The Great Emancipation

By S. Lewis Johnson, Jr. [1] [2]

An Exposition of Galatians 1:1-5

Introduction

Galatians is Paul’s most explosive letter. It is the letter in which the apostle, so disturbed by the defection of the Galatians from the doctrine of grace, abandoned his usual custom of writing by means of an amanuensis and penned the epistle in his own labored, scrawling, sprawling hand. “Look at these huge letters I am making in writing these words to you with my own hand,” he said (cf. 6:11, Phillips). It is plain that the apostle was deeply caught up by his emotions as he sought to rebuke his “foolish Galatians” (3:1) for their desertion from the purity of the gospel.

It is not surprising, then, that Martin Luther, deeply involved also in the Reformation struggle over the grace of God, should find this letter so suited to his spirit. Alluding to his wife, he wrote of this favorite of his, that it was “my own Epistle, to which I have plighted my troth. It is my Katie von Bora.” [3]

This “Magna Carta of Spiritual Liberty,” as it has been called, has had great practical effect on how we live in the western world. It is the contention of some that it has had a greater practical effect on our lives in the United States than the Declaration of Independence, or the constitution of our republic. If ham or bacon is eaten today, it is because of truths found in the Epistle to the Galatians. Before the time of our Lord’s crucifixion, the people of God were not able to eat pork. If garments of mixed materials are being worn, it is because of Galatians, for in the Old Testament period a person could not wear any garment of diverse materials. All clothing had to be of one material, wool or linen, for example, but not wool and linen. In the kitchen any pot or pan may be used for cooking, but our Jewish neighbors, if they keep the Law of Moses, have one set of pans for meat and another for anything cooked in milk. All of this stems from Exodus 23:19, “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.” What freed the world from the bondage of kosher cooking? It was the truths that are set forth in Galatians.

Galatians is a kind of rough draft of the Letter to the Romans. Like Romans, it deals with the Pauline gospel, although not nearly so extensively. It concentrates on the doctrine of justification by grace. Its emphasis, violating all contemporary counsel, is upon the negative side of the doctrine. Instead of advertising the sentiment of an old popular song, “Accentuate the positive,” it blatantly placards the reverse. One of our popular preachers has made popular the slogan, “The Power of Positive Thinking.” [4] Coupled with the emphasis expressed in that title of his book, he also tended to add to it other aberrations from the faith, so stirring up one evangelical that he wrote the amusing line, “For myself, I find Paul appealing, and Peale appalling.” Regardless of the measure of truth in the emphasis upon the positive, the Bible is noted for its negatives. In fact, it is God who began with the negative in the Garden of Eden, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Gen. 2:16–17).

Galatians, then, is the negative side of Romans. As one of my old teachers put it, “Romans tells us what the gospel IS, Galatians what it IS NOT.” And this negative emphasis is important, for it is impossible to say what a thing is without sooner or later excluding or contrasting it with what it is not. [5]

The letter has a simple structure. The first two chapters are personal, and in them the apostle defends his apostleship. The next two chapters are doctrinal in emphasis, and in them the theology of justification by grace is expounded. The final two chapters are primarily ethical and spell out the implications of the truth previously taught.

Paul wrote the Galatian treatise to the churches of the Roman province of Galatia referred to in the Book of Acts as the churches of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, the Hellenized mixed community of the south of the political province. The term Galatia also referred to the northern part of the province where the Galatian peop1es themselves lived. [6] The epistle was written early in Paul’s ministry, it seems, and may be his first letter.

The purpose of the letter is to set forth the doctrine of justification by grace and to refute the claims of certain false professors, called by students Judaizers, who taught that, in order to be saved, one must be circumcised, and keep the Law of Moses (cf. 2:11–12; 3:10; 5:2; 6:12). This may be somewhat simplistic, but the essence of the issue includes these demands. As we study the epistle we shall look more closely into the matter.

