A Reunion and Reflections

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Okay, let’s first go to the board.

Galatians Introduction 1.1-4

Before we get into this fantastic, complex, beautiful letter Paul wrote to the churches at Galatia, I want to take a moment of your time and paint a picture – several pictures actually. I want you to imagine that you have a group of people who you care a great deal about – let’s say that they were all close friends from High school. You really got on well with them but when High school ended so did your close associations and it wasn’t until your tenth high school reunion that you all came together again as the old gang. Suppose that there are five in the gang total.

Well before the high school reunion you all decide to get together at the burger joint you once haunted (which is now a burger and beer joint) and you sit down and learn about each-others life since high school. Alex has been married to his high school sweetheart but is in the middle of a divorce (everyone at the table knew it would never last). Bill got addicted to heroin and is living on the street. Cindy is a successful business woman who lives in great luxury but has a disabled son and finds no real fulfillment in life despite her economic viability, and Dirk, a local realtor is functioning in life but searching for something. Then there is you, who came to know the truth of Jesus Christ in college and has experienced the liberty and love He provides all who receive Him by faith.

A Year of Changes and Challenges

Suppose you all get to talking at the burger joint – so much so that you all decide to skip the reunion and just talk. And you are really lead during the conversation to share, when asked, about your life and walk. And you share it. And the holy Spirit is present in abundance, and every one of your four close friends comes to see, and hear and believe, and receive Christ as their Lord and Savior. I mean, real conversions. The night ends, and you all go your separate ways, but you commit to each other that you will reunite one year from that date at the burger and beer shack to catch up.

Of course, you communicate through social media and the rest, and through those communications you learn that all of your friends have gotten “connected” in a local church and are apparently growing in the Lord. For quite some time the exchanges of new life in Jesus are rampant among all your friends. But soon these comments are getting replaced with comments like: “It is sooo important to lives lives of holiness.” AND “Jesus wants His followers to be healthy and to treat their temple with respect.” AND “Wasn’t the Sabbath established before the law and therefore applicable to all?” AND “Paul made it clear – do not associate with sinners.”

An Unforeseen Reunion

Suppose a year passes and the reunion is set and all meet up and hug and greet each other in Jesus name, which is a real relief to you. And everyone really looks great! There is light in their eyes and they appear to have really embraced the Christian life. The waiter approaches and offers everyone a special on buffalo burgers but Alex refuses with prejudice. Catching himself he awkwardly explains that his pastor teaches that true believers should avoid eating red meat whenever possible. “Hmmmm,” you think to yourself, but let it pass.

Of course, the beer pitchers come next and Bill, who joined the Mormon Church because his new wife was a faithful member, explains he not only kicked heroin (through Jesus) but he later found the Mormon Church and has learned all about health codes for real Christian living. You hold your tongue. Cindy keeps looking at her watch and when asked if she has somewhere to be she explains that shabbat has begun for her (as a Messianic Christian) and she really needs to get going, and Dirk adds that he should be going to because it really is frowned on in his church for him to hang out with people who do not believe as he does . . . and thanking everyone kindly, excuses himself and walks out the door.

Before any of it goes down, you try to take them back to the night a year before, how they realized that they were sinners, and that God so loved the world he sent His Son, who, without sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace., died for all, and that by grace we are all saved. But all four of your dear friends

Paul's Epistle to the Galatians

have decided that this was not enough. There had to be more. . . more rules, more rites, more rituals, more holiness so that Jesus would really save them.

(Long beat)

I’m sure since we are starting our study of a new book of scripture today, Paul’s Epistle to the churches at Galatia, that there is a connection to my little story and the contents of this epistle. Its more than a connection, it is EXACTLY what the apostle Paul faced with the members of the churches he established in that part of Asia Minor. And the entire letter is aimed at exposing how far off his friends have drifted in a very short period of time. It is truly an inspired letter and one which every Christian seeking to understand what it means to have received the Good News and to then walk in that should consider.

Geographic Context of Galatia

To start off, let's look at the board to cover a few basics of geology – something I am really lacking in as a man and teacher – partly because of two lacks on my part – a lack of interest and a lack of intelligence for most things geographical. So here is a rudimentary view of the area known as Galatia here in the apostolic record. Just to let you know, Galatia sat where today's “Ankara” sits in Turkey. It was one of the largest provinces of Asia Minor, and covered a land area about the size of New Jersey.

