BIG IDEA:
LEGITIMATE DIVINE APOSTLESHIP PROMOTES THE ESSENCE OF THE TRUE GOSPEL = THE CRUCIFIXION AND RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST
INTRODUCTION:
Bruce Barton: The year was probably A.D. 49. Paul and Barnabas had just completed their first missionary journey (Acts 13:2 – 14:28). By their standards, it must have been a whirlwind adventure. Following a brief stay on the island of Cyprus, they had visited Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, cities in the Roman province of Galatia (present-day Turkey). In their travels they had met with both wholehearted response and deep-seated resistance.
Usually Paul and Barnabas would introduce the gospel in a new area by starting in the local Jewish synagogue, demonstrating from the Scriptures that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. But they would venture beyond the Jewish community to offer the promise of forgiveness and eternal life to the Gentiles. And that would get them in trouble. Declaring that God wanted to save Gentiles placed Paul and Barnabas under a cloud of suspicion by Jews and Jewish Christians. As a result of their preaching, however, many Jews and Gentiles converted to Christ. The success of Christianity also created deep resentment in those holding positions of leadership in society and in religious circles. The work of Paul and Barnabas threatened their standing.
Thrilled by the number of persons who accepted their message, upon arriving back in Antioch, Paul and Barnabas “gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14:27 NIV).
Shortly after their return to Antioch, some Jewish Christians arrived from Judea. These Judeans claimed that the Antioch church and its missionaries were diluting Christianity to make it more appealing to Gentiles, and they challenged Paul’s authority as an apostle. They disagreed with Paul’s teaching that Gentiles did not have to follow many of the religious laws that the Jews had obeyed for centuries. The resultant heated debate touched almost every church in the first century. The issue: how to maintain a proper place for the Jewish root from which the vine of Christianity was flourishing. . .
Legalism” is attempting to win God’s favor by our own determined efforts of dedication and obedience. In Paul’s time, Jews and many Jewish Christians believed that by faithful adherence to the law they could win God’s approval. By strict and rigid adherence to the Mosaic code, they could earn righteous standing with God.
“Labelism” is pride of ownership for having the “right” religion. Jews saw their commitment to the law (primarily the Jewish food laws and circumcision) as a badge of ownership, a symbol of their performance of the historic covenant between them and God. They felt superior for their religious correctness and for upholding the “right” religion. Too often this adherence to the law was in name only.
John MacArthur: One way to deny the truthfulness of a message is to deny the authority of the one who gives it. The Galatian church had received the true gospel of grace from Paul and had believed it until some false teachers came in after he was gone. They not only attacked the validity of the message but also that of the messenger. Apparently the Judaizers had convinced some of the Galatian church members that Paul was a self-appointed apostle with no divine commission. So at the outset of the letter Paul dispensed with the usual personal greetings and immediately began to establish the genuineness of his apostolic authority, which he later (1: 11 – 2:21) expands on in detail.
In this brief salutation Paul summarizes his authority (his right to speak), his message (the truths he speaks), and his motive (his reason for speaking).
Richard Longenecker: In the salutation of Galatians, Paul sets out the two main issues dealt with in the letter: the nature of his apostleship and the nature of the Christian gospel. And against those who were stirring up his converts to think otherwise, he enlists the support of, first, “all the brothers with me” (v 2), and then a confession drawn from the liturgy of the early church (v 4).
David Jeremiah: Paul omits his typical “thanksgiving” section—where he praises God for the faithfulness of the church—in his letter to the Galatians. This points to the urgency he felt in calling out the error of the Judaizers.
Philip Ryken: The Pharisees were hypocrites because they thought that what God would do for them depended on what they did for God. So they read their Bibles, prayed, tithed, and kept the Sabbath as if their salvation depended on it. What they failed to understand is that God’s grace cannot be earned; it only comes free.
