Thessalonians.
Gal 1:2 and all the brothers with me, to the churches of Galatia.
This shows he was not travelling alone - all the brethren refers to assistants or co-workers such as Timothy or Luke spreading the gospel with him to the churches. Again you can look at Acts which is a later account written by Luke and you get a list of people who travelled around with Paul on various journeys, and if you have the time I guess you can fit the pieces together to see what he did, but I haven't studied that so I'm not going there. Anyhow v2 uses the word "All" which shows that there were a group of them rather than just one or two, and again the churches plural implies a group or network of churches around this region that were being addressed rather than a specific congregation. The maps of Paul's journeys show that he would have visited and re-visited this region on his way out and back on some of his trips. It was not a place he would have just visited once, so he was more familiar with them than others. It also shows that the message he had was for the whole of the region and not just for an isolated congregation.
Gal 1:3 Grace be to you, and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
Grace and Peace was a standard greeting so after underlining his authority and stating who he's talking to we start the letter here. Notice it's not a greeting from himself but he brought greetings from God and Jesus Christ.
Gal 1:4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father,
Gal 1:5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
So he starts of with a summary of the Gospel message in the greeting reminding them of what Jesus had done for them by the will of God. Not to glorify himself but to glorify God.
Verse 6 gets down to the crux of the matter which is the reason he is writing. There were those who were causing problems by perverting the Gospel message that Paul had given them and preaching another gospel.
Lets look at v6-7
Gal 1:6 I marvel that you so soon are being moved away from Him who called you into the grace of Christ, to another gospel,
Gal 1:7 which is not another, but some are troubling you, and desiring to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Paul is not at all happy that the message given to him by Christ himself had been changed by people who had followed him into the region. The next section shows the seriousness of his concerns.
Gal 1:8 But even if we or an angel from Heaven preach a gospel to you beside what we preached to you, let him be accursed.
Gal 1:9 As we said before, and now I say again, If anyone preaches a gospel to you beside what you have received, let him be accursed.
He was so perplexed by this that he repeats the fact that anyone teaching another gospel should be cursed. The word cursed means excommunicated or banned. Cast out of the church, disfellowshipped. This is a concept that we are familiar with from our history. I remember tales of people being chucked out and thankfully reinstated over matters. This is a serious statement when you think about it, they were preaching something so bad that they were going to be expelled from the church, the body of Christ - to preserve the body from the message they were preaching. Even if the person was or professed to be an angel, they should not listen to it - of course the angels would not contradict God, but even if an angel did say something different, it was to be cursed.
Paul goes on in v10 that he was not saying this to please men, but God. It was not his message that had been perverted, it was Gods.
Gal 1:10 For now do I persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Gal 1:11 And, brothers, I make known to you the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man.
He was not interested in being popular and pleasing men, as that would have meant he was not serving God. This warns us to be careful that we're not courting popularity as this is irrelevant, we should always seek to serve God and stick to the proper Gospel message.
Paul carries on building it up, by underlining the fact that it was not his message that had been perverted, but the message that had been revealed to him.
Gal 1:10 For now do I persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Gal 1:11 And, brothers, I make known to you the gospel which was preached by me, that it is not according to man.
Gal 1:12 For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it except by a revelation of Jesus Christ.
He's repeating what he'd said in v1 to make sure he was being clear that he had conveyed Jesus words rather than his own and therefore it was Jesus that they had gone against rather than Paul himself.
To emphasis this point Paul then steps back and goes through his own background so we see the contrast between his old self and the new Paul after Jesus had revealed himself to him on the road to Damascus.
Gal 1:13 For you heard my manner of life when I was in Judaism, that I persecuted the church of God with surpassing zeal, and ravaged it.
Gal 1:14 And I progressed in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in my race, being much more a zealot of the traditions of my fathers.
Gal 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and having called me by His grace,
Gal 1:16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the nations, immediately I did not confer with flesh and blood;
Paul keeps emphasising this in his writings. He says over and over how zealous he was as a Jew persecuting the Christians and how he was an example of transformation as a result of his encounter with Jesus. What he was saying in a way was that if he can be transformed by the grace of God, anyone can. This was the benchmark for his ministry. so he described the encounter in several letters.
