Insights on Galatians, Ephesians

Charles R. Swindoll

• Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781414393766
• eBook ISBN: 9781496400741

The 15-volume Swindoll's Living Insights New Testament Commentary series draws on Gold Medallion Award–winner Chuck Swindoll's 50 years of experience with studying and preaching God's Word. His deep insight, signature easygoing style, and humor bring a warmth and practical accessibility not often found in commentaries.

Each volume combines verse-by-verse commentary, charts, maps, photos, key terms, and background articles with practical application. The newly updated volumes now include parallel presentations of the NLT and NASB before each section. This series is a must-have for pastors, teachers, and anyone else who is seeking a deeply practical resource for exploring God's Word.

CONFIRMING THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL (GALATIANS 1:1–2:21)

Since the dawn of the church, the good news of God’s grace has been threatened. When I think back over my fifty years of ministry, I recall the countless times I’ve had to personally take a stand for grace. Therefore, I’m not at all surprised that the first letter penned by Paul dealt with the same thing —confronting legalism and championing grace. That’s why the words of one of my most respected Greek professors, written years ago, still reflect the condition of the church today:

One of the most serious problems facing the orthodox Christian church today is the problem of legalism. One of the most serious problems facing the church in Paul’s day was the problem of legalism. In every day it is the same. Legalism wrenches the joy of the Lord from the Christian believer, and with the joy of the Lord goes his power for vital worship and vibrant service. Nothing is left but cramped, somber, dull and listless profession. The truth is betrayed, and the glorious name of the Lord becomes a synonym for a gloomy kill-joy. The Christian under law is a miserable parody of the real thing.[2]

Paul’s letter to the Galatians sets us free. Its bold statement of liberating grace points us away from a false gospel of self-empowered works and toward the true gospel of faith and Spirit-empowered love. Its basic theme, to which we will return again and again, is that grace is the way to life and the way of life.

In this first major section of the letter (1:1–2:21), Paul confirms the truth of the gospel of grace. This includes Paul’s defense of his own apostleship, guaranteeing that the gospel he preached to the Galatians was, in fact, the truth received from God and taught by his fellow apostles. In this section, which includes some of the most autobiographical elements of all his writings, Paul tells his own story of conversion in great detail. He also recounts a run-in he had with Peter over that great apostle’s failure to live in line with grace. How easy it is to believe and preach one thing while caving in to the pressure to live in a way that pleases others! Through his personal testimony of receiving and preaching grace, Paul confirms that we believers have been freed from the Law and rescued from its condemnation. That means we’re empowered to live beyond its legalistic dos and don’ts.

---

KEY TERMS IN GALATIANS 1:1–2:21

anathema (ἀνάθεμα) [331] “curse,” “condemnation,” “damnation”

Paul uses anathema, perhaps the strongest Greek word for absolute condemnation, to describe those who preach a false gospel (1:8-9). In Romans 9:3 Paul uses the term rhetorically, wishing himself “accursed” for the sake of his Jewish brethren, thus demonstrating the depth of the love he has for them. In 1 Corinthians 16:22 he uses the term to describe the utterly condemned state of those who have no love for Christ. Throughout church history the term continued to be applied to those who taught heresy concerning Jesus Christ’s person or work.

euangelizō (εὐαγγελίζω) [2097] “to announce good news,” “to preach the gospel”

Paul uses this verb seven times in the book of Galatians, six of which are in chapter 1 alone. In Galatians 1:8, 9, and 11, Paul uses the term in reference to “preaching the gospel,” contrasting those who preach the authentic good news of Jesus Christ with those who preach a gospel contrary to the one preached by Paul. From this verb we derive our word “evangelism,” the ministry of sharing the gospel.

---

Another Gospel Is Not the Gospel

GALATIANS 1:1-10

NASB

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), 2 and all the brethren who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

3 Grace to you and peace from [a]God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil [a]age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you [a]by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7 which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel [a]contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be [b]accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel [a]contrary to what you received, he is to be [b]accursed!

10 For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

1:3 [a]Two early mss read God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ 1:4 [a]Or world 1:6 [a]Lit in 1:8 [a]Or other than, more than [b]Gr anathema 1:9 [a]Or other than, more than [b]Gr anathema

NLT

1 This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.

2 All the brothers and sisters[*] here join me in sending this letter to the churches of Galatia.

3 May God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ[*] give you grace and peace. 4 Jesus gave his life for our sins, just as God our Father planned, in order to rescue us from this evil world in which we live. 5 All glory to God forever and ever! Amen.

6 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ.[*] You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News 7 but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.

8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed.

10 Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant.

