Commentary On Galatians Chapter One
===================================
A verse by verse Messianic commentary on Paul's letter to the
Galatians, chapter one.
`1' /Paul, an emissary, (not from men, neither through
man, but/ /through Yeshua the Anointed, and through God
the Father, who raised/ /him from the dead),/
This letter is written by Paul, an apostle, that is, an emissary or
sent one. Paul was sent not by men, nor any man, but by Yeshua the
Messiah (Jesus Christ) and God the Father, who raised Yeshua from the
dead. This means that Paul was instructed directly by Yeshua on what
to preach to the nations. He neither made up his own theology, nor was
he taught the theology of others. Refer to verses 11 and 12.
`2' /and all the brothers with me, to the assemblies of
Galatia./
This letter is also written on behalf of Paul's brothers and sisters
in Messiah who were with him at the time he wrote the letter, which is
addressed to the churches of Galatia.
These assemblies, being in Galatia, outside of the land of Israel,
were Gentile churches, which means that most of the members were not
of Jewish descent or culture. These are assemblies which Paul himself
established during his mission to the nations.
`3' /Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and
from our Adonai Yeshua the Anointed,/
Paul, in accordance with his usual practice, wishes his readers and
hearers grace and peace from God the Father and from Messiah Yeshua.
In this regard, it is noteworthy that he is not recorded as having
done so in the name of the Holy Spirit.
`4' /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,/
Yeshua died for our sins in order to save us from and bring us out of
the evil world which exists at present, and this according to the will
of God our Father. It is the Gentiles' starting to turn back to the
evil practices of the world that appears to have occasioned this
letter.
`5' /to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen./
The letter opening is concluded with a glorification of God, and an
emphatic amen.
`6' /I am amazed that you/ [plural] /are so soon deserting
him who/ /called you into the loving-kindness of the
Anointed to a different good news,/
Paul is astounded that those in the gentile Galatian churches are so
quickly deserting God (who called them into the grace of Messiah), for
a different "good news".
`7' /which is not another/ [the same], /but there be some
that trouble you, and who want to change the good news of
the Anointed./
This alien "good news" is not just another flavour of the true good
news which Paul had taught them, and which Messiah taught Paul
directly Himself. No! There were some among them who were influencing
them and perverting the good news of Messiah into something which
seemed similar or the same, but which in fact is radically different.
Those who sought to pervert the Gospel in the end succeeded in their
purpose. They were able to have God's Law put aside while retaining an
appearance of godliness.
`8' /But even though we, or a messenger from heaven,
preach any good/ /news to you contrary to that which we
have preached to you, let him/ /be accursed./
A curse from God will be upon those who pervert the true Gospel and
teach it as the truth.
The counterfeit gospels resemble the true Gospel, otherwise, no one
would be fooled. The only way to know which is the true and which the
counterfeit is to test against Scripture, while being wary of
corrupted translations pushing a lawless message contrary to
Scripture. People do, however, prefer to take the word of trusted
priests, pastors or Christian "superstars" over what they can see
plainly in God's Word for themselves if only they took the time and
trouble to study it.
`9' /As we said before, so I now say again, If any man
preach any/ /other gospel to you other than that you have
received, let him be/ /accursed./
The repetition shows that these are definitely no idle words.
Furthermore, the curse is not only from Paul himself. "As we said
before," shows that it was said before, and that it is not just Paul
who said it.
`10' /For do I now seek the approval of men, or of God? Or
do I/ /strive to please men? If I were still trying to
please men, I would/ /not be the servant of the Anointed./
The false gospel that was being taught was pleasing to men and had an
appearance of godliness, but it is not Paul's job to please men but to
please God, being the servant of Messiah.
`11' /For I would have you know, brothers, that the good
news that was preached by me is not according to man./
But I make known to you, my brothers and sisters in Messiah, that the
Good News preached or proclaimed by myself does not come from man, and
is not according to any man's teaching.
