Galatians 1

October 15, 2017

Evening Service

Sean Higgins

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Or, That Time When the Grace of God Was Nullified

The only thing worse than unrighteousness is self-righteousness. Here we are as the church, at an evening service no less, to hear the teaching of God’s Word. We are (ostensibly) not the people that love to have their ears tickled, we want the truth. And we know enough truth to know that God is holy, that God has standards, and that all have sinned against those standards. “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).

The rest of Romans 1 presents an ugly picture of unrighteousness descending into disgusting and dishonorable behavior. But there is something worse. Before Paul gets to justification by faith and the righteousness of Christ near the end of chapter 3, he confronts the moral people (2:1-6), and in particular the moral Jewish people (2:17-3:20) who had God’s law and judged everyone else (except themselves) for not obeying it. Self-righteousness is worse than unrighteousness because it not only doesn’t submit to God’s law, it tries to make others submit to God’s law while congratulating itself.

Self-righteousness is a killer. It actually kills other people. Cain killed Abel because of self-righteousness. We usually talk about Cain’s anger, but why was he mad? His hatred boiled because he believed his offering should have been accepted. He did the right thing. God should have accepted his righteousness, at least as Cain defined it. The Jews killed Jesus because of self-righteousness. They believed that they were right and were doing what was right. They thought Jesus was the evil one, claiming things that messed with their system. Saul, who we know more comfortably as Paul, executed Christians because of his self-righteousness. He excelled his brothers in zeal so much that he killed for righteousness’ sake.

And self-righteousness is a figurative killer as well. Self-righteousness kills a man’s peace and joy; how can you ever be comfortable if you always have to perform perfectly? Self-righteousness kills a man’s friendships; it makes everything a competition, there must always be a winner, and the stakes couldn’t be higher. This is about what’s right after all.

And self-righteousness sends men to hell as slaves of guilt. Self-righteousness is the opposite of freedom, it is the enemy of grace, and it is the antithesis of the gospel. Men love it, God damns it.

After Paul planted some churches in the region of Galatia self-righteous men came behind him and questioned how he got the gospel he preached, they questioned whether his gospel of faith and grace was enough to save, and they supposed that such an emphasis on grace leads to unrighteous living. That’s why Paul writes the letter. It is a book of first principles, a book of the gospel, and a book about a truth always in danger of being forgotten or fought against by our self-righteous/legalistic little hearts.

Tonight I want to observe two parts to chapter one and then consider two doctrinal summaries related to the two parts of the chapter.

Paul’s Concern: A Gospel Crisis (verses 1-9)

No other letter opening from Paul is so significant, both in what is said and what isn’t.

What is said is that he was an apostle. This, as we’ll see, is more than filling in the epistle formula; his apostolic authority was being challenged. He will defend his calling starting in verse 10 and will continue through most of chapter 2. In the first words he claims to be an apostle—not from men nor through man. He learned it and was commissioned directly through Jesus Christ and God the Father.

What is also said is that this letter is To the churches of Galatia, which makes it the only letter written to a plurality of congregations in an area rather to a single church. There are historical questions about which “Galatia” Paul means, a[...]