Bitesize Bible Commentary:
Galatians
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Galatians 1:1-5
The Apostle Paul greets the Galatians by affirming his apostleship as independent of human mediation and received directly from Jesus Christ and God the Father. Paul also outlines the gospel by describing the nature of Christ’s death (a sacrifice for sin), the purpose of Christ’s death (a rescue from the present evil age), the origin of Christ’s death (the will of the Father) and the result of Christ’s death (the reception of grace and peace). These themes will be the focus of Paul's letter to the Galatians as Paul defends accusations made against his gospel message and apostolic mandate.
The intent of the Apostle Paul at the beginning of his letter to the Galatians is to emphasise that salvation is something that God does for humanity and not something that humanity does for themselves. This is seen in Paul’s fourfold statement that salvation is accomplished through Christ’s sacrificial death for sin, that salvation is God’s rescue of humanity from the present evil age, that salvation is according to the will of God the Father and that salvation is God’s offer of grace and peace. In short, human salvation is the initiative and accomplishment of God that humanity receives in gratitude through faith. As will be seen, the Galatians were abandoning this understanding of salvation by placing human effort (obedience to the Law of Moses) as the means through which salvation and acceptance with God are attained. Unlike the Galatians, we must always remember that salvation is downward and not upward. Jesus came down from heaven to be the saviour of humanity and the curtain of the Temple (the barrier that divided the sinfulness of humanity from the holiness of God within the Temple) was torn from top to bottom. Salvation is not that humanity ascended (through works) to God after falling into sin. Salvation is that God descended to humanity to rescue and restore humanity from sin (through faith). To reverse these roles by insisting on human effort and accomplishment (rather than on faith) as the way of salvation is to deny the work and glory of God in Christ.