Epistles – Galatians 1-3

Galatians presents to us important messages that are the basic building blocks of our Christian faith. This epistle contains 6 chapters, and we are covering the first 3 chapters today.

Whenever we read chapters in the Bible, it is essential that we go away from the Bible-reading session with at least some basic understanding of the intended message for each chapter. In this way, we can be sure that our time is not spent in vain. Let’s read…

Bible Passage:  Galatians 1-3

Gal 1 begins with Paul’s emphatic insistence on the one true gospel.  Paul tells us that there can only be one single message of Christ. We should neither be partial nor lenient to skewed interpretations of the gospel. He has good reason to do so because as it turns out, the early churches in the region of Galatia were already starting to show signs of corruption of the pure truth.

Paul’s testimony is good because he uses his personal experience to guide us in understanding how the single gospel truth can only come from Christ and not from men. There is much for us to learn today, given how men have varying interpretations of the truth.

Let’s be reminded that God “shows personal favouritism to no man” (Gal 2:6) and the truth has already been revealed to us in His holy Word.

Evidently, the early church suffered from the misconceptions of some believers who felt that gentile converts should take on Jewish practices. Today we might not be faced with such a situation, yet the underlying principles of this epistle teach us that that the single truth revealed to us by God covers all believers of all backgrounds, for “as many of (us) as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ” and there is no more distinction among us (Gal 3:27-28).

Gal 2 and 3’s combined message draws from Gal 1’s introduction. Paul moves on to tell us how we are justified by faith, not by the law, and thus we should not return to the law, and we should not demand that others act according to the law.

The analogy used by Paul is that the law was like a tutor.

In the Jewish household, this tutor played the role of a guardian who was responsible for the care and discipline of the children. How apt this is! We ought not to be ashamed to admit that we are the children of God.

In this way, we are His children and we can understand the message and deep purpose of the Old Testament law. The law was like the tutor/guardian who guided the Israelites step by step. For us the law is revealed to us in the Old Testament today and we see its fulfilment in the New Testament today.

How blessed are we to have the good fortuity of hindsight and foresight all laid out through the pages of the Bible!

When the salvation plan of God was fulfilled in the coming and dying of Christ, there was no longer any need for that tutor/guardian. Christ Himself was the Father who would take His own children by the hand. Such is the grace that is afforded to us when we believe in faith!

However, lest we think the law was of no effect, Gal 3:21 -23 tells us that the law was like a forerunner in the way that it protected the people of God.

For those who kept the law in faith, the law was the protection for such faithful believers. Today we have been crucified with Christ, and we who believe in faith and keep the teachings of God’s Word in faith, will similarly inherit the promises of God.

The one major difference is that we have moved on from the musical minor key and transited into the melodious major key. Therefore, let’s continue to move forward and upward with faith, believing in the promise of Christ who has fulfilled the law for us.

The following hymn in the video encapsulates the spirit of Gal 1-3.