Letters from Paul

A taste of the study room coming with Paul — pull open whatever you'd like to sit with.

The reading — Galatians 1:1-10

¹Paul, an apostle (not from men, nor through man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead), ²and all the brothers who are with me, to the assemblies of Galatia: ³Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father— ⁵to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. ⁶I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different “good news”; ⁷and there isn’t another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you, and want to pervert the Good News of Christ. ⁸But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you any “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed. ⁹As we have said before, so I now say again: if any man preaches to you any “good news” other than that which you received, let him be cursed. ¹⁰For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.

World English Bible

The words behind the words

When I write "grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age" (Galatians 1:3-4), hold onto that word gave. It means he handed himself over — willingly, deliberately, no one taking his life from him. And "deliver" is rescue, the word for snatching a man out of a fire or a flood. This is not improvement; it is a rescue from an age that is dying. And when I say "another gospel" (Galatians 1:6), the word I use is heteron — not another of the same kind, but a different thing altogether. There is no other gospel; there is only the true one and a counterfeit.

Where else you say this

I take up this same thread when I tell the Corinthians, "you are not your own, for you were bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20) — the giving-over made personal. I press the rescue again when I write that God "has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son" (Colossians 1:13). And this fierceness against a corrupted gospel — I never lay it down: "even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8).

The situation

I planted these churches in Galatia; they received me as an angel of God, and would have torn out their own eyes for me (Galatians 4:14-15). But after I left, men came behind me teaching that faith in Christ was not enough — that these Gentile believers must be circumcised and keep the law to be truly counted in. And they were turning to it, quickly. So I do not open this letter as I open others; I write no thanksgiving, no warm word of praise. I go straight to the wound, because the truth of the gospel itself was slipping from their hands.

The hard question

You may ask: how can I, who preached "love is patient and kind" (1 Corinthians 13:4), pronounce a curse on men and call the Galatians deserters? Is this not the very harshness I warn against? Read it closely. I am not cursing them for a difference of opinion or a wound to my pride — the next verse asks, "am I now seeking the approval of man?" (Galatians 1:10). No. It is precisely because I love them that I cannot be patient with a lie that would sever them from Christ. To let a man drown quietly rather than shout is not gentleness; it is cruelty wearing a kind face. The severity is the love.

This is a small window into what a study room with Paul will hold — word by word, letter by letter, and the maps and journeys behind them. Get notified when it opens →

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