CHAPTER 1

(A.D. 58)

INTRODUCTION

¹Paul, an Apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead;) (This means Paul did not submit the authority of his Apostleship to men, neither was it conferred on him by man.)

²And all the Brethren which are with me, unto the Churches of Galatia (refers to all in that region):

³Grace be to you and Peace from God the Father (made possible by the Cross), and from our Lord Jesus Christ (Who made it possible),

⁴Who gave Himself for our sins (the Cross), that He might deliver us from this pre sent evil world (the Cross alone can set the captive free), according to the Will of God and our Father (the standard of the entire process of Redemption):

⁵To Whom be Glory forever and ever (Divine Glory). Amen.

NO OTHER GOSPEL

⁶I marvel that you are so soon removed from Him (the Holy Spirit)Who called you into the Grace of Christ (made possible by the Cross) unto another gospel (anything which doesnt have the Cross as its Object of Faith):

⁷Which is not another (presents the fact that Satans aim is not so much to deny the Gospel, which he can little do, as to corrupt it); but there be some who trouble you, and would pervert the Gospel of Christ (once again, to make the object of Faith something other than the Cross).

⁸But though we (Paul and his associates), or an Angel from Heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you (Jesus Christ and Him Crucified), let him be accursed (eternally condemned; the Holy Spirit speaks this through Paul, making this very serious).

⁹As we said before, so say I now again (at some time past, he had said the same thing to them, making their defection even more serious), If any man preach any other gospel unto you (anything other than the Cross) than that you have received (which Saved your souls), let him be accursed (eternally condemned, which means the loss of the soul).

¹⁰For do I now persuade men, or God? (In essence, Paul is saying, Do I preach mans doctrine, or Gods?) or do I seek to please men? (This is what false apostles do.) for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the Servant of Christ (one cannot please both men and God at the same time).

REVELATION

¹¹But I certify you, Brethren (make known), that the Gospel which was Preached of me (the Message of the Cross) is not after man. (Any Message other than the Cross is definitely devised by man.)

¹²For I neither received it of man (Paul had not learned this great Truth from human teachers), neither was I taught it(he denies instruction from other men), but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ. (Revelation is the mighty Act of God whereby the Holy Spirit discloses to the human mind that which could not be understood without Divine Intervention.)

¹³For you have heard of my conversation (way of life) in time past in the Jews religion (the practice of Judaism), how that beyond measure I persecuted the Church of God, and wasted it (Acts 9:1-2):

¹⁴And profited in the Jews religion above many my equals in my own nation (he outstripped his Jewish contemporaries in Jewish culture, etc.), being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers (a zeal from his very boyhood).

THE GOSPEL

¹⁵But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mothers womb (presents the idea that God had set Paul apart, devoting him to a special purpose from before his birth), and called me by His Grace (called, not because of any merit on his part, but rather because of the Grace of God),

¹⁶To reveal His Son in me (the meaning of the New Covenant, which is the meaning of the Cross), that I might Preach Him among the heathen (Gentiles); immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood (his Commission and Message came to him from God, and neither was affected in any way by human intervention):

¹⁷Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were Apostles before me (did not get this Revelation from the original Twelve); but I went into Arabia (according to the Holy Spirit), and returned again unto Damascus. (There would not have been any Apostles in Damascus. There he Preached the Message of the Cross.)

¹⁸Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter (showing his independence from the Jerusalem Apostles), and abode with him fifteen days (when he, no doubt, revealed to Peter the Revelation of the Cross, which the Lord had given to him).

¹⁹But other of the Apostles saw I none, save James the Lords Brother. (James didnt refer to himself as an Apostle, but Paul did.)

²⁰Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.

²¹Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;

²²And was unknown by face unto the Churches of Judaea which were in Christ (had he been a Disciple of the Twelve, the Churches in Judaea would have known him):

²³But they had heard only (were constantly hearing), That he which persecuted us (Believers) in times past now Preaches the Faith which once he destroyed (Faith in Christ).

²⁴And they Glorified God in me. (As he had constantly persecuted, and now was constantly preaching, they were constantly glorifying.)