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Introduction To Galatians; The Author Of This Letter; The Recipients Of This Letter; Paul’s Greeting; The Problem Identified – Legalism; The True Message Contrasted To False Messages; A Very Strong Warning; Paul’s Defense Of Himself And His Message; Paul Received His Message By A Revelation Of Messiah

Rabbi Paul of Tarsus was one of the greatest men who ever lived. He was intelligent, courageous, devoted, zealous. He worked harder and suffered more for the Faith than most people ever will. He was an outstanding Jewish scholar and theologian. He was also a Roman citizen. He spoke and wrote Greek and was familiar with Greek and Roman culture.

He was one of the greatest evangelists of all time. He started new communities of Messiah’s people. He was a prophet – one of a relatively few men who were privileged to hear clear messages from God and then communicate those messages to the rest of us. He was an apostle, a special representative of the Son of God. Paul was a very special representative – the apostle to the Gentiles, a Jewish rabbi uniquely equipped to reach and teach the non-Jewish peoples of the world. Paul wrote much of the New Testament and left a tremendous imprint on Christianity and on Western civilization. We should pay very careful attention to his divinely inspired writings that have been preserved for us, like this letter to the Galatians.

Why did Paul write this letter? The Holy Spirit had used Paul and members of his team to bring the Gospel, the Good News, the Message about the salvation made possible by the Messiah, based on loyalty to Messiah alone – to the region of Galatia, which would be part of present day Turkey.

People responded to the message, and Paul started New Covenant Communities in Galatia. Some time after he left, other Messianic Jewish leaders showed up and told God’s people that Paul was wrong and hadn’t been giving them the full message. These Messianic Jewish leaders told the Galatians that yes, they needed faith in Messiah and loyalty to the Three-In-One God, but they also needed more. They had to observe all the laws of the Sinai Covenant. They undermined not only Paul’s message that faith alone in Yeshua was sufficient for salvation and for living; they also undermined Paul.

Paul discovered that this has been going on in the precious communities of Galatia, and wrote this letter to defend his message of salvation by faith alone through God’s grace; and victorious living by faith, not works; and he wrote this letter to defend himself and his apostolic authority.

This is one of the earliest letters in the New Testament, and many consider it to be the earliest. It was probably written around 50 AD, before the First Jerusalem Council took place, which was convened to deal with these same issues – the nature of salvation, and the relationship of Gentile Christians to the laws of the Sinai Covenant. Of course, the First Jerusalem Council completely supported Paul’s position.

Why is Galatians relevant for us today? It’s part of the Word of God. It’s divinely inspired. It establishes Paul’s authority. It’s full of important truths – the centrality of Messiah; salvation by grace – God’s unearned, undeserved blessing, working through our faith – our loyalty to Messiah, our union with Messiah – not salvation by works, or law-keeping or human effort. It tells us the true message, and contrasts it with all other messages.

And it tells is that God’s grace and our faith, not works, is not only the way we are saved, but is the way we are to live. We live, not by mere human effort or law-keeping or torah-observance or good works. We live by Holy Spirit empowered, close-to-God empowered living. We are able live righteous, God-honoring lives by being born again, by having the Spirit of Messiah live in us, and empowering us to be holy. That is extremely relevant for us today. All of us need to know how to live this kind of Holy Spirit empowered, faith-based life.

So many people think the essence of religion is doing things – doing the right things, doing good things – and that is an essential part of religion – but true faith, a faith that will save us, is more than doing good things. Our good works are to be the result of ending our rebellion against the Creator; getting right with God. Our good deeds are to flow from a close personal relationship with the living God and a new, godly nature that is birthed in us when we are saved; right living is sourced from the Holy Spirit living in us and empowering us and teaching us and equipping us. This is a radically different approach to religion than religion based on human effort, Torah-observance, or keeping the Ten Commandments, or good deeds outweighing bad deeds.

Galatians is of particular concern to the Messianic Jewish Community because many of those who have been getting involved in our movement are making the exact same error that the Galatians were – legalism, a distorted kind of Torah observance; Judaizing – pressuring Gentiles to become Jews or live like Jews, demanding that peoples from the nations observe the Sabbath or the holidays or other laws of the Sinai Covenant.

For these reasons, Paul’s letter to the Galatians is extremely relevant for us today.