There is a way out of Pharisaism. The way out is called the gospel. It is the good news that Jesus Christ has already done everything necessary for our salvation. If we trust in him, he will make us right with God by giving us the free gift of his grace. When we reject our own righteousness to receive the righteousness of Jesus Christ, we become former Pharisees.
Most former Pharisees have a problem, however. It is hard for them to leave their legalism behind. Although initially they received God’s grace for free, they keep trying to put a surcharge on it. They believe that God loves them, but secretly they suspect that his love is conditional, that it depends on how they are doing in the Christian life. They end up with a performance-based Christianity that denies the grace of God. To put this in theological terms, they want to base their justification on their sanctification.
This means that most former Pharisees—indeed, most Christians—are still in recovery. There is still something of the old legalist in us. Although we have been saved by grace, we do not always know how to live by grace. The gospel is something we received some time in the past, but not something we live and breathe. Galatians was written for people like us.
Paul’s epistle to the Galatians has been called the Magna Carta of Christian liberty. Its theme verse is a declaration of independence: “We know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal. 2:16). Whenever the church has understood this gospel message, Galatians has brought life and freedom to recovering Pharisees.
Thomas Schreiner: The unique features in the greeting are particularly crucial, for the distinctive elements foreshadow important themes in the letter:
- Paul’s apostleship derives from God rather than from human beings (1:1), so that he is defending himself against the objections of the opponents.
- Other believers concur with the Pauline gospel (1:2).
- The new age of salvation has broken into time by Christ’s death and resurrection, which has delivered believers from this present evil age (1:1, 4).
- The Pauline gospel brings glory to God (1:5).
I. Introduction: Desertion from Paul’s Gospel Is Desertion from the Gospel (1:1 – 2:21)
A. Greeting: Paul’s Apostolic Authority (1:1–5)
- Sender: Paul and fellow believers (1:1–2)
2. Prayer wish (1:3)
3. Purpose of Christ’s death (1:4)
4. Glory to God (1:5)
B. Problem Explained: Desertion from the Gospel (1:6–10)
C. Paul’s Gospel Derived from God, Not People (1:11 – 2:21)
David Platt: Main Idea: We cannot earn God’s favor through legalism, for the gospel is free and freeing.
Legalism Defined
- Working in our own power
- Working according to our own rules
- Working to earn God’s favor
Legalism Destroyed
- The gospel is free.
- God the Father has initiated our salvation.
- God the Son has accomplished our salvation.
- The gospel is freeing.
- By His grace, we are free from sin in this world.
- By His grace, we are free to share with this world.
Galatians is a book that was written specifically to counter legalism and to address the centrality of grace in the church. As we study this book, we should begin to see more clearly what grace is, to be saturated with it, and to know when it is being taught accurately. When we hear a false gospel, we should be discerning enough to recognize it. This is exactly what the Galatian church, a new church that was just beginning to grow, was in danger of missing.
I. (:1-2a) AUTHOR: SOURCE OF PAUL’S LEGITIMATE APOSTLESHIP (AND AUTHORITY)
“Paul, an apostle“
Ben Witherington: What is mentioned in Acts is that Paul as a Jew was named after the first king of Israel – Saul (cf., e.g., Acts 9.1), a notion which certainly comports with what Paul tells us in Phil. 3.5, namely that he is from the tribe of Benjamin.
Ronald Fung: The writer identifies himself by his Roman cognomen “Paul” (Lat. Paullus) instead of his Hebrew birth-name “Saul” (Acts 13:9)—aptly so, since he is addressing predominantly Gentile readers.
David deSilva: The term “apostle” refers to an envoy or delegate who is sent to carry a message or enact a commission on behalf of another. The term calls immediate attention to an awareness of a sender. Paul claims this sender to be none other than the glorified Christ and the God who had previously sent the Christ.
