3/14/2026 – 6 Pts. From Galatians I

Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— ² and all the brothers and sisters with me, To the churches in Galatia:

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Paul introduces himself as an apostle by the power of Jesus & God the Father. Specifically in this letter to Galatia he reveals that he is not alone. From the top we learn a lot about Paul, his life & his devotion & the favor that devotion has provided & the story behind it. Deduction tells us then that he was called by Jesus, by the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection push by Paul is heavy & noted through his portion of the story in the book of Acts & usually brought him cultural consequences. He was conspired against, he was framed, he was assaulted, he was jailed, he was flogged all because he preached the truth of the resurrection of Jesus.

From there the direction of the letter changes abruptly.

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

Paul is shocked, in disbelief because those who had considered themselves loyal to Christ got sold a bill of good & bought into it. Let’s dig deep here, these are people are going to church, are in fellowship with those in their church, & most like participating as well as giving to that church in some capacity. The people here in Galatia are going to be shocked when they get this because they are blind to this condition that Paul is alerting them to. This deception they have bought into Paul identifies as them being so grand that they have deserted the foundation in which the church is built upon, that is Jesus is the Messiah, & no one come to the Father but through Him.

They were sold another gospel, they were sold another way to God, they bought into it & have taken the temple & separated it from the foundation that being Jesus & those this separation has eliminated them from the very benefit that they sought. This gospel they were sold may be salvation is through someone in addition to or in someone on their own. Either way they bought into the lie. If you look through these claims through the eyes of prophecy you can see the essence of Jesus warning in Matthew 24 here. He said see to it no one deceives you, and For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. (Matthew 24:3, 5)

This exposes that the signs did indeed start as Holy week began before the crucifixion of Jesus.

The point also is shown in V8 as there are belief systems who have derived their faith system from messengers such as angels. One of which calls itself the religion of peace & another claims that their founder had an encounter with an angel & some how Jesus moved from being the Son of God to being an angel.

Paul then shifts again with a question that is valid for everyone’s life & walk with Christ.

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

This verse is a relational verse in that it has to do with relationships, approaches to relationships in our lives. Before we deduce this so quickly what is said here let us not take it so for granted. There are 2 questions and a consequence here. Let’s take them in order. Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God? We need to ask ourselves this for our proper positioning in relationships. We need to ask ourselves this question in every relationship we get & involved in.

This involves your causal relationships, you know folks at the gym, folks that are not getting communications from you in deeply personal situations. It involves your friendships the people whom you are in touch with, maybe people who share a joint commitment to Jesus with you, but you aren’t exactly having dinner with or sharing family functions with. Then there is your inner circle friends. These are the people you are contacting in family circumstances, you are having lunch with & are walking with you & you with them into the war field of life. Finally we have your covenant relationships, members of your immediate family. Take all of those into account. Are you trying to win their approval? Or is God, his way, his teachings your priority?

Paul then asks Am I trying to please people? This is a restate in some regards & he is asking himself, just like we should. Yes this is about relationships & keeping them in their proper place in respect to your relationship with Jesus. So we get to the conclusion where Paul states that pleasing people disqualifies you from being a servant of Christ. This is about motives for acceptance. Yet, there is a level here not often recognized & that is social acceptance.

Let’s ask ourselves about what we do in public settings to be noticed, to be part of the group. The way you speak, what you speak about, or what vices you partake in, maybe cultural issue you masquerade you are behind that are not biblical.

The first point from Galatians is -Do not live for the approval of others.

Live for the honor of being a servant of Christ. Which means you actually serve the purposes of Jesus. After all is it not our encounter with Jesus after we pass away and want to hear, “Well done good and faithful servant?”