Galatians 1:1-5, Paul, The True Apostle

Γαλάτας 1·1 Παῦλος ἀπόστολος οὐκ ἀπ᾿ ἀνθρώπων οὐδὲ δι᾿ ἀνθρώπου ἀλλὰ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ καὶ θεοῦ πατρὸς τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν,  2 καὶ οἱ σὺν ἐμοὶ πάντες ἀδελφοὶ ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις τῆς Γαλατίας,  3 χάρις ὑμῖν καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ θεοῦ πατρὸς ἡμῶν καὶ κυρίου Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ  4 τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν, ὅπως ἐξέληται ἡμᾶς ἐκ τοῦ αἰῶνος τοῦ ἐνεστῶτος πονηροῦ κατὰ τὸ θέλημα τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ πατρὸς ἡμῶν,  5 ᾧ ἡ δόξα εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων, ἀμήν. 


Translation

Paul, an apostle, not from mankind nor through mankind, but through Jesus Christ and God the father who raised him up from the dead, and all the brothers with me to the churches of Galatia; grace to you and peace from God our father and the lord Jesus Christ, of whom gave himself in behave of our sins, so that he removed us from the present evil age according to the will of our God and father, to whom be glory for ever and ever, amen.  Galatians 1:1-5


Introduction

I will be doing a series of blogs on Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia.  I don’t know where it will lead, but hopefully, we will all learn something in the process.

ἀπόστολος (apostle)

So what is an apostle?  It is “one who is sent with a message”.  In this case, Paul is the someone who has been sent carrying the message of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  This Good News is not from mankind, nor was it manufactured by mankind.  The Good News came about by God's raising of Jesus from the dead.  For all of my apostolic friends, the only way to be apostolic is to be sent out with the message.  Paul built churches all over the Roman empire.  He was a true apostolic!

τοῦ ἐγείραντος αὐτὸν ἐκ νεκρῶν (who raised him up from the dead)

Who raised him? God did.  τοῦ ἐγείραντος (who raised) is referring to θεοῦ πατρὸς (God the father) because “God the father” precedes “who raised”.

τοῦ δόντος ἑαυτὸν (of whom gave himself)

Who gave himself?  Jesus did because “Jesus Christ” precedes “of whom gave himself”.

εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων (for ever and ever)

This is an idiom.  The actual greek is “into the ages of ages”