Galatians 1 Footnotes

1:1 While opponents appealed to rabbinical authority chains (“Rabbi So-and-so said . . .”), Paul contrasted his apostleship’s source (from God, not men) and means (through Messiah Jesus, not man).

1:4 The true gospel results in a lifestyle delivered from the powers of this present evil age (i.e., freed from Satan’s and sin’s control; see chaps. 5–6).

1:6-10 God’s good news—the gospel—makes him our Father (v. 3) and delivers us from sin’s tyranny (v. 4). Unfortunately, disturbers and distorters of this good news (v. 7) persuade others to desert God, who gives such grace through Christ (v. 6). They preach a different (heteros) gospel (v. 6) since there is no other (allos) gospel of the same kind (v. 7). Distorting the real gospel with a false gospel is worthy of damnation (anathema) in vv. 8-9 because of its everlastingly destructive consequences. In Galatians this distortion restricted entrance to salvation by Judaizing—adding traditional Jewish requirements, such as circumcision, food laws, and Sabbath keeping, to Christ’s all-sufficient provision.

1:10 Paul’s preaching the true gospel did not curry people’s favor or please them but brought him great suffering. His opponents’ false gospel helped them avoid suffering (5:11; 6:12-17).

1:11-12 This thesis statement focused the persuasive point of the 1:11–2:21 narrative on the universal nature of the gospel Paul preached (i.e., without Judaistic restrictions). His gospel was not a human message, nor of human origin, nor transmitted by human (particularly Jewish) means. Rather, he received his gospel by revelation from the resurrected Messiah. Paul contrasted his gospel with the nature and transmission of his opponents’ false gospel.

1:13-17 Paul’s radically changed life served as powerful evidence of the truthfulness and reality of the gospel he received, altering his insulated identity and behavioral pattern as a zealous, rapidly advancing Jewish rabbi (vv. 13-14). It was not other apostles (vv. 15-17), but rather the universal nature of the gospel, that caused these changes in Paul’s life.

1:18–2:21 The gospel’s universal nature was repeatedly confirmed by the broader church and the Jerusalem apostles: The first (1:18-24) was in a fifteen-day visit to Jerusalem followed by the Judean churches confirming Paul’s preaching of the faith. The second was fourteen years later when the non-Judaistic gospel was confirmed by the Jerusalem apostles (2:1-10 = famine relief visit of Ac 11:27-30). Peter’s reception of Paul’s rebuke for his Judaistic separation from Gentiles in Antioch confirmed a third time the “truth of the gospel” (2:5,14) that Paul preached in 2:11-21.