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Because I want you to realize, brothers, that the Gospel I preached was not a human gospel.1
| 1 | Not a human gospel: Or, no human invention, not a human affair. |
Dear Friends of the Nazarene,
Today we start a brief overview of Paul’s letter to the many congregations in the province of Galatia. His overall theme is: “Walk By the Spirit in Freedom.” We choose Galatians 1:11 as the theme of the first chapter – Non-human News. Paul begins by stating that his apostleship did not originate from “a human source.” [1, 2] Rather the Gospel came from Jesus and God. We note Paul omits any mention of the holy spirit here. He writes something of a little prayer of thanksgiving for God’s grace and Christ’s sacrifice. [3-5]
Paul quickly gets to the main point of his epistle: How quickly you have abandoned the One who called you.” [6-9] They have been influenced by “a different gospel.” [Compare 2 Corinthians 11:4] Certain men are “causing trouble” by corrupting the true Gospel with “a contradictory gospel.” By comparing Acts 15:1, 2, 5, 24 we can see that this “different gospel” found its source in a Jewish influence that wanted the Church to remain under the Law of Moses and circumcision. However, Paul warns in the strongest of language that if humans or angels declare “a different gospel” they should be damned.
If Paul or others have as their motive the pleasing of humans this would produce a “human gospel.” [10-12] But, the Gospel is not from a human origin. Paul received his Gospel through a “revelation of Jesus Christ.” After he had this experience on the Damascus road – when the Master was made visible to him as someone “separated from [his] mother’s womb” – he did not seek out a “human conference” but instead departed for the austere deserts of Arabia. His first contact with the men in Jerusalem was three years later. [18-20] And, then, he only met with the Master’s brother, the disciple James. He remained unknown to the former Jewish disciples throughout Judea. He was only known by the rumors spread throughout the congregations.
The Jewish influence of the Gospel is not dead. It remains to this day, and so the letter to the Galatians remains most timely. What relationship is there between the Church and the Law of Moses? Must Christians really be characterized as Jews, observing their regulations, even reading the New Testament in Hebrew? The answers are found in Galatians.
May Abba bless those who cling to the True Gospel.
[25 June 2002]
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