Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Paul, an apostle - "Because of his unique and different message, received by special revelation from Heaven, he was not readily received by the other apostles. He was vigorously opposed by the legalistic teachers of his day, who followed him from place to place, seeking to discredit Paul authority and deny his message of grace. As a result Paul was called upon again and again to defend himself against his accusers, and to prove his divine authority. Several of his epistles open with a declaration of his authority [Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Galatians]. We are led to ask the question: Why all this emphasis upon his apostleship? Why did Paul have to defend his authority as an apostle wherever he went? There are several reasons: First, Paul was not chosen by the apostolic band in Jerusalem. He received his appointment directly from heaven. Secondly, Paul's message was not the apostolic Kingdom message held by the Church in Jerusalem. Thirdly, Paul's ministry was not exclusively for Jews, but primarily to the Gentiles." (DeHaan)
"There are 27 books in the New Testament. Of these 27 books, over half were written by one man—the Apostle Paul. If we accept the Pauline authorship of Hebrews, then 14 out of the 27 New Testament books were written by Paul He is the outstanding apostle of the New Testament. His letters contain revelation found nowhere else in the Bible, and but for the letters of Paul, we would be in almost total darkness concerning the truth of the Church as the Body of Christ, its function, activity and destiny. His message was a NEW MESSAGE, a mystery not known before—A MESSAGE RECEIVED DIRECT FROM HEAVEN AS A NEW REVELATION OF DIVINE TRUTH. The heart of this new message was the 'grace of God,' extended to all men everywhere, wholly and entirely apart from the works of the law. The message before this had been limited to the Nation of Israel, and the Gentiles could only be saved by becoming Jews, submitting to the rite of circumcision and placing themselves under the laws and rituals of the Israelites. These are called Jewish proselytes. When Paul came with his message of grace, it met with serious misgivings by the apostles, who were still preaching the Kingdom message to the Jews only ... After Paul's conversion, he made a brief visit to Jerusalem, but the Christians there were afraid of him, and he soon left and departed for his home city of Tarsus, and from there went to Arabia for three years, where he received the revelation of the new message of the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ, and the Age of Grace ... After his first missionary journey, Paul is called to give a report, and to account for his message before the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 15). His enemies accused him of preaching heresy and he went to Jerusalem to report before the apostles. Here is was decided that the message of the grace which Paul preached to the Gentiles was truly the message of Christ from Heaven. It was decided that the Gentile Christians were not under the Jewish law. This is the last time the apostles in Jerusalem are mentioned. Peter and all the rest of the eleven with their Kingdom message to Israel, now bow out of the picture, Israel is temporarily set aside, the Kingdom is postponed, and the new message of grace brought by Paul now goes to the entire world. It is well to note here the sharp and distinct difference between the message Paul preached and the message committed to the apostles. The message of Peter was to Israel, while Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles. This was also agreed upon (Gal 2:7). The apostles never went to any but Jews with their Kingdom message. On only one occasion did an apostle go to the Gentiles. This was when Peter preached to a Gentile (Cornelius, Acts 10), to exercise the final use of the keys. The apostles established no churches outside of Judaea, but limited their ministry to Jerusalem and the Jews. Even after the death of Stephen when the Church was scattered, the apostles continued in Jerusalem ministering only to Israel (Acts 8:1). Even those who were scattered abroad, did not preach to the Gentiles (Acts 11:19) ... The apostles never founded any Gentile churches. It was Paul who was God's messenger for this dispensation ... Unless we keep this background in mind, that Paul's distinctive message was to all men, Jews and Gentiles, we cannot rightly divide the Word of Truth and reconcile the Gospel which Paul preached with the message of the apostles. It will also explain the bitter opposition Paul experienced from his brethren according to the flesh. They had been taught to consider Gentiles as unclean dogs and outside the covenant of grace. When Paul therefore offered to these Gentiles salvation BY GRACE ALONE, they were most bitter in their opposition and finally succeeded in bringing about his arrest and execution. It will also explain why Paul was always and everywhere called upon to defend his apostleship. They would not accept him as an apostle because HE DID NOT RECEIVE HIS COMMISSION FROM THE APOSTLES, nor did he preach the apostolic message." (DeHaan)
