Galatians 1:1-5 (NIV)
Paul, an apostle–sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead–and all the brothers with me,
To the churches in Galatia:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen
Paul begins this letter to the Churches in the region of Galatia, which he himself had planted during his first mission trip. The term “apostle” literally means “one who is sent out” and was used from classical times to designate anyone who was sent as a messenger or representative of an important person. In Paul’s day, an apostle could be sent by an emperor or governor to represent him and his government in a meeting with officials from another region or country.
But Paul points out that his assignment as an apostle does not come from any government official; it comes directly from God the Father, and from Jesus the Messiah (Christ), God the Son. Everywhere Paul went, he went as an apostle, an envoy, a representative of the Father and Jesus to the people he encountered. Paul received his commission as an apostle shortly after his encounter with the risen Jesus, just outside the gates of Damascus, an encounter which resulted in his conversion and his calling (Acts 9:1-19)
Paul’s letter is not addressed to a specific congregation. Galatia was not a city, but a region of the Roman Empire in what is now northern and central Turkey. Paul’s epistle is addressed to the whole group of Churches which he had planted several years earlier in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (Acts 13-14). It had been a very difficult first mission trip for Paul, full of pain as well as triumph. He was even stoned outside the gates of Lystra and left for dead! But in every city, Paul had won people for the kingdom, and had left behind the core of a congregation that he anticipated would continue to grow in his absence.
In his greeting to the Churches, Paul not only bestows prayers for God’s grace and peace on them, he also reminds them of four key theological points that he had taught them, things that lay at the very heart of the gospel:
- Jesus gave Himself to be killed in order to pay the penalty for the sins of all humanity.
- His sacrifice was also effective in rescuing all who believe in Him from the present evil age, transforming anyone who believes in Him from the heart, and enabling them to live genuinely holy lives.
- After Jesus’ death, God raised Him physically from the dead, giving Him not only a complete victory over death on our behalf, but also remaking His physical body into one that will be able to live forever in God’s presence, which is the pattern for our own resurrection bodies.
- All of this was not an accident, a tragedy, or a victory by satan or his agents in the world which then had to be worked around. Instead, it was accomplished through the specific plan of God, a plan had been made at the time of the world’s creation (Revelation 13:8). And that plan had been executed exactly as God had planned it.
These foundational truths are laid out at the very beginning of Paul’s letter, because, according to information he had received, the Churches in Galatia needed to be reminded of them. They had begun to turn away from the pure truth of the gospel which had been given to them as a solid rock on which to build their kingdom lives, and they were now turning to a man-made gospel. This entire letter was designed by Paul to be a corrective, as well as a challenge to them to return to what they had initially received. And he wasted no time in getting to the point.
Father, it is good for all of us to be reminded of the core beliefs by which we are saved, of Your rescue plan that was built even before sin entered the world, and that was executed perfectly “when the time had fully come” (Galatians 4:4). Lord, help us to never allow ourselves to be pulled off track, so that we lose our focus on what is right and true, and begin to substitute in its place a man-made religion that can’t save anyone, like the Galatians were doing. Amen.