note: Galatians is a very important letter, because it explains the doctrine of anathema. This doctrine is greatly misunderstood by most of the church. Study it deeply and share it with others.
Galatians 1
Salutation
1 From Paul, an apostle (not from men, nor by human agency, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead)
The Greek word for "Paul" is Παῦλος (paulos), meaning little. The Roman Empire considered Paul as a little man that did not deserve to live. The evil Emperor Nero had Paul executed, because Paul was a threat to the Roman Empire. Nero called himself a god, but Paul taught otherwise. Paul was a Roman citizen and protected by Roman Law, so it took a lot of time and effort for Nero to execute Paul. After the execution of Paul, his epistles remained and eventually brought down the Roman Empire.
When Paul founded a church, he would teach the gospel for days, weeks, months, or years, and then move to another mission area. Paul would leave teachers behind to help the church grow into maturity. As soon as Paul left town, Judaizers would come in and attempt to discredit Paul and his teaching. They would claim that Paul was not an apostle, because he was not one of the original twelve. To counter these false teachings, Paul wrote many circular letters to the churches. He introduced himself in this letter as an ἀπόστολος (apostles), meaning a messenger sent by God. He added that this appointment was not given by men, but from God. The Judaizers possessed letters from men that they used for their authority. The Judaizers taught that one must keep the Mosaic Law in order to be saved.
Paul was appointed to be an apostle by the Lord Jesus Christ and by God the Father. Jehovah Witnesses misuse this verse to show that Jehovah raised Jesus from the dead, meaning that Jehovah is superior to Jesus. However, in John 2:19, Jesus said, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it up." In Romans 8:11, it is written "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." Therefore the entire trinity of the Godhead was involved in raising Jesus from the dead.
2 and all the brothers with me, to the churches of Galatia.
This was a circular letter that was written to all of the home churches in the region of Galatia.
3 Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
The Greek word for "grace" is χάρις (charis), meaning a gift that is given by a kind giver. God is nice and kind and he gave believers the gift of eternal life. This is the typical Greek greeting.
The Greek word for "peace" is εἰρήνη (eiraynay), which comes from the Hebrew word שָׁלום (shalom), meaning peace with God. God is perfect and all-good. Man is flawed and totally depraved and evil. God will not allow evil into his perfect heaven, so there is no way that man can have peace with God, They are natural and supernatural enemies. However, Christ died and his atonement provided a supernatural exchange. The sin of man was transferred to Christ, but at the same time, the righteousness of Christ was transferred to all men. God the Father accepted this transfer. When God sees a believer, he does not see his sin. Instead, he sees the righteousness of Christ. Therefore, through the atonement of Christ, man can have peace with God. Notice that in salvtion. grace must precede peace, which is the chronological order of the greeting. The shalom greeting is the typical Hebrew greeting.
4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age according to the will of our God and Father,
The Greek word for "rescue" is ἐξαιρέω (exaireow), an aorist middle subjunctive, meaning a personal choice. The verb is aorist, meaning that the choice was a one-time completed action of the past. It is in the middle tense, meaning that the subject himself made the choice. The mood is subjunctive, meaning a strong possibility. God Himself emphatically chose all believers in the past as a one-time action, meaning an eternal choice that is not temporary.
The Greek word for "present evil age" is αἰῶνος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος πονηροῦ (aiownos tou enestotos ponayrou), a perfect active participle, meaning a present ongoing dispensation of evil. The perfect tense means that this present age started at a specific time in the past and it will continue continually until the next dispensation.
The Greek word for "will" is θέλημα (the lama), meaning God's preferred will. It is God's preferred will that he called out his elect from this present evil dispensation.
5 to whom be glory forever and ever! Amen.
Paul interrupted his letter to give glory to God. Amen, means "let it be". Let God be praised forever.
Occasion of the Letter
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are following a different gospel –
The Greek word for "astonished" is θαυμάζω (thaumazo), a present active indicative verb, meaning Paul is continually marveling at the current decision made by the Galatians.
The Greek word for "different" is ἕτερος (heaters), meaning another of a different kind. Often, many English bibles will translate this word as "other", but "different" is a better translation. Paul had taught the Galatians the true gospel of faith alone by grace alone in Christ alone, but the Galatians had begun to believe a different gospel then what Paul had taught.
7 not that there really is another gospel, but there are some who are disturbing you and wanting to distort the gospel of Christ.
After Paul left, the Judaizers came in and taught that the Galatians would not be saved unless they kept the Mosaic Law. This is a different gospel then what Paul had taught. It was actually not a gospel at all, but false teaching.
The Greek word for "distort" is μεταστρέφω (metastrephow), meaning to pervert the gospel, to twist it, or to reverse it around so that it teaches the opposite. The Judaizers were perverting the gospel by adding works to it.
8 But even if we (or an angel from heaven) should preach a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be condemned to hell!
The Greek word for "preach" is εὐαγγελίζω (euangelizow), a present middle subjunctive verb, meaning to continually proclaim a false gospel.
The Greek word for "condemned to hell" is ἀνάθεμα (anathema), originating from the Hebrew word חֵרֶם (herem), meaning to be devoted to God for destruction. Those who are devoted to God for destruction will go to Hell after their physical death. At the end of the Millennial Kingdom, they will be transported to the Lake of Fire to burn for eternity. This is not popular bible teaching, but the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God should be taught, including the parts that deal with eternal judgment.
