Paul began this epistle with a word of greeting for his readers to introduce himself as the writer and to emphasize the divine source of his apostolic commission.
1:1 The nickname (cognomen) "Paul"is from the Latin Paulus, which means little. The earliest physical description of Paul we have comes from a second-century apocryphal writing. It described Paul as "a man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked, full of friendliness; for now he appeared like a man, and now he had the face of an angel."9The apostle's Hebrew name was Saul. As the apostle to the Gentiles he consistently used his Gentile name, Paul, in his epistles.
In his reference to himself Paul emphasized his apostolic office. The Greek word translated "apostle"(apostolos) means one who is sent. The New Testament uses this word in two ways. In its more restricted sense, the word means someone who had received a special commission from the risen Christ (i.e., Paul and the Twelve apostles). In its more general sense it refers to those sent with a message from God (as in Acts 14:4, 14; 2 Cor. 8:23; Phil. 2:25). It even describes Jesus (Heb. 3:1). In Galatians Paul always used "apostle"in the technical sense to describe the Twelve and himself.
Paul contended that his apostleship did not originate from men, nor did it come to him through men (e.g., Peter, James, Ananias, or whomever, as, for example, does the Roman Catholic papacy). Rather Jesus Christ, whom he described as equal with God the Father, bestowed it on him. The resurrection of Jesus Christ demonstrated the power of God. The Apostle Paul may have referred to the Resurrection to emphasize the importance of his apostolic office, which he defended in this epistle.
In view of what Paul said in this chapter and the next, it seems clear that his enemies in Galatia were claiming that the apostle had received his apostolic commission from other men. Specifically they suggested that it came from the other apostles or the leaders of the church at Antioch (cf. Acts 13:1) rather than directly from Jesus Christ. This would have made it an inferior apostleship.
1:2 The churches of Galatia were probably the churches in the southern Roman province of Galatia (Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, et al.) rather than those in northern ethnic Galatia.10This is the only one of Paul's inspired letters that he addressed neither to Christians in one specific town nor to an individual.
". . . the Church as the total community is not a mere aggregate of individual congregations; rather the local church is the universal Church in its local manifestation."11
1:3-5 The greeting Paul wrote in most of his epistles was a combination of the commonly used Greek (charis, grace) and the Jewish (shalom, peace) salutations. The former in the Christian context refers to God's undeserved favor that is the portion of His children. Galatians opens, closes (cf. 6:18), and is full of grace (vv. 6, 15; 2:9, 21; 3:18; 5:4). The actual Greek word is chairein, meaning "rejoice,"but this standard Greek greeting meant the equivalent of "hello."The latter word of greeting, peace, defines not just the absence of hostility but the totality of God's blessings. This word had become a standard Jewish greeting. Believers enjoy peace with God and with other people because God has taken the initiative in extending His grace to us in Christ (cf. Num. 6:24-26). Peace always follows grace in Paul's salutations because that is their logical and temporal relationships. The three-fold title "Lord Jesus Christ"indicates His exalted rank, His saving significance, and His divine commission respectively.12
Jesus Christ gave Himself for our sins in two respects. He gave Himself all through His earthly ministry as the Suffering Servant of God (cf. Isa. 53), and He gave Himself as the final sin offering on the cross. Both aspects of His self-sacrifice could be in view here. Paul probably wanted to emphasize the totality of Christ's self-sacrifice.
The purpose of the Lord's self-sacrifice was that He might deliver us out of the control of this present evil age, the world system that dominates the inter-advent era.13We are in the world, but we are free to live apart from the evil that dominates it thanks to Christ's work for us. Not only so, the Lord will remove us from it by death or translation. Again, both aspects of our deliverance were probably in Paul's mind as he wrote these words. Christ's death transferred the believer from Satan's power to God's power, from one sphere to the other (cf. Col. 1:13).
"In this one verse Paul has described several aspects of the redemption wrought by Christ: its cause (for our sins,' that is, because of them), its means (Christ sacrificed himself'), its purpose and effect (for our sins,' that is, for their expiation; to rescue us'), and its origin (the will of our God and Father'). Thereby Paul has in fact touched on the chief argument of the letter, and succinctly announced in anticipatory fashion the main contents of its doctrinal section, inasmuch as the point of the controversy between Paul and His Galatian opponents lies precisely in the significance of Christ and his redemptive work and more specifically in the bearing of this work on the law."14
In these opening words Paul rebuked his readers for turning away from the gospel that he had preached to them and for turning toward a different "gospel."He accused them of being religious turncoats. He did so to impress them with the great folly of their action. The fiery opening of this epistle presents it "like a lion turned loose in the arena of Christianity."15
"The general proposition or causaof the letter is to persuade the Galatians to reject the Judaizers' nongospel and to continue in the true gospel Paul had preached to them."16
1:6-7 In every other one of his canonical epistles Paul commended his readers before launching into the main subject of his letter regardless of his general purpose in writing. Here he recorded no such praise. Its absence stressed the seriousness of his readers' error and the urgency of his appeal.