"Before we deal with our text more fully, I want to press the point of Paul's distinct apostleship a bit further. Has it ever occurred to you that the whole Bible is Jewish, except for Paul's epistles to the Gentiles? After only eleven chapters in Genesis (You have hardly begun to read the Bible!), God set aside the Gentiles, and chose one man, Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation. From there, right down to the end, the Bible is Jewish, except for the epistles which Paul wrote to the Gentiles. I realize that technically the Hebrew race originated with Abram the son of Terah, and the Israelites originated with Jacob, who was later called Israel. The name 'Jew' did not come into use until Judah, but we are using the term 'Jewish' because it is the most familiar to us. All Jews today are physically the offspring of Abraham ... It is only when we come to Paul that God began dealing with the Gentiles again (Rom 11:13)." (Stam)
not from men nor through man - "Paul's apostleship was not ... from men; i.e,. it did not originate from any man but came from God. Nor through man; i.e., it was not mediated through any man but came directly from Jesus Christ." (Ryrie)
To the churches of Galatia - "Observe the plural. This is the only Epistle addressed to a number of Churches." (Robert Lee)
"The abruptness of the language is remarkable. In Paul's other letters, he always has a word of commendation for the churches to which he is writing, even in the case of the church at Corinth which he was taking severely to task because of serious disorders within its membership. He does not even address them as saints, although they were. This shows the extent and seriousness of their defection, also the troubled state of the apostle's mind mingled with his indignation at the actions of his converts." (Wuest)
"The word 'church' is the translation of ekklesia, a word akin to the verb ekkaleo which refers to the act of calling out a group of individuals to an assembly. The word in classical Greek referred to a summoned assembly, for instance, an assembly summoned for legislative business. In the New Testament, it refers usually to a local assembly of Christians, less frequently to the whole body of Christians as in the Ephesian letter." (Wuest)
Grace to you and peace - "How wonderful! 'Grace' and 'peace.' This is the gist, the basis of Paul's whole wonderful message to the Gentiles: 'from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins.' 'But,' you may ask, 'Was not the death of Christ, His crucifixion, preached before Paul?' Yes, Peter talked about Christ's death, but not in the same way as Paul. Peter's sermon, at Pentecost, blamed his hearers for the death of Christ: 'You took Him, and with wicked hands you slew Him!' When convicted, his hearers asked, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Peter answered, 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins' (Acts 2:38). God does not blame us now for the death of Christ, although we could be blamed. Paul proclaimed grace and peace to us because Christ gave Himself for our sins. This is why Paul called hi message, 'the preaching of the cross' (1 Cor 1:18), and this is good news for the believer today because He offers us grace and peace, forgiveness, justification from sin, all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, and a position in Christ at God's right hand—all of this is based upon the death of Christ for our sins. It all rests upon the fact that in love Christ paid the penalty for our sins so that we could be free ...Here we see that Paul was very different from the twelve. He began with the death of Christ in his ministry—the death of Christ as the payment for sin and the basis of his whole message. His epistles have nothing to say about the birth and life of the Lord Jesus Christ, for Christ came into this world, not primarily for a life on earth, but basically to die—to die for our sins." (Stam)
who gave himself for our sins - "Here Paul brings to the attention of the Galatian Christians who were practically ignoring the substitutionary character of the atoning death of the Lord Jesus, a declaration of the true ground of acceptance with God (Gal 2:21; 5:4). This was purposely added because the Galatians were falling back on works as the ground of such acceptance." (Wuest)
to deliver us from the present evil age - "Deliver is the translation of exaireo which means to pluck out, to draw out, to rescue, to deliver. The word strikes the keynote of the letter. The gospel is a rescue, an emancipation from a state of bondage. The word here denotes, not a removal from, but a rescue from the power of the ethical characteristics of the present age." (Wuest)
"The word evil is not from kakos here but poneros. In the latter word, the positive activity of evil comes out far more decidedly than in the former. The kakos man may be content to perish in his own corruption, but the poneros man is not content unless he is corrupting others as well, and drawing them into the same destruction with himself." (Wuest)
according to the will of our God and Father - "But Paul hastens to add that the act of Christ rescuing us is not according to our plan, or in proportion to our legal obedience or because of any quality in us, but according to the Father's sovereign will which is the standard of all the process of redemption. This rescue therefore is according to the procedure prescribed by Him. All of which means that the salvation procured on the Cross for us by our Lord is to be received by faith aside from any merit of our own. We cannot earn what Christ procured for us." (Wuest)
"In this greeting Paul neatly summarizes his whole preaching message." (Ryrie)
