Paul, the second greatest founder of Christianity, bridges the history of the Jewish people and the world as we know it today. Because I am a Tennessee born European American, I am a product of Western Civilization. Because my family has been influenced by the church in the history I can trace, I am a product of the religious Protestant Western Church. So I ask the question how am I related to Paul and the theology of his letters written to churches in Asia Minor and Eastern Europe in the first century during the years of 49-64 (All dates used in this sermon are what is called in today’s language, ACE, after the common era, or as I learned AD, in the year of our Lord). I would say everything I believe can be traced to those letters and what I learn from the life of Jesus in the Gospels. I can say with a certain degree of certainty that the Gospels were all written after Paul’s letters in the years past the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 and before the turn of the first century.
GALATIANS is a letter written to several churches by Paul around 52. The letter to the Galatian churches is written after Paul’s founding of these churches on his first missionary journey. Paul defends his interpretation of the effect of Jesus upon the Jewish faith and Paul’s insistence that Jesus is resurrected by the LORD God. Furthermore, Jesus has sent the Holy Spirit to lead all people into the truth of the revelation of Jesus as given to Paul.
In the development of Christianity after the giving of the Holy Spirit in the year 29 (I assume the death and resurrection occurred in 29 and then the first Christian Pentecost would have occurred in 29). I realize this date could be shifted by a few years but it gives us a starting point for the beginning of the church. The people in Jerusalem carried this exciting news of Jesus’ resurrection into the surrounding known world. The first Christians are Jewish believers who are convinced that Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified is the resurrected Messiah (Christ in Greek) promised in the Scriptures of the Jewish faith. Paul is a Jewish missionary who has received a revelation from Jesus that Jesus is the Christ. Paul first preaches to Jewish Christian, but later understands he is to preach a Gospel to the non-Jews. There is a group of preachers and missionaries who oppose Paul’s interpretation of the will of God and seek to discredit Paul. This is the first struggle of Christianity in the world. There are numerous ways to understand this basic struggle. Paul in GALATIANS says that the demands of the Jewish Law are an unnecessary burden for non-Jewish Christians. My understanding is that a non-Jewish Christian does not have to become a Jew to be made righteous (saved) before the judgment of the LORD God. Our text for this first sermon on the development of Christianity is GALATIANS 1:1-12. Paul uses his life experience to relate what he believes is the truth. Paul claims an eyewitness account of Jesus as resurrected Lord. Paul is called to be an apostle and preacher of the only and true Gospel as revealed to him by Jesus himself. Paul speaks the truth because Jesus has given Paul the truth. This is a bold and authoritative position for Paul. He is either a powerful witness to the truth of God or he is a lying fake which is the charge that Paul defends himself against in the letter to the Galatians.
As a servant of the church for 47 years I have staked by life upon two true statements which are the presuppositions of my faith. One is that Jesus is the messiah of God, the Christ. The second is that God defeats death by resurrecting Jesus to a Spiritual body and that will be true of everyone else who dies in the Lord.
Paul introduces his letter to the GALATIANS by declaring his authority. This is different from the introductions to his other letter. Paul is “sent…. through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead-“ It seems that Paul’s authority had been questioned. There are no church ordinations at this time to authorize Paul. As far as we know Paul was not a Jewish priest. He claims to be a Pharisee and an expert interpreter of the Jewish Law. His gospel was “received …through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”
Paul writes “To the churches of Galatia.” Jesus Christ’ work is identified a gift to humanity; ‘who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age.” If we tie two thoughts together we get a glimpse of Paul’s understanding of the will of God in the history of the world. There are three periods of history, the Jewish age before Christ, the age of the Church which is called the “present evil age” and an age to come at which point the revelation of Jesus Christ will be made known to all of humanity. Apocalypse is the Greek word for revelation. When all of humanity recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah at his second coming then the LORD God will set up the new kingdom of God. We receive a glimpse of this kingdom in Jesus and the Church proclaims the existence of the kingdom in the present evil age. The present evil age can be understood to be the time between the two comings of Jesus or the age of the Church. There will be a time when the Church will no longer be needed to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah.