sign in sign up
<<
Home , Galatia

1:1-10 SALUTATION AND GREETING

Introduction

Paul wrote only a few introductory words to his letter to the Galatians. He was not concerned with being gracious and certainly not with being elaborate or literary in his writing. He was distressed with what he had heard about them and wanted to get immediately to his concern. He took time only to identify himself and those to whom he was writing and to express to them brief words of greeting and blessing. Is spite of their brevity, his words were powerful and full of meaning and spiritual significance. Only a brilliant mind combined with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit could have said so much in so few words.

Outline Pages

A. [The salutation] (1:1-2) ...... 2-7 1. From (1:1-2a): ...... 2 a. Paul, an apostle (1:1) ...... 2 (1) Not by men (1:1b) ...... 2 (2) But by (1:1c) ...... 2 (a) Christ (1:1d) ...... 2 (b) And God the Father, who raised Him from the dead (1:1e) ...... 2 b. And all the brothers who are with me (1:2a) ...... 2 2. To the churches of (1:2b)...... 2-6 A Related Issue: Other Gallic People Around the World ...... 6-7 B. [The blessing] (1:3-5): ...... 7-8 1. To you (1:3a-3b) ...... 7 a. Grace (1:3b) ...... 7 b. And peace (1:3c) ...... 7 2. From (1:3d-5a) ...... 7 a. God the Father (1:3e) ...... 7 b. And our Lord Jesus Christ (1:3f-5a) ...... 7 (1) Who gave Himself for our sins (1:4a) ...... 7-8 (2) That He might deliver us from this present evil age (1:4b) ...... 7-8 (a) According to the will of God our Father (1:4c) ...... 7-8 (b) To whom be glory into the ages of the ages ( 1:5a)...... 7-8 3. Amen (1:5b)! ...... 8

GALATIANS SALUTATION AND GREETING Page 2

Comments Not by men but by Jesus Christ and God the A. [The salutation (1-1-2) Father, who raised Him from the dead . When Paul introduced himself as a missionary, he stressed that Verse 1. From P aul, an apostle, not by men he had not been chosen for that work by men, but but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who by Jesus Christ and God the Father. He evidently raised Him from the dead , was referring to the call that came to him on the road to Damascus, which is described by Luke in From Paul . Paul identified himself as the :1-9 and which Paul himself described both in writer in the first words of this letter. In the first :6-21 and in :12-18. It was a call century, it was customary to identify the writer and that turned his life around and changed him from a the person or persons to whom a letter was written persecutor of Christians to a compassionate in the opening words. Paul customarily followed missionary for Jesus all over the Roman Empire. that practice, and he did so in this letter. The facts mentioned in the book are so typical of Paul and so Verse 2 . And all the brothers who are with consistent with what we know of his life that few me t o the churches of Galatia (1:2b). have ever questioned that Paul was the writer. Paul’s plain statement that he was the writer is And all the brothers who are with me . In accepted in these comments. Paul’s letters he usually named a person or persons who put the letter in writing for him and also An apostle . Paul called himself an apostle, helpers who sent greetings along with him. In his which many have understood to mean that he letter to the Galatians, he did not mention any of claimed to be chosen by God to replace Judas after those persons by name, so we are left wondering Judas betrayed Jesus. This understanding means who the brothers were who were with him. that Peter and other believers were mistaken both in Answering that question is difficult, because Paul the requirements for being an apostle and in the one says nothing about when he wrote the letter, where whom the Lord chose to be an apostle in Judas’s he was when he wrote it, or who was with him place, when they were praying in the upper room in when he wrote. Answers to those questions have to right after Jesus ascended into heaven be derived from events in Paul’s life that he (:15-26). Such a distasteful conclusion is not mentions in the letter. necessary. The book of Acts says they prayed for the Lord to show them whom He had chosen and For insights into when and where Paul wrote accepted the one on whom the lot fell as the answer the letter, see A THIRD RELATED ISSUE: When to their prayer and the will of God. Some other and Where Did Paul Write His Letter to the understanding must be sought for Paul’s statement Churches of Galatia?, which is found after that he was an apostle chosen not by men but by comments on Galatians 2:11-21 in Section I.A.5. Jesus and the Father. For insights into who the brothers were who The word “apostle” means “one who is sent,” were with Paul, see A FOURTH RELATED ISSUE: which the twelve apostles certainly were. However, Who Were the Brothers Who Were with Paul When the word was also used to refer to people we call He Wrote This Letter to the Galatians?, which is “missionaries,” people who are sent to take the found after comments on Galatians 2:11-13 in Gospel to groups who do not know it (:14; Section I.A.5. 15:33; Rom. 16:7; 1 Cor. 6:9; 9:5; 2 Cor. 11:13; Gal. 1:15; Heb. 13:1). It is much better to to the churches of Galatia . Paul plainly states understand Paul’s claim to be an apostle to mean he that he wrote this letter to the churches in Galatia. was chosen of God to be a missionary to carry the Therefore, it would seem to be an easy task to Gospel all over the Roman world. He was certainly identify where those churches were located. the consummate missionary of all times. However, the task is not as easy as it seems because

