Overview of Galatians 1

Says Galatians 1 has three sections: 1:1–5, the greeting and the rescue; 1:6–10, no other gospel; and 1:11–24, the gospel by revelation and Paul’s early years. Paul writes, with all the brothers with him, to the churches of Galatia. He is an apostle not from men nor through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. Christ gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the Father’s will. There is one gospel; a message contrary to the one already preached is not another gospel. Paul’s former persecution of the church and his call by God’s grace are facts of his life.

Implies The letter presents itself as Paul’s own word to churches that had heard him preach. His apostleship and his gospel come from Jesus Christ and God the Father, not from any human source.

Uncertain Which Galatia is meant, the force of the anathema, the sense of the genitive in 1:12 and of “in me” in 1:16, the purpose of the Arabia stay, how the first Jerusalem visit stands beside Acts 9, and the sense in which James is the Lord’s brother, are set out on their grounds in the notes and commentary that follow; no verdict is given here.