It’s very common in Christian circles to assume that “the gospel” is a set of basic "ABC" teachings that are the way in which someone enters the kingdom of God. But in this short letter, Paul outlines the bombshell truth that the gospel is the A to Z of the Christian life. It’s not only the way to enter the kingdom (the “A”); it’s the way to live as part of the kingdom (“B” through “Z”). The gospel changes life from top to bottom. The gospel transforms our hearts. The gospel transforms our thinking. The gospel transforms our approach to absolutely everything.
Paul challenges us with the truth that those who’ve been followers of Jesus for quite a while need the gospel every bit as much as new followers. Paul will explain to us that the gospel—the message that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope—creates a radical new dynamic for personal growth, for obedience, for love. As I've said, the gospel is dynamite, and I pray that it explodes in your heart, and makes you passionate to see it do the same work in others’ hearts.
It’s helpful to recognize three things from the historical setting of Paul’s letter to the Galatians which will help us understand it:
First, the Apostle Paul’s task was starting new Christ-communities. After he began one of these communities and then left that region, he continued to supervise these communities through letters. Galatians is customarily dated around 54 C.E. It’s the only one of Paul’s seven genuine letters to be addressed to a group of communities rather than to a single community or individual; it is sent to the “churches of Galatia.”
Those in the Christ-communities in Galatia were primarily non-Jews, nearly all of them “God-lovers” who had been attracted to Judaism and now were attracted to Paul's message. In other words, their background made Paul’s converts in Galatia vulnerable to being misled.
Bear in mind, first of all, that Paul’s converts in Galatia weren’t being tempted by non-Christian teachers. Rather, these teachers were followers of Jesus! This was a major issue within early Christianity. The first followers of Jesus in Jerusalem were Jewish, but as the gospel spread out from that center, increasing numbers of non-Jews began to receive Christ. After Paul left Galatia, other teachers had told the Galatians that non-Jewish men had to be circumcised and both women and men had to follow Jewish food laws. For them, it seemed obvious that what Jesus began was a movement within Judaism and that non-Jews needed to become Jews. That included circumcision. They also taught that non-Jews needed to observe kosher dietary laws in order to be completely pleasing to God. These teachers meant well. I think they were only adding what they considered to be important customs and practices to somehow enhance the gospel. You might say they were offering a “new and improved” version of the gospel.
By insisting on Christ-plus-something-else, i.e. Christ plus observance of the Jewish law as a requirement for full acceptance by God, these teachers were presenting a whole different way of relating to God from the one Paul had given them. Although this controversy might seem pretty irrelevant to us today, some of us also practice a Christ-plus-something-else gospel. For some of us, it might be Christ-plus-living better, trying harder, or making more of ourselves—whatever our own pet God-project or concern might be. But for Paul, this Christ-plus-something-else gospel simply would not do!
Paul addressed it with an all-abiding, all-important, always-relevant truth. He taught that the cultural divisions and disunity in the Galatian Christ-communities were due to confusion about the nature of the gospel. It is this different gospel that was creating the cultural division and strife. Paul forcefully and unapologetically fought the “different gospel” because to lose one’s grip of the true gospel is to desert Christ himself (1:6). Therefore, Paul believed everything was at stake in this debate.
Perhaps the most striking aspect of the opening of Galatians is Paul’s tone, and the frame of mind that lies behind it. Paul is surprised and he also seems angry. Paul shows his most unattractive side. His language is remarkably strong. He sounds like he has a chip on his shoulder. Where normally Paul’s letters move on, after his greeting, to a thanksgiving for those he’s writing to, here he simply says: “I am astonished …” (verse 6a). What has made Paul so angry?
First, Paul is angry because these followers of Jesus are taking hold of a gospel that isn’t really a gospel (v 7), so they are in enormous danger. They are in “confusion” (v 7b).
Second, Paul is enraged at those who are misleading the converts of the Christ-community—those who are “trying to pervert the gospel” (v. 7b). Paul calls down condemnation on them (v. 9). More indirectly, Paul is also angry at the Galatians themselves, warning them that they are deserting the God who called them (v. 6b)--a serious charge!
We’ll see as we walk through portions of Paul’s letter that what caused his angry outburst was a group of teachers who were teaching new non-Jewish followers of Jesus that they were obliged to keep the Jewish cultural customs of the law—the dietary laws, circumcision and the rest of the ceremonial law—in order to be truly pleasing to God. To the Galatians, this didn’t appear to be a radical difference from what they’d been taught. Surely the whole point of being a follower of Jesus is to be pleasing to God! But Paul says: “This is an absolute repudiation of everything I’ve been telling you.”