GALATIANS SALUTATION AND GREETING Page 3 of the complicated makeup of the As the or moved out of central of Galatia. That province was a well known where they began, a group of them migrated political entity in Paul’s day. It stretched across the into the Balkan Peninsula. Around 278 B.C., King central portion of Minor. Asia Minor was a Nicomedes of in northern needed name used for the area that is occupied by soldiers to fight in his army as to help today. The geographic name for that area is defend his territory against enemies who were Anatolia. The northern boundary of the Roman threatening him from the east. Knowing of the province of Galatia in Anatolia was on the southern warrior skills of the Gauls, he invited a group of the shore of the Black Sea. The southern boundary of Gauls in the Balkan Peninsula to move to his area the province varied from time to time according to and fight with his army. The Gauls who accepted political decisions made by emperors and politicians his invitation brought their families and possessions of Rome, but at times it stretched all the way to the with them and stayed. Soon they were not content northern shores of the . In other to fight for Nicomedes but began to try to conquer words, it was located in the center of present-day lands for themselves. After decades of warring Turkey and stretched from the north to the south of against other peoples in the Anatolian peninsula, that area. However, the question about to whom King Attalus of Pergamum defeated them around Paul wrote this letter is complicated by the different 230 B.C. and forced them to confine themselves to sections of that province and the diverse people who an area in the northern portion of central Anatolia to lived there. the east and south of Bithynia. They formed their own nation there, which they called Galatia. They The people for whom the province of Galatia had their own language and culture and established was named were called by two closely related their capital in , the same city that is the names. Some called them “Gauls,” and others capital of Turkey today. called them “Celts”. Both names were derived from their name in their original language. The variation When the Romans spread their power into between the two names came from translations of Anatolia beginning in 189 B.C., they conquered their name into different languages. The earliest Galatia and for a time allowed the Galatians to existing records we have of the Gauls or Celts continue to have their own king under the reveal that they lived in around 500 overlordship of Rome. The last of those kings was B.C. They were a prolific people, which led them named Amyntas. When Amyntas was killed in to spread out from their original location into many battle in 25 B.C., Caesar turned Galatia other areas in Europe and even in the . into a province under direct Roman control and added more territory to the province to the south to Wherever the Gallic people have moved in the make up the whole province. Afterward in the world, two characteristics have identified them: (1) Roman Empire the name Galatia included not only They are fierce fighters, who brought fear to all who the area in the north that had been an independent made war with them. (2) They are an emotional, nation but also the area to the south that Augustus even excitable, people. They have strong likes and added to the province. The major portion of the dislikes. They are expressive people and quickly population in the area that was added were people demonstrate strong feelings and opinions. They are called , who had lived in Anatolia long loving by nature and tend to have great loyalty to before the Galatians arrived. The exact territory in people of their own group. At the same time, they the south that was included in the Roman province are resistant toward people of other ethnic groups. of Galatia varied from time to time according to Those characteristics help us understand some of decisions of the Roman emperors and politicians. the comments Paul made about them and also Though the people in the two areas of the Roman descriptions of their actions that are found in the province continued to be distinct from each other, Book of Acts. the characteristics of the Gallic people in the north had great influence on those who lived in the south.