Acts 9 gives a detailed account of this encounter. To understand where he's coming from it would be good to read break out of Galatians for a few minutes and read the account.
Act 9:1 And Saul, still breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
Act 9:2 and asked letters from him to Damascus to the synagogues; so that if he found any of the Way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Act 9:3 But in going, it happened as he drew near to Damascus, even suddenly a light from the heaven shone around him.
Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?
Act 9:5 And he said, Who are you, lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you persecute. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.
Act 9:6 And trembling and astonished, he said, Lord, what will You have me to do? And the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the city, and you shall be told what you must do.
Act 9:7 And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, indeed hearing a voice but seeing no one.
Act 9:8 And Saul was lifted up from the earth, his eyes were opened, but he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
Act 9:9 And he was three days not seeing, and did not eat or drink.
Act 9:10 And there was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias. And the Lord said to him in a vision, Ananias! And he said, Behold me, Lord.
Act 9:11 And the Lord said to him, Arise and go into the street which is called Straight and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, he is praying,
Act 9:12 and has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him so that he might receive his sight.
Act 9:13 And Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many of this man, how many evil things he has done to Your saints at Jerusalem.
Act 9:14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your Name.
Act 9:15 But the Lord said to him, Go! For this one is a chosen vessel to Me, to bear My name before nations and kings and the sons of Israel.
Act 9:16 For I will show him what great things he must suffer for My name's sake.
Act 9:17 And Ananias went and entered into the house. And putting his hands on him, he said, Brother Saul, the Lord, Jesus, who appeared to you in the way in which you came, has sent me to you that you might see and be filled with the Holy Spirit.
Act 9:18 And instantly scales as it were fell from his eyes, and he instantly saw again. And rising up, he was baptized.
Act 9:19 And taking food, he was strengthened. And Saul was certain days with the disciples in Damascus.
Act 9:20 And immediately he proclaimed Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God.
Act 9:21 But all who heard him were amazed and said, Is this not he who destroyed those who called on this name in Jerusalem and came here for that reason, that he might bring them bound to the chief priests?
In Gal 1v15 in the King James it refers to it being like being separated from his mother's womb. If you think about a baby in the womb, it is totally surrounded by the womb, the baby is totally immersed and totally dependant on the mother. His faith was his life. Paul is showing how he was a zealous Jew, as Jewish as Jewish can be, a Benjaminite and proud of it, but later in the book we'll see that he says there is no Jew or Greek, Slave or Free as all are in Christ.
In v17-19 he says that it took him three years to connect with the other church leaders.
Gal 1:17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those apostles before me, but I went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus.
Gal 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days.
Gal 1:19 But I saw no other of the apostles, except James the Lord's brother.
This shows how much he was on his own in the early years. Acts refers to him being in Damascus for many days but doesn't provide the timeframe. We don't know how much the church leaders were aware of his work as communication was not like it is today. I suspect that even if they had heard about him, they would have probably not believed that the man who had been persecuting them in Jerusalem had actually been transformed and was actually preaching the same message as them, albeit to the uncharted territory of the gentiles. don't forget that the church was primarily hiding from persecution after Jesus death, and was a localised quasi Jewish group at this point.
Jesus when he was alive had told them to go to the lost tribes, and they probably went back immediately after his death so that they could tell people what had happened. However don't forget the instruction after his death was to go to the ends of the world so they didn't stay local. Anyhow, it says here that they had gone from Jerusalem apart from Peter and James.
They must have treated Paul with a heap of caution given his history. if you read to the end of the chapter it says that he went off to Syria but the churches in Judea didn't know him.
Gal 1:20 And what I write to you, behold, before God, I do not lie.
Gal 1:21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and of Cilicia,
Gal 1:22 and was unknown by face to the churches of Judea in Christ.
Gal 1:23 But only they were hearing that he who then persecuted us, now preaches the faith which he once ravaged.
Gal 1:24 And they glorified God in me.
v23 says that news of Paul had spread around as one who had persecuted them now preaching the faith he had once destroyed.