The Author and the Recipients

The Author, verses 1-2a

Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead), and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:

The first of two of his principal subjects meets the reader here. The unusual extended description of the author points to Paul’s desire to defend his apostleship. It is clear to him that, if the enemies of the truth cast aspersions upon his right to proclaim the truth as Christ’s representative, then his message will be hindered. So, he begins the letter with a lengthy defense of his gift of apostleship in the first two chapters. The burden is indicated already in verse one through the series of phrases that describe his gift.

Paul describes himself as “an apostle,” and the word refers to a “special messenger with a special status, enjoying an authority and commission that came from a body higher than himself.” [7] The term apostle (ἀπόστολος, apostolos) properly applied only to the Twelve and others appointed by the Lord Himself personally (cf. 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8–9?). There is, therefore, no apostolic succession, and there are no apostles today.

In the following words the apostle affirms that he is not a delegate of a body of men, such as the Twelve or a human synod, nor has he been ordained by a man, such as an Ananias or a Pope John Paul or one of “the pillars” (cf. 2:1–10). Thus, his gift and mission have no human source nor have they come to him by human agency (cf. Acts 9:2).

The expression, “through Jesus Christ and God the Father,” is important. The apostle does not write, as one might expect, “through Jesus Christ and from God the Father, thus referring to the instrument and the source of the apostleship. If he had written “from God the Father,” one might think that he regarded the Son as inferior to the Father, the source of his ministry. Further, if Paul had written “from Jesus Christ and from God the Father, then one might ask, “Who, then, is the medium of the office?” The through (διά, dia) used of both Jesus Christ and God the Father excludes quibbling on the point, as Lenski points out. [8] But, suppose someone should ask, “Then from whom is Paul’s apostleship? Did someone else use Christ?” A moment’s thought shows that the question has no force, for there is no one higher than God. He must be the source, if He is the means, or instrument. Thus, Paul’s διά (AV, “by;” NASB, NKJB, “through”) includes the ἀπό (apo, “from”) in the expression, “not from men”), although the ἀπό would not have included the διά. “Masterly is this διά,” Lenski boasts. [9]

There is also a contrast between the expression, “nor through man,” and the phrase, “but through Jesus Christ.” While not denying our Lord’s true humanity, Paul implies He is not just a man. Further, the one preposition “through,” connected to Jesus Christ and God the Father, links the two persons together, suggesting their equality. To sum up, it is God who chose Paul (cf. v. 4), and appointed him to his apostleship through Jesus Christ and the Damascus Road experience.

While it is true that the Son and the Father sustain the same relationship to Paul’s apostolic gift, it is also proper to mention different functions that the two Persons of the Trinity have. It is rare to find an unqualified reference to God in the Pauline letters. He wants his readers to know the particular God he is speaking of, for there is no other genuine God, and so he usually adds identifying clauses or phrases. The clause here, “who raised Him from the dead,” sets the divine seal upon the dignity of the Son and His redempt1ve work (cf. 1 Cor. 15:12–19). It also sets the divine seal upon the office of Paul. His apostleship derives from the risen Christ and, thus, it has the same basis as that of the Twelve. Since he has been given his commission by the risen Lord, how can his orders be questioned?

It is interesting to note that the apostle does not seek to prove the validity of his ministry by human reasoning. It is found in the working of the Holy Spirit that accompanies it, “in the results of a ministry rather than its antecedents.” [10]

The apostolic authority claimed by Paul surely discredits and disposes of modern views of the subject. For example, there are those who think that the apostle’s views were simply the views of his teachers, the rabbis, or were “cultural.” We are, according to this view, free to accept or reject the views of a Paul, or a Peter. This view is at the heart of a large part of the present controversy regarding the Bible and the role of women. [11] Professor C. H. Dodd, the well-known Cambridge scholar, put it bluntly in some remarks on Romans, “Sometimes I think Paul is wrong, and I have ventured to say so.” [12] To yield to the professor’s bluntness also, at the judgment seat of Christ the Judge will convince the professor that Paul was right.

