Galatians 1:1-5

Teacher: Rusty Kennedy
Series: Galatians (Acts)

Rusty's Notes

Peter Visits Antioch

• Peter pays the church in Syrian Antioch a visit.
• While he is there, he enjoys table-fellowship with the Gentile believers. When the church in Jerusalem discovers that Peter is eating with Gentiles, some of the circumcision party in Jerusalem head to Antioch to visit Peter. The circumcision party arrives in Antioch with approval letters from James (the Lord’s half-brother). The members of the circumcision party are legalists. They are Judaizers—outrageously zealous to keep the Jewish customs and the Law of Moses and to persuade others to do the same.
• When they arrive in Antioch, Paul is not present.
• The Judaizers persuade Peter to no longer enjoy table-fellowship with his Gentile brethren. They tell Peter the following: “We in Jerusalem have heard that you are habitually having table-fellowship with Gentiles. This is causing a huge scandal to our more conservative brethren in the church. It is also becoming common knowledge outside the church, and it is seriously hindering our attempts to evangelize our fellow Jews. More seriously, your actions are putting the other apostles in Jerusalem in danger, since the militant Jews in Jerusalem view any fraternization with Gentiles to be the conduct of traitors.”
• Fearful of offending his brethren in Jerusalem, Peter begins to eat exclusively with the Jews. The rest of the Jews in Antioch follow suit.
• Even Barnabas, who had originally come to Antioch from Jerusalem, stops eating with the Gentiles.
• When Paul returns and takes note of the situation, he is angered and publicly rebukes Peter for his hypocrisy.

 
The Judaizers Visit Galatia

• Peter returns to Jerusalem and shares the incident with some in the church. He also gives the church a report on the new Gentile churches that Paul and Barnabas have planted in South Galatia.
• Upon hearing this, some of the Judaizers in Jerusalem head out to Galatia and visit all four churches that Paul and Barnabas planted.
• The Judaizers are headed up by one unnamed man.
• Galatians 5:7-10 - You were running well. Who prevented you from being persuaded regarding the truth? 8 This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. 9 A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough. 10 I myself am persuaded in the Lord you will not accept any other view. But whoever it is that is confusing you will pay the penalty.[1]
• Paul will later refer to this man as his “thorn in the flesh.” On three separate occasions, Paul will ask God to remove this “thorn” from his life. The Lord will respond by saying, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.” That is, the Lord chooses not to remove the thorn from Paul’s life, but He will deliver Paul through all the suffering that it will bring him. The thorn—this unnamed Judaizer who will seek to destroy Paul’s work—is given to Paul to keep him humble amid the glorious revelation of Christ that he has received.
• When the Judaizers arrive in South Galatia, they introduce themselves as brothers from the Jerusalem church.
• They tell the new converts in Galatia the following:
• 1) Jerusalem is the center of God’s work on earth. The twelve apostles are the only authority for what the true gospel is, and they were commissioned by Christ Himself.
• 2) Paul did not come from Jerusalem, and he was not commissioned by Christ. Paul visited Jerusalem shortly after his conversion and spent some time with the apostles there. The apostles instructed him in the basic principles of the gospel and authorized him to preach the gospel he had learned from them. But when he left Jerusalem and returned to Cilicia, Paul modified his gospel to make it more acceptable to Gentiles.
• 3) Paul’s gospel is deficient. The Jerusalem leaders believe in the God-given practice of circumcision and observing the Law and the traditions. These are the “hard” parts of the gospel. Because Paul is a man-pleaser, he is preaching a gospel that omits these parts. This Law-free gospel that he proclaims is not supported by the apostles or the Jerusalem church. Believing in Jesus coupled with obeying the Law of Moses justifies and sanctifies a man before God.
• 4) Peter is the chief apostle among the Twelve. Paul had the arrogance to rebuke the apostle Peter to his face! This proves that Paul is a freelancer who is engaging in an independent work apart from the ministry of the Twelve.
• 5) Paul is inconsistent in his views. While he does not preach circumcision to the Gentiles, he preaches it to the Jews. Paul is a trimmer. He adapts his gospel to his environment.
• When the Judaizers leave, the Galatian converts are troubled and confused. Some of them depart from the gospel that Paul gave them and seek to be justified by the Law.
• Some in the church write a letter to Paul asking him why he failed to tell them the “whole gospel,” which includes circumcision.
• Paul, who is still in Antioch, Syria, receives the letter from the Galatian churches. The news from Galatia both angers and perplexes him.

 
PAUL WRITES GALATIANS
Year: A.D. 49
From: Antioch of Syria
To: The churches in South Galatia: Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe (these churches are between 1-2 years old)
Provocation: This is the first piece of Christian literature ever penned.