What a story, the poacher had become the game keeper so to speak. You get testimonies even now that inspire, like Richard Taylor of Victory Church in the valleys, I was in school with him believe it or not and he was a right nutter, he says this of himself so I am not slandering him. I remember him driving around in a Ford Cortina when we were about 12 or 13, he was stealing, drinking and taking drugs, and according to him, the judges knew him and called him the scumbag from Llanelli. He had an encounter with God and now his life has been transformed and he's serving God in the Valleys. Great story of God's grace in someone's life. At the moment his church in Cwmbran is experienceing an amazing outpouring of God's presence which is transforming lives.
Anyway back to Paul, notice when the saw that the persecutor was now an ally they glorified God. It was a great testamony of God's intervention in their lives and the life of the church that at least one of its threats had become an ally. It says in Acts that after a while the Jews decided they would kill Paul so he had to flee Damascus!
So Chapter 1 reminds the Galatians of Paul's credentials to speak to them even though he was not one of the original 12, and it alerts us that a problem had become apparent that needed to be addressed. Chapter 2 starts off by underlining Paul's authority to preach the Gospel to the gentiles.
It would be like me giving someone planning advice, they would not listen to me if I was the work experience boy, but if they knew my qualifications and experience and role within the organisation they would be more likely to listen to what I have to say, so Paul is building up the picture and story as to what his role is within the early Church.
Chapter 2 starts off with a trip to Jerusalem after 14 yrs preaching to the gentiles. He goes to the church leaders and tells them what he's been teaching in private as he does not want to be centre of attention.
Gal 2:1 Then through fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.
Gal 2:2 And I went up by revelation. And I put before them the gospel which I proclaim in the nations, but privately to those seeming to be pillars, lest I run, or I ran, into vanity.
Seems unreal that the person who did so much for the early church went to the church leaders gingerly speaking privately of the gospel he'd been proclaiming. This shows that the established mainstream of the church must have been very cautious in its approach in diverting from the Jewish roots.
Paul sounds cautious but firm with the others, and it seems like they came to a consensus that he was preaching the same Christ, but to a different audience and with a different approach. It says in v3 that Titus accompanied him and he was an uncircumcised Greek, so it shows the break from the Jewish background.
Verse 4 starts getting to the heart of the problem, people who were not real followers had come amongst them and were trying to take away the freedom they had in Christ.
Gal 2:4 But because of those false brothers stealing in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus; they desiring to enslave us;
Don't forget he was talking to the church in Galatia about what had happened. In Acts there is reference to people who had tried taking the church back into Judaism by saying that the gospel was a bolt on to the Jewish law. He's telling the Galatians that these people were about and that they should be wary of them and stick to the message Paul had given them. Notice it says in v5 that Paul had wanted to give them the true message so had not compromised even for a second.
I love v6, Gal 2:6 But from those who seemed to be something (what kind they were then does not matter to me; God does not accept the face of man), for those seeming important conferred nothing to me.
This showed that there had been a movement among the leaders that was not right and it showed that Paul didn't care who it was that he was arguing with, he was sticking to his guns and that was that. God doesn't have favourites, we are all here to serve by the grace of God. It goes on to say that the concensus was that Paul was called to serve the gentiles and Peter and James called to continue serving the Jews.
Gal 2:7 But on the contrary, seeing that I have been entrusted with the gospel of the uncircumcision, as Peter to the circumcision;
Gal 2:8 for He working in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision also worked in me to the nations.
Gal 2:9 and knowing the grace given to me, James, and Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, gave right hands of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we go to the nations, but they to the circumcision.
Gal 2:10 Only they asked that we remember the poor, which very thing I was eager to do.
It looks like they agreed a strategy and let Paul get on with his ministry to the gentiles, but as far as the letter is concerned, it shows the Galatians that he was given authority from the church leaders so he had the support and backing of the church for his ministry.
The next sermon was given on the Pentecost weekend so it will continue in Gal but be focussed on the Holy Spirit. But we'll start off next time with a fight between the Christian heavy weights of Peter and Paul...
Modern King James scriptures courtesy of Esword.
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