Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
As we see the continued trouble in our world, it is important to have our attention in the right place. As the apostles were directed to write their epistles, there were troubles around them. The world has been unsettled ever since the fall of man. In the midst of that trouble, God has always been here. He is the ever present God.
We plan to spend the next while studying the book of Galatians. The writer of this book was Paul. The Author of all Scripture is God. Paul was an apostle. He was not one of the original twelve apostles. He was chosen by the Lord Jesus Christ after His ascension. At the time of his choosing, his name was Saul. He was a lost man. He was a Pharisee and quite proud of it. He had worked hard to get to a place where he had authority to go and arrest people of “this way”. Jesus Christ stopped him in his pursuit of arresting Christians in Damascus.
God is good and willing to save anyone who is willing to repent and be saved. God directed Paul to remind the readers that he was not an apostle due to man’s involvement. The apostles were all chosen directly by Jesus Christ. We know that after the death of Judas Iscariot, Peter took it upon himself to gather those who were together in an upper room, to choose a replacement for Judas. God never told Peter to do that, however he was impulsive. They used an Old Testament method of drawing lots to decide which of the two men they had put forward, should be the twelfth apostle. It is important to note that this was strictly the work of Peter and the others.
Paul was directed in this epistle to remind the readers that he was not chosen by man. He was chosen by Jesus Christ and by God the Father. This is important to note. His legitimacy as an apostle could not truly be questioned. There would be people who would question that, but they had no basis for doing so.
Paul also reminded the readers that God the Father was involved in raising Jesus from the dead. It was a work of the Godhead to raise Him up.
In verse 2 Paul noted that there were other brethren with him. God blessed him with a core group of men that could encourage him and assist him in the work that God had called him to. The work of the Lord is bigger than any one man. It is good to have some good men that can assist in a local work of the Lord.
Paul was writing this epistle to the churches of Galatia. Galatia was a region, not a city. Galatia was a Roman province. It was in the central region of the peninsula of Asia Minor. It was surrounded by Bithynia and Paphlagonia on the north; by Pontus on the east; by Cappadocia and Lycaonia on the south and by Phrygia on the west.
In verse 3 we see a very common greeting that God gave to the saints. God’s grace is important in the work of the Lord. Hebrews 4:16 tells us that grace is the help that the saints need to do the work of the Lord. God’s work cannot be done in the flesh.
God also wants His children to be at peace with Him and with other believers. The peace of God is only available to those who are truly saved and walking humbly with Him. A saint that is fighting against God, will not be at peace with God.
This grace and peace is also from our Lord Jesus Christ. Those who are saved today have the same Lord Jesus Christ that Paul knew. There is only one Saviour. We do not need more than one. Jesus will never grow old or become incapable of saving repentant sinners.
In verse 4 this Lord Jesus Christ is identified for us. He gave Himself for our sins. He had no sin. We are born lost in sin. Jesus Christ came to deliver us from this present evil world. God knows what He is talking about. This world is evil. There is evil all around us. The evil seems to be more bold today than in the past. The Bible warns us that:
II Timothy 3:13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.
Jesus Christ came to lay down His life and raise it up again according to the will of God and our Father. Again we are reminded that true saints from any and every generation have the same God and Father. God is big enough to give all the attention needed to every person that is adopted into His family. That adoption is through the new birth.
In verse 5 we are reminded that the glory belongs to God for ever and ever. The word translated as “amen” is a term that speaks of something that is firm and trustworthy.
God’s Word is certainly firm and it is also trustworthy. There is no altering His Word. There are many perversions on the market, but they are not of God. He did not ordain them. There are men and women who have taken it upon themselves to try to make God’s Word easier to understand. They do not make it easier to understand. They corrupt It. God’s Word cannot be understood by the natural man. It takes the work of the Holy Spirit Who dwells in the true believer, to be able to understand the Word of God.
God wants us to know Him, but we can only know Him when we humble ourselves as Paul did. When we are truly saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, according to the will of God our Father, then we will begin to understand His Word. Notice John 10:
John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
It is a fact that those who are truly saved have the privilege of hearing the voice of Jesus through His Word. It is not an audible voice. It is heard by the “spiritual man” as he or she reads and studies God’s Word. There is no mystical work here. Again, it takes the saved person to understand how God works in the hearts of saved people. Lost people, like the majority of the Charismatics, cannot understand this. They have a corrupted view of the work of God and sadly, many people are willing to accept their corrupted teachings. Be sure you take the Word of God as your authority. Be sure you are born again and walking humbly with the Lord.
Pastor Bartel