Paul, an apostle - "Because of his unique and different message, received by special revelation from Heaven, he was not readily received by the other apostles. He was vigorously opposed by the legalistic teachers of his day, who followed him from place to place, seeking to discredit Paul authority and deny his message of grace. As a result Paul was called upon again and again to defend himself against his accusers, and to prove his divine authority. Several of his epistles open with a declaration of his authority [Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Galatians]. We are led to ask the question: Why all this emphasis upon his apostleship? Why did Paul have to defend his authority as an apostle wherever he went? There are several reasons: First, Paul was not chosen by the apostolic band in Jerusalem. He received his appointment directly from heaven. Secondly, Paul's message was not the apostolic Kingdom message held by the Church in Jerusalem. Thirdly, Paul's ministry was not exclusively for Jews, but primarily to the Gentiles." (DeHaan)
"There are 27 books in the New Testament. Of these 27 books, over half were written by one man—the Apostle Paul. If we accept the Pauline authorship of Hebrews, then 14 out of the 27 New Testament books were written by Paul He is the outstanding apostle of the New Testament. His letters contain revelation found nowhere else in the Bible, and but for the letters of Paul, we would be in almost total darkness concerning the truth of the Church as the Body of Christ, its function, activity and destiny. His message was a NEW MESSAGE, a mystery not known before—A MESSAGE RECEIVED DIRECT FROM HEAVEN AS A NEW REVELATION OF DIVINE TRUTH. The heart of this new message was the 'grace of God,' extended to all men everywhere, wholly and entirely apart from the works of the law. The message before this had been limited to the Nation of Israel, and the Gentiles could only be saved by becoming Jews, submitting to the rite of circumcision and placing themselves under the laws and rituals of the Israelites. These are called Jewish proselytes. When Paul came with his message of grace, it met with serious misgivings by the apostles, who were still preaching the Kingdom message to the Jews only ... After Paul's conversion, he made a brief visit to Jerusalem, but the Christians there were afraid of him, and he soon left and departed for his home city of Tarsus, and from there went to Arabia for three years, where he received the revelation of the new message of the mystery of the Church, the Body of Christ, and the Age of Grace ... After his first missionary journey, Paul is called to give a report, and to account for his message before the apostles in Jerusalem (Acts 15). His enemies accused him of preaching heresy and he went to Jerusalem to report before the apostles. Here is was decided that the message of the grace which Paul preached to the Gentiles was truly the message of Christ from Heaven. It was decided that the Gentile Christians were not under the Jewish law. This is the last time the apostles in Jerusalem are mentioned. Peter and all the rest of the eleven with their Kingdom message to Israel, now bow out of the picture, Israel is temporarily set aside, the Kingdom is postponed, and the new message of grace brought by Paul now goes to the entire world. It is well to note here the sharp and distinct difference between the message Paul preached and the message committed to the apostles. The message of Peter was to Israel, while Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles. This was also agreed upon (Gal 2:7). The apostles never went to any but Jews with their Kingdom message. On only one occasion did an apostle go to the Gentiles. This was when Peter preached to a Gentile (Cornelius, Acts 10), to exercise the final use of the keys. The apostles established no churches outside of Judaea, but limited their ministry to Jerusalem and the Jews. Even after the death of Stephen when the Church was scattered, the apostles continued in Jerusalem ministering only to Israel (Acts 8:1). Even those who were scattered abroad, did not preach to the Gentiles (Acts 11:19) ... The apostles never founded any Gentile churches. It was Paul who was God's messenger for this dispensation ... Unless we keep this background in mind, that Paul's distinctive message was to all men, Jews and Gentiles, we cannot rightly divide the Word of Truth and reconcile the Gospel which Paul preached with the message of the apostles. It will also explain the bitter opposition Paul experienced from his brethren according to the flesh. They had been taught to consider Gentiles as unclean dogs and outside the covenant of grace. When Paul therefore offered to these Gentiles salvation BY GRACE ALONE, they were most bitter in their opposition and finally succeeded in bringing about his arrest and execution. It will also explain why Paul was always and everywhere called upon to defend his apostleship. They would not accept him as an apostle because HE DID NOT RECEIVE HIS COMMISSION FROM THE APOSTLES, nor did he preach the apostolic message." (DeHaan)
