CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
This small letter is very important to the doctrine of salvation.
Salvation is a FREE gift from God to those who surrender to Christ as Lord of their lives.
Salvation comes by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

God INITIATES salvation by grace.
His people, His Word, and His Holy Spirit work upon people to bring:
conviction of sin, convincing that Jesus is the ONLY means of forgiveness and salvation, and
calling people to make a commitment to Jesus as LORD of their lives.
GRACE does this...and the grace of God is caused by His love for people.

When a person surrenders to Christ, then that person is endowed with the gift of FAITH from God.
Faith is our ability to CLING TO Christ in all circumstances.

REASON
Some Judaizers had subtly explained to some of the people in Galatia that it was
WORKS which brought salvation.
The Jdaizers believed that a person must abide totally by the laws of the Old Testament and
by the traditions of the Jewish people.
But man can NEVER earn salvation from God.
Because man's heart is "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked:" (Jer. 17:9)

DATE
There is some dispute about the date when Paul wrote this letter.
Probably it is the first book of the New Testament, written about a.d. 46-47.
This fits with some of Paul's statements in the letter. First, Titus is mention in chapter 2, and it is stated that he was not compelled to
be circumcised. That seems to coincide with a date BEFORE the Jerusalem
Council which met in a.d. 48-49.
Second, the problem with Peter and fellowship with the Gentiles occured before
the Jerusalem Council.

CHAPTER 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;)

Paul declares that his commisioning as an apostle is by God through Jesus Christ.
No man commissioned Paul, neither was he appointed by any group of men.

Paul's commissioning, according to Luke in Acts 9, was directly from Christ speaking
to him on the Damascus road.

Jesus is the Author of true salvation.
He is the Light of mankind's spiritual understanding. (See John 1:4)
On the Damascus road, Paul had been blinded by Christ's light.
And it was Jesus Who told Paul how his blindness could be healed.

2
And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

Note the word churches.
This identifies Galatia as a region, not a specific church, but many.

3
Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

This part of the 5 verse salutation is a prayer.
Paul is praying that they are experiencing the grace (favor) of God, and
peace WITH God and the peace OF God.

BY grace, God brought the avenue of PEACE through Jesus Christ!
That's why, when Jesus was born, the angels sang: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:14)

Note the equality of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old testament, Deut. 6:4 says, "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:"
This declares the unity of the Triune God.

Peace is the final end of war.
Mankind is in WAR with God because of SIN!
But Jesus brought and exemplified God's desire for PEACE with mankind, through His
sacrifice on the cross.

God is represented in Scripture by 3 identities:
He is FATHER, SON, and HOLY SPIRIT.
And, they are all ONE - in perfect unison and harmony.

The totality of God is represented by the only visible image of the eternal God - Jesus Christ.
He is the SON of God, the visible image of the invisible God.
(See Colossians 2:9 & Hebrews 1:1-3)

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:

God, in Christ, gave himself to be the ONLY acceptable sacrifice to Himself.
And, through that sacrifice, God offers to DELIVER mankind from the "evil" of the world
which is SIN -- being AGAINST God.

The world will lead you AWAY from God!
But surrender to Jesus as Lord of your life will bring favor and peace from God.
The ONLY way to end a war with a superior force is to SURRENDER!

Note that Jesus came, lived and died, and was resurrected and ascended
according to the WILL of God and our Father.
Again, this declares the unity and harmony of the Triune God.

5
To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

God INITIATED the plan to save man.
God EXECUTED the plan to save man.

We should praise and honor Him eternally for His love that brought about that plan.

6
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ
unto another gospel:

It is indeed a marvel, or astonishment that people are moved from the free liberty
given in Christ to an imprisonment of do's and don't's!
But, it happens all too often, and to some all too quickly!

Sometimes it happens to new Christians because they fail to study the Scriptures.
Jesus said, "Ye do ERR, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God." (Matt. 22:29)

Sometimes it happens to older Christians because they get caught up in legalism
instead of spiritualism with Christ.

God, through Christ, calls us into grace, or FAVOR with Him.
That grace is CONTINUAL, because He is ALWAYS with us when we surrender to Him as Lord!
Eph. 1:13-14 says this, "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth,
the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye BELIEVED, ye were SEALED with
that Holy Spirit of promise,
Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of His glory."

7
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

A work-based salvation is another gospel other than truth.
It actually is not another because there is NO OTHER than the Gospel which is
by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Only those who would trouble you and pervert the Gospel of Christ would try to
introduce a FAKE gospel!

Christ sets a person FREE from the consequences of sin!
That's true LIBERTY!

FREEDOM is how we EXERCISE our liberty in Christ.
That freedom comes by FAITH, which is the gift of God.

8-9
8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.

The word accursed is translated from the Greek anathema.
It literally means to be banned or excommunicated.

Any teaching that salvation can be obtained by something other that by grace, through faith in Christ is to be
BANNED from the church!
Sanctification and justification before God can ONLY be received through surrender to Jesus as Lord!

10-12
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Before his conversion, Paul had sought to please MEN, as is evident in Luke's statement in Acts 9:1-2.
And Saul, yet brething out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the
high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way,
whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

But AFTER his conversion, Paul only sought to please GOD!
BECAUSE, if he sought to please men, then he would not belong to Christ.
THINK about that in YOUR life!

When one receives salvation by the revelation of Jesus Christ, then that person will teach TRUTH
according to the Word of God.

13-14
13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

Paul admits that before his conversion, he profited by persecuting Christians.

15-19
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.

A brief history begins here.

Note in verse 15, Paul acknowledges that it was GOD Who made sure of his BIRTH!
The birth of a child is BY God and FOR His glory!
Anyone who DESTROYS that birth is a MURDERER!

Paul's call (vs 16) was to preach Christ among the heathen.
The heathen he refers to are all those who are not Jewish.
Paul was called to be an apostle to the GENTILES!

After his salvation, Paul didn't go to the church in Jerusalem immediately.
He went into Arabia, to be alone with God and study under the inspiration of God's Holy Spirit.

Three years later, he did go to Jerusalem and stayed with Peter.
During that time, he only saw Peter, and James who was Jesus' half-brother.

20-24
20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;
22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:
23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which
once he destroyed.
24 And they glorified God in me.

Now Paul begins to assert that the things which he is writing now came from God.

He gives evidence of that fact in that the churches in Judaea heard about him and his conversion.
They also heard that he was preaching the TRUE Gospel of Jesus Christ.

As a result of what they found out, those same churches glorified God in me.
That means the churches in Judaea praised God for Paul's conversion and call to preach.

Allow me to conclude this chapter with a few short thoughts.

*Salvation comes by God's grace (favor) upon ALL mankind,
THROUGH Jesus Christ.
The offer is FROM God TO man, and when accepted by trust in Christ, the offer provides
a penitent sinner with MORE favor (grace) from God.
*Any other teaching of salvation is FAKE!
*Webster defines liberty as the quality or state of being FREE!
When we receive Jesus, we receive TRUE liberty.
It is the state of being free from the condemnation of sin.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!
That salvation which comes to man through Jesus cannot be destroyed from the OUTSIDE!

PLEASE CONTINUE WITH US IN BIBLE STUDY TOMORROW.
BACK TO INDEX OF DEVOTIONS