Paul wrote this letter to the believers in the
churches in Galatia. In the phrase “to the churches of Galatia,” he was
referring to the churches that he had planted in the cities namely, Pisidian
Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. These were the cities where he went to, and
had established churches in his first missionary journey with Barnabas,
described in Acts 13-14. The letter to the Galatians is the only letter that Paul
had written that was addressed to a group of churches. In this letter we see Paul’s
strenuous defense of his authority and his message. He first defended his
credentials as an apostle, then went on to prove the validity of the message
that he had preached.
After evangelizing those cities, Paul had moved
on. Sadly, in his absence, Jewish Christian teachers, steeped in Jewish
tradition, infiltrated those churches, and had distorted his Gospel with their custom
and traditions. Some believers were led astray by a gospel that were mixed with
Jewish traditions. They had seriously undermined the message of Paul and had
even proceeded to undermine Paul’s credentials and authenticity as an apostle. Their
aim was to discredit Paul’s authority and invalidate the influence of his
message. Thus, it became necessary for Paul to rigorously defend his
apostleship and the validity of his message.
Here we see Paul opening his letter by first
asserting his apostolic calling. This is a clear departure from the usual form of
letter of his day. He immediately called himself an apostle of Jesus Christ.
This title was only meant for a small band of selected men, commissioned by
Christ Himself during His earthly ministry. They were chosen to preach and
teach in His name. In calling himself an apostle, Paul was claiming to belong
to this small company of chosen ministers of Christ.
According to verse 1, his apostleship did not come
about through any human appointment. It had nothing to do with human choice. He
meant to tell his readers that his apostleship was totally divine in origin. He
was called through Christ and God the Father. Perhaps at the back of his mind
was the encounter he had with Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. It was
there that Paul received his commission to the Gentiles. He could have also relied on the fact that it
was the Holy Spirit who had set him apart, together with Barnabas during a fast
and worship time in Antioch of Syria. Note that this Jesus Christ, to whom
Paul’s apostleship belonged, was raised from the dead by God the Father. It was
the risen living Lord whom Paul was serving.
In
his greeting, Paul used two words – grace and peace. His choice of these two
words could be intentional. Because grace indicates the origin of men’s
salvation and peace, the nature. So in sending this two-pronged greeting to the
Galatians, Paul summed up the source and nature of their salvation. He then quickly talked about the most significant
historical event – Christ giving Himself at the Cross. There are three truths about
that historical event: firstly, Christ gave Himself for our sins; secondly, He
gave Himself to deliver us from this present evil age; and finally, He gave
Himself according to the will of God and the Father.
Certainly for us believers, there can be no god or
anyone that is equal to this God and His redemption plan. We must also conclude
with Paul in verse 5 that He deserves the glory forever and ever. What He did
deserves our unending worship and adoration and we must offer it to Him. Amen!
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