The Unflinching Gospel Text: Galatians 1:1-5
Introduction: No Time for Niceties
The book of Galatians is a cannonade. It is a firefight in the hallway of the church. In most of his letters, Paul begins with warm commendations and thanksgiving for his readers. He eases into his subject. But not here. In Galatians, he dispenses with the pleasantries because the house is on fire. The Galatian churches, which he had planted, were being rapidly seduced by a different gospel, a counterfeit gospel, which is no gospel at all. False teachers, Judaizers, were following in his wake, telling these new Gentile believers that faith in Christ was a good start, but to be truly right with God, they also needed to be circumcised and keep the Mosaic law. They were adding a "plus" to the gospel, and in so doing, they were subtracting Christ.
This is why Galatians is the great charter of Christian freedom. It is the book of the Reformation in miniature. Martin Luther loved this book, calling it "my own epistle, to which I have plighted my troth. It is my Katie von Bora." He loved it because it cuts to the very heart of the matter: how is a sinful man made right with a holy God? Is it by our striving, our rule-keeping, our religious performance? Or is it by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone? The Judaizers were peddling a gospel of grace-plus-works, which is a gospel of works. They were trying to put the free sons of God back into the straightjacket of slavery.
Paul sees this not as a minor theological disagreement, but as spiritual treason. It is an abandonment of Christ Himself. And so he comes out swinging. Before he even gets to the body of his letter, his opening salvo in these first five verses establishes the divine authority of his message and the glorious, all-sufficient substance of that message. He is clearing the ground, laying the foundation, so that there can be no mistake about what is at stake. And what is at stake is everything. The gospel is not one important thing among many; it is the one thing upon which everything else depends. If you get the gospel wrong, you get everything wrong. You get God wrong, you get man wrong, you get salvation wrong. And so, with no time to waste, Paul gets right to it.
The Text
Paul, an apostle, not sent from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 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, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
(Galatians 1:1-5 LSB)
An Apostle by Divine Right (vv. 1-2)
We begin with verses 1 and 2:
"Paul, an apostle, not sent from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead, and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:" (Galatians 1:1-2)
Paul opens by identifying himself, and he immediately defends his credentials. "Paul, an apostle." This was not a title he gave himself; it was an office to which he was called. And the first thing he does is answer an objection that his adversaries were clearly making. They were likely claiming that his apostleship was second-hand, that he got his gospel from the "real" apostles in Jerusalem, and that he was now distorting it. Paul meets this charge head-on. His authority did not come "from men," as its ultimate source, nor "through man," as its intermediate channel.
This is a crucial distinction. Paul is not saying he is a lone ranger, disconnected from the church. He travels with companions, "all the brothers who are with me," and he writes to "the churches of Galatia." But the origin of his gospel and his commission to preach it were not the result of a committee vote or a seminary degree. His commission was directly "through Jesus Christ and God the Father." This is a staggering claim. He is putting his authority on par with the original twelve. Why? Because he received his gospel by direct revelation from the risen Christ on the Damascus Road.
And notice the immediate anchor he drops: "who raised Him from the dead." Why is this so important right at the beginning? Because the resurrection is the ultimate vindication of Jesus's person and work. It is the event that splits history in two. The resurrection proves that the Father accepted the Son's sacrifice. It proves that death has been defeated. It proves that a new creation has begun. Paul's apostleship is an apostleship of resurrection power. He is not peddling a philosophy or a moral code; he is announcing an invasion. The living Christ, who conquered the grave, is the one who sent him. Therefore, to question Paul's gospel is to question the risen Lord Himself.
He adds that "all the brothers" are with him, not to bolster his authority as though it were weak, but to show that he is not some isolated crank. The gospel he preaches is the faith of the whole church. He is in fellowship, but his authority is not derived from that fellowship. It is derived from God.
The Gospel in a Nutshell (vv. 3-4)
Having established his authority, Paul now summarizes the message that flows from that authority. This is the heart of the matter.
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 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," (Galatians 1:3-4 LSB)
He begins with his standard greeting: "Grace to you and peace." This is not just a pious platitude. It is the gospel in two words. Grace (charis) is God's unmerited, unearned, free favor. Peace (shalom) is the result of that grace: reconciliation, wholeness, and well-being with God. You cannot have the peace of God until you have first received the grace of God. And this grace and peace flow from a single source with two names: "God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The Father is the fountainhead of salvation, and the Son is the channel through which it flows to us.
Then, in verse 4, Paul gives one of the most compressed and potent summaries of the gospel anywhere in Scripture. Let's break it down. First, the action: Christ "gave Himself." This is the language of willing, personal, substitutionary sacrifice. He was not a passive victim; He was an active Savior. Second, the reason: "for our sins." Here is the doctrine of penal substitution. Christ's death was not merely a moral example or a tragic martyrdom. He died in our place, as our representative, to deal with the fundamental problem of our sin. He took the curse that we deserved. Without this, there is no gospel. Third, the purpose: "so that He might rescue us from this present evil age." The goal of the gospel is not just to get our souls into heaven when we die. It is a rescue operation now. It is a deliverance from a kingdom of darkness, a world system that is in rebellion against God. Christ's death and resurrection inaugurated the age to come, and through faith, we have been transferred out of the old age of sin and death and into the new age of life and righteousness, even while we still live in this world.
Finally, the ultimate source: "according to the will of our God and Father." Our salvation was not an afterthought or a divine reaction to a plan that went wrong. It was the eternal plan of God the Father. From before the foundation of the world, God willed to save a people for Himself through the sacrifice of His Son. This is not a man-made religion. It is a divine rescue mission, planned and executed by God from start to finish.
The Ultimate Goal (v. 5)
This glorious summary of the gospel leads Paul to its only logical conclusion: worship.
"to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen." (Galatians 1:5 LSB)
The final end of salvation is not our happiness, our comfort, or even our rescue, as glorious as that is. The ultimate goal of all things is the glory of God. The gospel is designed to display the magnificent glory of God's grace, wisdom, and power. When we understand that our salvation is entirely of God, from the Father's will to the Son's sacrifice, the only proper response is doxology. We burst into praise.
This is precisely what the false gospel of the Judaizers could not produce. A gospel of works, of human effort and performance, ultimately gives the glory to man. It allows a man to stand before God and say, "Look what I have contributed. Look at my circumcision, my dietary laws, my obedience." But the gospel of grace leaves no room for boasting, except in the cross of Christ. It strips us of all our filthy rags of self-righteousness and clothes us in the perfect righteousness of Christ, so that all the glory, from beginning to end, for all time and eternity, goes to God alone.
Conclusion: The Unalterable Standard
In these five brief verses, Paul has laid down the unshakeable foundation. His apostleship is from God. The gospel is from God. The plan of salvation is from God. And therefore, the glory is for God.
This introduction serves as the standard against which he will measure the false teaching that has infiltrated Galatia. He has drawn a line in the sand. On one side is the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. On the other is the gospel of man's religious striving. There is no middle ground. There can be no compromise.
The same battle rages today. The temptation to add to the gospel is perennial. We want to add our political affiliations, our social programs, our moral efforts, our spiritual disciplines, as if Christ's work were not enough. But the moment we add anything to the gospel, we have lost it entirely. The gospel is not Christ-plus-anything. It is Christ alone.
Paul's urgent message to the Galatians is his urgent message to us. We must receive this gospel, stand in this gospel, and refuse to budge from this gospel. It is a message of divine authority, of radical grace, of a complete rescue, and of God's ultimate glory. To this, we must all say, as Paul does, "Amen."