Galatians Chapters 1 & 2

Galatians Chapters 1 & 2

Galatians 1:1-2 This letter is from Paul, an apostle. I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but through Yeshua the Messiah,{“Messiah” means “Anointed One”.} and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the brothers{The word for “brothers” here and where context allows may also be correctly translated “brothers and sisters” ...} who are with me, to the assemblies of Galatia:

Regarding verse 1 => Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he[Paul] is my chosen vessel to bear my name before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel.
Verse 2 is one of 19 times that the Bible tells us that Jesus was raised from the dead by His Father => http://sidnash.org/docs/WhoRaisedJesus.html

Galatians 1:3-5 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, 4 who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age{see Mt20:28;Rom4:25;1Pet2:24 }, according to the will of our God and Father— 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Regarding "Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Yeshua the Messiah", this is a common greeting of Paul's that he used at the beginning of most of his letters.
Whenever Paul used the word "God", keep in mind that Paul clearly identified his God as one specific person:
- 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 ... there is only one God. 5 There may be so-called gods both in heaven and on earth, and some people actually worship many gods and many lords. 6 But for us, There is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for him; and one Lord, Yeshua the Messiah, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.
  - Here are over 25 more texts that identify the one God as one person => http://sidnash.org/?1God

Galatians 1:6-9 I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Yeshua. You are following a different way that pretends to be the “good news”, 7 but there isn’t another “good news” at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Messiah. 8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you any “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed. 9 As we have said before, so I now say again: if any man preaches to you any “good news” other than that which you received, let him be cursed.

Isaiah 29:13 The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;

Galatians 1:10 Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be a servant of Messiah.

James 4:4 You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Galatians 1:11-12 But I make known to you, brothers, concerning the Good News which was preached by me, that it is not according to man. 12 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Yeshua the Messiah.

1 Corinthians 2:10-12 But to us, God revealed them through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except God’s Spirit. 12 But we received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might know the things that were freely given to us by God.
- Acts 2:32-33 This Yeshua God raised up, to which we all are witnesses. 33 Being therefore exalted by the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he(Yeshua) has poured out this(the Holy Spirit) which you now see and hear.
- John 6:63 It is the spirit who gives life... The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life.
1 Corinthians 2:13-16 We also speak these things, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual things. 14 Now the natural man doesn’t receive the things of God’s Spirit, for they are foolishness to him; and he can’t know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he who is spiritual discerns all things, and he himself is to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he should instruct him?” But we have Messiah’s mind.
Philippians 2:5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Messiah Yeshua.
Notice how Paul equated "God's Spirit" with "Messiah's mind".
- John 3:33-36 Anyone who accepts his testimony can affirm that God is true. 34 For he[Yeshua] is sent by God. He speaks God’s words, for God gives him the Spirit without limit. 35 The Father loves his Son and has put everything into his hands. 36 And anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t obey the Son will never experience eternal life but remains under God’s angry judgment.”
- John 12:48-50 He who rejects me, and doesn’t receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke("my sayings") will judge him in the last day. 49 For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. 50 I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”

Galatians 1:13-14 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.

More about Paul's history from Paul =>
- Acts 22:3-5 I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today. 4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women, 5 as also the high priest and all the council of the elders testify, from whom also I received letters to the brothers, and traveled to Damascus to bring them also who were there to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
- 1 Corinthians 15:9 For I am the least of the emissaries, who is not worthy to be called an emissary, because I persecuted the assembly of God.

Galatians 1:15-17 But when it was the good pleasure of God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through his grace, 16 to reveal his Son in me, that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles. When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.

Galatians 1:18-24 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Peter, and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie. 21 Then I came to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was still unknown by face to the assemblies of Judea which were in Messiah. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of me.

Galatians 2:1-3 Then after a period of fourteen years I(Paul) went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus also with me. 2 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing. 3 And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.

At this time, the "leaders of the church" at Jerusalem were in agreement with Paul's doctrine, even that non-Jews need not be circumcised. However, at a previous visit to Jerusalem, by Paul and Barnabas, some of the converted Jews insisted of the non-Jews that "It is necessary to circumcise them..." " Unless you are circumcised after the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved."( Acts 15:1,5 ). The entire chapter(Acts 15) is about this incident and more broadly discusses what should be required of non-Jewish converts. Acts 15:28-29 summarizes their conclusion => "For it was decided by the Holy Spirit, and by us, to lay upon you not one greater burden than these necessary things: 29 to abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, keeping yourselves from which, ye will do well. Be strong." I think the next few verses in Galatians 2 is, in part, a reference to what was recorded in Acts 2.

Galatians 2:4-10 This was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who stole in to spy out our liberty which we have in Messiah Yeshua, that they might bring us into bondage to follow their Jewish regulations. 5 But we refused to give in to them for a single moment. We wanted to preserve the truth of the gospel message for you. 6 But from those who were reputed to be important—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; for God has no favorites. 7 Instead, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the uncircumcised, even as Peter with the Good News for the circumcised— 8 for he who worked through Peter in the apostleship with the circumcised also worked through me with the Gentiles. 9 In fact, James, Peter, and John, who were known as pillars of the church, recognized the gift God had given me, and they accepted Barnabas and me as their co-workers. They encouraged us to keep preaching to the Gentiles, while they continued their work with the Jews. 10 They only asked us to remember the poor—which very thing I was also zealous to do.

James 2:15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
1 John 3:17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

Galatians 2:11-14 But when Peter came to Antioch, I resisted him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12 When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile believers, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James{his Hebrew name may have been Jacob} came, Peter wouldn’t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13 As a result, other Jewish believers followed Peter’s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they didn’t walk uprightly according to the truth of the Good News, I said to Peter before them all, "Since you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?"

Regarding the "Jewish traditions" of which Paul spoke of, the following passage helps us to understand that these "Jewish traditions" were NOT of God, but of man =>
- Matthew 15:1-2 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Yeshua from Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.”
- Matthew 15:3-9 He answered them, “Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,” 6 he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8 ‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 And they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.’( Isaiah 29:13 ) ”

Galatians 2:15-21 We, being Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, 16 yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Yeshua the Messiah, even we believed in Messiah Yeshua, that we might be justified by faith in Messiah and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law. 17 But suppose we seek to be made right with God through faith in Messiah and then we are found guilty because we have abandoned the law. Would that mean Messiah has led us into sin? Absolutely not! 18 For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker. 19 For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. 20 I am crucified with Christ(Messiah): nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ(Messiah) liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Desiring to live by every word that comes from the mouth of Jehovah ( Deut8:3; Matt4:4 )

-Sid Nash: 10/19/2024. Latest version: http://sidnash.org/docs/Gal1-2.html