As we venture through this letter, let me say this up front. This is not intended to be a really deep, in-depth study of the letter. Rather, this is more of a look at the letter, seeing what it says, and then seeing how these words still fit and apply to our lives as God's people in Jesus today. It will be rare that we pull in Greek words, though if it is something that appears helpful, we will do so. I may make some notes about the background of the letter from time to time, as they have some application to our understanding of what Paul is saying there.
If there are elements of this that you would like to dive deeper into, please make use of the comments section to do so. I will try to respond knowledgably.
As we jump in, I have set up my blog so that, when I enter in a Bible reference, you should be able to read it by scrolling your mouse over the reference. So, for instance, today we will look at Galatians 1:1-5. By scrolling over the reference, you hopefully see the whole reading pop up. That way, if you don't happen to be near your Bible, you can see it here. I will be making use of the ESV edition, which you can also find at www.esvonline.org.
As Paul opens this letter, he reminds the readers that he has been sent. The literal meaning of the word apostle is "sent one". He reminds them that he has been sent by Jesus Himself, who called him on the road to Damascus. Given some of the matters about which Paul writes, this reminder is important to put before the Galatian Christians.
Also, I would like to point out one other thing briefly. Paul isn't writing this to one single church, but to several churches. There were likely several churches in various towns in Galatia, and all of them stood in need of hearing what Paul would write.
Finally, as we look at the end of our section for today, we see Paul announcing God's grace and peace to his fellow Christians. As Paul so often does, he points back to God's work in Jesus on behalf of others. Jesus came to deliver them from the evil they would see so often in their world, and Jesus did what He did according to the will of God the Father.
As we think about this for a moment, I think it is worth highlighting that you and I are different from Paul. Paul was personally sent by Jesus. Jesus Himself appeared to Paul and sent him on a very specific mission. In many ways, that seems to be the requirement to be called an apostle. You are sent by one who sends you in his name, with his authority, to speak in his name. So, while we may still be going forth with Jesus' name upon us in our baptism and on our lips, we are not sent in the same fashion that Paul was.
However, that same message that Paul carried is still one that we have within us. We have been taught and instructed, and as people who have been thus instructed, we are sent out into our daily lives as God's salt and light in the world. It may not be required that we speak of Jesus frequently and boldly as Paul did, but when others see our lives, our hope would be that they see evidence of the name of Jesus upon us. In fact, we do have to ask ourselves that, if they aren't seeing the name and presence of Jesus upon us, is there something missing as we live out our lives of faith?
As we say that, we also need to remember that we live in a certain reality and state of being. God's grace and peace has been spoken to us and delivered to us. We live with those as part of our lives of faith. It isn't a one time action, but rather, a state of being that we were brought into, and in which we live, through no action of our own. In the same way, we have the deliverance that Jesus promised, even as we await the day when that deliverance becomes the full reality in which we live. We have the forgiveness of our sins, even as we still struggle with our sin and the temptations to sin that the world throws our way. Our state of being is that of belonging to God in Jesus, and the only thing that can change that is not believing this to be the case.
As a bit of an aside, these are also those kind of "unproveable" things that can be seen only with the eyes of faith. We cannot see "peace" or "forgiveness", but rather, put our trust in the one who declares such a thing to us. While we have been raised and conditioned to have something proven to us (even to the point where someone might say "prove it" if we say we have forgiven them), the reality is that there simply are matters of our faith that cannot be proven. We simply rely upon the integrity and character of the one who says such a thing to us, and when it comes to something as important as God's peace and forgiveness, it is good to know that we can put our trust in Him, who keeps His Word to us.
If there are elements of this that you would like to dive deeper into, please make use of the comments section to do so. I will try to respond knowledgably.
As we jump in, I have set up my blog so that, when I enter in a Bible reference, you should be able to read it by scrolling your mouse over the reference. So, for instance, today we will look at Galatians 1:1-5. By scrolling over the reference, you hopefully see the whole reading pop up. That way, if you don't happen to be near your Bible, you can see it here. I will be making use of the ESV edition, which you can also find at www.esvonline.org.
As Paul opens this letter, he reminds the readers that he has been sent. The literal meaning of the word apostle is "sent one". He reminds them that he has been sent by Jesus Himself, who called him on the road to Damascus. Given some of the matters about which Paul writes, this reminder is important to put before the Galatian Christians.
Also, I would like to point out one other thing briefly. Paul isn't writing this to one single church, but to several churches. There were likely several churches in various towns in Galatia, and all of them stood in need of hearing what Paul would write.
Finally, as we look at the end of our section for today, we see Paul announcing God's grace and peace to his fellow Christians. As Paul so often does, he points back to God's work in Jesus on behalf of others. Jesus came to deliver them from the evil they would see so often in their world, and Jesus did what He did according to the will of God the Father.
As we think about this for a moment, I think it is worth highlighting that you and I are different from Paul. Paul was personally sent by Jesus. Jesus Himself appeared to Paul and sent him on a very specific mission. In many ways, that seems to be the requirement to be called an apostle. You are sent by one who sends you in his name, with his authority, to speak in his name. So, while we may still be going forth with Jesus' name upon us in our baptism and on our lips, we are not sent in the same fashion that Paul was.
However, that same message that Paul carried is still one that we have within us. We have been taught and instructed, and as people who have been thus instructed, we are sent out into our daily lives as God's salt and light in the world. It may not be required that we speak of Jesus frequently and boldly as Paul did, but when others see our lives, our hope would be that they see evidence of the name of Jesus upon us. In fact, we do have to ask ourselves that, if they aren't seeing the name and presence of Jesus upon us, is there something missing as we live out our lives of faith?
As we say that, we also need to remember that we live in a certain reality and state of being. God's grace and peace has been spoken to us and delivered to us. We live with those as part of our lives of faith. It isn't a one time action, but rather, a state of being that we were brought into, and in which we live, through no action of our own. In the same way, we have the deliverance that Jesus promised, even as we await the day when that deliverance becomes the full reality in which we live. We have the forgiveness of our sins, even as we still struggle with our sin and the temptations to sin that the world throws our way. Our state of being is that of belonging to God in Jesus, and the only thing that can change that is not believing this to be the case.
As a bit of an aside, these are also those kind of "unproveable" things that can be seen only with the eyes of faith. We cannot see "peace" or "forgiveness", but rather, put our trust in the one who declares such a thing to us. While we have been raised and conditioned to have something proven to us (even to the point where someone might say "prove it" if we say we have forgiven them), the reality is that there simply are matters of our faith that cannot be proven. We simply rely upon the integrity and character of the one who says such a thing to us, and when it comes to something as important as God's peace and forgiveness, it is good to know that we can put our trust in Him, who keeps His Word to us.
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