Cultural Background of Galatia

The name Galatia is derived from the word “Gaul,” who were the Kelts and interestingly enough, the description of them physically (and described by a fourth-century Roman Historian Ammianus Marcellinus) fits that bill: he wrote: Almost all Gauls are tall and fair-skinned, with reddish hair. Their savage eyes make them fearful objects; they are eager to quarrel and excessively truculent. When, in the course of a dispute, any of them calls in his wife, a creature with gleaming eyes much stronger than her husband, they are more than a match for a whole group of foreigners; especially when the woman, with swollen neck and gnashing teeth, swings her great white arms and begins to deliver a rain of punches mixed with kicks, like missiles launched by the twisted strings of a catapult. Other historical reports depict them as almost always “nearly naked.” Essentially folks, we are talking the people of Braveheart about 1200 years earlier and . . . nearly naked. Justin also says, "they filled all Asia (i.e. all Asia Minor) like swarms of bees. They became so numerous that no kings of the east could engage in war without an army of Gaul’s. Bottom line, the Gaul’s were an object of terror to most of that region.

In terms of worship, the inhabitants of Galatia for hundreds of years before Paul ever got there were heathens or pagans who worshipped "the mother of the gods," whose name was Agdistis. According to their lore she was a hermaphrodite deity born when the Earth-Mother was accidentally impregnated by the sleeping Sky-God. The other gods, who were afraid of the strange double-gendered being, castrated it and created the female goddess Kai-belle). The Kelts worshipped her in orgiastic fashion. Interestingly, historians of that age (namely Callimachus and Hillary) often referred to the Gaul’s as a foolish people. This is a term Paul will use to describe them as well, perhaps being familiar with the historians' view of them. Additionally, but not that it really matters to us, the three main tribes of Kelts that made up Galatia were the Nations called Tolistobogi, the Trocmi, and the Tectosagi.

The Spread of Christianity in Galatia

There is debate on who preached to the people of Galatia first – Peter, Paul or Barnabas, but from our text, it seems that Paul was the man. One of the major reasons for this view is the tone of Paul’s letter. When he wrote to the church at Rome Paul was polite and instructive but when he wrote to both Corinth and Galatia, he spoke to them as the father of their faith. In terms of when the Gospel was actually taken to the churches at Galatia, there is no information but we do have mention of Paul preaching there more than once as Acts 16:5-6, says that they went "throughout Phrygia and the region Of Galatia." Now, in terms of the dating of this epistle, we are not sure. But what we can be pretty sure of is that it was written before 65 AD.

Background of the Epistle to the Galatians

The churches at Galatia included Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. This epistle was written to them all. And from the contents, we can see a few general factors: That the believers there had initially been devotedly attached to the apostle Paul. They had received his teachings and instructions in the past. Galatians 4:14-15 and 1:6 support this.

(2) That they had been perverted from the doctrine which he taught them soon after he had left them, Galatians 1:6.

(3) That this perverting appears to have been done by a person (or persons) who were of Jewish origin, and we can say this because they appear to have insisted on the observance of the rites of the Jewish religion—and none but a Jew would probably do that.

(4) It also appears that those who were misleading them claimed, at least, to have come directly from Jerusalem, and claimed to have derived their views and their authority to spout them from the apostles there.

(5) It also seems that somewhere along the line, the believers in Galatia had been told that the apostle Paul was inferior to the apostles in Jerusalem; that he was lesser due to his exposure to Jesus' life and ways, and that the apostles at Jerusalem should be regarded as the source of authority in the Christian church.

(6) Along this line, they then believed that the laws of Moses were binding and, in fact, necessary in order to receive justification before God. This was especially true of the rite of circumcision, as it had a binding obligation, and some of them were demanding it of Christians there and had also demanded that they participate in other celebrations and holy days observed by the Jews.

(7) It also seems (according to Galatians 5:11) that they believed Paul had even changed his views on circumcision, and they may have believed this because when he was in Jerusalem, he had complied with some of the customs of the Jewish ritual.

(8) They also appear to have looked to Abraham, and Paul will do the same as a means to offset their misinterpretations regarding him.

(9) Then finally, as a result of all of this, there were some real issues of division among the believers there.

We don’t know how Paul was apprized of the situation there, but he was, and this short epistle (it's only six chapters long), he gets right into the mix.

Paul's Apostolic Authority

Like it was to the believers at Corinth, Paul and his authority as an apostle was under attack in Galatia. So the first objective he hits is to prove that he had received his commission as an apostle directly from God. That is the main design of our first chapter in the letter to the churches at Galatia.

Reading Galatians Chapter 1

So let’s read the whole chapter and then take it verse by verseTGNN’s Bible teaching series—book-by-book, through the lens of fulfillment and spiritual liberty. and see how far we get.

Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) 2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 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: 5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that

Paul's Apostolic Authority

Ye have received, let him be accursed.

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, 16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.

20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. 21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; 22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ: heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. 24 And they glorified God in me.

Paul's Apostolic Calling

Alright then, back to verse one – let’s read and understand.

1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

Over and over again the book of Acts (9:6; 22:10,15,21) Luke writes the history of Paul being called by Christ to the Ministry. We note here that instead of the customary order in which Father, Son and Holy Spirit are listed, Paul places Jesus name first, again saying: Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

I suggest that Paul mentions Jesus Christ first here because all things have been placed in Jesus hands, including His Church-Bride which he oversaw and governed. Additionally, it was always Jesus who appeared and spoke and trained Paul – this is his own admission. He never says that God the Father appeared to him or taught him. But Paul does add: “but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” In doing this Paul presents us with a really simple hierarchy – Jesus was the one who called him and sent him forth, but so did “God the Father WHO was the one RAISED Jesus of Nazareth from the dead.”

The Source of Paul's Authority

Now, this is the usual form in which Paul enters his epistles but it was especially important here because Paul and his apostleship and authority appear to be a question in the mind of these believers whom Paul brought to the truth. I am an apostle, called of Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead . . . READY

NOT of men. In other words, he did not come out from a body of men nor was he commissioned by men, or their orders or groups. As we know the word apostle means sent; and Paul seems to say, that he was not sent to execute any purpose of men, nor did he come forth with their approbation and will. Like Jesus Himself, Paul’s call was a higher call than a deputy of the law, or a judge over an area of the court, or a religious leader educated by their institutions and degreed sent forth to represent them to the world.

Not Paul. Not John the Baptist. Not the other apostles. Not the prophets. Not Jesus Himself. He had a calling of God, and he had been sent directly by His Son to whom all things had been given. When he says, not of men, he seems to be speaking specifically of the men at Jerusalem called Jesus original eleven. And as much as he looked to them as brothers in the Lord and on the same cause of Christ, he will soon explain that he was not authorized by that group and in

Paul's Apostolic Authority

fact barely touched base with them when he embarked on his ministry. In all probability, this was a criticism against Paul launched by these enemies who wanted Him to support the Law in the lives of Christians. In all probability the Christian Jews in Jerusalem clung somehow or at least observed at times elements of the law – temple, sabbath day perhaps, what they ate and more than anything circumcision, and when they got involved with the believers at Galatia or Corinth, they tried to reinstate these things into their lives. Again, this whole letter by Paul is to tell them how off this approach is.

But first he had to establish that he was an apostle of a higher authority. So he says I am not an apostle by MEN. Then he adds: “Neither by man.” In other word, "No individual came and assigned me or sent me forth.” Not a body or group of men were behind me being sent forth neither was any individual man. But by Jesus Christ.

Excuse the personal reference but when I came to Utah at the end of 2005 I came after having written BAM and had an invitation to be on a television program. I was lead to start the ministry by God through Christ by the Holy Spirit and was not called nor under the authority of anyone when I got here. I tried to engage with other pastors, traveled up and down the entire Wasatch mountains holding breakfasts and introducing myself and the ministry. I received two bits of response overall from the pastors I met: I needed to be under authority – their authority – I needed to be accountable to them, or We want nothing to do with you. (and that is a direct quote) I was certainly a greenhorn but I also knew that God was with and in me and that the only thing men and man would bring to me was what men and man bring – their thoughts, their fears, their demands.

Human Authority vs. Divine Calling

Interestingly enough, one of the most ardent pastors who when we got to his area and took his entire team to lunch to introduce ourselves, at the end of the lunch called me out, telling me that I had no right to come to this state and engage with the people herein WITHOUT the endorsement of the pastors in the state and that I should have come to them first and consulted with them on how to do our show and ministry. That pastor has since left the ministry, and his wife and family for his male lover. Men and men are men. But when God calls, in this age of His New Testament where He writes his laws on the hearts and minds of individuals, we all have the right to move forward as Paul when Jesus calls and sends us forth.

Just understand, with that liberty also comes the accountability TO Jesus for the things you do in His name. So Paul says that he came not by men or man, “But by Jesus Christ.” That is, directly by Christ. He had been called by him, and commissioned by him, and sent by him, to engage in the work of the gospel. And God the Father who raised him from the dead.

