Click Here to Read Galatians 1:1-10

Paul begins his letter with a clear statement that he was commissioned as an apostle by Jesus and not by any council of men.  “Apostle” means “messenger” or “sent one”.  He wants the Galatians to understand that his message comes to them by the authority of Jesus and not man.  I think this sets the table for understanding where they had gone awry which we will see more in the chapters to come. 

The next thing that stood out to me was in verse 4: “He’s the Anointed Messiah who offered himself as the sacrifice for our sins!  He has taken us out of this evil world system and set us free through our salvation, just as God desired.”  The Amplified translation says it this way: “who gave Himself (as a sacrifice to atone) for our sins (to save and sanctify us) so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, in accordance with the will and purpose and plan of our God and Father”.

In Ephesians Paul talks about how it was always God’s plan to adopt us as His children and his unfolding plan brings him great pleasure.  Isaiah says that it pleased the LORD to bruise him (Jesus).  Peter says he was chosen and destined for this before the foundation of the earth was laid.  It just really stood out to me that this was always what God wanted.  He wanted us, but before He even created us, He knew we would fall.  Jesus offered himself as the one who would come to redeem us; buy us back, because God wanted us. 

Making this personal I thought about God’s heart for me.  More than anything else God could feel, I think He feels love for me.  He knew everything He intended for me to do, He knew everything I would do instead, and He provided for me (before I even existed!) a Redeemer.  He gave me a gift; he gave me Jesus.  And because of Jesus I am cleansed, debt free to sin, freed from any bondage of guilt, shame, sickness, oppression…any residue at all from sin has been washed away by the blood of my Jesus.  He made a way for me to be completely purified, giving me the righteousness of Jesus.  He gave me a new life, with a clean slate, as a new creation!  He brought me to Himself, and I am no longer separated from the One who created me.  His will was for Jesus to die for me so that I could be His.  There is no greater love than that.

Paul’s concern for the Galatians here is that they have allowed a teaching among them that mixes the law with grace giving them a distorted gospel.  In fact, he says that anyone coming to them with a different gospel than the grace gospel “will have a curse of God come upon them!” (Gal. 1: 8).  And in verse 9 he says, “let them be condemned and cursed!”  He also says that he is “shocked” that they had strayed from God (“the One who called you in the grace of Christ.”) so quickly.  Okay, so we know that distorting the gospel is a pretty serious thing so let’s be sure we know what this grace gospel is that he speaks of.

The gospel of Jesus simply put is this: Jesus took our place on the cross to die for the sins of all mankind, for all of time (past, present, and future), to redeem through the sacrifice of himself the whole world.  He arose from the dead three days later defeating death and the grave and with it all consequence of sin.  He, having done his part, went to heaven and sent his Spirit to dwell within us making us a new creation and giving us new life in him.  So, what is this “grace gospel”?  

Well, let’s look at the word grace.  Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God (free and unmerited being the key words there).  So now let’s go back to where Paul says in verse 4 that Jesus offered himself as the sacrifice for our sins in accordance with the will, purpose and plan of our Father.  This was His gift to us.  There is nothing we could ever do to earn it, and we certainly don’t deserve it.  We can see throughout the Old Testament (and most likely in our own lives for that matter) that we could only get ourselves so far.  We could never be acceptable to Him unless sin was dealt with once and for all.  We need a Savior.  So, the grace gospel is that Jesus died willingly to pay for our sin and God says, “If you accept what my Son did for you, you get a clean slate.  And as a bonus I’m giving you my Holy Spirit to mark you as mine.  He will help you stay free.”  And just like that, we are forgiven, washed clean, made new, a temple of the Holy Spirit.  How do you like that?

Okay so now what is this “law” that was being mingled in with grace to produce a distorted gospel?  Well, it is the Law of Moses, or the law of works.  We will get into this deeper in future chapters but for now the basis is this: We are not saved by works we are saved by grace.  Hebrews 10:14-18 (AMP).  There it is.  He does it.  He does it all.  He was the sacrifice that did away with sin, He perfected and completely cleansed us, He brings us to spiritual maturity, He imprints His laws upon our hearts and inscribes them on our minds producing a change in us, and He remembers our sins no more.  There are no works we do to earn any of this.  All that is required of us is to receive it.  And let us not forget, this is how He wanted it to be!

What does that tell us about the heart of God?  Is there any love you have ever known that would do all of that?  Is there any doubt in you now that He wants you in heaven with Him?  We can understand why Paul is so protective of this grace gospel.  To distort it would be to distort the heart and true nature of God.  When we stray from this truth, we replace it with a lie and that lie puts separation between us and God.  Now who would ever want to separate us from God?  (More on that later.)  Plain and simple, God just wants us back.  He has done everything that was necessary to make a way.  All we have to do is come.  Leave all else behind and just come.  Trust me, if you do, He will give you more than you could ever imagine.  It’s the most beautiful exchange.

Let’s pray.

Father, we are so grateful to you for your love that is so big and sometimes beyond our comprehension.  We are just in awe of your heart for us; that you would do all that you did to save us and make us your very own.  That you would value us so much even when we didn’t know you, when we rejected you, when we turned away from you and tried to fill our lives with anything else but you.  Father, you never turn your back on us.  You always want us.  You always love us.  We thank you Father, for the grace gospel; that we don’t have to earn salvation but that you have freely given it to us.  We receive it, every bit of it.  If there are ever times in our lives when we don’t recognize your love for us would you come in and overwhelm us with your heart until we do?  We thank you for continuing to produce change in us as we move towards you.  You have given us complete freedom in Christ.  Teach us, Holy Spirit, how to walk in that freedom.  In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.