1 Παῦλος ἀπόστολος οὐκ (ἀπ᾿ ἀνθρώπων) οὐδὲ (δι᾿ ἀνθρώπου)
ἀλλὰ (διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν (ἐκ νεκρῶν)),
2 καὶ οἱ (σὺν ἐμοὶ) πάντες ἀδελφοὶ ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Γαλατίας,
3 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη (ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ)
4 ↑[τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν (ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν)],
↑[ὅπως ἐξέληται ἡμᾶς (ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος πονηροῦ)]
↑[(κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡμῶν)],
5 ↑[ᾧ ἡ δόξα (εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων), ἀμήν].
The passage divides into two reasonably distinct sections. Verses 1–2 can be seen as a unit that describes the divinely appointed apostleship of Paul. Verses 3–5 focus on the self-giving of the Son for sins in order to rescue people from the present evil age, all according to the will of the Father. A unifying feature between 1–2 and 3–5 appears to be the agency of God: it is through God that Paul is an apostle, and Jesus’ rescue of sinners is according to the Father’s will. The ultimate agency of God stems from his will and results in his glory.
In this way, the agency of God is an all-encompassing theme that binds these verses together, and thus is properly viewed as the key message of the passage. While it will no doubt be tempting to focus—perhaps exclusively—on 1.4b–c and the death of Christ to rescue sinners, this needs to be appreciated within the broader theme of the agency of God. This is not to say that preaching on the passage should not include a serious treatment of 1.4b–c, but simply that it should be taken in its proper context.
As such, I would suggest a sermon structure with two main sections: 1. God’s apostle; 2. God’s glory. Within section 1, I would include subpoints dealing with Paul’s divine apostleship as opposed to any human authority or agency. Within section 2, I would include subpoints dealing with Christ’s death for sin and rescue from this evil age, and the will and glory of the Father. The structure of the talk might look as follows:
1. God’s apostle
a. Not by human authority
b. Divinely appointed
2. God’s glory
a. Death and rescue
b. The will and glory of God
Finally, it’s worth reflecting on what I’d leave out of a sermon on this passage. The main criteria for these decisions rests with what issues or items are least related to the main points of the passage. As such, I think verse 2 can safely be excluded, though perhaps a passing reference to the fact that Paul is addressing a group of congregations could be in order. More controversially, I don’t think I would give much time to the Father’s raising the Son from the dead (1.1b), except to highlight the agency of God in the passage. While it seems counterintuitive to ‘ignore’ the resurrection, the fact is that it is not an explicit theme of Galatians, and does not feature in this passage. Having said that, it might be mentioned with reference to the aforementioned agency of God, and possibly also in relation to the Son’s rescue of sinners; while this is explicitly connected to his self-giving in death, the resurrection might be included as part of that discussion.
Posted by Con Campbell
Rick Creighton
Bruce Lowe
Con Campbell
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Thank you for this series of posts – I am finding them particularly interesting as my MA thesis in 2007 was a textual commentary on Galatians, when I first encountered the nibblings of ‘the Pontic mouse’, Marcion. According to Jerome, at 1:1b Marcion excised καὶ θεοῦ πατρὸς and substituted αὑτὸν for αὐτὸν in his attempt to eliminate any mention of what he thought of as a separate OT God.
…..but of course you’ll know that!
thanks hypatia
Con,
Also enjoying the posts. I have a question, however, concerning how you would preach this section. If ‘the agency of God’ (stemming from his will and resulting in his glory) is your “big idea”: how would you put that, and how would you apply that? What I’m essentially getting at is how would you turn this very helpful lecture outline into an accessible sermon?
GBH