I have been wanting to go through Galatians for a while, I believe this letter brings great clarity to the fact that Paul’s evangel is indeed different and separate from the evangel proclaimed by Jesus (while He was on earth) and the twelve apostles, the evangel of the kingdom. Scripture is in orange and I am using the Concordant Literal New Testament. I give each chapter in this series a title, as you can see above, because I felt that I needed something other than just the chapter numbers up there.
Gal 1:1-2: "Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, Who rouses Him from among the dead), and all the brethren with me, to the ecclesias of Galatia:"
Paul gets started off with a bang here, he wants to make sure that his readers understand that he was chosen and made an apostle by Jesus Christ and God the Father, not from men or through men. This is a point this letter aims to make abundantly clear, as we will see. I love how this opening statement is a “doctrine of the trinity killer”. It is stated clearly here that God the Father roused Jesus Christ from the dead, Jesus, being a man and not the absolute Diety, was unable to do it himself. He had faith (before He died) in His Father to rouse Him from the dead, as the dead can do nothing.
Gal 1:3-5: "Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gives Himself for our sins, so that He might extricate us out of the present wicked eon, according to the will of our God and Father, to Whom be glory for the eons of the eons. Amen!"
The Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins, and this is part of the evangel (1 Corinthians 15:1-4). Sin has been taken care of and has been put away by Christ’s sacrifice. Christ died for our sakes while we were still sinners, justifying us in His blood (Romans 5:6-9). Through the sacrifice of His Son for all, who were at enmity with Him, God has conciliated us to Himself and proven His love for all (Rom 5:10-11, 2 Cor. 5:18-19). It is from this wonderful foundation Paul (and us) can pronounce grace and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to all. When we come to the knowledge of this, we are extricated from this wicked eon in spirit and mind. This can also refer to Christ snatching away the Body of Christ from the earth when that time comes, but I think the main point of this passage is the elevation of our spirit and mind upon coming to the knowledge of what God through Christ has done on our behalf.
Gal 1:6-9: "I am marveling that thus, swiftly, you are transferred from that which calls you in the grace of Christ, to a different evangel, which is not another, except it be that some who are disturbing you want also to distort the evangel of Christ. But if ever we also, or a messenger out of heaven, should be bringing an evangel to you beside that which we bring to you, let him be anathema! As we have declared before and at present I am saying again, if anyone is bringing you an evangel beside that which you accepted, let him be anathema!"
Paul has zero patience for any different evangels masquerading as the one he taught the Galatians, as they are not evangels at all. He taught them the evangel of Christ and truths briefly covered in verses 3-5. If someone brings an “evangel” that is different than the grace of Christ, or adds to it or takes away from it, it is no evangel at all. Paul insists that if even he or a messenger (angel, celestial being) brought them a different message, that they should be anathema (devoted to destruction). Paul’s evangel in its unadulterated form is important and worthy of defense from the attacks of the adversary which mean to adulterate it.
Gal 1:10-12: "For, at present, am I persuading men or God? Or am I seeking to please men? If I still pleased men, I were not a slave of Christ. For I am making known to you, brethren, as to the evangel which is being brought by me, that it is not in accord with man. For neither did I accept it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ."
The evangel of Paul, revealed to him by the glorified and risen Christ, is not pleasing to man’s flesh. It is not an accomplishment of men in any way, shape or form. It is ALL of God, through Christ. Paul’s evangel is about what God, through Christ, has already accomplished on our behalf. It makes no concessions to give any of the glory to men at all. Men who want to work for God do not like the message of grace. For those given the faith to believe in this grace of God and the knowledge of their inability to please God apart from a work of God delight in this message. Paul again says here that his evangel was given to him by a revelation of Jesus Christ, not from any man, a point which we will return to.
Gal 1:13-14: "For you hear of my behavior once, in Judaism, that I inordinately persecuted the ecclesia of God and ravaged it. And I progressed in Judaism above many contemporaries in my race, being inherently exceedingly more zealous for the traditions of my fathers."
This passage reminds me of Philippians 3:1-11 where Paul tells them about his potential to have confidence in his flesh, by his following of the law and being a Pharisee, being a Hebrew of Hebrews, and being zealous to the point of persecuting the ecclesia. He forfeits all of this because of the superiority of the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Some have said that this passage proves that the body of Christ existed before Paul’s calling to be an apostle because it says he “persecuted the ecclesia of God”. Let us remember that ecclesia simply means “a called out company”, and any group, called out by God, can be called an ecclesia. The Israel of God is an ecclesia, and the body of Christ are an ecclesia, but they are not the same group.
Gal 1:15-17: "Now, when it delights God, Who severs me from my mother's womb and calls me through His grace, to unveil His Son in me that I may be evangelizing Him among the nations, I did not immediately submit it to flesh and blood, neither came I up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I came away into Arabia, and I return again to Damascus."
Like the rest of the body of Christ, Paul was chosen in Christ before the disruption of the world (Eph 1:4-5) and called at the time of his life God designated beforehand (Rom 8:30). This is in contrast to believers in the circumcision evangel who are called, then chosen (Matt 22:14). Again Paul tells them that he did not immediately submit his calling to flesh and blood, nor did he go to the apostles in Jerusalem.
I now want to draw your attention to something neat found here in chapter 1. I will bold and underline what I want to draw your attention to in the next three passages:
Gal 1:1: "Paul, an apostle (not from men, neither through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, Who rouses Him from among the dead),"
Gal 1:11-12: "For I am making known to you, brethren, as to the evangel which is being brought by me, that it is not in accord with man. For neither did I accept it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ."
Gal 1:16-17: "to unveil His Son in me that I may be evangelizing Him among the nations, I did not immediately submit it to flesh and blood, neither came I up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I came away into Arabia, and I return again to Damascus."
Do you see the pattern? Not, neither, and but are repeated three times. I think both God and Paul want us to know that Paul did not get his message from men or any man, but through a direct revelation from the risen and glorified Christ. Peter nor the other apostles could have given the evangel of grace for the nations to Paul, as they did not know it. This is a new message hidden in God and revealed to Paul through Christ. This also shows that the body of Christ is not and could not be proselytes of Israel at any time. I cannot take credit for seeing this pattern in the scriptures, I learned about it from a talk Dan Sheridan gave on this subject, which you can view here. Let’s continue in chapter 1.
Gal 1:18-24: "Thereupon, after three years, I came up to Jerusalem to relate my story to Cephas, and I stay with him fifteen days. Yet I became acquainted with no one different from the apostles, except James, the brother of the Lord. Now what I am writing to you, lo! in God's sight, I say that I am not lying. Thereupon I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Yet I was unknown by face to the ecclesias of Judea which are in Christ. Yet only they were hearing that "He who once was persecuting us, now is evangelizing the faith which once he ravaged." And they glorified God in me."
In verse 17, Paul tells us he went into Arabia, then returned to Damascus. He could have been in Arabia for close to three years, where many believe (myself included) Paul learned directly from the risen Christ. He did not go to Peter (Cephas) to learn about his evangel. If Paul’s evangel were the same as Peter’s, Paul would have gone to learn from him. A direct revelation from Jesus Christ would not have been necessary. Paul wants us to know that he became acquainted with only Peter and James in Judea three years after his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus. He was in Judea 15 days, to relate to Peter about his story. He makes a point to say none of the members ecclesias in Judea saw him; they only heard that he was now evangelizing the faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment