| From the Church on the Hill by D. Eric Williams Pastor, Cottonwood Community Church pastor@CottCommChurch.com Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia is an early work designed to combat the introduction of a false gospel to the early church. Specifically, the syncretistic gospel of the Judaizers was no gospel at all. Indeed it was not “good news” but was a message of death, according to the apostle Paul. In the opening lines of the letter, Paul emphatically defends his apostleship. The opponents of Paul claimed his apostleship was second rate at best. It seems they peddled the idea that Paul was given the label of apostle by the church in Antioch and it went no further than that. However, Paul forcefully defends his call to the apostolic ministry. He claims without equivocation, it was Jesus Christ and God the Father who assigned him an apostolic charge. Paul had seen the Lord Jesus Christ bodily on the way to Damascus. The enemies of Paul would have claimed this was suspect at best. Nonetheless, Paul never wavered from his claim; his apostolic ministry was based upon the personal call of Jesus Christ and the immediate revelation of truth given him by the Lord. Paul will address these issues more fully in the body of his letter. In his introduction, Paul simply reminds his readers that no human being had a hand in his call to the apostolic ministry. Yet, there were many who recognized the validity of Paul’s work and the apostle references them as “all the brethren who are with me” or “all the believers who are here.” This body of witnesses joined Paul in sending greetings to the Galatian church. When Paul declares grace and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, he is not expressing a pious wish but is exercising an aspect of his office as apostle. While this is something any Christian can do (“may the peace and grace of the Lord be with you”), an apostle enjoyed special authority given by God to declare the gospel of grace and peace. Again, Paul is building a base in his introduction. He is an apostle and as such has the rights and responsibilities of one who has been commissioned by the Lord himself. In verses four and five, Paul presents a distillation of the rest of the letter. In fact, he presents a thumbnail for the gospel itself. As we will see, the “present evil age” is a life lived under law whether lived the past or present. The present evil age is experienced by those who reject salvation in Christ alone regardless of their ethnic, cultural or socioreligious background. Throughout the letter, Paul develops the idea of the believer’s exodus from the present evil age and entrance into the new age of Jesus Christ. He is not talking about a future event; this happens for each person as he comes to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. They leave the present evil age and immediately began to live in the new age of grace in Jesus Christ. A person receiving Jesus Christ is a new creation and does not spend time in limbo awaiting life in the new age of grace. There are many false religions, ideologies and philosophical systems today. Each of them is part of this “present evil age.” Any belief system lacking the exclusivity of Christ is a false gospel and is evil. There are no exceptions. Paul makes this very clear throughout the letter. We will return to Galatians next week. To read articles in this series in the “off weeks” go to CottCommChurch.com and click on the “articles” link. |
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