GALATIANS SALUTATION AND GREETING Page 4

The question about the Galatian people that records. If Paul wrote to Christians in the northern affects the interpretation of the Book of Galatians portion of the province, he wrote to a nonexistent concerns what area Paul referred to when he spoke people as far as the record is concerned. (2) We of “the churches of Galatia.” Did he mean the have no definite record that Paul ever worked in whole Roman province? Or did he mean the northern Galatia or started churches there, though northern portion of the province that had been an advocates of the view that Paul wrote to churches in independent nation? Or did he mean the southern the northern part of the province have struggled portion of the province that had been added to the earnestly to find some evidence that Paul may have province by Rome? That question has been much established churches there. discussed by interpreters of the Book of Galatians, but few today believe that Paul could have meant Some hold that he could have evangelized and people living all over the whole province. Paul started churches in northern Galatia early in his spoke of the people to whom he wrote as being second missionary journey, which is described in homogeneous in nature and alike in their response :40-16:10; but that view is highly to the heresy that had arisen among them. The questionable. Paul, accompanied by Silas, began people of the two areas, though similar in their his second missionary journey by traveling overland emotional natures, were too distinct from each other through , where was located, and then to be described in the uniform fashion that Paul did through , which was Paul’s home province in in the Book of Galatians. Also, the whole province the southeastern part of Anatolia. In those areas, was too large for them all to have been influenced Paul and Silas occupied themselves with by an invading heresy in so short a time. So the strengthening churches that already existed (Acts people to whom Paul wrote must have been either 15:40-41). From Cilicia they went on to and people in the northern original area of Galatia or in the southern part of the province of else people in the south who had been added to the Galatia. There they enlisted Timothy to join them province by Caesar Augustus. in their continuing journey and shared with the churches the conclusions of the Jerusalem Some suggest that Paul wrote the Book of Conference (Acts 15:6-29). As a result, the Galatians to churches in the northern part of the churches were strengthened in the faith and Roman province of Galatia. Their primary reason is increased in numbers day by day (Acts. 16:1-5). that the people in that area were Galatian by Then :6-8 says, “And having passed through ethnicity, whereas the people who lived in the the Phrygian and the Galatian country, having been southern part of the Roman province were Phrygian prevented by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in by ethnicity. Paul not only said he wrote to the Asia and having come toward , they tried to churches of Galatia, but also he called those people go toward Bithynia. And the Spirit did not allow “Galatians.” Those who hold that Paul wrote to them, so passing through Mysia they went down to churches in the northern portion of the province say Troas.” “The Phrygian and the Galatian country” that Paul would not have called the Phrygians in the must surely have been the southern part of the southern part of the province “Galatians.” province of Galatia that was populated mostly by However, that supposition is not necessarily true, Phrygians. According to political division, that area because those people were Galatians by virtue of was Galatian. According to ethnicity, it was being citizens of the province of Galatia, just as Phrygian. Acts does not say they passed through people in the United States are called “Americans” “the Phrygian country and the Galatian country,” regardless of their ethnic background. Two factors but “through the Phrygian and the Galatian argue against northern Galatia: (1) No records exist country.” That country was not two areas but one. to substantiate the presence of a sizable number of Only one area was both Phrygian and Galatian, the Christians in northern Galatia in Paul’s time. Later southern portion of the province of Galatia. When it became a strong Christian area, but a significant Paul and Silas ministered in Derbe and Lystra, they presence of Christians in the area in Paul’s time has were working in that Phrygian/Galatian country. to be surmised. It cannot be proven by existing The northern part of the province of Galatia was in

