The first verse in Galatians: “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia ….” Yes, Paul nearly always had co-laborers with him. He was indeed a people-person! (Books, lots of them, have been written about the personalities surrounding the Apostle!)

But in Galatians notice he only (specifically) names himself as the writer. “PAUL, as Apostle.”

Whereas in one of the Corinthian Letters, he also names “Timothy” as a cowriter! “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and TIMOTHY our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia ….” 2 Corinthians 1:1

Look at Philippians also. “Paul and TIMOTHEUS, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons ….” Timothy again, Philippians 1:1

What about Colossians? “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and TIMOTHEUS our brother, to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse ….” Colossians 1:1-2, of course. Ever he is, “Paul the mentor!”

In Thessalonians, even more are listed!  “Paul, and SILVANUS (Silas), and TIMOTHEUS, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ ….” Wow, 1 Thessalonians 1:1, a trio!

It’s the same in 2 Thessalonians as well. “Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus!”

What about Philemon? “Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, and TIMOTHY our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved, and fellowlabourer ….” Back to just Timothy, but he is listed as a co-author! (Philemon verse 1, King James Version.)

But what is the “point” of all this?

I woke up during the night with this question lingering in my mind. “WHY did Paul only name himself as the composer of the letter to the Galatians Churches?” Especially when it is so clear that others were with him as he wrote the Book! “Paul, an apostle … and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia ….”

And I think I know the answer.

Or part of it, anyway.

In his friendlier, more love-soaked Letters Paul regularly mentions a co-author. (We all know that The True Writer of the Bible is God the Holy Spirit. I am speaking of human composers, now. See 2 Timothy 3:16.)

To the Churches “closest to his heart” Paul loves to promote comradery and brotherhood!

BUT TO THE GALATIANS … who seem to be on the verge of departing from the faith … it is another matter! Leaving the gospel of Grace … reverting to the rules (613 of them) Moses left so long ago? Dangerously close to spurning Christ’s Death on Calvary as being totally able to provide salvation?

So in this Epistle, Paul spares no words!

Uses harsh condemnation!

Even mimics their silliness!

Questions the reality of their faith to begin with, at its very inception!

And he chooses to do this alone!

With no co-author by his side.

(You can be sure … they were there, just incognito, not listed!)

Paul will do the “dirty work” by himself.

He alone will bear the blame, the censure, the hatred, if any comes. And surely it did.

Today’s lesson may be an incidental.

But it shows Paul’s character (to me) in a special light.

And I admire him more than ever!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

He bore this burden by himself.

Gives new meaning to the line in Paul’s “list of persecutions” … “Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care (worry, burden, weight) of all the churches.” 2 Corinthians 11:28, amazing!

 

Yes, there is!

Something missing … in Galatians.

As Paul opens his Epistle to the Galatians, the church congregation about whom he is most unsure of the stability of their faith, he omits a paragraph that appears in nearly all his other Letters, Epistles!

Galatians contains no “thanksgiving formula,” not at all!

Let me illustrate.

In his Treatise to the Romans, Paul opens: “First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world.” Romans 1:8, Paul is grateful for these believers in Christ! And says so!

Now notice his Correspondence to the Corinthians : “I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 1:4, more such gratefulness!

Ephesians? Well, yes! “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.” Ephesians 1:15-16, a pattern is developing!

Philippians too, as you would expect. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” Chapter 1, verses 4 and 5.

Colossians continues the practice. “We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints.” Colossians 1:3-4, with Paul never having seen these Christians face-to-face!

And both Thessalonian Epistles follow the formula, the pattern. For example: “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.” And “We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly ….” Wow!

Next, in the Pastoral Epistles, Paul essentially continues the habit. “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee (Timothy) in my prayers night and day.” 2 Timothy 1:3, even to an individual!

And what about Philemon, that little Piece? “I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers, 5 Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints.” Philemon’s 4th and 5th verses!

It’s clear.

Paul thanks God for his converts, for believers in general!