John Stott: Paul claims for himself the very title that the false teachers were evidently denying him. He was an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is the title Jesus used for his special representatives or delegates. From the wider company of disciples he chose twelve, named them “apostles,” and sent them out to preach. Thus they were personally chosen, called, and commissioned by Jesus Christ and authorized to teach in his name. The word apostle was not a general word that could be applied to every Christian like the words believer, saint, brother, or sister. It was a special term reserved for the Twelve and for one or two others the risen Christ had personally appointed.
Paul claimed to belong to this select company of apostles. Notice how he clearly distinguishes himself from other Christians who were with him at the time of writing. He calls them “all the brothers and sisters with me.” He is happy to associate them with him in the salutation, but he unashamedly puts himself first and gives himself a title that he does not give to them. He alone among them is an apostle.
Scot McKnight: Paul, then, writes as an apostle—as one who has been called personally by Jesus Christ, who therefore represents Jesus Christ, and who has a crucial role in the history of the church. He claims at least that much in the second word of this letter. He expects the Galatians to listen; he knows that disagreement is no longer dialogue; disagreement is heresy when it comes to the essentials of the gospel as made known through the apostles and prophets. Even Paul himself must submit to his own gospel (1:8, 10).
Timothy George: The word “Paul” in Greek literally means “small,” or “little.” The earliest physical description we have of Paul comes from The Acts of Paul and Thecla, a second-century apocryphal writing that describes the apostle as “a man of small stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked, full of friendliness; for now he appeared like a man, and now he had the face of an angel.” Although written many years after his death, these words may well reflect an authentic tradition about Paul’s actual likeness.
A. Not Mediated by Man
- Directly — “not sent from men“
Howard Vos: His commission came not from men. Probably he meant to imply that his apostolic commission was not from the Twelve. Or he may have meant that it did not come from the church of Antioch (Ac 13:1-3), which some may have thought to be inferior to a Jerusalem commission. Moreover, his commission came not through or by means of man.
David deSilva: One of the goals a speaker would seek to achieve from the outset of a speech was to establish his or her credibility, often by demonstrating his or her authority to address a particular issue and commitment to the well-being of the audience whom the speaker was trying to lead toward making a particular decision. Paul addresses the issue of his authority head-on and up front as he expands his self-designation as the sender of the letter. He emphasizes his direct authorization by God to act as an apostle of the gospel, denying that he relies on any human authorization.
- Indirectly — “nor through the agency of man“
What were Paul’s detractors charging him with?
What types of false accusations were they making to seek to promote their own legitimacy and agenda?
David deSilva: The two phrases “not from human beings” and “not through a human being’s agency” are mutually reinforcing but not entirely redundant. With the first, Paul denies that human beings are the point of origin of his apostolic mission; with the second, that any human being was instrumental in sending him out on this mission.
George Brunk: Paul’s intent is to exclude humans both as the originating cause and as the intermediate means through whom another agent acted (God, in this case).
B. Mediated by God
- God the Son — “but through Jesus Christ“
Timothy George: Who is Jesus Christ? By so directly linking Jesus Christ and God the Father in such an unqualified, absolute, and intimate way, Paul was making a stupendous claim about a specific Jewish teacher who had lived and died in Palestine just a few years before these words were written. His brother James was still alive as were hundreds of other friends who had known and seen him (Gal 1:19; 1 Cor 15:6). Paul was saying that the life and work of this Jewish man, Jesus of Nazareth, transcends the bounds of all human categories—rabbi, prophet, guru, miracle worker, religious genius, philosopher, and statesman. When we consider who he was and what he did, we can only say that this one, Jesus, is God, the eternal Son of God, who freely came to earth to accomplish the Father’s plan of redemption. He came into the thick of our humanity, as bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, but God has vindicated his shameful death on the cross by raising him from the dead and exalting him to his right hand in heaven. He is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world, now worthy to be worshiped and glorified by all who are his.