GALATIANS SALUTATION AND GREETING Page 5 no way Phrygian country, so the supposition that in the early part of his third missionary journey, Paul may have ministered in northern Galatia at that which is described in :23. The previous time goes contrary to the statements of Acts 16:6. verse says that, upon returning from his second missionary journey, Paul went up and greeted “the Just west of the province of Galatia was the church”. “Going up” meant going to Jerusalem, province of Asia. The southern portion of that because Jerusalem was on a high hill. After province was sometimes called “,” because greeting the church in Jerusalem, Paul “went down” it also was populated mostly by Phrygians. The to Antioch, the location of the church that had sent northern portion of the province was called him out on his missionary journeys. He “went “Mysia,” because it was populated mostly by down” to Antioch because it was located on the sea Mysians. So when Paul and Silas had passed shore in Syria. Then verse 23 says, “And having through the Phrygian and Galatian country and were spent some time, he left, passing through in order forbidden by the Holy Spirit to evangelize in the the Galatian country and Phrygian, strengthening all province of Asia, they traveled through Asia the disciples.” That verse says Paul and Silas without preaching. When they approached Mysia, passed through the Galatian country and Phrygian the northern portion of the province of Asia, they “in order”, that is, one after the other. Therefore, tried to go toward Bithynia, which was a Roman the name does not refer to one area, but to two. province south of the Black Sea to the east of the Paul passed through Galatia and then through province of Asia. Again the Spirit told them “No,” Phrygia, which was the southern portion of the so they came to Troas in the northern part of the Roman province of Asia. :1 shows they province of Asia on the shore of the Aegean Sea were on their way to , where Paul was to (Acts 16:8). spend three years in one of his most productive ministries. In Troas, Paul learned why the Holy Spirit had told them not to evangelize in the provinces of Asia The question is, Did Paul stay in Galatia long and Bithynia. In a dream, Paul saw a man from enough to travel into the northern part of the Macedonia who said, “Coming over into province and start churches there? Two statements Macedonia, help us !” (Acts. 16:9). They concluded in the verse make that possibility unlikely: (1) The that God was speaking to them through that dream verse says that Paul “passed through” the Galatian and was calling them to go to Macedonia. country, not that he stayed there any length of time. Therefore, Paul and his companions began (2) It also says that Paul strengthened all the immediately to prepare to go there (Acts 16:10). disciples there, not that he made new disciples. Interpreters have often said that the Greek text in Going into northern Galatia, starting churches there, Acts 16:6-9 is unclear; but, no matter how those and establishing the kind of familiar acquaintances verses are translated, the sequence of their journeys with them that are described in the Book of is clear. The areas they visited or attempted to visit Galatians is certainly going beyond the limits of were the Phrygian and Galatian country, Asia, what Acts 18:23 describes. Concluding that Paul Mysia, and Bithynia. Acts 16:6-9 simply does not went into northern Galatia as he passed through the leave room for Paul and Silas to go into the northern Galatian country at the beginning of his third part of the province of Galatia. Luke wrote the missionary journey is more a figment of Book of Acts, and he certainly had a clear interpreters’ imaginations to fit a theory about the understanding of Paul’s itinerary at that time, meaning of the name “Galatian” than an because he joined Paul’s team of workers at Troas, interpretation of the wording of the Scriptures. which is indicated by Luke’s beginning to use the pronoun “we” when Paul was at Troas (Acts. On the other hand, the Book of Acts clearly 16:10). describes Paul as having an extensive ministry in southern Galatia. On his first missionary journey, Others have suggested that Paul may have he and Barnabas worked together to establish evangelized and started churches in northern Galatia churches in Antioch of , Iconium, Lystra, and

GALATIANS SALUTATION AND GREETING Page 6

Derbe (Acts. 13:13-14:21a). All of those cities Paul shows an intimate familiarity with the were in the southern part of the Roman province of churches and the people to whom he wrote that Galatia. Then before Paul and Barnabas returned to book. From the descriptions in Acts of his visits to the church in Antioch of Syria, which had sent them the churches in , Iconium, Lystra, out on their missionary journey, they revisited the and Derbe, we know he had that kind of familiarity new churches in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch of with the churches in southern Galatia. Therefore, Pisidia and strengthened the converts there. (Acts the evidence strongly indicates that the churches to 14:21b-26). Furthermore, Paul returned to further whom Paul addressed the Galatian letter were strengthen and encourage those churches at the churches he had helped to start in the southern beginning of his second missionary journey (Acts portion of the Roman province of Galatia. The 15:40-16:10) and at the beginning of his third people in those churches were Phrygian according missionary journey (Acts 18:23), as has been shown to ethnicity but Galatian according to political in the discussion above. In the Book of Galatians, assignment. ______

A RELATED ISSUE OTHER GALLIC PEOPLE AROUND THE WORLD

Some will find it interesting to consider how the people of Galatia were related to other Gallic people around the world. Knowing a little about other Gallic people will help many see them as real, living people.

A large group of Gallic people migrated into the area called France today, so that area was called in earlier periods of history. It was called Gaul in the time of Julius Caesar, who led his army to conquer Gaul before he became a leading political figure in the Roman Republic. Like the Gallic people in the Balkan Peninsula, the Gauls were recognized as fierce warriors. Julius Caesar thought it necessary to defeat them in order to protect the expanding Roman Republic. When he defeated them, they became a part of the Roman Republic, which not many year later became the Roman Empire under the leadership of Caesar Augustus. Julius Caesar wrote a book about his experiences during his campaign to conquer Gaul. He called his book Commentaries on the Gallic War . That book is still assigned to students of Latin today to help them learn to read the Latin language.

Another large segment of the Celtic people migrated into the British Isles. They finally settled in Ireland and Scotland and became the major ethnic group in each of those areas. They maintain their distinct identity until today. Therefore, the Irish and the Scots were related to the Gauls in France and the Galatians in Anatolia.

Celtic people also have had a great influence on through large immigrations of French and Irish people to the . The French were among the first to seek to colonize North America. During colonial days, large numbers of them migrated into the areas of Canada that today are called Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. In colonial times, those areas were called “Acadia” or “Acadiana.” Other French people settled along the Mississippi River after Sieur de la Salle discovered the mouth of that river in 1682. He claimed all the area drained by the Mississippi and its tributaries for France, and named the area “Louisiana” for the French king Louis XIV. Therefore, in those times, Louisiana extended from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. The French spread widely but thinly over that vast area.