• The letter is a monumental statement against legalism. Paul answers every argument that the Judaizers used to persuade the Galatians into following the Law of Moses.
• Galatians is the Magna Carta of the Christian faith.
• Justification and sanctification are by grace through faith and not by the works of the Law.
• In this letter, Paul will connect with the Phrygian slaves who populate the Galatian churches. He will use the word “slave” (or its derivative) a total of sixteen times. Many of his metaphors contrast with freedom: “bondage,” “confinement,” “custodianship,” “minor child,” and “slavery.”
• Further, Paul will remind the Galatians that they are free from all Law and are holy in Christ without blemish in His sight.
• In Paul’s zeal to preserve the Law-free gospel of Jesus Christ, he writes this letter using bitter metaphors and scathing indictments against the Judaizers. (Example: Paul describes circumcision as being “severed” from Christ and adds his wish that those who insist on circumcision “mutilate” themselves!)
• It is evident that Paul is angry when writing this letter, for he omits the thanksgiving prayer that marks all of his other letters.
• Paul is confident that the Galatians will receive the letter and “adopt no other view.”

 
Sharpening the Focus:

• Most letters are written on sheets of papyrus. (Those who are too poor to afford papyrus write on broken pieces of pottery called ostraca.) Papyrus is a light and tough material made from the stalks of the papyrus plant woven and pressed together. A normal sheet is about the same size as a standard sheet of American paper.
• For longer documents, the papyrus sheets are glued side-by-side on a stick to form a roll (also called a scroll). Once the scroll has been written upon, it is rolled up and tied with pieces of thread. One roll is called a volume (from the Latin volumen, “something rolled up”) and is typically 35 feet long. (Authors write to fit volumes. Luke will produce a two-volume work called Luke-Acts.)
• Important documents are normally sealed with hot wax on top of the threads. Then a seal is placed on the scroll to reserve its contents for its proper recipient.
• Parchment is also used for letter writing (see 2 Timothy 4:13). Parchment is made from animal skins and is more expensive than papyrus.
• While most or all of the New Testament authors will use scrolls, a few of them may use codices (plural for codex, a book with pages bound together in the modern style).
• Writers use a reed pen and black ink that is made of soot, gum, and water. Words are usually written in all capital (uncial) letters.
• Word divisions, punctuation marks, chapters and verses are all lacking in the original writings (these will be added to the NT by editors much later).
• Ordinary people cannot use the imperial postal system. Thus they must rely on messengers who can deliver their letters to their recipients.
• Paul’s letters (as well as the rest of the NT) are written in Koine Greek—the common trade language of the Roman world used by the masses, the merchants, and the marketplace. [2]

 
GALATIANS 1 (49 AD)

• Written before Romans but considered to be a “short Romans”.

GREETING

• As you begin to read Paul’s letter to the Galatian Christians, you can tell immediately that something is radically wrong, because he does not open his letter with his usual praise to God and prayer for the saints.
• He has no time! Paul is about to engage in a battle for the truth of the Gospel and the liberty of the Christian life.
• False teachers are spreading a false “gospel” which is a mixture of Law and grace, and Paul is not going to stand by and do nothing.
• From beginning to end its six chapters of 149 verses bristle with passion, sarcasm, and anger.
• True, there is a touch of tenderness as well; once in the midst of the letter Paul referred to the Galatians as his “dear children” (4:19).
• In frustration he dubbed them, as J. B. Phillips translates it, “my dear idiots” (3:1 – “foolish Galatians”).[3]
• How does Paul approach the Galatian Christians in his attempt to teach them the truth about the Gospel? In these opening verses, the apostle takes three definite steps as he prepares to fight this battle.[4]

Paul expresses his authority:
Paul’s ministry:
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead--

• There is an abruptness about the opening words which plunges the reader immediately into one of Paul’s major concerns, namely, that his apostolic credentials had been challenged.
• Though not one of the original Twelve, Paul claimed equality with them as an apostle.
• The word apostolos connotes authority and refers to a person who has a right to speak for God as His representative or delegate.[5]

2 and all the brothers who are with me:
To the churches of Galatia.
Paul’s message:
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.

• Thus Paul had already drawn the lines of battle by touching on two vital concerns.
• He had affirmed his own apostleship and…
• had declared that the basis of man’s salvation lies solely in the work of Christ and not in any human works.[6]

Paul’s motive:
5 To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

[1] Christian Standard Bible. (2017). (Ga 5:7–10). Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers.
[2] Viola, Frank. The Untold Story of the New Testament Church: An Extraordinary Guide to Understanding the New Testament (pp. 82-86). Destiny Image. Kindle Edition.
[3] George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, p. 22). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
[4] Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). The Bible exposition commentary (Vol. 1, p. 682). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[5] Campbell, D. K. (1985). Galatians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 589). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.
[6] Campbell, D. K. (1985). Galatians. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 2, p. 590). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.