Galatians Chapter 1
Originally posted Wednesday August 13, 2008
Galatians Chapter 1:1-5 Salutation
The first three
letters we have read begin with a Salutation and a Thanksgiving. Galatians
begins with a brief Salutation and no Thanksgiving. The first line of the body
of the letter - "I am astonished," sets the tenor of the letter and
the reason for such a terse beginning. Paul opens with a self-identification as an apostle commissioned through Christ and not by human
authority, effectively dismissing his "ordination" as the apostle to
the Gentiles granted by the Mother Church in Jerusalem. He has long since left
the authority of that community behind and is operating among the Gentiles
solely under God's spiritual patronage. On his own behalf and "all the
members of God's family who are with [him]," he greets the churches in
Galatia. He includes the important elements of extending grace and peace which
comes from God and "the Lord Jesus Christ," where "Lord"
is Paul's preferred title for Jesus. It is because of their
faith in his salvific death on the cross that this Lord has justified
and set the Galatians free from the present evil age. In brief, Paul has
presented the content of the Gospel he preaches in all places. As we will see
it is this Gospel which has been challenged and is in some jeopardy among the
churches of Galatia (Central Asia Minor). Only later in the letter do we
learn who the challengers are and the content of their challenge.
Galatians Chapter 1:6-24 There is No Other Gospel
The situation is
serious. There is no time to develop a wordy introduction to the issue at hand.
Paul is astonished by how soon after his own preaching among them they
have been lured into accepting a different one - as if it were possible
that there could be a different Gospel. Whoever they are and as far as Paul is concerned, they are spreading
confusion among the churches and are deliberately corrupting the true Gospel of
Christ - the one Paul preaches. Paul calls down a curse upon himself, on
any of his fellow evangelists and even an angel if they were to
proclaim any other Gospel than has already been presented. To lend a bit of
fire he repeats the curse for emphasis.
These are strong
words meant to jar the Galatians into concern for their own salvation. He does
not write to placate human sensitivities - we already know that. To couch his
words in any way which circumvents the spiritual calamity the Galatians are
unknowingly facing, would be incompatible to his calling as a servant of
Christ. It is God's approval that matters most, not theirs.
Perhaps the
Galatians are not clear as to where the Gospel preached by Paul came from.
Perhaps they considered it to be one of several versions and that it was
adapted specifically for them. Paul assures them that this gospel is not his or
anyone else's. Its origin came from no human source. He did not learn it on a mountain from
a famous Gospel teacher not did he receive it from the apostles in Jerusalem.
This Gospel came to him by
way of "revelation from Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 12:1-10)."
Perhaps we are to assume this revelation was in connection with his own vision
of the risen Christ (Acts
9). It would seem reasonable that such a revelation would
be at the onset of his selection as the apostle to the Gentiles but such a
conclusion is not necessary. The critical point in understanding his
following argument in defense of the Gospel he preached (not his Gospel) is its origin
in/from Christ. We note there is no mention of a Damascus road experience or
the details of his conversion.
In the last part of
this passage and into chapter
2 Paul provides valuable autobiographical information
on his life as a Pharisee and then as a Christian servant of Christ. This is
not included as unrelated information for the Galatians' passing interest. It
is meant to emphasize the road he had taken from ardent Jewish traditionalist
to ardent Christian apostle, all the doing of God. He reminds the
Galatians of his exceptionally zealous past as a devout Jew and his role in the
persecution of the early Jewish Christians in and around Jerusalem. He
dedicated himself to the destruction of the church believing this was necessary
in order to uphold the traditions of his ancestors (Patriarchs
and Prophets). But then it pleased God to call him out of that world, as
if he had been "set apart from [his] mother's womb" at a time
before his birth (see
Jer. 1:4-5; Isa. 49:, 5-6). By God's grace the risen Christ was
revealed "in" him and
through his vision he was given the ministry of proclaiming the Gospel of
Christ as given by Christ and to do so specifically among the Gentiles.
Rather than conferring "with flesh and blood" or returning to
Jerusalem to consult with the apostles, as one might expect, he went into
Arabia for a brief period after which he returned to Damascus. Paul does not
mention the reason for being in Arabia. It was loosely related to an area
southeast of Damascus and including present day Jordan and south to the Sinai
Peninsula. Given that this was the location of Mount Sinai and it is a desert
area we might speculate that Paul went "into the wilderness" much
like Jesus did following his baptism, to struggle with the significance of
his experience. Paul's dramatic shift in understanding what God was doing in
Israel, now through Christ and not through the law, would need more than a
little reflection.
It would not be
until three years after his call to apostleship that Paul traveled to
Jerusalem. He stayed with Cephas for fifteen days (Paul retains the
Aramaic name for Peter) followed by a presumably brief visit with James, the
brother of Jesus who had already become the de facto leader of the Mother
Church. Although Paul does not mention the nature of his relationship with
James, based on this and other letters we can conclude it was not cordial.
The primary reason for this letter to the Galatians is to address the far
reaching influence of James.
Paul interjects a
parenthetical comment, almost in the form of an oath, that what he has written
"before God" concerning his call and subsequent contacts in
Jerusalem is true. Following his stay in Jerusalem he traveled to Syria (Antioch - see Acts 11:27-30))
and then home to Tarsus in Cilicia (see
Acts 9:30 where Luke has a reverse order of travel
than Paul's. It is useful to again read Acts 9:19b-35, 11:27-30 and 13:1-3 to
see how Luke has "refashioned" Paul's autobiographical writings of
his post conversion period). The passage closes with Paul remaining largely
unknown "by sight" to the Jewish Christians in Judea. All they
knew was that something miraculous had turned this enemy of Christ into a
proclaimer of Christ and this could only have been the work of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment