Free Bible Commentary
“Galatians 1:1-5”
Categories: Galatians“Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren 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 so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.”
---End of Scripture verses---
Just a brief introductory from the Apostle Paul before we get into the meat of the epistle. At the start we can see that he is a bit on the defensive, feeling the need to stress his credentials as a legitimate Apostle, hand-selected by Jesus Christ himself. Paul defends his apostleship quite a bit in this letter because of the false teachers that had come into the region discrediting Paul and slandering his reputation. Unlike these “wolves” who only wielded human authority while peddling their damnable doctrines, Paul was an authorized and inspired ambassador who preached the Truth “through Jesus Christ and God the Father.”
Paul prayed “grace and peace” for the brethren, even though many of them had begun to behave ungraciously and hostilely toward him. Grace is undeserved favor and peace is a harmonious relationship with God. Grace and peace can only be found through faith and obedience to God the Father through Jesus Christ the Lord. Peace here is not merely a feeling of “serenity” but a condition and position of “friendship” with God through the blood of His Son, which appeased God’s wrath and quelled the hostility that our sins produced (Romans 5:1-8; Colossians 1:20). With this condition of peace restored, we can enjoy the peace (serenity) that surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). It is through God’s grace that His children receive His peace.
Jesus “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us…” (verse 4). Sin is such a huge deal and such a destructive force! Most people hardly even use the word anymore and even acknowledge its existence in their lives. But we all sin. And sin will kill us. For eternity. If we are not rescued from it. We all need Jesus! We need to accept God’s grace by believing in His Son and obeying from the heart every command of the Gospel. We will not be perfect in our obedience and God does not expect us to. But when we’ve been baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, God is faithful to forgive us if we confess our sins (1 John 1:1-9), and repent of them in godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:9-10).
Okay, maybe there was a bit of meat there after all!
Please read Galatians 1:6-10 for tomorrow.
Have a blessed day!
-Louie Taylor