But, when we study Galatians … no thanksgiving line can be found!

Read it, the first paragraph in Galatians: “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;) 2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: 5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. 6 I MARVEL THAT YE ARE SO SOON REMOVED FROM HIM THAT CALLED YOU INTO THE GRACE OF CHRIST … UNTO ANOTHER GOSPEL: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.”

I have CAPITALIZED and made red the place where the “thanksgiving pronouncement” would have usually occurred! Instead, Paul is shocked!

Paul is, simply stated, exasperated with the Galatians!

He cannot bring himself to express “thanks “for them, in their current “unstable” situation!

It looks like they are (or many of them anyway) about to reject the Gospel of the Grace of God, and revert to a system of works, following the Law of Moses!

Amazing!

And perhaps even inexplicable!

Hint for today: Let us pursue faithful lives for Jesus’ Sake … so that those who know us and love us, our fellow believers, will be thankful for our testimonies and service to Christ!

Amen!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Paul, by not expressing his normal “thanksgiving” here, may have been trying to “shame” these Galatians into staying strong “in the faith!”

 

The bridge over the Oho River, actually the Kentucky/Illinois state line as well! I made this snapshot Saturday as we drove north. We will, the Lord willing, see this same bridge from the other side this morning, heading south again.

***

I just woke up in a motel room in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. It’s 4:55 am here. After a precious time of Revival at Lighthouse Baptist Church not seven miles away!

Tonight I have the privilege (and I mean that) of peaching in Revival in Ooltewah, Tennessee. At the Mercy Baptist Church there. (The Pastor texted me late last night and asked the Bible “Text” for this upcoming Meeting, tonight through Sunday Morning! What’s not to love?)

For that reason, an extremely busy day … I may not write and post a Lesson from Galatians.

I trust you our faithful readers will understand.

In fact, we would like to ask for your prayers as we travel. Debbie and I will sort of “team” drive these upcoming six to seven hours.

And in advance, we say “thank you!”

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

I feel we need to establish (as one does in every Book of the Bible he or she studies) the addressees of the Galatian Epistle. To whom is Paul writing?

Two ideas prevail in the theological world.

They have been summarized as “the North Galatian hypothesis” and the “south Galatian theory.”

And while I do not plan to spend a lot of time discussing this issue, I think it is important to have an answer to this question. If  for no other reason … to put faces to the various names Paul will use in the next 149 verses, the entire Epistle of Galatians. Or at least mentally put sections (historical accounts) in the Book of Acts to the names (some not very complimentary) Paul employs.

But the fact is, if the North Galatian idea is correct, we have NO record in Acts, not at all, of Paul’s preaching up there! But if the southern part of the Province is in view, Dr. Luke (who left us the Acts of the Apostles) does give us several stories about events in that area.

Primarily for that reason (there are some others) I believe and will here teach that the Churches of southern Galatia are in purview.

Still, what Churches are those?

Who is Paul “correcting” in this Masterpiece?

1 … At least the Believers in Antioch (in Pisidia as opposed to Antioch in Syria) were included. This being, Pisidia, merely a “section” of Asia Minor in those days, a “slice” of Galatia. The history: “But when they (Barnabas and Paul) departed from Perga (near the coast), they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. Acts 13:14, followed by a great Sermon by the former Saul of Tarsus!

2 … Then after the Preachers were “kicked out” of Antioch … they came to a second named City (we believe) addressed in Galatians, the saints in Iconium. “But they shook off the dust of their feet against them, and came unto Iconium. And it came to pass in Iconium, that they went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.” Wow, still in Acts but now chapter 14. Note souls being saved!

Cities 3 and 4 … But the agitators (Gospel of Grace haters) followed them here as well, quite willing to kill them really. Then … knowing their lives were such imminent  danger … “They were ware of it, and fled unto Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and unto the region that lieth round about: and there they preached the gospel.” Acts 14:6-7, two more “Galatian” cities! Located at least loosely in Galatia, southern Galatia.

