The opening lines of a letter can oftentimes be overlooked as a mere formality without any substance; we typically do not pay any attention to the greeting in a letter as we move on into what seems to be more substantial in the body of the letter. But I would argue that there is more substance in the first five verses of this letter to the Galatians than we might notice at first glance.
You might think about this in terms of tone and emphasis. What does Paul emphasize in his greeting and what does his emphasis indicate about his tone? Again, you might envision this as though you just met the apostle Paul right outside the doors of the church; what does his initial greeting tell you about the purpose of his visit and what does that purpose indicate about the tone of his voice?
You can tell a lot about what is on a person’s mind if you pay attention to the tone of their voice and the words they use when they first see you. This is true when you greet someone at church on a Sunday morning and it is also true when you greet someone on your doorstep when they show up unannounced. Is this a casual letter to catch up on times gone by or is it a serious letter to address some very significant issues at hand? Paul’s initial emphasis and tone tells us a lot about where his heart is at for the Galatian church. Look at the text with me…
1Paul, an apostle – not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead – 2and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
#1: WHAT IS PAUL’S EMPHASIS AND TONE? (V. 1)
When you examine this entire letter to the Galatians, you will notice that it has a very strong defensive tone. As one commentator notes, Paul “was not merely being defensive… He understood that his opponents [most likely some legalistic believers who sought to add some kind of works to the saving effects of the gospel] were making a personal attack [on the apostle Paul] in order to advance a theological error. They were devaluing Paul to disparage his gospel. If they could show that he was an imposter rather than an apostle, they could discredit his message of grace” since in their minds, “he was only a second-rate apostle [and] his gospel was just hearsay”.2
Paul’s opponents were viciously trying to undermine the message he preached by undermining his authority with a message of Jesus plus works equals salvation. As we will see later in this letter, Paul’s opponents wanted to add all sorts of works (namely circumcision) to the gospel because they believed that no one could be saved if they were not circumcised (Acts 15; Gal. 1:6 – 7, 3:1 – 6, 5:7 – 12).
In the very first verse of our text – Paul’s very first words; the thing that is dominating his thoughts to the extent that it spills out of his mouth first – are these words, “Paul, an apostle – not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead” (v. 1). So, Paul literally comes out the gate with an intense introduction that focuses on the fact that the Jesus who was raised from the dead by God the Father is the same Jesus who called Paul to be sent as an apostle to the lost with the message of the gospel.
Paul’s credentials literally came from the throne room of heaven where our risen Savior is seated next to God the Father for all eternity. His credentials did not come from mere men as we can see from the record of his salvation on the road to Damascus in Acts 9 where Jesus literally confronted Paul the terrorist and transformed him into Paul the worldwide evangelist whom Jesus said, “is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel” (Acts 9:15).
Paul’s credentials were rooted in the personal calling of his risen Savior. Therefore, I would say that the emphasis and tone of Paul’s opening words are serious, straight forward, to the point, and without nuance; for Paul, the most important thing is on the line and he is wasting no time, mincing no words, withholding no emotion from getting his point across: I am Paul, called and sent with the message of the gospel by the risen King of kings and Lord of lords! This is going to be an intense study!
#2: IS THERE ANYONE WHO CAN CONFIRM PAUL’S AUTHORITY? (V. 2)
Is there anyone that would add credibility to Paul’s ministry? While Paul was definitely called, commissioned, and sent by our risen Savior, he was also confirmed, not only by the other apostles but also by the blood bought men and women who became part of Paul’s traveling ministry team (Acts 9:26 – 31, 11:25 – 26, 15). In verse 2 of our text, Paul indicates that he was not alone when he basically says, “all the brothers who are with me”send their greetings “to the churches of Galatia”.
Now, the presence of people does not always confirm the presence of the Spirit in someone’s ministry; anyone can draw a crowd with enough funding, enough entertainment, and talented communicators as can be seen all over the quote-un-quote Christian landscape in the West.
But in this case, the presence of people in Paul’s crew were not only evidence of his fruitful ministry, but they were also evidence of his commitment to being in a community of accountability and confirmation; he was not a Lone Ranger Christian who believed he could do it all alone.
The apostle Paul believed in the community of the saints; therefore, his greeting is communal in nature. It is as though he is saying: “I am a legit messenger of God with a legit message from God and the proof can be found in the quality of the people in my crew”. Remember, Paul is using his crew of blood-bought men and women to defend his apostolic legitimacy so that he can defend the authenticity of his gospel. So, what is the gospel that Paul preached?
#3: WHAT IS THE GOSPEL THAT PAUL IS DEFENDING? (VV. 3 – 5)
It is interesting today, if you ask a handful of confessing believers to describe or to explain the gospel, you will usually get a variety of answers ranging from the gospel is the Bible, to the gospel is the sermon I heard this last Sunday, to the gospel is the good news that God accepts everyone regardless of their lifestyle. While there may be some slivers of truth in those descriptions, they fall terribly short and, in some ways, they contain some false notions.
The gospel is not merely the words of Scripture although the gospel is the Word of God about the person and work of Jesus crucified, risen, and returning. The gospel is not necessarily the sermon we heard last week but a faithful sermon will explain and apply God’s Word as it pertains to the gospel of Christ crucified, risen, and returning.
The gospel is not necessarily even the message of how God accepts everyone despite their lifestyle; the gospel is actually the good news that despite your lifestyle – despite how you have lived in sinful disobedience towards God – you and I can be fully accepted and made right (justified) before God through the work of Jesus at a bloody cross, an empty tomb, in light of the promise of heaven, so that we can be fully transformed (changed) into new creations in Christ Jesus.
We must remember that Paul is writing this letter to vigorously and passionately defend, not only his own authority as an apostle but also, the very message of the gospel that he preached. So, what is the gospel that Paul is defending? I have already explained the gospel in my own words a few moments ago. But what words does the apostle Paul use in our text to explain the gospel?
We can already see that Paul began with the truth of the resurrection of Jesus in verse one – most likely because it follows his own experience of meeting the resurrected Jesus in Acts 93 – but then he completes the description in verses 3 – 5 when he says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” Paul’s complete gospel message is wrapped up in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, the benefits of that crucifixion and resurrection for believers, and the glory that is due to our Father in heaven because of his saving work in our lives.
As one commentator helpfully notes, these verses reveal the willingness of Jesus to die on our behalf, the purpose of the cross in saving us from our sins, the effects of the cross in freeing us from the evil in this world, and the origin of the cross in the will of our Triune Godhead working from before the foundations of the earth to bring about our redemption because of God’s great love towards us; all of this is what gives us the benefits of God’s grace and peace so that we might glorify him forever.4
In summary, the gospel that Paul is defending is the very message of Christ who gave himself to be crucified to wipe out the presence, the power, and the penalty of our sins and then to be resurrected in victory over Satan, Sin, and Death, so that you and I could experience the grace and the peace of God in our salvation so that we could be free to glorify him with the rest of our lives. This is the message of the gospel that Paul not only preached but is now vigorously defending with every ounce of his energy.
APPLICATION…
So why does this matter? How will all of this be helpful to the young couple preparing for marriage, or the older couple struggling in marriage, or the couple who is grieving the loss of a child, or the single person living with the disappointments of dreams unfulfilled, or the older saint struggling with health issues, or the family that is wrestling with a wayward child, or the person who is fighting sin with every ounce of his or her energy and cannot seem to win?
What is God wanting to say to all of us through this greeting this morning? How does this passage apply to your life? What is God asking us to believe and what is he asking us to obey? Application is wrapped up in believing and obeying the gospel.
#1: WE NEED TO BELIEVE THE GOSPEL WITH NO ADDITIVES
It really trips me up when I realize that I have begun to believe a gospel with additives. When I say additives, I am talking about how easy it is to believe that somehow, I need to add something to the glass of living water that is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ to make it tastier or to make it more potent.
The additives that we usually mix into our glasses of living water typically look like our own performance mechanisms, cultural self-help slogans, pop psychology practices, or worldly ideology. God is more pleased with me when I perform rightly. God helps those who help themselves. God created me this way therefore he cannot ask me to change; this is just who I am. God is full of love and will never judge someone or be angry with someone because of their sin against him; he accepts everyone. These are all various forms of the ways we add things to the gospel.
We need to believe the gospel of Christ crucified for our sin, risen in victory over Satan, Sin, and Death, and returning to not only vanquish his enemies and avenge the slaughter of the innocents, but to also rescue God’s adopted children once and for all as he brings us home into the eternal and perfect presence of our loving Father. We need to believe the gospel without additives.
#2: WE NEED TO OWN OUR MINISTRY AS A CALLING FROM GOD
Knowing that you are called by God is what keeps your head and heart in the game when the going gets rough. Survey Paul’s life and ministry and all the hardship he faced, and you will quickly realize that his calling from God is what kept him going. All too often, when the going gets rough and I think about quitting, the reason I am tempted to quit is because someone who once loved me has now abandoned me, hurt me, sinned against me, or has become my enemy. This is a classic case of basing my calling on pleasing people rather than basing it on God’s clear call on my life.
I see this same thing in other people too. When people begin to serve in ministry (let’s be clear that ministry involves everything from serving on teams in a church family to sharing the gospel with friends, family, and strangers wherever you go) but oftentimes, I see that when people begin to serve in some form of ministry or another, I hear them say they want to serve because they feel fulfilled by serving, or they really want to help relieve the burden or workload, or they want to serve because some leader or pastor asked them to. I can one hundred percent assure you that if those are your reasons, you will last a few months or maybe a few years at best.
But if you seek God in prayer and Scripture study with other believers, and you ask God to confirm his calling on your life, and then you start serving in ministry because God called you to serve sacrificially just as Jesus did at the cross, then when the going gets tough you will be able to resist the temptation to quit because you will remember that you are called to follow Jesus as you sacrificially serve with the reminder that you are not being crucified as you serve. This is what it means to own your ministry as a calling from God!
