B B. S utdliffe , “The Epistle to . the Galatians is God’s answer to legalism of every kind. While it fully shows the majesty of the law, its fullness and its perfection, it also shows, because of that very perfection, the utter impossibility of anyone be ing justified by it. Hence the impera tive need for the Gospel that Paul preached. “The doctrine is the same as that found in the Epistle to the Romans ; namely, Justification by Faith. While Romans sets this doctrine forth as being apart altogether from the law, Galatians recovers it from the danger of having the law added to it.” The province of Galatia was visited by Paul on his second and again on his third missionary journey (Acts 16:6; 18:23). After his departure from the Galatian believers there ap peared among them some Judaizing teachers, teaching them that, to be saved, they must add certain works of the law to their faith in Christ. These teachers taught that Paul did not have authority as an Apostle, and that simple faith according to the gospel which he preached was not sufficient for salvation. The Epistle is written to uphold Paul’s apostolic authority and to show the sufficiency of the gospel he preached.
There is more intensity of feeling in this Epistle than in any other writ ten by Paul. A reading of such pas sages as 1:6, 8, 9; 2:5, 11; 3:1; 4 :16; 5:12; 6:17, and others, will show how deeply he felt concerning what was wrong among the Galatians. The in troduction of any part of the law negatives the gospel, the purity of which must be maintained. The mix ture of law and grace had already led these Galatians from the true gospel (1 :6), being bewitched by a false gos pel (3:1), and entangled in a yoke of bondage (5:1), with the result that they were being hindered in their spiritual walk and growth (5:7). THE INTRODUCTION , 1:1-10 The Introduction consists of two parts; the salutation (vs. 1-5) and the occasion for writing (vs. 6-10). SALUTATION The salutation is from “Paul, an apostle.” As soon as he mentions him self, the thought of what was being taught the Galatians comes to his mind and so stirs him that he cannot wait to get into the body of the let ter, but his subject comes to the point of his pen at once. He declares he is not, as to instrumentality, an apostle “of men” (as Matthias, Acts 1). Nor is he, as to authority, an apostle “by 32
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