Galatians 1:1 Commentary

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Galatians 1:1

Comments

Paul begins this epistle, as many others, by affirming his apostolic office. Because he is an apostle he is qualified to minister to the churches and furthermore to write to them under inspiration so that they must give the greatest possible attention to his words. But immediately he departs from his normal introduction in order to defend his apostleship, showing us what sort of letter Galatians will be. His office and authority is under attack by a group of false teachers, known as the Judaizers, who taught that Christ alone was not enough, and that the converted Gentiles, needed also to be circumcised and to continue with many Jewish practices in obedience to the law of Moses. These teachers accuse Paul of lacking God-given authority, and of being less than the other twelve apostles. This tactical assault has been followed up with criticism of his message, so that in order to defend the gospel he preached he is obliged to also defend his apostleship. That apostleship was not ‘of men’, that is, the source of it was not man. He did not come with a message that originated in some human mind, as if human beings had anything worth saying about life and death, heaven and hell. He did not utter promises of eternal mercy on mere human authority, or offer mankind some fallible human opinion about salvation. Neither was it ‘by man’; the agent who appointed him to be an apostle was not a man, not even another apostle. Paul was commissioned directly by Christ who appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and sent him to preach the gospel. The reality of the resurrection was part of his conversion experience, for, to his amazement, Christ appeared to him as one who was risen from the dead. The resurrection was for him a historical fact which transformed the entire meaning of history. Why then should Paul be afraid of those who opposed him? How could he fail to carry out the work Christ had given him to do?

Application

It is one thing to be self-effacing when men attack us personally; it is quite another thing to fail to defend the work of God. Paul was not an oversensitive, defensive person, but he knew that his apostolic authority must be defended for the sake of the gospel. Let pastors, elders and deacons not make the mistake of letting a false humility prevent them holding high the office into which God has called them.

Every minister is called to defend the church of God against error. He must therefore be vigilant and rise to the occasion when the doctrine of Christ is under attack. He cannot carry on regardless teaching what interests him, without considering the current battles that the church is facing.

Questions

Paul was appointed an apostle not by man but by Jesus Christ. How is it that Christ is put in a category of beings that does not include ‘man’? Paul certainly knew that Jesus had been born, had lived, and had died a true man, and that he had human brothers (Galatians 1:19), and yet the authority with which he acted in sending Paul was nothing less than divine authority. Because Paul accepted the divine person of the Lord Jesus Christ, he could therefore say that God had appointed him to this office not man.

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Galatians 1:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The meaning of Galatians 1:1 explained