Paul’s position also is contrary to the position of the Roman Catholics, who teach that the Bible is the product of the church and, therefore, since the church wrote the Bible, the church and its traditions are superior to the teaching of the Bible. But, as John Stott says, “Paul did not begin this Epistle, ‘Paul an apostle of the church, commissioned by the church to write to you Galatians.’” [13] No, the apostle claimed that he wrote for God, that his authority was from God. The Apostolic teaching is responsible for the birth of the church. The church came into existence by means of the teaching of the apostles, now found preserved in the Bible. The church is not superior to the Bible; it is always subordinate to and subject to the Word of God.

Finally, Paul adds, “and all the brethren who are with me,” associating other believers with him in his opposition to the Judaizing heresy of salvation by works. But he is an “apostle,” and they are simply “brethren.”

The Recipients, verse 2b

The apostle’s readers are addressed as “the churches of Galatia,” the words referring, of course, to congregations, not denominations. The churches were probably local congregations established on the apostle’s first missionary journey (cf. Acts 13:1–14:28).

The Greetings

Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father (1:3–4).

The Contents, verse 3a

The two terms, grace and peace, summarize the soteriology of the Pauline good news. The result of the response to his message is peace with God, peace with men, and peace within ourselves. [14] And the source of it all is the grace of God in Christ, apart from human works. The order is proper, too, for it is first the manifestation of grace and then comes the resultant peace.

It should be noted here, however, that the apostle is addressing his remarks to those who are already believers. Therefore, it is likely that he had in mind the grace and peace that continue to flow to us after the beginning of the new life. It is the believer’s grace and the believer’s peace that he has primarily in mind.

The Origin of the Greeting, verse 3b

The blessings come “from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.” [15] The one preposition ἀπό (apo, “from”) again links our Lord very closely to the Father. “The grace and peace of Christ,” Guthrie notes, “are indistinguishable from the grace and peace of God.” [16] It is another of the implicit pointers to the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the use of the word Lord in reference to Him adding force to the evidence.

The Ground, or Basis, of the Greeting, verse 4

[Our Lord Jesus Christ,] who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Lying back of everything said so far is the great historical event, which has so beautifully and finally displayed the grace of God and the peace derived from it. It is, as one might expect, to the cross of Calvary that the apostle repairs. He steals away to it as often as possible. It is his haunt. And it is in its character as the sin-offering that he exults. “The death of Christ,” Stott says perceptively, “was primarily neither a display of love, nor an example of heroism, but a sacrifice for sin.” [17]

The stress upon the cross as the source of deliverance in this opening salutation of the letter draws attention to the second burden upon Paul’s heart. Not only is he concerned about the defense of his apostleship; he is also deeply burdened over his gospel of grace. The second of the subjects he will now seek to develop in a few choice phrases. Incidentally, the lack of the customary commendation of the churches emphasizes his concern over his beloved Galatians (cf. 4:20). They have begun to fall away from grace, the principle of salvation, and Paul is troubled. He sees the understanding of the work of Christ in grace as the ultimate solution to their problem. Calvin puts it well:

He begins by commending the grace of Christ, in order to recall the Galatians to Him and to keep them in Him. For if they had really appreciated this blessing of redemption they would never have fallen away to alien observances. He who knows Christ aright holds Him fast, embraces Him with both arms, is completely taken up with Him and desires nothing beyond Him. The best remedy for purifying our minds from any kind of error or superstition is to keep in remembrance what Christ is to us and what He has brought us. [18] 

So, contrary to the usual commendation and thanksgiving for his readers, Paul turns the attention of the Galatians to the Savior’s work of grace. Thus, the battle is already joined. His opponents have attacked his apostleship and his doctrines of grace, and he has in his opening salvo claimed an independent apostleship which comes from the risen Christ and a doctrine of salvation that overthrows the erroneous legalistic teaching of the Judaizers.

