Derek Thomas

There's a scholarly debate as to whether Galatia was in the north or whether Galatia was in the south.

It's kind of boring as a topic, but I think it's in the south and it includes places like Lystra and Derby and places like that.

And something has gone on in the church at Galatia since Paul left.

And Paul had preached the gospel, but now something has happened.

People have come in, Judaizers have influenced them.

They've deviated from the purity of the gospel.

And so let's dive straight in, and the first thing I want us to see here after Paul's introduction, and it's a typical introduction in which he does his usual salutation and so on, and then in verse 6, this, "'I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.'"

And so the first thing I want to see is a precise formulation of the gospel.

The gospel Paul preached, he says in verse 1, "...came to him from the risen, resurrected, ascended Christ."

The apostle says that he received this gospel.

It was shown to him.

It was revealed to him.

And now he summarizes it in four brief phrases.

First of all, he says to us in verse 4, "...who gave himself," he's talking about Christ, "...grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself."

a voluntary act of condescension on the part of Christ.

He gave Himself.

It's reminiscent of what is a core, I'm going to say, mission statement that Jesus Himself uses in Mark chapter 10.

The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.

And that phrase is a combination of several Old Testament passages, including one from the fourth servant song in Isaiah 53.

And I think that becomes a kind of early...