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Galatians 1.1-10 (ESV)
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 brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
I love working with people who are direct in their conversations. No chit-chat, no comments about the weather, no easing into the issues; they quickly speak their minds and make their point. I’ve been blessed to work with several people like that and I often find their directness revealing and refreshing.
That’s how I picture Paul as he writes this letter. It’s very important to understand why Paul writes the way he does in this letter as he quickly points out the problem in these first few verses. Shortly after Paul left the church it was visited or, more likely, infiltrated, by false teachers who were convincing these new Christians that they really were not Christians until they were circumcised.
For Paul, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Notice right away that Paul starts to call out the Galatian believers for what is going on. Paul is more critical of the Galatian believers than of any other group in his letters. This is a huge contrast compared to how Paul approaches Philippians. In Philippians, Paul is casual and conversational, but here—Paul is guns blazing from the beginning. You can see this especially in the repeated phrase in verses 8-9.
Paul rightly sees this issue requiring circumcision in order to be a “true Christian” as a literal turning point regarding faith in Christ, and he is fighting to correct this false view.
There are two amazingly clear statements that Paul makes in these few verses. In verse 1, Paul is clear that he is an apostle through Christ. Paul is stressing that he has received the Gospel directly from Jesus and not secondhand.
The other statement is regarding the Gospel of Christ Jesus itself. Paul is clear that there is only one Gospel, and it cannot be distorted.
The reason Paul is so direct from the beginning of his letter is because the Galatian believers were turning away from the Gospel that they had received. Why?
We’ll get some answers soon enough, but their problem is a good one for us to consider for our own lives.
We constantly face challenges to turn away from our faith. Sometimes it’s on the level of the Galatians with a big theology issue, but mostly I think we face a difficult situation where we’re tempted to compromise or even ignore our faith for a time.
Our lives are busy and we constantly make decisions regarding what matters most. The truth is we all have some sort of lens through which we filter our decisions and perceptions. The question is, “What will that lens be?”
There are numerous things that compete to be that lens through which we view and respond to the world around us. Those things want to hold our attention and be the center of our lives, but they can’t compare to Jesus. Let Jesus be that lens through which you filter everything.
That’s an easy thing to say and it takes constant work for us to keep our hearts and minds centered on Jesus, but if we do, the outcome is incredible! A life led and directed by Jesus is amazing and glorifies the Lord.
A life centered on Jesus brings healing, reconciliation, joy, unity, peace, forgiveness, mercy, and so much more to us personally, because we know Jesus as our hearts and minds are fixed on Him, but also to the world around us. Is there anything in the world, politically, materially, relationally, or otherwise that can completely satisfy the hunger and thirst of our souls, or work through us to bring about unification and reconciliation between separated peoples and true peace and transformation to our fractured culture and world?
Only in Christ Jesus can we truly be healed, reconciled, and united.
In Jesus, God bent down to give us His love, mercy, and peace.
God offers us His hand through His Son Jesus—the question is…., will you take hold of it?
God bless you and know that I am constantly praying for you!
Scott
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