George Brunk: The particular form of the expression appears to be determined by the fact that in early Christianity, apostleship is linked directly to a commission of the risen Jesus (and such was Paul’s conviction, based on his own experience). Therefore Jesus Christ is mentioned first. But Paul wants to acknowledge the ultimate source as God the Father, who raised [Jesus] from the dead (1:1c). His apostleship has its ultimate cause in God the Father and its intermediate cause in Jesus Christ. Paul may also want to express the unity of Father and Son (Christ) with one preposition (cf. the same pattern in 1:3).
- God the Father — “and God the Father“
Ben Witherington: The fatherhood of God plays an important role in Galatians (cf. 1.3, 4; 4.2, 6), and as Betz says this is in part because Paul wants to speak about adoption (3.7, 26; 4.4–7, 22–31). In fact he wishes to assert the paternity of God in regard both to Jews and to Gentiles through the agency of Jesus Christ. As we will see this is in contrast to the notion of paternity in relationship to only one particular ethnic group – Jews. In Paul’s view, one does not have to become a Jew to be a son or daughter of God, indeed a son or daughter of Abraham. All that is required is having the same faith and faithfulness as Abraham.
Thomas Schreiner: His is a divine appointment and a divine commission, and hence the gospel he proclaims is authoritative and true. The text also suggests that Jesus Christ and the Father are both divine beings, for Paul was not called merely by human beings. To say that Jesus Christ is divine, of course, does not deny that he was also human. Indeed, the name “Jesus” points to his humanity, as does the title “Christ.”
John MacArthur: The apostle’s frequent mention of God and Father in relation to Jesus Christ throughout the New Testament marks an emphasis that should not be missed. The intent is not for us to understand God as our Father (although that truth is mentioned in 1:4) but the Father in relation to the role He has in the Trinity, particularly His relation to the Son. The intent is to emphasize the significance of the relationship between the first and second members of the Trinity as to essential nature. The title is to express equality of deity between the two, a Father and Son who share the same nature (cf. Matt. 11:27; John 5:17-18, 22; 10:29-33; 14:9; 17:1-5; Rom. 15:6; 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:3; 2 John 3). It asserts that Jesus Christ is the One who is of the nature of God and that the true God is the One who is the Father of Jesus Christ.
C. Essence of the True Gospel — Significance of the Bodily Resurrection
“who raised Him from the dead“
Paul had been set aside by God to communicate the truth of the true gospel of God.
Thomas Schreiner: Only here in an introduction does he mention that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. What is the significance of the resurrection here? The resurrection signifies that the new age has dawned (cf. Isa 26:19; Ezek 37:1–14; Dan 12:1–3), in which God will fulfill all his saving promises to Israel and to the entire world. One of the major themes of the letter emerges here. The Galatians were turning the clock back in salvation history by submitting to circumcision and the Mosaic law. Since Jesus has been raised from the dead, believers are no longer under the Mosaic covenant. Once again Paul anticipates one of the central themes of the letter (the fulfillment of God’s eschatological promises).
D. Affirmation of Authority
“and all the brethren who are with me“
Not operating as some type of Lone Ranger.
Nijay Gupta: In Galatians 1:2, Paul widens the perspective on who this letter is from to include a community of Christians surrounding him: “and all the brothers and sisters with me.” Paul often mentions co-senders of his letters, including his coworkers such as Timothy or Silas. But it is extraordinary for Paul to inform the Galatians that not only is he the sender but also a whole community of fellow Christians! It is probably the case that he wanted to dispel any notion that he was a rogue apostle, a loner who preaches an incomplete or aberrant gospel. Quite the contrary, he was tied to a wide network of fellow believers across Asia Minor, and on the matters about which he teaches in this letter, they were “with” him, supporting the truth and freedom of the gospel.
Kathryn Greene-McCreight: Paul makes it clear that the letter is not from him alone, but at this point he does not name his companions. Later he will mention two of his coworkers: Barnabas and Titus (2:1). That he has some who are with him may have a corollary: there are some who are against him.