These are the Christians to whom Paul is writing, no co-author is mentioned.

So … the Epistle of Galatians is directed toward those “in Christ” who lived in Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.

(Hint: It might be worthwhile to re-read Acts 13 and 14, both chapters, the inspired account of Paul’s first missionary journey, to pick up all the other “details” of that first preaching tour of Galatia!)

This information helps me “tons.”

Paul and his team faced trouble and persecution and death threats from day one … as they sought to wrestle this part of the devil’s kingdom from his grip of darkness.

No wonder opposition continued even after the men left to preach elsewhere!

Quiz: Now, name me those four churches again.

Antioch (in Pisidia).

Iconium.

Lystra.

And Derbe.

Again I suggest … see if you can learn something particular that happened in each city as Paul and Barnabas preached there. Every personal fact will help as the “Pauline denunciations” begin to fall, as we study Galatians verse by verse! For that matter, as the sublime “Pauline teaching” is so patiently applied as well!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Tomorrow’s Lesson, what Paul does NOT say in his opening paragraph of Galatians, an anomaly for sure.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

When Paul wrote his Epistles to the Corinthians (both of them) he addressed a single church congregation. That one local group, based on 1 Corinthians 1:2 anyway: “Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God … unto the church of God which is at Corinth.” Notice, “church,” singular.

And again … “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia.” 2 Corinthians 1:1, still one local church! (Corinth is located in Achaia.)

The Thessalonian Epistles bear the same mark. “Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians which is in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 1:2

“Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ ….” 2 Thessalonians 1:1

And though the Epistle does not explicitly say so, the Philippian Letter was addressed to the saints in that City, but we know from Bible history there was (for a time) only one church in that place. And Paul was used by God to found it! Still, Philippians 4:15 comes pretty close to calling the Believers in that Romans Colony a local “church.” Read it please: “Now ye Philippians know also, that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving, but ye only.” (No church helped me financially but your church, you all!)

Essentially the same is true of Colossians . Though we have no record of Paul ever personally visiting that city. One church received his Epistle. And Colossians 4:15-16 satisfactorily makes my case, surely. “Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye (your church) likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”

In each case, “church,” singular.

Paul loved the local church!

BUT … and here is why I am emphasizing this fact today, when Paul wrote the Galatians, he addressed not a single church, but a group of churches!

Watch: “Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead); and all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia ….” Galatians 1:-1-2

Why “churches?”

First, because Galatia is NOT a city.

It is a district.

In fact, a Province.

Of the Roman Empire.

Scattered over many miles, not many blocks (as cities are)!

And in that area of Galatia a number of (yes, Pauline) churches had already been established.

So, Paul writes not one of them but all of them, as a group.

“Paul … unto the churches of Galatia.”

Still I ask, Why?

Because, it seems, a serious problem was creeping (or had already crept) into that vicinity … one threatening the very gospel of Christ Jesus!

And Paul plans to combat that heresy … for so it was … head-on; teaching, warning, (even) rebuking all those little, local churches at once.

With the possible exception of Paul’s Epistle to Rome (a huge city, with many districts embedded therein) … where (looks like) a number of local churches had been planted! (I base this view on the number of names and kinds of names Paul calls in Romans chapter 16, the book’s finale.)

My point today, our lesson this morning …

The only Epistle Paul ever wrote that EXPLICITLY says it is being addressed to a group of churches … is Galatians. (An anomaly in the Pauline Corpus.)

One more time … “Paul, an apostle (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead) unto the CHURCHES of Galatia ….”

This fact alone proves: “Common problems can often be solved with common solutions!” Each of those little struggling local assemblies (churches) faced the same deadly issue. So Paul could advise each church simultaneously, with the same set of instructions.

“Paul to the churches in Galatia!”

Now we know why.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Tomorrow, the Lord willing, I’d like us to specifically identify (best we can) those churches, by name!

Well, our trip (journey) through Galatians has begun!

I am excited, eager to learn!