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.
