THIS MATERIAL HAS NOT BEEN EDITED FOR
SCRIPTURAL ACCURACY, SPELLING, OR GRAMMAR
GALATIANS
CHAPTER ONE
Galatians 1:1-5 Greeting
1:1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brethren 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, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. NKJV
Galatians 1:1
1:1 Rabbi Sha’ul Saul from Tarsus is Paul (Acts 13:9&N). Emissary, Greek apostolos, “someone sent,” usually rendered “apostle” (Mt 10:2-4 N).
I received my commission, etc. The basis of Sha’ul's authority as an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua Jesus is one of the two main topics of this letter (see 1:10-2:14, 5:11, 6:12-14). Who raised him from the dead. This shows that God's power and authority surpass those of any human claimant, and that Yeshua's power and authority did not cease when he died (compare Romans 1:3-4). Also all the brothers with me. What Sha’ul writes to the Galatians on the very important issues raised in this letter carries not only his authority but that of all the fellow-believers with him. (Jewish New Testament Commentary)
Galatians 1:1-10
The Good News of salvation through faith in Christ is the most important message in the world. This message had changed Paul's life and, through him, the lives of others. But now this message was being attacked, and Paul was out to defend the truth of the Gospel. Some false teachers had invaded the churches of Galatia - churches Paul had founded - and were teaching a different message from that which Paul had taught.
As you begin to read Paul's letter to the Galatians 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. (The Bible Exposition Commentary).
Galatians 1:6-10 Only One Gospel
1:6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, 7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you 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 still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. NKJV
1:6 Are removed - metatiqemi (metatithemi) = "to transpose two things, one of which is put in the place of the other."
CHAPTER ONE
1. In classical Greek it was used of a turncoat. The word was used of one altering his opinion or becoming of another mind.
2. It was also used of desertion or revolt, frequently of a change in religion, philosophy, or morals.
3. The present tense indicates that when Paul wrote, the defection of the Galatians was yet only in progress. Had he used the perfect tense, that would have indicated that the Galatians had actually and finally turned against grace and had come to a settled attitude in the matter.
The mind of Paul wavers between fear and hope as to the outcome. Paul was trying desperately to arrest the progress of this new doctrinal infection if he could. The Judaizers had not yet achieved any decisive success, although the Galatians were disposed to lend a ready ear to their insinuations.
The Amplified: "I am surprised and astonished that you are so quickly turning renegade and deserting Him Who invited and called you by the grace (unmerited favor) of Christ, the Messiah, (and that you are transferring your allegiance) ..."
On the impulsiveness and fickleness of the Gauls, see "Caesar, B.g., 3:19" - "The infirmity of the Gauls is that they are fickle in their resolves and fond of change, and not to be trusted." Thierry, quoting Alford: "Frank, impetuous, impressible, eminently intelligent, but at the same time extremely changeable, inconstant, fond of show, perpetually quarrelling, the fruit of excessive vanity."
1:6 THE GRACE OF CHRIST - this is the central phrase of the passage.
Paul expresses great surprise and frustration of spirit at the fickleness of these Galatian believers who had at first so joyfully accepted the message of grace, and then had been so easily led astray by certain legalistic Judaizing teachers, who discredited the teachings of grace, and asserted that these believers were still under the Law, and were bound by the Law of Moses.
Paul had preached that they were saved by grace - plus nothing. Notice that grace excludes all human effort, works, righteousness or goodness. Grace is exclusively the work of God. Add so much as one grain of works, merit or human righteousness or effort, and it ceases to be grace (Rom. 11:6; Eph. 2:8,9).
VS. 6, 7 - UNTO ANOTHER ... WHICH IS NOT ANOTHER
"Unto ("heteros") another ... / which is not ("allos") another."[NIV: To a different gospel - / which is really no gospel at all]
Paul uses two Greek words, both of which mean "another," but which have a further distinct meaning of their own:
1. / The first (vs. 6)The second (vs. 7) / =
= / "heteros"
"allos"
2. / "Heteros" (vs. 6)
"Allos" (vs. 7) / =
= / another of a different kind
another of the same kind
3. / "Heteros" (vs. 6)
"Allos" (vs. 7) / =
= / qualitative difference
numerical difference
4. / "Heteros" (vs. 6)
"Allos" (vs. 7) / =
= / distinguishes one of two
adds one besides
5. / "Heteros" (vs. 6)
"Allos" (vs. 7) / =
= / every "heteros" is an "allos"
but not every "allos" is a "heteros"
6. / "Heteros" (vs. 6)
"Allos" (vs. 7) / =
= / difference of a kind
distinction of individuals
"Heteros" sometimes refers, not only to difference in kind but also speaks of the fact that the character of the thing is evil or bad. That is, the fact that something differs in kind from something else, makes that thing to be of an evil character. We have the word "heterodoxy," or, "false doctrine."
When Paul speaks of the Galatians turning to a "heteros" gospel, he means that they are turning to a gospel that is false in its doctrine. It is not only different in kind. It is not a gospel at all. It is not "another gospel" even when considered in a numerical way. There can be only one message of good news.
Arthur S. Way renders / "heteros ": / an opposition gospel"allos": / an alternative gospel
Thus, the Galatians were turning to an opposition gospel diametrically opposed to the message of grace, and this opposition gospel was not an alternative one.
