Sermon Tone Analysis

Opening Questions

Question 1 - If a close Christian friend of yours was almost persuaded to join a cult, how would you respond?

Question 2 - When members of a cult knock on your door and invite you talk about their beliefs, what do you usually do, and why?

Question 3 - How do you “test” the truth of what you hear from public figures, your pastor and other Christian teachers?

Question 4 - Do you think there is still a problem in the church with false religious teachers adding other things to the doctrine of salvation by grace?

If so, what are some examples?

Introduction to

Paul’s greeting to the Galatians is different from his greetings to other churches.

He was writing under heavy stress and strain.

False teachers and critics had arisen in the church who were criticizing and attacking him.

They were questioning his call to the ministry and his authority as God’s messenger.

Some were even questioning the very gospel itself.

Therefore, the usual affection expressed toward churches and individuals is missing.

From the very first sentence his writing is abrupt.

He assails the Galatian churches with words straight to the point: he is a true minister of God, a true apostle and messenger of the Lord Jesus Christ.

1.

He is commissioned by God alone (v. 1).

2. He is recognized as God’s man by Christian believers (v.

2).

3.

He wishes the very best for other believers (v.

3).

4.

He declares the work of Christ (vv.

4–5).

Verse 1

The spiritual atmosphere is charged.

It is sultry, sweltering.

A storm is threatening.

The sky is darkening.

In the distance one can see flashes of lightning; one can hear faint muttering sounds.

When each line of verses 1–5 is read in the light of the letter’s occasion and purpose (see Introduction III B, pp.

16–19) the atmospheric turbulence is immediately detected.

The apostle, though in perfect control of himself, for he is writing under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, is greatly agitated, deeply moved.

His heart and mind are filled with a medley of emotions.

For the perverters there is withering denunciation springing from holy indignation.

For the addressed there is marked disapproval and an earnest desire to restore.

For the One who has called him there is profound reverence and humble gratitude.

Verse 1

Minister—Call—Apostle: the minister of God is called and commissioned by God alone.

There were those in the church who questioned Paul’s call and ministry, questioned if he had really been called by God to be a minister.

They were set on destroying Paul’s ministry.

Why?

⇒ Because he had lived such a terrible life before his conversion: he had been the savage persecutor of believers (see Ga.

1:13; see notes—Ac.

8:1–4; 9:1–2 for more discussion).

⇒ Because he was not one of the select officials of the church; that is, he had not been taught by the Lord Himself when the Lord was on earth.

This was one of the basic qualifications for being recognized as an apostle (see Ga.

1:17–18; see DEEPER STUDY # 5, Apostle—Mt.

10:2 for more discussion).

⇒ Because he had not been appointed by the official or mother church, that is, the home church of the apostles, the church in Jerusalem (see Ga.

1:17–18).

⇒ Because he by-passed the religious forms and rituals of the official church (see Ga.

4:9–10; 5:6; 6:12–15).

⇒ Because he preached a different message than the official church: that a person is not saved by ritual and works, but by the love and grace of God demonstrated in the death of Jesus Christ

Paul answered his critics in no uncertain terms: he was an apostle (apostolos).

The word apostle means a person called and sent forth on a very special commission (see DEEPER STUDY # 5, Apostle—Mt.

10:2 for more discussion).

The apostle …

• is like an ambassador who is sent forth to represent the Person who called and appointed him

• is like a very special messenger who is called and sent forth to proclaim the message of the Sender

• is like a very special minister who is called and sent forth to serve as the Leader wills

• is like a very special servant who is called and sent forth to do the bidding of the Master

raised him from the dead—implying that, though he had not seen Him in His humiliation as the other apostles (which was made an objection against him), he had seen and been constituted an apostle by Him in His resurrection power (Mt 28:18; Ro 1:4, 5).

Compare as to the ascension, the consequence of the resurrection, and the cause of His giving “apostles,” Eph 4:11.

He rose again, too, for our justification (Ro 4:25); thus Paul prepares the way for the prominent subject of the Epistle, justification in Christ, not by the law.

His style is proper, a bit curt, and immediately evidences a defense of his apostolic origin.

Clearly, Paul perceives himself to be under attack as he writes.

He wastes no time in rising to his own defense.

The attacks against him appear to revolve around the origin of his apostleship and, with it, the basis of his authority.

Obviously Paul’s claim to the same apostolic authority as that of the original disciples of Jesus (2:6–10; 1 Cor.

