Galatians 1:1-24 (NASB)
Last summer, I preached a sermon on Galatians, which was basically an overview of the entire book. For these next six weeks, I would like to look at this book again, this time, taking it one chapter at a time. Parts of today’s sermon are part of that sermon from last summer, but I hope you will agree with me that hearing more about Galatians is a good thing, and I also hope you’re looking forward to digging deeper.
Today, we are reading the first chapter of Galatians. Verses 1-5 say:
1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through human agency, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.
This is a letter written by Paul to the churches in Galatia. He begins by mentioning that he is an apostle, and not an apostle sent from men or through men, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father. By calling himself an apostle, I think he is stating his authority so they will listen to him, but he’s clarifying that he has not been given a role of authority and leadership by people, but by God.
Why would Paul mention he was not sent by people? Is this simply an extraneous aside, or is he being deliberate in mentioning this fact? I think he’s making a point which will become clear to us as we go further in the letter. He wants them to understand that he’s not writing to them under the direction of a committee. His calling and sending was ordained directly from Jesus Christ.
Today, if someone were to say that they were not sent by a backing denomination or group of believers, we might write that person off as not being legitimate. Usually, people want to know what a person’s credentials or endorsements are before they will listen to them. But the truth is, a person could be appointed by a committee or a denomination and not be appointed by the Lord. Just because people approve of someone doesn’t mean that person is anointed or being led by God. Paul’s experience is that the Lord personally and physically appeared to him and commissioned him to follow Him.
Acts 26:12-18 summarizes what happened to Paul. It says, “While so engaged, as I was journeying to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who were journeying with me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew dialect, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ And I said, ‘Who are You, Lord?’ And the Lord said, ‘I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. But get up and stand on your feet; for this purpose I have appeared to you, to appoint you as a servant and a witness not only to the things in which you have seen Me, but also to the things in which I will appear to you, rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you, to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’
As I’m sure you noticed, Paul was going by his Hebrew name of Saul at this point. He hadn’t started using his Roman name of Paul yet. But this account tells us how the Lord appeared to Paul and told him that He was sending him to the Gentiles so they may receive salvation. It’s important to know this information as we begin Paul’s letter. Paul was commissioned in his task by none other than the Lord Himself, and that is whom he derives his authority to speak from.
Unlike other letters of Paul, this one is not written to one particular church in a city, but rather to all the Christians in Galatia who were being led astray. Also, unlike other letters, Paul does not include a message of thanksgiving for them or their faith, but after his introduction launches straightaway into the purpose of his letter. He gets right to the point. He says in verses 6&7:
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, 7 which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Paul does not yet mention what this different gospel is, but back in verse 4, he includes a statement about Jesus which seems like an aside. This is the first clue as to what this different gospel is about. Paul writes about Jesus saying, “who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” Perhaps, part of the teachings of this different gospel is the idea that Jesus didn’t give Himself willingly, or that His death was not to atone for our sins.
We can’t say for sure if we read only chapter 1, but if we read all of Galatians, we get a pretty clear idea that Paul is making a case for the importance of grace. Therefore, we can deduce that this different gospel is proclaiming something other than grace.
These Christians in Galatia were deserting the true Gospel for a different one. Paul points out to these Christians that they had started off well. They became believers and were following the truth, but now some people have stirred up trouble and have confused their theology. Paul doesn’t mention by name who these people are, and I don’t know whether he doesn’t know their individual names or is simply choosing not to name names, but either way, Paul is not happy about it. These people have been so persuasive that they have succeeded in convincing other believers to adopt their point of view.
Paul wants these believers to stop following this distortion of the gospel because it’s false and it has been disturbing them, as verse 7 says. The Greek word for disturbing, according to Strong’s Concordance, is tarassó, and it means “to stir up, to trouble.” This false other gospel has caused trouble, and he goes on to say emphatically in verses 8 and 9, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!”
The word accursed, according to Strong’s Concordance, is the Greek word anathema, and it means “that which is laid up, i.e. a votive offering.” Another way to say it is, ‘something pledged for destruction.’ Paul says those who are preaching a gospel contrary to God’s word should be anathema to the Church. That is a strong statement.
But certainly, someone who is spreading a false gospel should not be accepted by the Church, and as far as cursing them, neither Paul nor we have to do that, for if they are not following the Gospel of Jesus Christ then they are already cursed, for they are not saved.
When Jesus died on the cross for our sins, becoming the sacrificial lamb offered as a sacrifice for us, He broke the curse of sin. If someone does not believe in Jesus Christ, and does not receive His grace and forgiveness, then that person is still under the curse of sin. As Paul stated, “he is to be accursed” already.
Why would these Galatian Christians want to believe in a theology that distorts the grace of God? I think because it was the popular thing to do. These false teachers must have had a large following, for Paul says in verse 10:
“10 For am I now seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”
There must have been a lot of pressure on these believers to accept this false theology. If they went against it, they were going to lose favor with other people. This is a problem that still plagues believers today, isn’t it? I think there are a lot of distortions of the gospel, and a lot of pressure on people to accept and join in on agreeing with the distortions. The question we should all ask ourselves is the same one Paul asks the Galatian believers: Am I seeking the favor of people, or of God?
It’s worth looking closer at this word favor. I think we all know what it means to have the favor of people. It means people approve of you and esteem you. The best description I’ve read for God’s favor is seen in Psalm 5:12, which says, “For You bless the righteous person, Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.” David’s prayer is worded as a statement, but it is a prayer for God to continue to cover the righteous with favor as with a shield.
If favor is defined as approval, support, or liking for someone or something, how can God cover someone with favor, as with a shield? Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers points out that the Hebrew word for shield in Psalm 5 is tsinnah, and it is a “long large shield fit for a giant, which could protect the whole body.”
