Galatians 1 Scofield
Read Galatians 1 · Matthew Henry on Galatians 1
1:3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
“Grace”
1:4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
“sins”
Sin. (See Scofield "Rom 3:23").
1:6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
“grace”
The test of the Gospel is grace. If the message excludes grace, or mingles law with grace as the means of either of justification or sanctification Gal 2:21; Gal 3:1–3 or denies the fact or guilt of sin which alone gives grace its occasion and opportunity, it is "another" gospel, and the preacher of it is under the anathema of God Gal 1:8; Gal 1:9.
1:10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
“For now do”
The demonstration is as follows:
(1) The Galatians know Paul, that he is no seeker after popularity Gal 1:10.
(2) He puts his known character back of the assertion that his Gospel of grace was a revelation from God (Gal 1:11; Gal 1:12).
(3) As for the Judaizers, Paul had been a foremost Jew, and had forsaken Judaism for something better (Gal 1:13; Gal 1:14).
(4) He had preached grace years before he saw any of the other apostles (Gal 1:15–24).
(5) When he did meet the other apostles they had nothing to add to his revelations Gal 2:1–6.
(6) The other apostles fully recognized Paul's apostleship. Gal 2:7–10.
(7) If the legalizers pleaded Peter's authority, the answer was that he himself had claimed none when rebuked (Gal 2:11–14).
1:13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
“Jews' religion”
The new dispensation of grace having come in, the Mosaic system, if still persisted in, becomes a mere "Jews' religion."
1:14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.
“religion”
In Gal 1:13–14 the Greek word for "the Jews' religion" is Ioudaismos (Judaism). In Acts 26:5; Jas 1:26; Jas 1:27 threskeia--religious service--is translated "religion," and in Col 2:18, "worshipping." Excepting Jas 1:27, "religion" has always a bad sense, and nowhere is it synonymous with salvation or spirituality.
Public domain (1917). Text from the BibleSupport.com e-Sword module.
Introduction to Galatians
WRITER: The Apostle Paul (1:1)
DATE: Galatians was probably written A.D. 60, during Paul's third visit to Corinth, The occasion of the Epistle is evident. It had come to Paul's knowledge that the fickle Galatians, who were not Greeks, but Gauls, "a stream from the torrent of barbarians which poured into Greece in the third century before Christ," had become the prey of the legalizers, the Judaizing missionaries from Palestine.
THEME: The theme of Galatians is the vindication of the Gospel of the grace of God from any admixture of law-conditions, which qualify or destroy its character of pure grace.
The Galatian error had two forms, both of which are refuted. The first is the teaching that obedience to the law is mingled with faith as the ground of the sinner's justification; the second, that the justified believer is made perfect by keeping the law. Paul meets the first form of the error by a demonstration that justification is through the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen 15:18), and that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after the confirmation of that covenant, and the true purpose of which was condemnation, not justification, cannot disannul a salvation which rests upon the earlier covenant. Paul meets the second and more subtle form by vindicating the office of the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier.
The book is in seven parts:
1. Salutation Gal 1:1–5
2. Theme, Gal 1:6–9.
3. Paul's Gospel is a revelation, Gal 1:10 to Gal 2:14.
4, Justification is by faith without law, Gal 2:15 to Gal 3:24.
5. The rule of the believer's life is gracious, not legal, Gal 3:25 to Gal 5:15.
6. Sanctification is through the Spirit, not the law, Gal 5:16–24.
7. Exhortations and conclusion, Gal 5:25 to Gal 6:18.