The Act of the Atonement

The act of atonement is set forth in the opening words of verse four, “who gave Himself for our sins.” The verb gave (δόντος, dontos, aor. gen. ptc. δίδωμι) underlines the voluntary and gracious nature of the death of Christ. To give oneself to death is an act of sacrifice. And the tense of the verb, the aorist (undefined), points simply to the event at which the giving of Himself took place. The reference is to the cross (cf. 2:20).

The following phrase, “for our sins,” indicates that the death was penal. Our sins demanded the penalty of death. That He paid, thus satisfying the divine demands (cf. Rom. 6:23; 3:24–25; Gal. 3:13). We can, then, conclude that His sacrificial death was a voluntary penal satisfaction of the righteous requirements of a holy God. Thus, the clause is both an exposition of the doctrine of the atonement and a confession of an infinite indebtedness on our part.

The preposition ὑπέρ (hyper, “for”) in this instance must be given its substitutionary force. In both classical and koine Greek it often had that force, and in contexts revolving around the death of Christ it is the logically necessary force (cf. 2 Cor. 5:14–15; John 11:50). [19]

Does the apostle mean that He gave Himself to deliver us from the power of sin over our lives (cf. Rom. 6:1–11) or from the condemnation under which sins bring men (cf. Rom. 3:21–26)? The stress on the forensic nature of the work of justification in the epistle and in Paul’s thought leads one to believe that the latter is primarily in mind. But the two are not to be separated. He delivers us from the condemnation of sin and its power over our lives.

To sum up, then, He gave Himself freely for us, and His work was a voluntary penal satisfaction through substitutionary sacrifice of the claims of a righteous God against us. Calvin is right, “So glorious is this redemption that it should ravish us with wonder.” [20]

The Purpose of the Atonement

The purpose of the atonement is expressed in the clause, “that He might deliver us from this present evil age.” The verb (ἐξέληται, exelētai) is in the emphatic position in the Greek text, underlining its force and striking the keynote of the letter, freedom (cf. 5:1). “The Gospel is a rescue, an emancipation from a state of bondage,” Lightfoot says. [21] This would hit the Judaists hard, for they construed the death of Christ as simply another incentive to keep the Law.

This verb translated “deliver” (from ἐξαιρέω, exaireō) is not found elsewhere in the Pauline Epistles, but in its other occurrences in the New Testament the idea it connotes is deliverance from the power of something or someone (cf. Matt. 5:29; 18:9; Acts 7:10, 34; 12:11; 23:27; 26:17). The idea is not that of removal from the presence of. We are still in this evil age, but we are no longer under its power. The aorist tense of the verb stresses the definiteness and completeness of the deliverance. From the beginning Christianity has been kind of rescue religion, and those under the bondage of sin know the truth of that.

The final words of the clause are, “from this present evil age.” The term age is αἰών (aiōn) in the Greek text. We, of course, are not taken out of this world, at least not yet, but we have been rescued from this evil age. [22] In the New Testament frequent reference is made to this age, or, as here, the present evil age, and then the age to come. This age is under the domination of Satan, who is its god (cf. 2 Cor. 4:4), while the age to come follows it and is under the rule of God the Son. The latter age has already come in spirit for the redeemed, for they have been rescued from the present age and translated into the kingdom of the Son of God’s love (cf. Col. 1:13). Thus, there is an overlapping of the ages for the saved, and they are exhorted in the New Testament to live the life of the age to come. Cf. Eph. 2:4–7; Col. 3:1–4.

Thus, the apostle encourages the saints by this word of their freedom from bondage to the age, with its enmity against God. They have been rescued from the age of the Law and works merit to the age of grace and works done in gratitude.

