Thursday, December 27, 2012

Galatians 1:1


Copyright Ó 2012 J. Neely
Galatians 1:1

1 Paul, [Paulos] an apostle, [apostolos] (not [ou] of [apo] men, [anthropos] neither [oude] by [dia] man, [anthropos] but [alla] by [dia] Jesus [Iesous] Christ, [Christos] and [kai] God [theos] the Father, [pater] who [ho] raised [egeiro] him [autos] from [ek] the dead; [nekros]) KJV-Interlinear

1 Paul, an apostle (not sent from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), NASB

The writer of this letter is Paul. Paul means, little or small, and though it probably referred to his physical presence, it is also a reference to his spiritual humility.  Revered by all Christians as perhaps the one who made the most contribution to the New Testament, he is probably second only to Isaiah as far as the entire Bible is concerned.

Paul is referred to by those who did not particularly like him, as demeaning and unimpressive as an individual, 2 Cor. 10:10.

Paul was born into a Jewish family, Phil. 3:5, was a Roman citizen, Acts 22:25-28, was born with the name of Saul which was changed to Paul, Acts. 13:9.

He was raised in traditional orthodox fashion, circumcised on the eighth day, born of the tribe of Benjamin, a Pharisee, Phil. 3:5, fanatical and devout in Judaism, excelled among his peers, Gal. 1:14, was exuberant even in his participation in the death of Stephen, Acts 8:1, and the persecution of Christians in general, Acts 8:3, 9:1-2, 26:9-11.

While traveling to Damascus, Paul was confronted by Christ and converted to Christianity, Acts 9.  Paul spent three years in solitary preparation then returned to Damascus proclaiming the gospel of Christ.  He was run out of town, so to speak, and went to Jerusalem, where he was hesitantly received because of his former reputation, Acts 9:22-25, 2 Cor. 11:32-33.

Through the efforts of Barnabas, Paul was accepted, and went to Antioch, where he became one of the pastors in the church there. It was from that ministry that Paul launched his ministry to the gentiles, and thereby came to meet Timothy in due course, Acts 22:14-15, 26:16-18.

Paul is called an apostle, which means messenger, or to send off on a commission to do something as one's personal representative with credentials furnished, an envoy, an ambassador.

Many in the New Testament were called apostles, both of the original twelve as well as others, Barnabas, Acts 14:14, Epaphroditus, Phil. 2:25, Andronicus and Junius, Rom. 16:7, and James, Gal 1:19.

In a more restrictive definition of the term, only the original eleven plus Matthias and later Paul, who as selected by Christ Himself, or who were witness to Jesus personally, came into possession of the title.

Jesus Christ is commonly known as the second person of the Trinity.  However, this title does not make Him unequal with either the Father or the Spirit.  All three members of the Trinity are co-equal, co-eternal, and co-infinite.  They all have the same essence, omniscience, omnipresence, omnipotence, righteousness, justice, veracity, immutability, sovereignty, eternal life, love.

Long ago, Psa 1-2, the members of the Trinity set out a plan.  They all knew that angels and then people would try to elevate themselves to the same level of God, and presume that they all had the right to approach God from their own attributes and character.

God, all three, therefore came up with a plan to counter creature arrogance.  They set up a chain of command, and allowed no one to approach the Father, except by going through a second party.  One of the three assumed the title, Son of God, and that person we have come to know as Jesus Christ.

He is still God, but the divine plan requires creatures to approach the Father, only through the Son.  This is a title of authority and procedure.

Arrogance will immediately perceive that going through someone else, is undignified and beneath ones qualifications, thus arrogance rejects this requirement.  That means man sets up religion, and beliefs and other philosophies in order to get around Gods prime requirement.  But arrogance and by it, sin and evil, has to have a method to counter its destructive forces, thus the path to God must go through Christ.

That is the stumbling block of sin, of evil, of arrogance, because these concepts do not like to be relegated to any lower status.  But the funny thing is, both Son and Father are equal, and approaching the Son is in effect the same as approaching the Father.  Arrogance creates its own objection as an insult, when there is no need for such objection.

Paul was sent by God, not man.  He was a messenger to humanity, delivering the message of God.  He was not inventing his own religion.  He was not inventing his own philosophy.  He was not inventing his own belief system or way of life.  Paul did not live a lifestyle that he expected others to follow.

His purpose in life was to write and teach doctrine, taking the principles of the Old Testament, and bringing them to their fruition in the New Testament, which is the completion of Gods purpose and plan through Christ on the Cross.  And, teaching us all of the ultimate purpose that God intends for believers, namely oneness with Him through Christ, in the Spirit, for all of eternity.

And the Father, informs us that the ultimate authority is the Father, who authored the divine plan, while Christ completes the divine plan, and the Spirit sustains the divine plan.

Christ went to the cross, and died two deaths. The first death was His spiritual death when He was receiving the punishment for all of the sins of humanity during those three hours on the cross, under total darkness.  That work then completed, He then died His second death, a physical death, and his body went into the grave.  It was not Christ who raised himself up, but the Father who raised Him, Acts 2:24 Acts 2:32.

And therefore, it is God, who is the only living God, for there is no other, by any other name, who appointed Paul an apostle, a messenger, to write this letter, not only to the Galatians, but to all of humanity who would live after this time.

God gave humanity, from the time of Adam, the information necessary for each individual to be saved and to grow up in their individual spiritual life.  And it is God who is the ultimate chess master who revealed at appropriate times throughout history, that which is necessary, to defeat Satan and evil for all time.

There is no other organization, no group, no religion, no system of bureaucracy, nothing and no one who appointed Paul, no university, no source of any form of credentials, that can claim or lay claim to Paul as their representative or first among them or product of their efforts.

Only God appoints for His intended purpose.  Only God selects those who He will use.  Only God makes or breaks those who would claim authority, according to His plan as it pertains to any course or era in history.