2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

It is very common for Paul when writing to include the brethren which were with him in ministry as if they were writing with him. He does it all through 1st and 2nd Corinthians. It was almost like he was saying that behind his every word stood the brethren who traveled with him . . “Unto the churches of Galatia.”

The Churches of Galatia

Now, we aren’t really sure on how many church gathering there were in Galatia. There were several cities in Galatia, and we know from Acts that there were churches in some of the larger cities as I mentioned when we started but remember that the term church in the Greek (ecklasia) simply means, an assembly and or the called out, and since they met in houses there could have been dozens. It’s probable that a church had been established in most of the major cities not to mention country assemblies. What we do know is the epistle is directed to them in common. And to the standard salutation

3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, Again, I must point out the wording Paul chooses to us his salutations – and he

Grace and Distinction

But he says:

3 Grace be to you and peace from “God the Father,” and from “our Lord Jesus Christ,” all the time. Over and over again. “God . . . the Father AND “our Lord . . . Jesus Christ.” This is NOT to suggest that the Fullness of God the Father was not in Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But Paul clearly and constantly makes this distinction. Simultaneously, Paul omits mentioning IN EVERY SINGLE salutation of his Epistles the Holy Spirit, who, according to Trinitarians, is the third person of the Co-Eternal-Co-Equal three in one God. This does not seem like something Paul would do IF the creedal creation of God as three persons in one God held water.

Verse 4, and speaking of our Lord, Savior and King Jesus Christ, Paul adds

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: Why would Paul introduce this fact so early in this epistle? Remember, the argument he is facing is one of the Law and its ways being reintroduced to the faith. And I suggest that he is right off the bat reminding them, as if they were the four friends sitting at the burger and beer bar, that Jesus is the one who gave himself for the sins of the world so that we can be delivered from its grasp . . . That our righteousness does not come by or through outward observances, not through rituals, not through the obedience to days and seasons or cutting off of flesh, but that the Lord Jesus Christ “gave HIMSELF for our sins, THAT HE might deliver us from this present evil world . . .

These believers were being told to go backward and to embrace the ways of the former covenant, the old Testament. But Paul new what was written even therein, like in

The New Testament and New Creation

Isaiah 65:17 where God says: For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. That this new testament was entirely possible BECAUSE of what Christ had done, replacing and substituting once and for all, ALL the sacrificial animals of the Old, as He said in Matthew 26:28 “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” As Paul had written in

Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. He knew the importance of faith and grace and hope and love . . . and the detrimental effects of somehow thinking that Jesus and His works were NOT enough.

These Galatians were embracing doctrines that tended to obscure it – even to make it void. They had been led into error by the Judaizing teachers, who held that it was necessary to be circumcised, perhaps to even conform to the whole Jewish ritual of the former covenant – and they weren’t even Jewish! This, they seem to believe, would JUSTIFY them before God.

Deliverance and Justification

Paul, therefore, wished to make this prominent and to never be forgotten – Christ gave himself for their sins, that he might deliver them from all the bad influences of this world, and from all the false systems of religion this world creates and promotes. The New Covenant is what Paul will plainly lay bare in this epistle and he will do it in contrast to the former – the Law – and what it produces in all people – even those tall, wild, redhaired warriors – who somehow thought cutting off the end of their man-units would justify them before their maker.

We note in closing that Paul explains WHY Christ Jesus did this too, by the way: “That he might deliver us from this present evil world.” Many read this from the King James and believe that it speaks of deliverance from this present evil world – as in the carnal world of darkness and sin. And there certainly is application to this in our day and age as we escape from the clutches of this world and its ways in and through the Spirit of Christ that makes us citizens of a heavenly kingdom. But we also note that faith in Jesus, love for Jesus, and devotion to Jesus does NOT completely deliver us from this present evil world. We are still in it – as Christians – we still suffer pain, we still suffer loss, we still experience deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. and its sadness. So

Deliverance from the Present Evil Age

Does Jesus deliver us from this present evil world entirely? He does not.

But when we look at the word of Paul, to them, then . . . and we look at what he really said to them/then, we get another idea of what he was saying:

Paul's Teachings on Deliverance

The best translation of this passage is: “Who did give himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of the present evil age, according to the will of God even our Father.” That present evil age was the former age of Law, which was the former age of sin, which was the age of death. And He promised to actually come back and deliver (the word means pluck from) that group FROM that age. Going back to the ways of the former age would ensure that they would not be plucked . . . and Paul is going to do everything he possibly can to make sure the believers at Corinth did not fall for what they were being fed.

Conclusion

We note that Paul ends verse 4 with: “According to the will of God, even our Father.” We will stop here.

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