The Source of the Atonement

Finally, the author adds, “according to the will of our God and Father.” Here is the source of the atonement in grace, the will, or purpose, of the Father. The Father is not the harsh God and the Son the loving God! The action of the Son is the issue of the plan of the Father, who is the first source of grace. [23]

There are several things to notice here. In the first place, the death of Christ is no accident of circumstances; it was planned by God. Secondly, it is not traceable to our will, nor is our rescue and emancipation traceable to our will, as the Arminians logically must hold. The entire atoning work has its source in the will of God. It was no human plan and in no sense dependent on legal obedience. [24] Last of all, the sacrifice is substitutionary, and thus heaven can demand no further payment from those for whom the substitution was made. The atonement was made to accomplish a particular purpose, emancipation from this evil age, and the Maker and the Planner possess the power to accomplish this goal. And the will of this sovereign God stands back of the entire effort.

The Doxology

[Our God and Father,] to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen (1:5).

Paul concludes the introduction to the letter with a doxology to the Father, ascribing to Him the effulgence of the divine glory, that to which the Old Testament Shekinah pointed. And this glory is eternal. It is the apostle’s way of saying, in this context, that salvation is of the Lord, not of the Law.

Conclusion

First, as Stott has observed, there are three stages in the divine action here. There is 1) the atoning, rescuing death; 2) the provision of authoritative witness through the apostles; and 3) the gift of grace and peace, to which Paul has witnessed and which Christ has won. [25]

Second, there is, therefore, no salvation by the works of the Law, nor by any human merit. Let the negatives ring out. Is there salvation by good works? No! Is there salvation by religion? No! Is there salvation by religious ritual, such as baptism? No! Is there salvation by the church? No! By philanthropy? No! The Scripture is plain, “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” (Gal. 2:16)

Notes

1. This is article one in a sixteen-part series, “Expositional Studies in the Epistle to the Galatians.”
2. Lewis Johnson regularly ministered the Word at Believers Chapel in Dallas for more than 30 years. From 1950 to 1977, he taught New Testament and systematic theology at Dallas Theological Seminary. He also served as professor of biblical and systematic theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, from 1980 to 1985.
3. Philip S. Watson, “Editor’s Preface,” in Martin Luther, A Commentary on St. Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (Eng. trans. of 1575; rev. ed., London: James Clarke, 1953), 5.
4. Norman Vincent Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking (New York: Prentice Hall, 1952).
5. J. Gresham Machen, Machen’s Notes on Galatians, ed. John H. Skilton (Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed, 1972), 6.
6. For a balanced discussion of the North Galatian and South Galatian theories of the epistle’s destination, cf. F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 5–18. Bruce favored the South Galatian hypothesis.
7. R. A. Cole, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, TNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 31.
8. R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961), 23.
9. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians, to the Ephesians, and to the Philippians, 24.
10. Cole, The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, 33.
11. As an example of this, see Paul K. Jewett’s Man as Male and Female: A Study in Sexual Relationships from a Theological Point of View (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975), 86–94, 119 and passim. It is Professor Jewett’s view that Paul’s views were contradictory, because his exegesis was often “rabbinic.” For a more biblical appreciation of apostolic authority, see the essays in John Piper and Wayne Grudem, eds., Recovering Biblical Manhood and Womanhood (Wheaton: Crossway, 1991).
12. C. H. Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1932), xxxiv-xxxv.
13. John R. W. Stott, Only One Way: The Message of Galatians (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 1968), 16.
14. Stott, Only One Way: The Message of Galatians, 16.
15. The AV adds a second from in “from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Greek text has only one preposition, not two. It reads ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ (apo Theou patros hēmōn kai kyriou Iēsou Christou, literally from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ).
16. Donald Guthrie, Galatians, NCB (London: Oliphants, 1969), 59.
17. Stott, Only One Way: The Message of Galatians, 17.
18. John Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, eds. David W. Torrance and Thomas F. Torrance, trans. T. H. L. Parker (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 11.
19. Cf. Ernest De Witt Burton, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, ICC (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1921), 12–13.
20. Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, 11.
21. J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (1865; reprint ed., Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1962), 73.
22. The phrase may also be rendered, “from the present age of the evil one, i.e., Satan.” The difference is minor.
23. Calvin, The Epistles of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, 12.
24. John Eadie, A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1869), 17.
25. Stott, Only One Way: The Message of Galatians, 19.