This letter starts with Paul identifying himself and those he is writing to. Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by a man, but by Messiah Yeshua and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead – and all the brothers and sisters with me. Paul starts by asserting that he was an apostle, sent by God the Father and Messiah the Son to represent them. Paul emphasizes that he was not sent from men nor by a man – from any human source. Therefore his authority was not based on human authority, but rested on divine authority and divine sending. Paul claims he was sent by both God the Father and Messiah Yeshua, who is alive and powerful because God the Father raised Him from the dead. As an apostle, an emissary, an ambassador, a representative of the God the Father and Messiah the Son, Paul had the highest spiritual authority.

Even though the statement – “Yeshua is God” is true, that does not mean that Yeshua is God the Father. Messiah the Son is equal to God the Father in nature. Yeshua is fully God, divine, eternal, uncreated, but the Son is distinct from the Father as to His person. The Son is not the Father and the Father is not the Son. In the Trinity, there is a unity of nature but a distinction of persons, and a hierarchy of authority – the Father being greater than the Son in authority.

When composing this letter, Paul was not alone. He was with some brothers and sisters. These Messianic Jews and Christians were with Paul, and recognized him as an apostle and agreed with him and supported him – as should the Galatians.

After Paul identifies who is writing this letter, he specifies its recipients. To the churches in Galatia: The recipients of this letter were the communities of Messianic Jews and peoples from the nations who were living in Galatia, which is park of present-day Turkey. They were communities of individuals called out, called out of a dying world, called out to live forever with the eternal God.

After identifying himself and those to whom he is writing, Paul greets them with a prayer. Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. What a great greeting! Paul prayed that grace – unmerited, undeserved favor, God’s unearned blessing; and peace – wholeness, completeness, everything that is needed to ensure one’s well-being, would be given to these communities by God the Father and the powerful and authoritative Lord Yeshua, who is also the Messiah – the ultimate Prophet, Priest, King and Savior; Yeshua, who willingly gave Himself for our sins, because that was the only way to rescue us from this evil age.

God the Father will, wanted human beings to be rescued from this period of history when the world of fallen and rebellious human beings is satanically controlled, evil, corrupt, sinful, dark, doomed, and headed to Hell. And what the Father wanted, the Son willingly and magnificently accomplished, by voluntarily dying to make atonement for us, and reconciling us to God, and redeeming us from this present evil age.

What a glorious and honorable God, who asked His Son to volunteer on a rescue mission to help fallen humanity! And what a great Savior, who willingly said yes, even though He knew it would cost Him so much hardship and suffering! The Supreme Being is worthy of our highest honor and respect and love and devotion now, and will be honored by us and others, forever and ever. Amen? Amen!

What a great greeting! Let’s learn from this how to greet people. Instead of the bland: “Hi. How are you?” (And most people really don’t want to know how you really are) – I’ve been responding by greeting people in return by saying things like: “Blessed. Blessed by the Creator who reconciles us to Himself when we know that Yeshua is the Messiah and we transfer our loyalties to Him.” Here’s my latest one: “How am I? I’m right with God. I’m headed to Heaven. I’m good – in spite of life’s circumstances. How are you?”

After the greeting to these New Covenant Communities, Paul begins to address a very serious problem. The Gospel, the Good News, the one and only message that makes salvation possible, the message that Paul had first brought them, was being perverted by people who were bringing another message; and the Galatians were being influenced by their false teaching. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you to live in the grace of Messiah and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Messiah. But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

It was only a relatively short time since Paul had been with the Galatians. He had brought them the true Good News message. He had told them the truth. He had helped establish their communities. He had laid a good foundation. He had taught them well. He was amazed by their sudden disloyalty to God and to the Message. I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the One who called you to live in the grace of Messiah and are turning to a different Gospel – which is really no Gospel at all. Paul accuses the Galatians of deserting God, abandoning God, being disloyal to God. His evidence? The Galatians had turned to a different Gospel, a Message that was different from the one he had brought them.

You think what we believe about essential things like the Gospel doesn’t matter? That all faiths are the same? That all versions of the Gospel are the same? That the Catholic Gospel, for example, is the same as the Evangelical Christian Gospel? They aren’t! Understand well that there is an essential connection between God and the Message. To be faithful to the true Message is to be faithful to God. To be disloyal to the true Message is to be disloyal to God. To turn to a different Message is to desert God.

In this case, there was a Gospel, a message that was based on the grace of Messiah – salvation provided by grace, not by human effort – and there was a different Gospel, a different message, a distorted Gospel, which was not a true message that would result in anyone’s salvation.

