Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
It might be said that the teaching in Galatians centres on two considerations: the
work of Christ for us, and the work of the Spirit in us. These Paul deals with in order, and
first of all brings his readers face to face with the central truth of the gospel, and that
which makes it a gospel - the death of Christ (4). This is significant, in view of the situation he was writing to deal with in Galatia. The enemies of the gospel were insisting that
the works of the law were necessary to salvation, and this to Paul was 'another
gospel' (6) which was not a gospel, and was to be condemned. Thus speedily does he
turn their thoughts from their own works to the 'finished work' of Christ.
There are two things to note in 4: the meaning of Christ's death, and the effects of
it. There can be little doubt that the aspect of His death that Paul has in mind here is that
which brings about our justification. He is concerned, against the enemies of the faith,
to establish that justification is by faith in Jesus' blood, and not by the works of the law.
This he expounds more fully in the latter part of chapter 2; here, however, he simply
states what we are used to call the substitutionary work of Christ on the cross - 'He gave
Himself for our sins'. The New Testament writers are never tired of turning to this glorious theme; again and again it appears, and one can sense something of the awe that
steals over them as they write. Nor should this surprise us, for truly to understand the
implications of that 'aweful' transaction, in which He stood in for us, taking upon Him
what was ours - all the infinite liabilities due to us because of our sin - in order to bestow upon us what was His - and at what sacrifice and cost - is not this something to fill
our hearts with wonder and reverent fear? Let us steal away into a secret place, and
ponder these tremendous words: He gave Himself - for us!