Paul isn’t pulling any punches! But if we put ourselves in Paul’s shoes and believe what he believed about the gospel, then we will find his attitude justifiable. If the Galatians are really turning their backs on God and taking hold of a gospel that isn’t a gospel at all, then their condition is dangerous.
But who is Paul to write to these people in this way? He’s an “apostle”—a person who has been sent with immediate divine authority. The Greek word apostolos means “sent one” and refers to someone commissioned for a particular task. Paul’s phrase “not of human origin” drives home the uniqueness of Paul and the first apostles. Of course those who are called to ministry by the Holy Spirit today are not “of human origin” either—the ultimate cause of their ministry is Jesus’ call, and the ultimate authority for their ministry is the witness to Christ in Scripture. But they are appointed by human authority. This means that though ministers ultimately receive their call from God, they are called through the intermediaries of other human ministers, by the approval of a denomination, through the election of a congregation, etc.
Paul is claiming a whole lot more than this. He says in vv. 11-12:
“For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”Paul is saying here that he didn’t receive his apostolic commission through anyone human source at all. No apostles taught him. No church commissioned him. He was commissioned and taught directly by the risen Jesus himself.
Second, in verses 8-9, Paul says he was sent with a particular divine message—the gospel—and he gets more dogmatic about it than most modern congregations would put up with from any preacher, regardless of how important or eloquent she might be. Paul writes:
… even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed! As we have said before, so now I repeat, if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to what you received, let that one be accursed!Wow! This means Paul claims his teaching is the standard for judging who is right and who is wrong. What Paul says is not the result of study, research, reflection and wisdom. It is God-given and both unchanging and unchangeable.
This dogmatic and divinely-appointed Apostle reminds the Galatian Christ-communities of his message—the gospel, the only gospel. Then he gives them a quick, yet comprehensive, outline of the gospel message:
Who we are: helpless and lost! That’s what the word “rescue” implies in verse 4. Other founders of religions came to teach, not to rescue. Jesus was a great teacher, but when Paul gives us this nutshell version of Jesus’ ministry, he makes no mention of that at all. The average person on the street believes that a “Christian” is someone who follows Christ’s teaching and example. But Paul implies that’s impossible. After all, you don’t rescue people unless they are in a lost state and a helpless condition! This is what theologians call “total depravity” or, more accurately, “spiritual inability”.
What Jesus did: How did Jesus rescue us? Jesus “gave himself for our sins” (v 4a). By adding “for our sins” Paul indicates clearly that he was thinking in sacrificial terms. In an age when sacrifice was almost universal as a means of retaining the goodwill and blessing of the gods such overtones would not have been missed. The word “for” means “on behalf of” or “in place of.” Christ’s death was represented as not just a general sacrifice, but a substitutionary one. He didn’t merely buy us a “second chance”, giving us another opportunity to get life right and stay right with God. He did all we needed to do, but cannot do. Symbolically, Jesus did all we should have done, in our place, so when he becomes our Savior, we are absolutely free from penalty or condemnation.
What God did: God accepted the work of Christ on our behalf by raising him “from the dead” (v. 1) and by giving us the “grace and peace” (v. 3) that Jesus Christ won and achieved for us.
Why God did it: because God wanted to. This was all done “according to the will of our God and Father” (v 4d). God graciously planned what we didn’t realize we needed, and Christ by his grace (v. 6) came to achieve what we could never have achieved ourselves. There is no indication of any other motivation or cause for Christ’s mission except the will of God. There is nothing in us which merits it. Salvation is sheer grace alone.
If we contributed to our rescue … if we had rescued ourselves … or if God had seen something deserving of rescue, or useful for God’s plan, in us … or even if we had simply called out for rescue based on our own reasoning and understanding … then we could pat ourselves on the back for the part we played in saving ourselves.
But the gospel—Paul’s gospel—is clear; salvation, from first to last, is God’s doing. It is God’s calling, God’s plan, God’s action, and God’s work. This is the truth that lies at the heart of our faith. Paul reminds us that in the gospel we are brought far lower and raised much higher than we can imagine. I like what Jerry Bridges has said:
“Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”
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