"Before we deal with our text more fully, I want to press the point of Paul's distinct apostleship a bit further. Has it ever occurred to you that the whole Bible is Jewish, except for Paul's epistles to the Gentiles? After only eleven chapters in Genesis (You have hardly begun to read the Bible!), God set aside the Gentiles, and chose one man, Abraham, the father of the Hebrew nation. From there, right down to the end, the Bible is Jewish, except for the epistles which Paul wrote to the Gentiles. I realize that technically the Hebrew race originated with Abram the son of Terah, and the Israelites originated with Jacob, who was later called Israel. The name 'Jew' did not come into use until Judah, but we are using the term 'Jewish' because it is the most familiar to us. All Jews today are physically the offspring of Abraham ... It is only when we come to Paul that God began dealing with the Gentiles again (Rom 11:13)." (Stam)
not from men nor through man - "Paul's apostleship was not ... from men; i.e,. it did not originate from any man but came from God. Nor through man; i.e., it was not mediated through any man but came directly from Jesus Christ." (Ryrie)
To the churches of Galatia - "Observe the plural. This is the only Epistle addressed to a number of Churches." (Robert Lee)
"The abruptness of the language is remarkable. In Paul's other letters, he always has a word of commendation for the churches to which he is writing, even in the case of the church at Corinth which he was taking severely to task because of serious disorders within its membership. He does not even address them as saints, although they were. This shows the extent and seriousness of their defection, also the troubled state of the apostle's mind mingled with his indignation at the actions of his converts." (Wuest)
"The word 'church' is the translation of ekklesia, a word akin to the verb ekkaleo which refers to the act of calling out a group of individuals to an assembly. The word in classical Greek referred to a summoned assembly, for instance, an assembly summoned for legislative business. In the New Testament, it refers usually to a local assembly of Christians, less frequently to the whole body of Christians as in the Ephesian letter." (Wuest)
Grace to you and peace - "How wonderful! 'Grace' and 'peace.' This is the gist, the basis of Paul's whole wonderful message to the Gentiles: 'from God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for our sins.' 'But,' you may ask, 'Was not the death of Christ, His crucifixion, preached before Paul?' Yes, Peter talked about Christ's death, but not in the same way as Paul. Peter's sermon, at Pentecost, blamed his hearers for the death of Christ: 'You took Him, and with wicked hands you slew Him!' When convicted, his hearers asked, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Peter answered, 'Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins' (Acts 2:38). God does not blame us now for the death of Christ, although we could be blamed. Paul proclaimed grace and peace to us because Christ gave Himself for our sins. This is why Paul called hi message, 'the preaching of the cross' (1 Cor 1:18), and this is good news for the believer today because He offers us grace and peace, forgiveness, justification from sin, all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, and a position in Christ at God's right hand—all of this is based upon the death of Christ for our sins. It all rests upon the fact that in love Christ paid the penalty for our sins so that we could be free ...Here we see that Paul was very different from the twelve. He began with the death of Christ in his ministry—the death of Christ as the payment for sin and the basis of his whole message. His epistles have nothing to say about the birth and life of the Lord Jesus Christ, for Christ came into this world, not primarily for a life on earth, but basically to die—to die for our sins." (Stam)
who gave himself for our sins - "Here Paul brings to the attention of the Galatian Christians who were practically ignoring the substitutionary character of the atoning death of the Lord Jesus, a declaration of the true ground of acceptance with God (Gal 2:21; 5:4). This was purposely added because the Galatians were falling back on works as the ground of such acceptance." (Wuest)
to deliver us from the present evil age - "Deliver is the translation of exaireo which means to pluck out, to draw out, to rescue, to deliver. The word strikes the keynote of the letter. The gospel is a rescue, an emancipation from a state of bondage. The word here denotes, not a removal from, but a rescue from the power of the ethical characteristics of the present age." (Wuest)
"The word evil is not from kakos here but poneros. In the latter word, the positive activity of evil comes out far more decidedly than in the former. The kakos man may be content to perish in his own corruption, but the poneros man is not content unless he is corrupting others as well, and drawing them into the same destruction with himself." (Wuest)
according to the will of our God and Father - "But Paul hastens to add that the act of Christ rescuing us is not according to our plan, or in proportion to our legal obedience or because of any quality in us, but according to the Father's sovereign will which is the standard of all the process of redemption. This rescue therefore is according to the procedure prescribed by Him. All of which means that the salvation procured on the Cross for us by our Lord is to be received by faith aside from any merit of our own. We cannot earn what Christ procured for us." (Wuest)
"In this greeting Paul neatly summarizes his whole preaching message." (Ryrie)
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