An Exploration of Galatians: Apostolic Greeting
An Exploration of Galatians: Apostolic Greeting
Galatians 1:3-5 - Begin with grace, believe in Him, arrive at peace and He gets the glory
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.”
Galatians 1:3-5 NASB1995
After Paul identifies himself in the introduction to the epistle to the Galatians, he passes on a lovely apostolic greeting. The greeting starts off with “grace to you and peace”. Paul used the word “grace” many times in his epistles. In fact, here is a short commentary on the use of these words from Enduring Word:
Grace to you and peace: This was Paul’s familiar greeting, drawing from the traditional greetings in both Greek culture (grace) and Jewish culture (peace). Paul used this exact phrase five other times in the New Testament.
Paul used the word grace more than 100 times in his writings. Among all the other writers of the New Testament, it is only used 55 times. Paul was truly the apostle of grace.
“These two terms, grace and peace, constitute Christianity.” (Martin Luther)
The quote from Martin Luther really describes these terms. Grace is the very first thing we find when we approach the savior and repent and believe in Him. Throughout our Christian lives, our daily grace then leads to eternal peace. Everything in our lives of faith is bracketed by those two words. I know I’ve probably done a word study on both of them before, but let’s refresh our memories.
Grace comes from the Greek word χάρις or charis, which has the following usages in the Bible (from the Blue Letter Bible lexicon):
grace
that which affords joy, pleasure, delight, sweetness, charm, loveliness: grace of speech
good will, loving-kindness, favour
of the merciful kindness by which God, exerting his holy influence upon souls, turns them to Christ, keeps, strengthens, increases them in Christian faith, knowledge, affection, and kindles them to the exercise of the Christian virtues
what is due to grace
the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace
the token or proof of grace, benefit
a gift of grace
benefit, bounty
thanks, (for benefits, services, favours), recompense, reward
For Paul’s purpose in this greeting, 2a is the most appropriate definition. 3a and 3b are also applicable conditions, as we will see in reading through this epistle. And we should be eternally thankful for grace!
Peace comes from the Greek word εἰρήνη or eirene, which has the following usages in the Bible (from the Blue Letter Bible lexicon):
a state of national tranquillity
exemption from the rage and havoc of war
peace between individuals, i.e. harmony, concord
security, safety, prosperity, felicity, (because peace and harmony make and keep things safe and prosperous)
of the Messiah's peace
the way that leads to peace (salvation)
of Christianity, the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is
the blessed state of devout and upright men after death
The peace that Paul is referring to is most appropriately defined in 4 (and 4a), 5, and (at the end) 6. Devout and upright women (and children) share in this blessed state, as promised by our Lord, in case anyone was concerned about the way that definition is written. Grace and salvation lead to peace. Here’s a marvelous description of grace and peace from Martyn Lloyd-Jones, a British Congregationalist minister quoted in Precept Austin:
Grace is the beginning of our faith; peace is the end of our faith. Grace is the fountain, the spring, the source. It is that particular place in the mountain from which the mighty river you see rolling into the sea starts its race; without it there would be nothing. Grace is the origin and source and fount of everything in the Christian life. But what does the Christian life mean, what is it meant to produce? The answer is ‘peace.’ So there we have the source and there the estuary leading to the sea, the beginning and the end, the initiation, and the purpose for which it is all meant and designed. It is essential for us, therefore, to carry these two words in our minds because within the ellipse formed by grace and peace everything is included.
Continuing in the greeting, this grace and peace comes from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age. This is the heart of the Christian faith. I found the commentary in Enduring Word to be excellent:
Who gave Himself for our sins: Paul wished grace and peace unto his readers from both God the Father and God the Son. Now, Paul will briefly expand on the work of God the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. The first thing he wrote about Jesus is that He gave Himself for our sins.
“Throughout the epistle Paul points the Galatians to the centrality of the cross. He cannot wait to make this plain, and we find a reference to it in his very first sentence.” (Henry Morris)
Jesus gave. We know from John 3:16 that God the Father so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Yet God the Father was not the only giver; Jesus also gave. Jesus is a loving, giving God and a loving, giving Savior.
Jesus gave the greatest thing anyone can give – Himself. One might debate if it was more a gift for the Father to give the Son (as in John 3:16) or if it was more of a gift for the Son to give Himself. But that is like discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. Jesus gave the greatest gift He could; He gave himself. There is a sense in which we do not even begin to give until we give ourselves.
Jesus gave Himself for our sins. This is why Jesus had to give Himself. Our sins put us on a road to ruin and destruction. If God did not do something to save us, our sins would destroy us. So out of love, Jesus gave Himself for our sins! The love was always there; but there would never have been the need for Jesus to give Himself if our sins had not placed us in a terrible place.