David knew he had God’s favor, and that filled him with confidence. The same way Paul is filled with confidence when he says that he is not seeking the favor of people. He knows that God alone is who he is trying to please. I think the same thing should be true of us believers. If we know that God is surrounding us with His favor, or approval, shouldn’t that fill us with confidence? If you believed God approved of you, liked you, and supported you, wouldn’t it feel like He’s clearing a path for you with a giant shield? Imagine feeling as though God was leading the way, protecting you with a giant shield. Wouldn’t that give you confidence?
The truth is, for the believer, we don’t need to imagine this and wish it were true. It is true. If we are in right standing with God, having received forgiveness through Jesus Christ, and are obeying the Lord’s commands, then we, too, are counted among the righteous. We can rejoice, have peace and exult the Lord, confidently trusting in God because we know He is going before us, leading the way.
David prayed for God’s favor to go before him as with a shield. If we have God’s favor, we do not need other people’s favor. He may cause other people to give us favor, but if we don’t receive it, we can have confidence knowing we have God’s approval. Paul knew this to be true, too. He is not afraid of offending anybody or losing favor with people. He knows that he was called by the Lord to be an Apostle and his authority comes from God. He stands in that favor and that is all he needs in order to go forward and speak the truth. He is so confident that God is with him that he continues by saying, in verses 11 and 12:
“11 For I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is not of human invention. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
This is why he is confident. He is not counting on his own wisdom or ideas; he is relying on the Gospel given to him by Jesus. We would be wise to stop and consider what wisdom and ideas we are counting on. Have we adopted any distorted gospels in order to gain favor from people? Are we believing false ideas in order to fit in with our culture? Or are we looking to the Word of God to form our understanding of the Gospel? Paul says that what he believes, he received directly from Jesus. Then he gives his testimony. He says in verses 13 through 24:
“13 For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it; 14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. 15 But when He who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace was pleased 16 to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.
18 Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 But I did not see another one of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which are in Christ; 23 but they only kept hearing, ‘The man who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.’ 24 And they were glorifying God because of me.”
This is why he is not concerned with gaining other people’s favor or approval. He has encountered Jesus Christ, and his testimony is that once upon a time he persecuted believers in the true Gospel, but now he is preaching the very gospel he formerly tried to destroy. This is his testimony, and it is very powerful. Not many of us have testimonies as incredible as Paul’s, but every believer in Christ has a testimony. If we have been born again, then we all have a testimony of the power of God working in our lives. And if you are so blessed to have followed Jesus your whole life, then you have the most powerful testimony of all. You can testify that Proverbs 22:6, which says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he grows older he will not abandon it” is true. You are a testimony to the goal of Christianity, which is that all people would grow up knowing and following Jesus their whole lives, for isn’t that our goal as Christians? That all people would follow Jesus their entire lives? Think of all the pain and hurt that would be avoided if that became the norm in the world. That is a testimony worth celebrating.
We also should all have testimonies of how God is working in our lives each day. Just because someone is a Christian from childhood does not mean that they do not have sins to overcome. Every time we conquer sin through the power of God, that becomes a testimony of His grace in our lives. Our testimonies do not end at salvation. That is how all of us believers have testimonies to share.
In other ways, we all are no different from Paul, too, even though he encountered Jesus directly. For in order to be born again, we must have encountered the Lord, just as Paul did. And just like Paul, the Lord has given all of us believers a message to share. We, too, have received a commission from the Lord. We all are sent to share the Gospel. We do not need a committee or group of people commissioning us, for the Word of God commission all believers. Matthew 28:18-20 says, “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to follow all that I commanded you; and behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’”
I can’t help but think if Paul was going to write a letter to the Christians in America today, he would say much the same things as he does in this chapter. He would say that he’s amazed, meaning he’s shocked, that so many Christians have deserted the grace of Christ for a different gospel. And it’s not just another way of interpreting scripture or denominational differences, but a total distortion of the gospel of Christ. This has happened to so many people who claim to follow Christianity.
Verse 6 says it directly when Paul writes, “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel.” The Christians in Galatia were deserting Jesus because they were abandoning grace for works. And truly, so many versions of Christianity today operate without mention of Jesus dying on the cross. They have completely deserted Jesus for a different gospel.
When we read or listen to a teaching from whomever it might be: a pastor, a theologian, a bible study leader, your Christian friend, a random blog on the internet, we should evaluate the teaching or advice through a careful lens. The lens should be this: is this message pointing us to the cross? Is this teaching about Christianity lining up with Jesus’ purpose in dying on the cross?
Different gospels bombard us every day in our modern world. These false gospels cause trouble and lead people astray, away from Jesus Christ. We must be careful that we are not falling into the same trap that the Christians in Galatia fell into. Popular thought has constructed new gospels that tell us sin is okay, everything is relative, feelings matter more than truth, there are no absolutes and God’s word is merely an analogous story. None of these false gospels are the true gospel of Jesus Christ, for none of them proclaim the reason that Jesus died on the cross.
Let us not be deceived. Let us cling to the cross, and let us faithfully read God's Word. The unalterable, unchanging, solid rule is this: It is only through the grace of Jesus that we are saved. It is exactly as Paul started his letter to the Galatians. Let us read it again: Jesus gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.
Praise be to Jesus, the giver of grace. Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to help us follow Him, holding to this Gospel of grace, not being troubled by other false gospels. Let us hold fast to the gospel we have and not exchange it for another.
Pray: Lord Jesus, we thank You for giving Yourself for our sins by dying on the cross. Thank You for rescuing us from the bondage of sin. We pray that by Your Holy Spirit, You would help us follow You. Help us hold on to Your Gospel of grace. Please give us wisdom to discern false gospels and reject them. In Your name we pray, amen.