Galatians 1:1–2 - A Credible Source

Can you recall a time when someone questioned your credibility? They questioned if you were telling the truth, whether you could be believed, whether or not you knew what you were talking about.

That was the case for the apostle Paul with the churches in Galatia, a region in what is now the country of Turkey. Paul had preached the gospel of Christ there and planted churches. Many had believed in Jesus.

But after he left to continue his missionary journey, these Christians began to be taught a distorted form of the gospel. They were accepting this “different” and wrong message, and it called into question Paul’s credibility as the one who initially taught them.

But far worse, it called into question the very character and nature of God.

You see, the gospel isn’t just a message from God. It’s a message about Him. If the gospel is misunderstood, then God is misunderstood. If the gospel is mishandled or twisted, so are His purposes and plans. And once you’re believing a different gospel, you actually have in mind a different god than the one true God.

Now, throughout Scripture, we see people questioning God’s credibility. In other words, they struggle to believe and trust Him. This is human nature, of course. Jeremiah 17 says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” Inside each of us is a tendency to deceive ourselves. Jeremiah was referring to the sinful nature.

Now, absolutely, God redeems His people so that sin no longer reigns over us. Those who are born again are not helpless as we face temptation. But the sinful nature still affects us greatly. It can and does still deceive us with irrational fears, immoral desires, wicked urges and obsessive thoughts that lead to compulsive behaviors.

The sinful nature gives birth to worry, jealousy, irritability, and anxiety. It causes anger and indifference toward God and others. The hostility within you toward God and His ways – that’s your sinful nature.

So, as long as we are in this body, we should question our own credibility. We need a degree of distrust in our own thoughts and desires. We need a credible source of truth outside of us. The true God – with His true gospel – is that credible source. It’s not easy for us to trust ourselves less and trust God more.

But in His great love and kindness, He goes to great lengths to help us trust Him. And Paul’s greeting highlights three ways that God establishes His credibility for us. Notice them printed for you there. God helps us trust Him: through His Word given through His apostles, through His power demonstrated at the resurrection, and through His Spirit dwelling within His people.

The true gospel – the gospel that the Galatians first believed – inspires trust in God. The true gospel removes all trust in ourselves. And with that gospel, we will grow spiritually as we come to know God more.

Now, in similar letters, Paul says he is “an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Peter writes something similar. These men and some select others held this office. This means they were called to their ministry directly by Jesus Christ.

Acts 9 describes when Christ appeared to Paul, and Paul was converted to Christianity and commissioned by Jesus to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul came face-to-face with the Lord at that time. Hence, he was an apostle. The word means a messenger – one sent forth with orders.

Now, Paul’s calling was different from the others. During the earthly ministry of Jesus, the other apostles followed Jesus. But Paul did not join the church; he persecuted the church. Christ appeared to him from heaven after His ascension. And so the way Paul was called was different, but it was no less valid, and no less real.

Look again at verse [1]. He writes, “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father.” Paul expresses that his calling, and thus his message, are not from men but from God. Therefore, his credibility rests on God’s credibility. But he goes beyond simply stating that he is an apostle, as if to say, “And let me tell you what that title means.” What else does it mean?

Well, in the book of Ephesians, Paul explains that the church is “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.” Certainly Christ is the foundation of our faith, so what is this foundation that they built?

In no way is Paul taking away from the glory of Christ. He means this: the OT prophets and the NT apostles proclaimed redemption from God. The prophets proclaimed God’s grace, but they didn’t know the name of Jesus Christ. The apostles, on the other hand, knew His name and they proclaimed His name. And in doing so, through both their preaching and their writing, the apostles formed the foundation along with their OT counterparts, the prophets.

Today, we don’t hear the message from them in person, but we still hear it. We hear it in God’s written Word which they recorded. Like the prophets, the apostles recognized that they were given this message directly from God. In 2 Tim. 3, Paul states, “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” Paul had in his mind not only the OT but also the gradually-forming NT. God is the author, and His message was written down through His servants. And through His written Word, we come to know God and, by His grace, to trust God.