Paul had taught them a grace-based message: that salvation and right living are based on the grace that flows from the Messiah and not from human effort or law-keeping or Torah-observance; and that our response to what Messiah has done for us is to be faith; to transfer our loyalties to the Father and the Son; and out of this grace and faith and loyalty flow salvation and Holy Spirit-empowered, right living.

But, others had come (Judaizers, Legalists) who had brought the Galatians a different Gospel, a false, twisted, perverted, corrupt message that would not save them or empower them for right living. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Gospel of Messiah.

Human beings are fallen. They are part of the rebellion of the fallen angels. They have a fallen nature, a sin nature, a rebellious nature. Humanity is alienated from God, headed to Hell not Heaven, to death not life. The Gospel, the Good News about salvation made possible by the Messiah – is the only message that can save human beings from this terrible situation. And there is only one true message, one pure version of the Gospel, the Good News. So, to pervert the one true Message that alone can reconcile men and woman to God is one of the very worse possible crimes. It is a spiritual felony of the highest order! And it carries with it the most serious penalty – no matter who is the one who corrupts it – whether it is someone who is called an apostle, or even an angel. But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse!

To emphasize how serious a sin this is, Paul repeats his dire warning. As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a Gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse! And believe me, you do not want to be under the curse of the Almighty, infinitely holy, eternal God, before whom you will most assuredly appear on the Day of Judgment! You do not want Your Creator to do the opposite of bless you – to remove His favor from you, and work against you, and want to see you punished.

These are very strong warnings meant to tell the truth. They were not meant to please people, to accommodate human beings, to make things easier on us. Which leads Paul to defend himself, because, not only was the Message of salvation by knowing Messiah and being loyal to Him being perverted by the Judaizers, but Paul and his apostolic authority were under attack. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Messiah. Paul’s attackers were probably saying things like: You listen to Paul? He not a true apostle. He wasn’t one of the original followers of Messiah. Paul is a compromiser. He doesn’t fear God. He fears man. He is a people-pleaser. He wants to please you. He is watering down the message to make things easier for you. Paul is not giving you the full message – that you are required to be Torah-observant, circumcised and live according to all the laws of the Sinai Covenant. Don’t listen to Paul. Listen to us. Don’t follow Paul. Follow us.

Paul defends himself from these accusations: It makes no sense to accuse him of being a people-pleaser, because he serves Messiah, and serving Messiah is not easy. It involves taking unpopular positions and going against the majority. It includes rejection, hardship, suffering, sacrifice. The truth is the opposite of what his attackers were accusing him of. He fears God, not man. He is faithful to God and his message is the true one.

Paul again defends himself and the message that he taught them. He has the right message, the only real message, and the Galatians can know that because Paul received the message directly from the risen Messiah, the Son of God Himself. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Messiah Yeshua. If Paul received the Message by a revelation from Messiah Yeshua, and I believe he did, that’s awesome! The glorious Son of God does not give revelations like this to just anybody. They’re very rare. They’re special. This makes Paul and his message special. This revelation of the Gospel, from Messiah to Paul, is a powerful argument that Paul is a true apostle, a true Representative of the Son of God, and Paul’s Message is true, reliable, trustworthy.

In contrast to this revelation of the Good News from the Risen Lord to Paul, is the message of the Judaizers. They were taught their message by human beings, and human beings can be fallible and may corrupt the truth. Therefore the Galatians must listen to Paul and to his message – and not to the message of the Legalists.

Next, to further defend himself and his message, Paul shares with them his story, how he had a very special, supernatural salvation experience. Then he was isolated from the other leaders of Messiah’s Community, so the Message that Messiah gave him was not influenced by anyone else. It was uncontaminated. It remained pure. And, when he finally met the other apostles, they shared the same message he did and recognized him as an equal. And, they recognized his special authority as the Lord’s representative to the peoples of the world. For a fuller analysis, you will want to come back next week!

Paul, an apostle – sent not from men nor by a man, but by Messiah Yeshua and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead – and all the brothers and sisters with me, to the communities in Galatia:

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Messiah and are turning to a different gospel – which is really no message at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the Good News of Messiah. But even if we or an angel from Heaven should preach a message other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Messiah.

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Messiah Yeshua.

May the good Lord help us to understand these great truths, and live out these great truths. Amen?