II. (:2b) RECIPIENTS: REALM OF APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY
“to the churches of Galatia“
Ben Witherington: This letter is intended as a circular letter, and this also means that Paul assumes that the agitators’ message has infected and affected not just one congregation but several. The situation is all the more grave in Paul’s view because of the scope of the problem.
Philip Ryken: One good reason for thinking that Paul was writing this circular letter to churches in the south is that he had planted churches there himself. The main cities in the southern part of the province of Galatia were Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe—the very cities Paul visited on his first missionary journey.
III. (:3) GREETING: BLESSING FROM APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY
A. 2 Key Ingredients:
- Grace — “Grace to you“
- Peace — “and Peace“
Ralph Martin: “Peace” reflects the outcome in God’s plan to restore men and women to wholeness (Heb. shalom) of living.
Craig Keener: Here Paul offers what is sometimes called a “wish-prayer,” a prayer for the Galatians to receive well-being (peace) and God’s generosity (grace).
George C. Findlay: Grace is the sum of all blessing bestowed by God; peace, . . . the sum of all blessing experienced by man. Grace is the Father’s good will and bounty in Christ to His undeserving children; peace, the rest and reconcilement, the recovered health and gladness of the child brought home to the Father’s house, dwelling in the light of his Father’s face. Grace is the fountain of redeeming love; peace is the “river of life proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb,” that flows calm and deep through each believing soul, the river whose “streams make glad the city of God.”
George Brunk: Grace expresses the ground of gospel reality, and peace states its fruit. But the ultimate source is God, seen once again as God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (1:3; cf. 1:1). What is new is the title Lord for Jesus Christ, which was the common confession of the first believers. It points to Jesus exalted to the right hand of God after the resurrection (Rom 1:4; Phil 2:9-11, esp. v. 11) and affirms his authority over the church and potentially over the world.
B. 2 Key Providers:
- God the Father — “from God our Father“
- Lord Jesus Christ — “and the Lord Jesus Christ“
IV. (:4) ESSENCE OF THE TRUE GOSPEL — SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CRUCIFIXION
A. Provision of Salvation — Substitutionary Atonement
“who gave Himself for our sins“
cf. the gospel summary in 1 Cor. 15:3-4.
Thomas Schreiner: The Galatians are only entranced by circumcision because they have forgotten the significance of the cross (2:20–21; 3:1, 13; 4:4–5; 5:11, 24; 6:12, 14, 17). A right relationship with God is not obtained by circumcision but only through trusting in the cross of Jesus Christ. The term “gave” (δόντος) anticipates 2:20, where Paul speaks of the Son of God as the one “who loved me and gave (παραδόντος) himself for me.” The love of Jesus manifests itself in his voluntary death on behalf of his people. Jesus’ death was necessary because of human sin, and he gave himself so that those who trust in him would receive forgiveness of sins. The death of Christ is also substitutionary, for death is the consequence of sin (Rom 6:23), but Jesus Christ surrendered his life to atone for sins, and hence believers are spared final separation from God.
Douglas Moo: Central to Paul’s attempt to woo the Galatians back to the true gospel is his insistence throughout the letter that the cross of Christ is the decisive and uniquely sufficient means to rescue sinners from death. Embracing Christ’s cross through faith is all that is needed to effect this rescue and to bring believers into the “new creation” (6:15). The law program advocated by the agitators effectively underplays the decisive turning point in all of human history.
Timothy George: We also glimpse in these words the radical character of sin, another major theme Paul developed throughout Galatians. So serious is the breach between us and God caused by our sins that nothing less than the substitutionary atoning death of God’s Son can reconcile us to the Father. We are not sure which Greek preposition Paul used in the phrase “for our sins.” Some manuscripts read peri, which means simply “concerning” or “in regard to.” Other manuscripts read hyper, “on behalf of,” “for the benefit of.” Paul used the latter word in 1 Cor 15:3, “Christ died for [hyper] our sins.” This is likely the intended reading here as well since Paul used hyper twice again in Galatians (2:20; 3:13) when speaking of Christ’s death on our behalf. In either case, however, his meaning is clear: there is an intrinsic connection between our sins and Christ’s death. The only avenue to a right relationship with God is the path that leads to Calvary.
