The Epistle to the Galatians Commentary

By Terrance Jenkins, Ph. D.

Because of counseling and preaching on the subject of Grace as presented in this book for more than 40 years, and having now retired, I felt it necessary to write a little on the teaching in this letter of Paul on the same subject. If the reader can grasp what is here written, he will have a life of peace, harmony, and love toward his fellowman and his Lord. Grace never condemns a person for their faults and failures. Grace is an extension of God's love that reaches out to people where they are, taking their mess and turning it into a message. Grace uplifts, encourages, and prods a person to keep moving to fulfill their full potential. God has something great for everyone. Remember, He doesn't condemn - He blesses everyone whether they recognize it or not with fresh air, food, health, family, friends, and more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jun 9, 2024
• ISBN: 9781304300539

Book preview

The Epistle to the Galatians

Terrance Jenkins, Ph. D.

The Epistle to the Galatians

Copyright © 2024 by Terrance Jenkins

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

ISBN: 978-1-304-30053-9

Dedication

This work is dedicated to all who wish to understand the writing of the apostle Paul to the church at Galatia and to the many students I have had the privilege of teaching these truths to for many years.

Second, it is dedicated to my wonderful wife who has stood by my side while I researched, taught, and wrote what I feel the Lord is saying to the church.

Third, and most importantly, it is dedicated to my Lord Jesus Christ who extended His grace to me rather than judging me when I did not deserve it.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

About the Author

PREFACE

As we begin our study of this wonderful letter of Paul to the Galatian churches, I need the reader to understand that this writing is taken from my teaching CDs at one of the churches where I pastored. It has been edited with omissions and additions from the CDs to put it into book format. My prayer is that you will greatly enjoy reading this work as much as I have in the preparation and teaching of it.

It has been called by various names, which were dependent upon one’s view of the message the apostle was presenting to his readers.

As for me, I called, and still call, it the Gospel of Grace for that is the essence of the letter, even though the apostle deals with several other subjects. God's grace is shown through Christ's atoning work on the cross as sufficient for our salvation – without the addition of any works.

It is by grace you are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8), and not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5). 

INTRODUCTION

This letter is considered the Grace of the Gospel, or the Magna Carta (Medieval Latin for Great Charter of Freedoms) of Christian Liberty, for it rightly maintains that only through the grace of God in Jesus Christ is a person enabled to escape the curse of his sin and the law; and to live a new life, in genuine freedom of mind and spirit through the power of God.

The law brings guilt but grace brings liberty and freedom in Christ. The law shows one guilty before God but grace shows one at peace with God because of the forgiveness of sins. Romans 8:1 tells us, There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, Who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.

Martin Luther called Galatians 'my Epistle' because by reading this book a light burst upon his soul, and he nailed his 95 theses to the cathedral door at Wittenberg stating, I have betrothed myself to it. It is my wife.

We cannot be certain as to which churches Paul addressed himself in this epistle but there are two main theories:

The first - the Roman province of Galatia in the south of Asia Minor, including the Churches of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra (Acts 13:14-14:23; 16:1-6; 18:23).

The second - Galatia proper in the north.

One thing we may be certain of is that the churches of Galatia (1:2) were churches that Paul himself had established (1:8-9; 4:19). The Apostle speaks of the considerable effort which his labor with them had cost him (4:11). And the first time he preached the Gospel to them he did so while suffering from, or in consequence of physical infirmity or malady (4:13).

The occasion or reason for the writing of this letter is in no doubt and was something which had come up in the Churches of Galatia since Paul’s last visit there. Within a short time, they had allowed themselves to be pressured into the acceptance of a doctrine (gospel) other than that which Paul had preached, again and again, to them.

True, he had previously warned against the danger to which they had now fallen victim (cf. 1:9). At that time, however, he had not yet noticed any signs of the change that was now materializing. Hence, the surprise to which he gives expression in 1:6-7 in which he says, I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.

The unorthodox (disagreeing, Judaizers) teachers who were responsible for this change (1:7; 5:10, 12; 6:12-13) taught that circumcision was necessary for salvation (5:2; 6:12ff.), and they demanded the keeping of special days, months, seasons, and years (4:10; cf. 4:21) as a necessity for having favor with God. The basic issue involved was the basis of man's acceptance or having the approval of God by being circumcised.

The Gospel is a gospel of pure grace, and any message that excludes grace or mingles legalism (works) with grace as a means of salvation is under the curse of God and must be shunned. The only thing one must do to receive salvation is to confess with the mouth and believe in the heart that Jesus Christ is God manifested in the flesh and that He died; was buried; raised again on the third day, and is seated at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. Then ask Him to come in, to live within, and cleanse him from sin.