“These words, ‘who gave himself for our sins’, are very important. He wanted to tell the Galatians straight out that atonement for sins and perfect righteousness are not to be sought anywhere but in Christ… So glorious is this redemption that it should ravish us with wonder.” (John Calvin)
That He might deliver us from this present evil age: This explains why Jesus gave Himself for our sins. In many ways, the Galatians battled with and sometimes lost against this present evil age. They needed to know that Jesus had come to save them from this present evil age.
The idea behind the word deliver is not deliverance from the presence of something, but deliverance from the power of something. We will not be delivered from the presence of this present evil age until we go to be with Jesus. But we can experience deliverance from the power of this present evil age right now.
God gave us His Son and His Son gave Himself for our sins! The Son of God died for you and me, because we are miserable sinners. And we are certainly in a “present evil age”, just like the Galatians. I like what David Guzik says: We will not be delivered from the presence of this evil age, but can be delivered from its power. In many ways, those 1st century believers were more fortunate than believers in the 21st century. News traveled slowly, letters took weeks, and the visits from apostles of the faith were limited, but those limitations also served to let false Gospels “sink in” before correction could be made (hence the need for this letter).
Today you can do a search on social media in seconds and find plenty of heretics, atheists and mocking naysayers who spend most of their time making sure there are laughing emoji reactions on almost every post by a Christian group or leader, plus they love to fill the comment sections with their rage and hatred against our Lord. Doctrinal fights are common, too, just like they were back in the early church days. I recall being in a group that examines the heresies of the ELCA that we left in 2019 and we were lambasted by some of the members because we didn’t go to another type of Lutheran church, but decided to try a non-denominational church. Some of them even called into question our salvation, overtly stating (not just implying) that attending ANY kind of church other than a Lutheran one (and a conservative Lutheran at that, even though they have disagreements) would lead us right to hell. Grace and peace certainly get knocked aside when human opinions are flying around.
Finally, Paul finishes his greeting by telling us the deliverance by the Son is by the will of the Father, to whom the glory shall be forevermore. So let’s do one more word study on glory:
Glory comes from the Greek Word δόξα or doxa, with the following uses in the Bible:
opinion, judgment, view
opinion, estimate, whether good or bad concerning someone
in the NT always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory
splendour, brightness
of the moon, sun, stars
magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity, grace
majesty
a thing belonging to God
the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler, majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity
a thing belonging to Christ
the kingly majesty of the Messiah
the absolutely perfect inward or personal excellency of Christ; the majesty
of the angels
as apparent in their exterior brightness
a most glorious condition, most exalted state
of that condition with God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had achieved his work on earth
the glorious condition of blessedness into which is appointed and promised that true Christians shall enter after their Saviour's return from heaven
I believe the most appropriate definitions are 3b, c and 4 for this usage in Paul’s greeting. God is glorified in His will, which gives us grace and peace! God’s glory outshines everything! A couple of weeks ago, we saw the annular eclipse of the sun. Even at the maximum coverage (not totality), the sun won the battle of light. Our brilliant sun is a tiny ball of light compared to the Glory of the God of all light, life and love!
My next devotional examines Galatians 1:6-7, where Paul wastes no time after a modest greeting getting into his concern for a false and perverted Gospel.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Instead of a prayer today, here are the words from a contemporary Christian song sung by Lou Willingham (To God be the Glory):
To God be the glory great things he has done
So loved he the world that he gave us his son,
Who yielded his life an atonement for sin
And opened the life gate that all may go in.
Praise the Lord Praise the Lord
Let the earth hear his voice
Praise the Lord Praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice
Come to the father through Jesus the son
Give him the glory, great things he has done. Oh yeah
The perfect redemption the purchase of blood
To every believer the promise of God.
The vilest offender who truly believes
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord
Let the earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice
Come to the father through Jesus the son.
Give him the Glory great things he has done. Oh yeah
Great things he has taught us, great things he has done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the son
But purer and higher and greater will be
Our wonder, our worship, when Jesus we see.
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord
Let the earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord
Let the earth hear his voice,
Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice.
Come to the father through Jesus the Son,
Come to the father through Jesus the son,
Come to the father through Jesus the Son
Give him the Glory great things he has done.
Written by: Brian Hitt, Caleb Andrew Grimm, Fanny J. (p.d.) Crosby, William (p.d.) Doane
Album: Step Into the Light
Released: 2010
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.
Source material from the Blue Letter Bible was accessed on October 28, 2023. No changes were made to the definitions or lexicon content.
The personal testimony of Bruce Hurt, creator of the Precept Austin site, is found Here.