[1:2] Greek brothers; also in 1:11. [1:3] Some manuscripts read God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. [1:6] Some manuscripts read through loving mercy.

---

Like a surgeon going after a malignant tumor that needs to be excised immediately, Paul preps his patients with a brief greeting in order to remind them of what’s at stake: grace, peace, the gospel of Christ’s redeeming death and miraculous resurrection, and the very glory of God. It means life or death for the churches in Galatia.

In this spiritual emergency, Paul wastes no time weighing treatment options, crafting a noninvasive procedure, preparing anesthetics, or soothing his patients with a pleasant and tactful bedside manner. Instead, he takes up his scalpel and starts cutting, declaring the main thrust of his case right up front: There is one and only one gospel of grace. Any addition to this gospel results in a corruption of the truth, leading to a cancerous plague on the Christian faith.

When it comes to this fundamental truth, Paul doesn’t hem and haw. He deals with it boldly, firmly, and without fretting over the potential repercussions. The pure gospel Paul had preached was in danger of mutating into a monstrous beast that mixed Jesus and faith with the Law, works, and a number of other rude intrusions into the Christian life. The worst part of this Galatian plague was that they were embracing it voluntarily! Faith plus works sounded harmless, even helpful at first. After Paul preached his clear message of grace through faith plus nothing, the sin-sick Judaizers, carrying their viral heresy, came along and infected those new believers who had just been made well. So Paul wrote to the Galatians to cleanse them of their disease of legalism and restore them to spiritual health.

Let’s take a look at the first ten verses of Galatians, where we’ll discover that the legalists’ improved “gospel” was really a deadly disease.

— 1:1-5 —

Paul begins his letter in the typical fashion of his day by naming the sender, declaring the recipients, and providing a blessing. Already in this greeting we see two main thrusts of his overall message that he will develop later: his God-given authority as a true apostle (1:1) and the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus Christ (1:1-5).

Paul’s self-identification as “Paul, an apostle,” serves as more than the author’s identification of his title. From the opening words of the letter, Paul clearly affirms what his opponents were disputing —that he was as much a true apostle as the original Twelve. Paul had learned that the Judaizers —those who had sown seeds of legalism after his departure —had first discredited Paul as an impostor. If they could instill distrust among the Galatians regarding the accuracy or completeness of Paul’s message —or if they could drive a wedge between Paul and the other apostles —then the Galatians would readily listen to a more “Jewish” version that emphasized doing the works of the Law.

The early Christian use of the Greek word apostolos [652] (apostle) carries with it a distinct authority. It “refers to a person who has a right to speak for God as His representative or delegate.”[3] The term, as commentator John Stott explains, “was not a general word which could be applied to every Christian like the words ‘believer,’ ‘saint’ or ‘brother.’ It was a special term reserved for the Twelve and for one or two others whom the risen Christ had personally appointed.”[4]

To be an authentic apostle of Jesus Christ, a person had to measure up to certain criteria. First, apostles had to have been eyewitnesses of the resurrected Christ. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:1, “Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?” Second, apostles confirmed their God-given office through miraculous signs and wonders, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:12: “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.” Finally, apostles had to have been hand selected for this unique office by the risen Lord (Acts 1:21-26). Paul had fulfilled all of these requirements because he had encountered the resurrected Christ on his way to Damascus (Acts 9:3-6), Jesus had empowered Paul to perform amazing signs and wonders during his ministry (Acts 14:3), and the Lord had specifically chosen Paul to take the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 9:15).

---

NORTH OR SOUTH?

GALATIANS 1–2

For the better part of the last century, scholars have disagreed about the destination of the letter to the Galatians.[5] Was it written to the churches located in northern Galatia or southern Galatia? The destination of the epistle largely determines the date of its composition and is crucial for harmoni...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Author’s Preface
• The Strong’s Numbering System
• Insights on Galatians
• Galatians Introduction
• Confirming the Truth of the Gospel (Galatians 1:1–2:21)
• Defending the Superiority of the Gospel (Galatians 3:1–4:31)
• Living the Freedom of the Gospel (Galatians 5:1–6:18)
• Insights on Ephesians
• Ephesians Introduction
• Sovereignty and Grace: The Foundations of Our Faith (Ephesians 1:1–2:10)
• Reconciliation and Peace: The Results of God’s Grace (Ephesians 2:11–3:21)
• Walking and Growing: The Believer’s Lifestyle (Ephesians 4:1-32)
• Following and Submitting: The Imitator’s Path (Ephesians 5:1–6:9)
• Clashing and Conquering: The Warrior’s Strategy (Ephesians 6:10-24)
• Notes