Thank you for listening to the First Day podcast. I am Patrick Cooley, the pastor of Northport Methodist Church, and I am so glad you’re spending some time with me.

As I mentioned in the last episode, Paul’s letter to the Galatians is quite different from James’. He is writing to Gentiles who had converted from paganism, while James was writing to Jews who had accepted Jesus as Messiah.

Paul’s letter is more theological, while James’ is more practical. Paul is telling his audience about something that they really don’t know, while James is reminding his about something they should already.
When I look though the cross references in my NASB something that strikes me about Galatians chapter one is that there are only two that point back to the Old Testament: both for verse fifteen.

Those are Isaiah 49:1-5 and Jeremiah 1:5; both of which concern having a prophetic call from birth—or in the case of Jeremiah even before the womb! More on these later. Two things are noteworthy about this. The first is that in the New American Bible Revised Edition, a Roman Catholic bible, has the same dearth Old Testament references here in chapter one as the Evangelical NASB. In fact, for verse 1:15, they are the same in both bible translations.

Secondly—and I think more importantly—this lack of OT references proves that Paul is writing to a bunch of believers who do not know the grounding of their faith. They’ve never read the Hebrew Bible’s promises and covenants. They’ve probably never even heard the word, Messiah. This lack of knowing, I think, is the reason for the letters more theological approach.

Well, I guess it reveals three things: 1. They have not had contact with the Hebrew scriptures 2. This forces Paul to be more theological. And 3. It makes Galatians the foundational statement of WHAT WE BELIEVE AS CHRISTIANS. It is the starting point.

Read verses 1-4
Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through human agency, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2 and all the brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 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, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Paul begins his letter stating that his mission to bring the Gospel to them in Galatia was authorized by none other than God, (...through Jesus Christ and God the Father…) and I love this next part, “who raised [ Jesus] from the dead.” He then offers them grace and peace and gives out his first bit of theology: “who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age…” And this was done not as an afterthought or by accident but, “according to the will of our God and Father.”

Think about this for a second. If this chronological approach to reading the New Testament is the way to go, the first expressed, unique statement of our Christian faith’s theology is that Jesus died for our sins to save us, and that this was God’s desire and will—He made it happen. Wow! Keep this in mind as we move through this letter.

But there is something that is amusing about this introduction as well. Words like grace and peace and ideas like salvation and God’s will…If I were to hear these spoken to me, I know that they would be accompanied by the warm fuzzies—maybe even the attaboys. But Paul accompanies them with:
“I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel”. (6)

In the South we would insert the words “bless your heart” between verses five and six. So the opening of Galatians would go something like:

It is God’s will that you be saved, Paul says. So much so that Jesus was willing to die for us to rescue us from our sins and certain death. And this is a God who is powerful enough to raise the dead! And He did it all for you! What good news! Bless your heart…Because you are throwing all this away, “for a different gospel, 7 which is not just another account; but there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.”

This is not simply another account of the same gospel—think the call narratives of the synoptic gospels and the one that is found in John—or the slightly different takes on any given gospel narrative. Sure there are differences, but they do not change the overall meaning. No, this gospel to which Paul is referring is not a differing written account but rather a different proclamation of what God has done. This appears to tell us why he starts his letter the way that he does.

This alternative “gospel” appears to taking a toll on the Church’s growth in faith; it is disturbing them, making them doubt where they shouldn’t. It’s okay to question and raise questions, but what is happening in the churches here is much worse and even seems to be malevolent.

Read verses 8,9
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!

This is so serious that Paul doesn’t care if he is redundant here with a double helping of “accursed”.
Numbers 35:6-34 establishes cities of refuge, where those who have unintentionally killed another person can go to be protected from vengeance. So the Law distinguishes between manslaughter and murder—the latter deserving vengeance but the former leniency.

I bring this up because Paul declares the bringers of this false gospel to be accursed. Their distortion is not just accidental—or the result of ignorance—or a different telling—but deliberate. If it was just a mistake, Paul would be lenient, I am convinced. At least as a preacher I hope this is the case!

Verse 10: “For am I now seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”

Paul tells the Galatians that the gospel message that he proclaimed to them, the one that they are turning from, can be trusted because he did not share it to please them—to seek their favor—but because Christ Jesus had commissioned him to do so. Essentially, he’s reiterating the very first verse of the chapter.

To paraphrase what the apostle is saying: Don’t trust any other message about the work of Christ Jesus than the one I first told you, because I didn’t tell it to you for my own sake but for yours.

Read verses 11,12
11 For I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is not of human invention. 12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

And this is evidenced, Paul tells them, by the fact that the message that I shared with you was not my invention nor any other person’s. It was given to me by Jesus Christ to share with you. Once again, see the first verse of the chapter. And you know that this revelation must be true, Paul says, because of my past.