9) is one which could be verified only by himself (cf.

Acts 9 for the story of his conversion).

Throughout Paul’s ministry, the uniqueness of his calling, with its lack of objective proofs, provided ammunition for those who disagreed with his approach (cf. 1 Cor.

5, 9; 2 Cor.

10–13; etc.).

Here in the opening words of the epistle, Paul defends the source of his apostolic calling (v. 1).

The key ingredient is that his apostleship is a divinely appointed position and is in no way a product of human decision (“not from men nor by man,” i.e., by human agency).

Paul appears to be referring to his conversion experience, and the belief that Jesus appeared to him personally.

Thus, Paul lists Christ first as the one through whom the commissioning was made, with God the Father as the ultimate source of the appointment by his action of raising Jesus from the dead (v. 1).

Elsewhere he even stresses the fact that the risen and exalted Savior had appeared to him just as truly as to Cephas (1 Cor.

15:5, 8; cf.

9:1).

The Savior had assigned to him a task so broad and universal that his entire life was henceforth to be occupied with it.

But here is an Introduction which really introduces, for the words not from men nor through man but through Jesus Christ and God the Father can only mean: “My apostleship is genuine; hence, so is the gospel which I proclaim, no matter what the Judaizers who disturb you may say!

I am a divinely appointed emissary.”

The implication is clear: since Paul and his message are backed by divine authority, those who reject him and his gospel are rejectors of Christ, hence also of the Father who sent him and who raised him from the dead.

The detractors oppose the very One whom the Father had honored; the very One upon whose work of redemption the Father, by the act of raising him from the dead, had placed the seal of his approval, thereby designating him as the complete and perfect Savior, whose work does not need to be, and cannot be, supplemented; the very One who from his exalted position in heaven had called Paul to be an apostle!

That lesson would seem to be this, that even though it is true that Paul alone—not Paul plus these brothers who are with him—authored this letter (note constant recurrence of first person sing.: Gal.

1:6, 10–17, etc.), nevertheless, before composing and sending it he thoroughly discussed with all the brothers the matter with which it was to deal.

So unanimous was their agreement with Paul’s proposed method of handling this difficult situation that the apostle writes in the name of all.

Moral: when it becomes necessary to send someone a letter of sharp reproof, discuss the matter with others who also have the welfare of Zion at heart, if such can be done without violating any confidences or of coming into conflict with the principles established in Matt.

18.

Why does Paul describe himself as this sort of apostle?

Certainly not in direct opposition to the apostles at Jerusalem, for they did not owe their commission to humans any more than he did.

They too could have claimed that they were appointed by Christ, in accordance with the will of God the Father.

Rather, Paul’s aim is to show that his apostolate stands or falls with theirs, for it rests on exactly the same basis.

It is extremely unlikely that any of the Jerusalem apostles ‘stood on their dignity’ as against Paul, but it is highly likely that some of their more enthusiastic followers did so, on their behalf.

To put it in modern terms, the validity of Paul’s apostolate is being questioned.

He replies by showing that, put in this way, the question is invalid since, in asking it, the questioners implicate themselves also.

If the Jerusalem apostolate and Paul’s apostolate to the Gentiles, and, indeed, Peter’s apostolate to the Jews, have all one and the same source, how can such a question even arise?

Verse 2

2. all the brethren—I am not alone in my doctrine; all my colleagues in the Gospel work, travelling with me (Ac 19:29, Gaius and Aristarchus at Ephesus: Ac 20:4, Sopater, Secundus, Timotheus, Tychicus, Trophimus, some, or all of these), join with me.

Not that these were joint authors with Paul of the Epistle: but joined him in the sentiments and salutations.

The phrase, “all the brethren,” accords with a date when he had many travelling companions, he and they having to bear jointly the collection to Jerusalem

That lesson would seem to be this, that even though it is true that Paul alone—not Paul plus these brothers who are with him—authored this letter (note constant recurrence of first person sing.: Gal.

1:6, 10–17, etc.), nevertheless, before composing and sending it he thoroughly discussed with all the brothers the matter with which it was to deal.

So unanimous was their agreement with Paul’s proposed method of handling this difficult situation that the apostle writes in the name of all.

Moral: when it becomes necessary to send someone a letter of sharp reproof, discuss the matter with others who also have the welfare of Zion at heart, if such can be done without violating any confidences or of coming into conflict with the principles established in Matt.

18.

Verse 3