A second issue was the question of Paul's validity as an apostle and therefore the authority of Paul's Gospel. The Judaizers (heretical teachers) cast suspicion upon Paul's qualifications as an Apostle – he was considered by them as one who had compromised his principles, or at best, a second-hand apostle who had learned everything from Peter and James.

Paul, upon hearing of the situation, immediately wrote a letter that was so urgent that it lacked the customary greetings, other than to say in verse three, Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. It also lacks its usual prayer and thanksgiving. His purpose in writing this letter was to counteract this Judaizing propaganda; to assert his complete apostolic independence; and, to explain the deepest principles of the Gospel.

The reader must keep in mind that in a writer like Paul, any systematic arrangement of his letters must be artificial especially where, as in this letter, he is stirred by deep emotion and writes under the pressure of urgent necessity. Whereas most writers and commentators have divided the letter into three broad sections, this writer feels it better to divide the epistle into four main sections. Within each of the sections, there are then sub-sections that we shall deal with in this commentary.

1. Introduction 1:1-5

2. The Apostle’s marvel (surprise, astonishment) 1:6-9

3. Paul defends his Apostleship and his Gospel 1:10-2:21

4. Paul desires the Gospel to be applied 5:13-6:18

After the Apostle brings a very brief greeting in verses 1-5, he immediately begins to express his surprise at the Galatians so quickly turning from the gospel that he had preached unto them and embracing another 'gospel', which Paul denies is a gospel at all (1:6-9), after which he approaches the problem from three different viewpoints or perspectives.

1] In 1:10-2:21 Paul was mainly concerned with his apostolic qualifications. He points to his direct calling by God; to his defense of the Gospel of grace at Jerusalem, and the recognition accorded him by the leaders of the church there.

2] The 3:1-5:21 section constitutes the letter proper, so to speak. Paul had, in the previous section, established his authority as an apostle, that he might establish the authority of the Gospel - the Gospel of grace. Paul jealously guards the supremacy (authority) and all-sufficiency of the grace of God in Christ Jesus. No person could ever earn his acceptance by God; Paul believed that all a person could do was to accept the love of God offered to him; take one tremendous act of faith by confessing Jesus Christ as Savior, and then throw himself helplessly on the love of God.

In denying the teaching of the heretics, Paul indicated that if one is to be called a child of Abraham and to share in his promises, he must seek salvation not in the works of the law but by faith in the atoning work of Christ on the cross of Calvary.

Abraham's true children and heirs to the promises are all (Jew or Gentile - slave or free - male or female) who've followed Abraham's example in believing God; or, to put it another way, all who are 'in Christ'. The basic arguments for this are presented in a more systematic form in the epistle to the Romans, probably written eight or nine years later.

3] The third section into which most commentators have divided the epistle is 5:13-16:18. In this last part of the epistle, Paul shows that the believer's 'freedom from the law' may not become an occasion for presuming upon the grace of God. Thereupon the life of freedom in the Spirit is discussed in detail and is set in contrast to the works of the flesh. A person who has been saved by grace through faith is a changed (transformed) person. He realizes that the life he now lives, he lives by the faith of the Son of God.

Chapter One

Galatians 1:1, "Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father,

who raised him from the dead)."

Because of what Paul knew to be taking place in the churches of Galatia, he found it necessary to immediately assert his authority as he began to write this letter; otherwise, he was very modest in the use of this title. He seldom mentioned it when he spoke of others in the salutations with himself, such as in the Epistles to the Philippians and Thessalonians; or when he wrote about secular affairs, as in that to Philemon; nor yet in writing to the Hebrews because he was not properly their apostle. Once Paul had asserted his apostolic authority, he immediately said that it is not of men, neither by man. In other words, no man commissioned him as an apostle; it came from God the Father. Neither did God use any man as an instrument of his being commissioned as such, except as by Jesus Christ Who was raised from the dead by God the Father.

Paul put first things first in the assertion of his authority – which was the fact that he was called, anointed, and appointed by God through Jesus Christ the Son of God and the peculiar business of an apostle was/is to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 1:2, And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:

After stating the authority of his apostleship, he tells the churches that all the brethren agree with him in his teaching and his writing. If they were not in agreement with him, he could not have said they were with him.

Galatians 1:3, Grace be to you and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ,

The Apostle knowing that he must bring correction to the churches which he had established already announced his apostolic authority over them and gave this short greeting rather than his customary lengthy greeting. Beginning with verse six he goes into greater detail regarding his calling as an apostle.

One writer said of the greeting in verse three: ‘’Grace is the sum of all blessings bestowed by God; peace, in its wide Hebraic range of meaning, the sum of all blessings experienced by man. Grace is the Father’s goodwill and bounty in Christ to His undeserving children; peace, rest, and reconcilement, the recovered health and gladness of the child brought home to the Father’s house, dwelling in the light