Those two major groups of French people in America were widely separated from each other, but their histories came to mingle through the misfortunes of conflict among nations. England and France contested with each other for control of the North American . The conflict resulted in a war between 1755 and 1763 that is called in the United States “The French and Indian War.” It is called by that name because the

GALATIANS SALUTATION AND GREETING Page 7

British fought against the allied French and Indians. The war was ended in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, in which the French ceded Canada to the British. Because French settlers in Acadiana resisted the rule of the British, the British evicted them from Acadiana. They placed large numbers of them on ships and forced them out along the eastern coast of the American colonies. Many of them, knowing of the French population in Louisiana, particularly in its southern portion, migrated to southern Louisiana and became a distinct segment of the French population there.

After migrating to Louisiana, the French people from Canada continued to be called “Acadians” to distinguish them from the French people who had come previously to Louisiana directly from France. Today the name “Acadian” has been shortened into “Cajun.” The French people who preceded the Cajuns into southern Louisiana called themselves “Creoles,” to identify themselves as the original French inhabitants of the area, a name their descendants continue to use until today. Soon after the French and Indian war, the British gained control over the portion of Louisiana that was east of the Mississippi River. Then, much to the dismay of both Cajuns and Creoles, Napoleon Bonaparte sold the remaining part of Louisiana, which was west of the Mississippi River, to the United States in 1803 for $15,000,000 during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson to help finance his European wars. As a result, the French in America consolidated in the marshes and prairies of south Louisiana and isolated themselves from other immigrants into Louisiana. They did not become integrated into United States society until large scale exploitation of oil reserves under the Gulf of Mexico began in the 1930’s and afterward.

By contrast, the Irish began to come to the United States in large numbers at a later date than the French. The largest migrations of the Irish came to America between 1840 and 1855 because of the great potato blight and famine in Ireland. Since that time, Irish people have made a tremendous impact on American culture. One of them, John Kennedy, became president of the United States.

This brief summary of the spread of Gallic and Celtic people across the world is surveyed here to provide a background for understanding the widespread relationships of the people to whom Paul wrote this letter, even though the connection between the people to whom Paul wrote and the Gauls and Celts was based on their living in the same political province rather than on their ethnicity.

B. The blessing (1:3-5) greeted would have a pleasant day and pleasant relationships with others. Paul meant he longed for Verse 3. To you g race a nd peace fr om God those he greeted to have the abundant and the Father a nd our Lord Jesus Christ undeserved favor of God. By “peace” the Hebrews meant they hoped those they greeted would have a Paul customarily began his letters with a day free of conflict. Paul meant he longed for them blessing, which was really a prayer for them to be to have the inner peace that comes only from Jesus. granted spiritual blessings. He did the same in his letter to the churches of Galatia, but he did it much Paul said he prayed that God the Father and more briefly than in most of his letters. He was the Lord Jesus Christ would give them the blessings eager to hasten on to the reason he was writing the of grace and peace. Those blessings could come letter. The blessing with which he opened this letter from nowhere else, because only the Triune God was his customary way of greeting people. He possesses grace and peace to give. combined the traditional Greek greeting of “Grace” with the traditional Hebrew greeting of “Peace” and raised both words to a higher level of meaning. By “grace” the Greeks meant they hoped those they

GALATIANS SALUTATION AND GREETING Page 8

Verses 4-5. 4 Who gave Himself for our sins blessing. In addition, he implied the unity and the that He might deliver us from this present evil distinctiveness of two of the members of the age a ccording to the will of God our Father, Trinity. Has ever so few words said more? 5 To whom be glory into the ages of the ages. Amen ! Paul ended his blessing by proclaiming that because the Father willed all those favors on fallen Paul proclaimed that Jesus could give those and rebellious humankind, He deserves to be blessings because He gave Himself for our sins to glorified on and on through ages and ages to come. save us from the evil world in which we live. He In those words, He added the doctrines of the added that Jesus could make that sacrifice because it majesty and eternity of God the Faather. It is was the will of God the Father. Because Jesus gave amazing that Paul could crowd so many exalted Himself and the Father willed it, those blessings thoughts into just a few words while rushing on to come from both and from no other source. In a few confront the Galatians with the concern that brief words Paul combined the doctrines of consumed him at that time. Substitutionary Atonement of Jesus, the sinfulness of man, the fallen nature of the world, and the Then he climaxed it all with the firm sovereignty of the Father all in one overwhelming affirmation of “Amen,” “So be it,” “Let it be!”