`12' /Because I neither received it from man, nor was I
taught it, but/ [I received it] /by the revelation of
Yeshua the Anointed./
Because I neither received it from a man, nor was I taught it, but it
was instead given to me by revelation directly from Messiah Yeshua.
All of Paul's teaching came directly from Yeshua the Anointed,
including his teaching and example of keeping all of God's Law, none
of which had lapsed since Yeshua's death and resurrection.
`13' /For you have heard of my conduct in the past in
Judaism, how I/ /used to exceedingly persecute the
Assembly of God, and attempted to/ /destroy it./
For all of you have heard about how I used to behave in Judaism, how
exceedingly I used to persecute the Church of God, and tried to
destroy it.
Note that the author is not saying he is no longer a Jew or that his
religion is no longer Judaism, as many Christians would prefer to
suppose and assume. He is merely drawing a stark contrast between his
behaviour then and his behaviour now. He is still a Jew in "Judaism",
but his behaviour is now different.
Whatever exactly Paul thought by the term 'Judaism' or the 'religion
of the Jews', (since Paul was a Pharisee, perhaps he particularly had
in mind that sect) he is certainly not saying that it is the nature of
Judaism to persecute Christian Jews, for Paul well knew that his own
teacher, Gamaliel, did not persecute the Christian Jews as Paul did.
See the following verses in Acts.
`Acts 5:38-39' /So in the present case I/ [Gamaliel] /tell
you, keep/ /away from these men and let them alone, for if
this plan or this/ /undertaking is of man, it will be
overthrown, but if it is of God,/ /you will not be able to
overthrow them. You might even be found/ /fighting against
God!"/
Continuing with Galatians 1.
`14' /And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many
contemporaries among/ /my kind, being more exceedingly
zealous for the traditions of my/ /fathers./
And Paul succeeded among and over his equals among the Pharisees
because he showed greater zeal for the traditions of his ancestors.
The Pharisees, we surmise from Yeshua's dealings with them, valued
their human tradition on a par with the written Law, similar to the
Jews of today.
`15' /But when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by his loving kindness,/
But in due time, when God was ready, as when he was separated from his
mother's womb at birth, called Paul through the working of His grace.
`16' /to reveal his Son to me, that I might preach him
among the/ /nations; I did not immediately consult with
flesh and blood,/
God called Paul through his loving kindness and revealed his Son,
Messiah Yeshua, to him, for the purpose that Paul would preach Yeshua
among the nations. Now Paul did not immediately go and confer with
other men,
`17' /nor did I go up to Yerushalayim to those who were
emissaries/ /before me, but I went away into Aravia, and
returned again to/ /Damaseq./
neither did he go straight to Jerusalem to obtain instruction from the
apostles who had been apostles before him, but instead he went into
Arabia, eventually returning to Damascus.
`18' /Then after three years I went up to Yerushalayim to
see Keipha,/ /and stayed with him fifteen days./
Furthermore, it was three years later (three years after his
conversion experience) that he went to Jerusalem to see Peter for
fifteen days only.
`19' /But I did not see any of the emissaries except
Ya'aqov the brother of Adonai./
But even then he did not see any of the other apostles, except for
James, the brother of Yeshua.
`20' /Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before
God, that I am not lying./
And these things to which Paul is testifying in writing are the
absolute truth, sworn before God.
`21' /Afterwards I went into the regions of Syria and
Cilicia./
After visiting Peter, Paul went into the Syria and Cilicia regions.
`22' /And I was unknown by sight to the assemblies of
Yehudah which were in the Anointed,/
And he was unknown in person to the believing assemblies of Judah
(i.e., Jews, but not those Jews who still did not believe in Messiah
Yeshua).
`23' /But they had heard only that he who once persecuted
us is now/ /preaching the faith which he once tried to
destroy./
But these assemblies of the Jews had only heard about him, and what
they had heard was that he was now preaching the faith which he was
once occupied in destroying.
`24' /And they were glorifying God on my account./
And they glorified God on account of what they heard about Paul,
because such a thing is indeed a miracle.