The best evidence points to Paul's writing Galatians before the Jerusalem Council, held in 49 A.D., and after he and Barnabas evangelized Asia Minor on their first missionary journey (Acts 13-14).17Consequently it had been only a few months since his readers had accepted the gospel that he had preached to them and had turned from it. The Greek word thaumazo("I am amazed") was a conventional expression in Greek letters that signaled astonishment, rebuke, disapproval, and disappointment.18The Greek word tacheos("quickly") also has the sense of easily (cf. 2 Thess. 2:2; 1 Tim. 5:22). The one who had called the Galatians was God (cf. v. 15; 5:8).
"Gospel,"of course, means good news. However, the "gospel"that fascinated his readers was not good news.19It was bad news. Teachers of false doctrine who were stirring up unrest had followed Paul. The root of the word translated "disturbing"(v. 7) is one that describes the opposite of what the word translated "peace"(v. 3) means. These teachers were distorting the good news of Christ.
Paul consistently referred to the Galatian trouble-makers in the third person but addressed his readers in the second person. This strongly suggests that the false teachers originated outside the church rather than from within it. We must deduce who they were from what Paul wrote about them in this epistle (cf. 1:6-9; 2:4-5; 3:1; 4:17; 5:10, 12; 6:12-13). Probably they were Jews who were putting pressure on Gentiles to believe and to live as religious Jews.20
1:8 Paul leveled his strongest verbal artillery against these teachers. Whoever they were they apparently claimed the highest authority for their teaching since Paul warned his readers to reject it even if it had come from angelic messengers sent directly from heaven. By "accursed"Paul meant under God's judgment.
"In Paul's eyes, the acknowledgment of Jesus as Messiah logically implied the abrogation of the law . . . If Christ displaced the law as the activating centre of Paul's own life, he equally displaced the law in the economy of God, in the ordering of salvation-history. Therefore, if the law was still in force as a way of salvation and life, the messianic age had not yet dawned, and Jesus accordingly was not the Messiah."21
1:9 He even repeated his warning for emphasis. The prior warning in verse 9 probably refers to what Paul had told them when he was with them in person rather than to what he had just said in verse 8.22"We"implies Paul and his fellow missionaries, not just Paul alone.
"The vehemence with which Paul denounces those who teach another gospel (literally, he say, Let them be damned') has bothered some commentators, as well as other readers of the letter. But this shows how little the gospel of God's grace is understood and appreciated and how little many Christians are concerned for the advance of biblical truth."23
"Accursed"evidently refers to being under God's judgment, not just excommunication, since an angel could be the possible object.
1:10 The false teachers evidently charged Paul with preaching to curry the favor of his listeners, perhaps to gain a large number of converts to enhance his own reputation.
"There have always been preachers who have sought popular acclaim above all else, and there are some still. It is part of fallen human nature that even those charged with the responsibility of proclaiming the gospel can fall into the trap of trying to be popular rather than faithful."24
Paul's critics may have accused him of preaching one thing to some people and the opposite to others (cf. 5:2 and 11). It is understandable how some people might have concluded this (cf. 1 Cor. 9:22). However, Paul's argument in this verse was that a person can only be the slave of one master. Paul was claiming to have behaved among them consistent with his commitment to Christ as his master.
". . . his uncompromising attitude as reflected in the severity of his language in condemning the counterfeit gospel (vv. 8f.) is proof positive that he is no men-pleaser."25
Paul liked to describe himself as a "bond-servant"(Greek doulos) in relation to Christ (cf. Rom. 1:1; Phil. 1:1; Titus 1:1). This Greek word also describes Moses (Rev. 15:3), the Old Testament prophets (Rev. 10:7; 11:18), and the apostles (2 Cor. 4:5). Moreover it describes Jesus Christ (Phil. 2:7), Christian leaders (1 Tim. 2:24), James (James 1:1), Peter (2 Pet. 1:1), and Jude (Jude 1). Furthermore it describes John (Rev. 1:1), Christians (Acts 4:29; 1 Cor. 7:22; Gal. 4:7; Eph. 6:6; 1 Pet. 2:16; Rev. 1:1, 2:20), Tribulation saints (Rev. 7:3), and all believers (Rev. 19:2, 5; 22:3, 6) in the New Testament.
"Already in these opening verses the two key concepts in the letter have surfaced--gospel and grace."26