If a believer in Christ is mature and possesses agape love, which is divine love, then he will warn unbelievers about the reality of the judgment of Hell. Jesus warned unbelievers, so believers should imitate Jesus and do the same. Often, baby Christians (who think that they are mature) will chide mature Christians for telling a loved one or friend that they must change their attitude or suffer the consequences of Hell. They will claim that this mature Christian who scares others with teachings of hell does not possess agape love. Satan does not want the reality of Hell to be mentioned to anyone. He will use baby Christians who are ignorant of Scripture in order to shame mature Christians from informing unbelievers about their future destiny. A mature Christian will correct this kind of rebuke, so that the immature Christian can grow and understand the dangers of their teaching.
The gospel that the apostles taught was faith alone by grace alone in Christ alone. Notice that the false gospel must continually be proclaimed. The voice is middle, meaning that the one who is actually doing the proclaiming is guilty. The mood is subjunctive, meaning that there is a strong possibility that the one proclaiming the false gospel will burn in the Lake of Fire forever. The subjunctive mood seems to leave room that there may be a small percentage of these false teachers who will actually be converted to the true gospel sometimes in the near future.
Dr. Fruchtenbuam has some interesting insight on this verse,
"In these verses, he pronounced the anathema, which is a rebuke against false teachers. Anyone who teaches a gospel that is different than the gospel they have received is to be anathema. Another gospel is any gospel other than the gospel of the grace of God. Any addition to the simple statement that salvation is by grace through faith is another gospel. Any addition to the gospel, be it baptism, tongues, ceremonies, church membership, repentance, perverts the gospel and is anathema."
Most believers are ignorant of Bible doctrine, because they have not studied the entire counsel of the Word of God from the original languages. They have studied some Bible doctrine, which makes them dangerous. They think that they have studied enough of the Bible to understand it completely, but some is not enough. Satan and his demons know what believers have and have not studied. They will use this ignorance of biblical knowledge to their advantage. A believer is called to be a Berean. He must spend his lifetime mastering bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God. Any believer who thinks that he does not need to study on a daily basis is arrogant and deceived. Satan has him right where he wants him.
Many ignorant Christians attend unbiblical denominational churches. They attend these churches, because they do not possess strong enough biblical knowledge to know the difference. They may attend because of family, friends, convenience, entertainment, to find a spouse, or because they have a good children's program with lots of fun activities for the kids. These are not good reasons to attend a church. The only measure for church attendance should be sound Bible doctrine being taught from the pulpit in the original languages. Any pastor who is too lazy to study the original languages is receiving his information second hand. He does not have the Berean skills to even know if his doctrinal statement is correct. He thinks that he is teaching the truth, only because his seminary taught him to accept their denominational doctrines. What if the seminary is wrong in their teaching? How will the student know unless he possesses the language skills to check out the teaching? Seminaries should be teaching their pastors how to become Bereans. Bereans can only be developed by study of the biblical languages, hermeneutics, and expository Bible study. Pastors should teach their congregation these same exact skills. In this way, the congregation learns the skill of a Berean. He can check out the teachings that he is receiving from his pastor-teacher. He can recognize between true and false doctrine. Any church member who does not possess the original language skills is taking a risk of being deceived, even inside his own local church. The local church is Satan's main target, so believers should not be so naive to think that Satan has not infiltrated every single church that has existed on this planet since the origins of the church back at Pentecost.
Unfortunately, most Christians are in the wrong church, but they think that they are in the right church. Many of the denominational churches are teaching the following unbiblical doctrines:
1. Amillenialism is the false teaching that the church has replaced Israel. This is a false teaching, because God promised Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all of the prophets that Israel would exist forever and they would eventually become not only the head of all nations, but priests to all of the nations as well. Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, Presbyterians, Reformed Baptists, Church of Christ, and most cults and isms teach this view.
2. Arminianism is the false teaching that man is not completely totally depraved and evil. They teach that man has enough good in him to choose God on his own volition. This is a violation of Romans 3:10-11, which states that man does not understand or seek God. Catholics, Anglicans, Free-will Baptists, Church of Christ, Church of the Nazarene, and most charismatic churches teach this view. All of the cults and isms teach this view as well.
3. Salvation by works is an addition to grace. This is a violation of Acts 16:31, where the jailer asked Paul how he could be saved. Paul answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." Belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only condition of salvation. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that one must say a sinner's prayer, keep the seven sacraments, repent of one's sins, walk down an aisle, say the sinners prayer, receive Jesus in one's heart, be baptized with water, keep the commandments of Jesus, make Jesus Lord of one's life, etc. These are all examples of works salvation. These churches or individuals are teaching one that they must believe in Jesus plus something else.
4. Limited atonement is the false teaching that Christ only died for the elect. This is a violation of 1 John 2:2, which states that "Christ died not only for us but for the sins of the whole world." Christ died for everyone, elect and non-elect, but only the elect who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved.
There are many more false doctrines inside of the church. They will be examined in detail throughout this study Bible. Anyone who teaches any of the false doctrines are not teaching the apostle's doctrine. They are placing themselves in the position of anathema, meaning that if they do not change their belief system, they will burn in the Lake of Fire forever. This is not a popular teaching among the modern local churches and this teaching is abhorred by ignorant Christians, but this is what the text says in the Greek.
There are many pastors, teachers, and individuals who look like angels proclaiming the gospel, but if they teach what is contrary to the apostle's doctrine, then they are dangerous wolves who are attempting to lead others astray. They may look like angels to the believer, but they are actually ἀνάθεμα (anathema). After all, Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, and his ministers are transformed as the ministers of righteousness (see 2 Cor. 11:14–15).