It’s About God’s Power

Today we start our look at the book of Galatians, a letter written by Paul to the churches in the region of Galatia in approximately 48 to 53 A.D.  Our passage today is Galatians 1:1-12.  Let’s go!

Galatians 1:1-2 (NIV)
¹  Paul, an apostle–sent not from men nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead–
²  and all the brothers with me, To the churches in Galatia:

On verses 1-2:  The first thing Paul does in his letter is identify himself as an apostle.  An “apostle” literally means sent one, a messenger, a person who has been sent on a mission by another.  Notice that Paul goes out of his way to say that his apostleship is a God thing, not a man thing.  He says he has been sent “by Jesus Christ and God the Father”, not “from men or by man” (v1).

Galatians 1:3-5 (NIV)
³  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,
⁴  who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
⁵  to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

On verses 3-5:  In Paul’s greeting and blessing to the churches in Galatia, Paul emphasizes what Jesus Christ has done, how Jesus gave himself for our sins to rescue us, according to the Father’s will.   It is God’s power, not man’s power, that saves us from our sins and enables us to know God and serve Him.

Galatians 1:6-9 (NIV)
⁶  I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel–
⁷  which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
⁸  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
⁹  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

On verses 6-9:  Paul would often start his letters to his churches with thanksgiving.  But in this case, Paul goes directly into expressing his dismay at the problem that is happening among the churches in Galatia.  It’s because to Paul the problem could not be more serious: the churches in Galatia were turning away from the gospel of grace and “turning to a different gospel” (v6).  We’ll learn later in this letter what this different gospel was about, but Paul says it is “really no gospel at all.” (v6-7)  This is so serious that Paul twice says that those who have been perverting and twisting the gospel of grace should be eternally condemned (v8-9), because the way they are leading people astray will have consequences that last into eternity.  This is serious business to Paul, and so it should be.  When the gospel – which means good news – gets perverted, it stops being good news.

Galatians 1:10 (NIV)
¹⁰  Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.

On verse 10:  Paul clarifies that the reason he is writing all of this is not to win the approval of any person, but to be faithful to the One who called him, Jesus Christ.  In writing this Paul indirectly teaches us an important principle: a person cannot serve two masters.  Either you can live to please God or live to please people.

Galatians 1:11-12 (NIV)
¹¹  I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up.
¹²  I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

On verses 11-12:  One of the big messages that Paul wants to communicate to the Galatians is that the gospel that Paul preaches is not something that he or some other human being made up, but is God’s supernatural revelation.  The gospel Paul preaches is all about God’s power: how God, not man, originated, and how it’s about God’s power to save us, not our own power.  Starting here and in the verses to follow Paul is going to share his testimony of how he received this gospel that he now preaches.

In the first 12 verses of Galatians, Paul is coming against those who try to find human explanations for God’s work, and human solutions for problems that can only be solved by God.

Father, may I never turn away from the gospel of Jesus Christ, for only You and Your gospel have the power to save us.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!