Ronald Fung: It can be seen, therefore, that the point of departure for Paul’s thought is not the individual’s need and experience, but Christ’s epoch-making redemptive work, the primary significance of which is objective: it rescues believers out of the present evil age or aeon and brings them into a new aeon, a new order of existence, subject to a different power. Its subjective significance for believers consists in the fact that, having been thus objectively delivered out of the present aeon, they need no longer be dominated by the evil spiritual powers of this age, but may (and must) live in newness of life in the new order of existence, in the power of the new life given by God.
In this one verse Paul has described several aspects of the redemption wrought by Christ: its cause (“for our sins,” that is, because of them), its means (Christ “sacrificed himself”), its purpose and effect (“for our sins,” that is, for their expiation; “to rescue us”), and its origin (“the will of our God and Father”). Thereby Paul has in fact touched on the chief argument of the letter, and succinctly announced in anticipatory fashion the main contents of its doctrinal section, inasmuch as the point of the controversy between Paul and his Galatian opponents lies precisely in the significance of Christ and his redemptive work and more specifically in the bearing of this work on the law. Paul will argue that since Christ has, according to God’s will, already rescued believers out of the present aeon (where the law belongs), it is plainly unnecessary for them to add anything—including circumcision and observance of the Torah—to the redemption already accomplished for them by Christ.
B. Purpose of Salvation — Freedom from Sin
“that He might deliver us out of this present evil age“
John Stott: Christianity is a rescue religion. From what does Christ rescue us by his death? Not from the evil world but from this evil age. Christian conversion means being rescued from the old age and being transferred into the new age, “the age to come.” The Christian life means living in this age the life of the age to come. The purpose of Christ’s death, therefore, was not only to bring us forgiveness, but that, having been forgiven, we should live a new life, the life of the age to come.
Thomas Schreiner: The intellectual worldview that controls the mindset of unbelievers is limited to this age (1 Cor 1:20; 3:18), and Satan rules as the god of this age (2 Cor 4:4). The present evil age is not the only reality, for the “fulfillment [ends] of the ages” (τὰ τέλη τῶν αἰώνων) has now dawned in Jesus Christ (1 Cor 10:11). The cross of Christ represents the intrusion of the new age, or as Paul says in Gal 6:14–15, the new creation. Indeed, the reference to the new creation at the close of the letter functions as an inclusio with the text here, so that at the beginning and end of the letter the arrival of the last days in Christ is featured. The world in its present form is passing away (1 Cor 7:31). Jesus reigns in the present evil age, and his rule will reach its climax in the age to come (Eph 1:21; cf. 1 Cor 15:24–28), so that in the coming ages all will marvel over the grace of God displayed in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:7).
Again a major theme in Galatians is foreshadowed, for Paul clarifies in Gal 3–4 that the law belongs to the old age, and the promise of Abraham is now being fulfilled in Christ. Hence, those who receive circumcision fall back into the old evil age after being delivered from it through Christ’s death. We see as well here the eschatological tension of Paul’s thought, for even though the new age has come in Jesus Christ, the old age has not vanished entirely. Believers live in the interval between the already and not yet. God’s promises are already realized in Christ, but “the present evil age” still exists, so that believers must remain vigilant and keep putting their trust in the cross of Christ.
Richard Longenecker: The deliverance spoken of here is not a removal from the world but a rescue from the evil that dominates it.