#3: GET YOURSELF INTO REGULAR CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
As we observed in the text, Paul was not a Lone Ranger Christian who showed up to church gatherings every now and then and then patted himself on the back like he was some kind of good Christian. Once again, a survey of his life and ministry reveals a man who walked the walk that he talked; what you heard from him was what you saw in him. He was totally sold out for the sacrificial investment of being in regular Christian community.
Paul did not have the Western vision for retirement that begs us to spend the latter years of our lives in cush comfort on the beach somewhere dialing in his Christian experience with preachers on YouTube. Paul had a biblical vision for being in Christian community that involved elements of commitment, sacrifice, investment, and disciple making in contrast to the consumeristic values of our modern experience that is totally consumed with the pursuit of self-help, self-expression, and self-advancement.
Paul knew that if he was going to die to himself as Christ calls us to do from his bloody cross, then the best way to do so was to be in regular Christian community. I have come to a point where I will not listen to the excuses of people who barely grace the doors of weekly church gatherings but then think they are entitled to have their complaints heard by everyone they talk to.
I know this is harsh, but I cannot study the Bible and find any of its authors advocating for minimal exposure to Christian community along with its consumeristic counterpart. Jesus did not die on that cross, or leave that tomb empty, or give us the promise of heaven so that we could make gathering with his redeemed and adopted family a second, third, or fourth place option on our list of things to do during the week. Being in regular Christian community requires an attitude adjustment that moves away from selfishness and consumerism and towards sacrifice, investment, commitment, and disciple making.
#4: WE NEED TO SEEK TO GLORIFY GOD IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE
One of the major mistakes we make with seeking to apply the gospel to our everyday lives is making the gospel all about us, our needs, our happiness, our fulfillment, our emotional stability, etc., etc. The reality is, when it comes to the gospel, we are the supporting characters in the story, we are not the main point, nor are we the heroes; the main point of the gospel – the hero – Is God and his glory in the work of salvation; it is God who gets the attention for redeeming us despite and apart from our works.
Once we begin to get this fundamental thing – this main point of the gospel thing – straight, then we can begin to live our lives to glorify and honor God in everything, especially in our continued repentance from sin. Just think about what goes through your mind when your kid rebels, or your spouse does something stupid, or a friend hurts you, or you run headlong after that disgusting sin once again. In these instances, we are prone to be driven by our emotions, our critical thoughts, and our physical reactions to the circumstances. And oftentimes we go through those motions without giving them a second glance or without asking whether those reactions glorified God at all. This is part of our unsanctified – unholy – human character.
What we need to do in all circumstances is ask whether our reactions glorify God, and then repent in a corresponding manner as we seek to honor and glorify and bring attention to the God who not only gave his one and only Son on our behalf but also gave us his Spirit by whom we can ask for the power to live in obedience so that we can honor and glorify God.
The question we should always be asking ourselves is this: Am I glorifying God with this emotion, with this critical thought, and with this physical response? Beginning with that question and then following it with repentance and active obedience is what the book of James would summarize as “active faith” or “faith in action”. At the end of the day, the gospel we believe and obey is not the true gospel if it is centered on anything or anyone less than the God who paid the ultimate price to save us, to transform us, and to receive glory through and from us.
CONCLUSION…
In conclusion, there certainly is whole lot more significance in this seemingly simple opening greeting from the apostle Paul to the Galatian church. I completely agree with one commentator who said, “The two threads which run this epistle [letter written by an apostle] – the defense of the Apostle’s own authority, and the maintenance of the doctrine of grace – are knotted together in the opening salutation.”5 In other words, in Paul’s opening greeting, he masterfully summarizes his main themes into five, short, intense verses; he is defending his own credentials because the gospel he is preaching is under attack.
And as Paul so eloquently and passionately draws our attention to the trustworthiness of his authority along with the genuineness of the gospel he preaches, we also catch his commitment to believing and obeying the gospel without any additives, to owning his calling as coming from God alone, to being in regular Christian community, and to seeking to glorify God in everything.
The bloody cross, the empty tomb, and the certainty of the hope of heaven were no philosophical bullet points for Paul and they were not trinkets or t-shirts to be worn as fashion statements; this was his life, being lived openly for all to see as though the gospel was seeping out of every pore of his body. He lived what he preached, and he passionately defended it because he knew that in doing so, the lost would be saved, the saved would be transformed, and God would receive the glory.
My prayer is that this series would do the same among us; that we would become people who are so passionate and so in tune with the true message of the gospel that we too would believe the gospel without additive, own our ministries as a direct calling from God himself, be in regular Christian community without excuses, and live to glorify God with every ounce of our being. – Amen!
1 Unless otherwise specified, all Bible references in this paper are to the English Standard Version Bible, The New Classic Reference Edition (ESV) (Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, 2001).
2 Philip, Graham, Ryken, Galatians, Reformed Expository Commentary, (Phillipsburg, New Jersey: P&R Publishing, 2005), 6.
3 Ibid., 10 – 11.
4 Ibid., 11 – 14.
5 Ibid., 6.