(Compare vs. 6 & 7 in the Amplified Bible)
1:6 GOSPEL (evaggelion) = "good news" or "reward for good news".
The individual who proclaims this "good news" was called "evaggelistes". Since there is "none good but God" (Mt.19:17), it naturally follows that there is no good news, but that which issues directly from Him.
It has been said that the gospel is the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of Jesus. This is true - however -
The Gospel does not merely bear witness to a historical event - for what it recounts is beyond the scope of historical judgment and transcends history. It is good news to humanity in that we may share, presently and future, in the benefits of that historical event.The Gospel is more than a mere message - it is, in reality, a living power. It involves Judgment and Joy, Repentance and Peace. It demands decision and imposes obedience.
The Gospel does not merely bear witness to salvation history - it is itself salvation history.
The "Gospel" is not an empty word - it is effective power which brings to pass what it says because God is its author.
Galatians 1:6-7
He Expresses His Anxiety (Gal. 1:6-7)
I am amazed that you are so quickly moving away!"
This is the first reason for Paul's anxiety the Galatians were deserting the grace of God (The verb indicates they were in the process of deserting and had not fully turned away.) Paul strikes while the iron is hot God had called them in His grace, and saved them from their sins. Now they are moving from grace back into Law. They are abandoning liberty for legalism! And they are doing it so quickly, without consulting Paul, their "spiritual father," or giving time for the Holy Spirit to teach them. They have become infatuated with the religion of the Judaizers, just the way little children follow a stranger because he offers them candy.
CHAPTER ONE
1:6, 7 Continued
"The grace of God" is a basic theme in this letter (Galatians 1:3,6,15; 2:9,21; 5:4; 6:18). Grace is simply God's favor to undeserving sinners. The words "grace" and "gift" go together, because salvation is the gift of God through His grace (Ephesians 2:8-10). The Galatian believers were not simply "changing religions" or "changing churches" but were actually abandoning the very grace of God! To make matters worse, they were deserting the very God of grace! God had called them and saved them, now they were deserting Him for human leaders who would bring them into bondage. (The Bible Exposition Commentary).
Galatians 1:6 “I MARVEL”
By saying that they had fallen off from the Father, he brings a twofold charge against them, of an apostasy, and of an immediate apostasy. The opposite extreme a late apostasy, is also blameworthy, but he who falls away at the first onset, and in the very skirmishing, displays an example of the most extreme cowardice, of which very thing he accuses them also saying: "How is this that your seducers need not even time for their designs, but the first approaches suffice for your overthrow and capture? And what excuse can ye have? If this is a crime among friends, and he who deserts old and useful associates is to be condemned, consider what punishment he is obnoxious to who revolts from God that called him." He says, "I marvel."
"From Him that called you in the grace of Christ."
He says not "ye are removing from the Gospel" but "from God who called you," a more frightful expression, and more likely to affect them. Their seducers did not act abruptly but gradually, and while they removed them from the faith in fact, left names unchanged. It is the policy of Satan not to set his snares in open view; had they urged them to fall away from Christ, they would have been shunned as deceivers and corrupters, but suffering them so far to continue in the faith, and putting upon their error the name of the Gospel, without fear they undermined the building employing the terms which they used as a sort of curtain to conceal the destroyers themselves. As therefore they gave the name of Gospel to this their imposture, he contends against the very name, and boldly says, "unto a different Gospel,"-
Galatians 1:7 "And would pervert the Gospel of Christ."
They had, in fact, only introduced one or two commandments, circumcision and the observance of days, but he says that the Gospel was subverted, in order to show that a slight adulteration vitiates the whole. For as he who but partially pares away the image on a royal coin renders the whole spurious, so he who swerves ever so little from the pure faith, soon proceeds from this to graver errors, and becomes entirely corrupted.
(Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series 1, Volume 13 Arch-Bishop John Chrysostom A.D. 400)
Galatians 1:7
The word translated "pervert" in Galatians 1:7 is used only three times in the New Testament (Acts 2:20; Galatians 1:7; James 4:9). It means "to turn about, to change into an opposite character." The word could be translated "to reverse." In other words, the Judaizers had reversed the Gospel - they had turned it around and taken it back into the Law! Later in this letter, Paul explains how the Law was preparation for the coming of Christ, but the Judaizers had a different interpretation. To them, the Law and the Gospel went together. "Except ye be circumcised after the manner [Law] of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1).
What was this "deserting and perverting" doing to the Galatian Christians? It was troubling them (Galatians 1:7). This verb "trouble" carries with it the idea of perplexity, confusion, and unrest. You get some idea of the force of this word when you see how it is used in other places. "Trouble" describes the feelings of the disciples in the ship during the storm (Matthew 14:26). It also describes the feelings of King Herod when he heard that a new King had been born (Matthew 2:3). No wonder Paul was anxious for his converts: they were going through great agitation because of the false doctrines that had been brought to the churches. Grace always leads to peace (see Galatians 1:3), but the believers had deserted grace and therefore had no peace in their hearts. (The Bible Exposition Commentary)
CHAPTER ONE
Vs. 8 - AN ANGEL FROM HEAVEN
The Greek word translated "angel" (aggelos) also means a messenger.