David deSilva: The notion of living at the end of one age and the inauguration of another is foundational to Paul’s argument against the continued observance of Torah and, thus, against the perpetuation of the distinction between Jew and gentile that is so much in the foreground of his dispute with the rival teachers (3:26–28; 5:6; 6:15). The death and resurrection of Jesus marks a decisive turning point in God’s dealings with humanity and, indeed, the whole of God’s creation, with the result that the powers that have dominated human beings have come to the end of their term (3:23–25; 4:1–5, 8–11), with Jesus liberating people from those powers and ushering them into a new era of freedom and righteousness.
F. F. Bruce: Here, then, is Paul’s ‘realized eschatology’. Temporally, the age to come, the resurrection age, still lies in the future; spiritually, believers in Christ have here and now been made partakers of it, because they share the risen life of Christ (cf. 2:19f.), who has already entered the resurrection age. They have thus been delivered from the control of the powers which dominate the present age. As 1 Cor. 7:31 puts it, ‘the form of this world (τὸ σχῆμα τοῦ ϰόσμου τούτου) is passing away’, and therefore believers in Christ should manifest a spirit of detachment from it. The indwelling Spirit not only helps them to look forward in confidence to the life of the age to come (cf. 5:5); he enables them to enjoy it even while in mortal body they live in the present age. Thanks to the work of the Spirit, applying to believers the redemption and victory won by Christ, the ‘not yet’ has become for them the ‘already’.
It is particularly relevant to the argument of this letter that the law, to which the Galatian Christians were being urged to submit, belongs to this present age: it is associated with ‘the elemental powers of the world’ (τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ ϰόσμου) under which they were enslaved before they came to faith in Christ (4:3, 9).
C. Plan of Salvation — Divine Plan
“according to the will of our God and Father“
Philip Ryken: This verse shows the origin of the cross. Christ died “according to the will of our God and Father” (Gal. 1:4). The execution of Jesus of Nazareth was not an unforeseen tragedy, a mere accident of history; it was part of God’s plan for the salvation of sinners. The apostle Peter said as much to the very men who nailed Jesus to the cross. In his famous sermon in Jerusalem, he declared,“This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (Acts 2:23).
John MacArthur: Specifically, every rescued believer is delivered because of the sovereign, gracious will of God. “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Salvation is thus removed from the will of man and is buried deep in the sovereign decree of God.
V. (:5) ULTIMATE GOAL = GLORY OF GOD THE FATHER
“to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen“
Douglas Moo: The doxology is best seen, then, as a natural addition to the christological/soteriological assertion of verse 4. It is quite natural to ascribe glory to God for planning and putting into effect the rescue of sinners from this present evil age (e.g., Lightfoot 1881: 74; Bruce 1982b: 77).
Ronald Fung: God’s “glory” (doxa) in general denotes his divine and heavenly radiance, his loftiness and majesty, but since it appears here with the article it may refer to that unique glory which belongs to God alone; interpreted by its context “the glory” (RSV) may be more specifically taken as God’s fatherly character and the union of perfect wisdom, holiness, and love manifested in the redemption of mankind through Christ according to his will. The description of this glory as being “for ever and ever” implies that in the eternity which is comprised of endless successive generations41 that union of wisdom, holiness and love will continue to be a fundamental aspect of God’s glory (cf. Eph. 2:7).
John MacArthur: Amen expresses the affirmation fitting the worthiness of God to receive glory for such a wondrous provision of eternal, gracious salvation. Alan Cole writes of this word: “When the old-fashioned Cantonese-speaking Christian says at the end of a prayer shing saw. shoh uen (“with all my heart this is what I wish”) he approaches very nearly the original Hebrew meaning” (The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970], p. 37).
Timothy George: The inclusion of this exclamation of praise is no mere formality. To contemplate who God is and what he has done in Jesus Christ is to fall on our knees in worship, thanksgiving, and praise. We study the Bible and the great doctrines of the Christian faith not out of vain curiosity, or merely to increase our intellectual acumen and historical knowledge, but rather that we might come more fully to love and enjoy the gracious God who delights in our praise. As Calvin put it so well, “So glorious is his redemption that it should ravish us with wonder.”