God helps us to believe Him through His Word given through His apostles. Paul was one such apostle. He preached to the Galatians the pure and true gospel of Christ – that Christ alone is our access to God – that He alone gives us peace with God – and we appropriate salvation by faith that God gives us as a gift.

What lies are you prone to believe which can be directly refuted by God's holy Word? Lies about God, about yourself. His written Word is essential in the life of a Christian. It’s essential in our marriages and in our homes. As we interact with God through the preaching and reading of His Word, and through the study of His Word, our faith grows. We will believe and trust God more.

But now notice this next phrase that Paul adds in reference to the Father and the Son. “Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” Another apostle, Peter, in his great sermon at Pentecost recorded in Acts 2, says Jesus was “delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God [and] crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.”

But, Peter says, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” We’ve all observed the body of someone after they have passed away. Death has overcome their mortal body. In the same way, Jesus Christ lay dead. Many observed His dead body.

He was put in a tomb. Friends intended to care for his body, as He had been brutally put to death. But at His tomb, they found that He no longer lay dead, but He was alive. He appeared to many of His followers, even appearing to 500 at one time! How else would His apostles who saw Him die be so emboldened with the gospel if they had not seen Him alive after His resurrection?

What a glorious fact! What a precious and awesome event in human history! This is true Christianity. Is it hard to believe? One of Jesus’ very apostles – one of the 12 – had not yet seen the resurrected Jesus like the others had. And when they told him, “We have seen the Lord.” …He said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

John 20 says that eight days after Thomas had said those words, “His disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

What kindness of God to accommodate doubters like you and me. God helps us trust Him through His power demonstrated at the resurrection. The God who called Paul to preach and write down His message has power over death, and the reality of the resurrection compels us to trust Him. The testimony of it in His written Word stirs the heart of those Jesus calls to Himself.

Christians, this is your God! This is what He has done and what He will do for you. In Romans 8, Paul writes, “If Christ is in you…If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” He who created human life holds the power over human death. And He defeated death by His death. So, you can trust Him. We can believe what He says. We can believe His gospel, and we can rest.

Now notice verse [2]. Paul sends greetings from himself “and all the brothers who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: Who are “All the brothers with me?”  There’s some speculation about where Paul was when he wrote this letter. But he seems to be referring to the believers around him in the city where he wrote. He was with “the church” writing to “the church.”

Though there are many true “churches” all over the world, there is one “church.” In Ephesians 4, Paul says, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” There are disagreements within the body of Christ related to some secondary doctrines, but there is a singular, agreed-upon doctrine of salvation among all true believers.

The gospel is larger than any single local church or denomination. The tenets of the salvation that is in Christ Jesus are clear in the Scriptures. Justification – being declared righteous by God – is by grace through faith in Christ. The problem in the Galatian churches is that false teachers had added to faith.

They taught that what was necessary was faith plus something else. But these fellow believers with Paul agreed with Paul. The Spirit dwelt with God’s people where Paul was, and in all the churches. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is common agreement on the gospel.

Among true believers there is unity in the faith. And this unity within the church helps us trust God more. “We” believe these things. “We” know and rejoice in who Christ is and what He’s done for us. God helps us trust Him through His Spirit dwelling within His people. His Spirit within me connects me with His Spirit with you. And our common ground is the pure gospel of grace.

This table is our table. We meet Him at this table. He’s given us His Word, and the resurrection, and the church to strengthen our faith. And as we do these things that He told us to do, we trust Him more. He further establishes His credibility with us. This table is the same table in which Christians partake all over the world – in which Christians have been partaking since Jesus walked this earth.

And as we consider what He's done to help us trust Him, we begin to think, “Why didn’t I trust Him more?” But He’s so full of grace for us. His love produces grace through Jesus our Lord. If you’ve never trusted in Christ, you’ve never really believed in the one true God.

Jesus Christ is God. Believe in Him today. Trust in Him for salvation from sin and death. When you trust in Jesus, God’s credibility will be established in your heart and mind, and that trust will grow more and more as He guides you through this life.

Let’s bow in prayer.