An Apostle Of Authority Series

Charles Dickens tells of how men react to bad news. Martin

Chuzzlewit learns that the 50 acre tract in America in which he had

invested all his savings turns out to be a hideous swamp. He sinks

into a fever because of his sorrow, but Mark Topley who savings

were also sunk in that same swamp refuses to be overpowered by

calamity. He gives himself a blow on the chest and says to himself,

"Things is looking as bad as they can look, young man. You'll not

have such another opportunity for showing your jolly disposition,

my fine fellow, as long as you live. And, therefore, now is the time to

come out strong, as never!"

This is the very kind of positive thinking that must have gone

through Paul's mind when he heard that his investment in the

Galatian church was threatened. He had preached his heart out to

these people, and now they were ready to forsake their freedom in

Christ and enter into the bondage of the law. Paul could have

thrown his hands up in despair and given up on the Galatians. He

could have layed down and died of grief at his loss and the terrible

fickleness of human nature, but instead he said, now is the time to be

strong. If ever I spoke with authority to defeat the forces of evil, it

must be now or never. Paul did not greet bad news with an attitude

of defeat, but with an attitude of determination to never admit

defeat. This letter was his weapon, and it has been the primary tool

for many a victory since.

Paul must have said I'll never have a greater opportunity to

defend the Gospel of grace than this, and so I must come out strong

now or never! The first thing Paul does in this letter is to defend his

authority as an Apostle. Paul usually just states the fact of his

authority, but here he is fighting those who reject his authority, and

so we see the letter is different right from the start. We usually skip

through Paul's introductions with little attention. Quite often the

preface or the introduction is skipped to get right to the body of a

book. I use to do it all the time until I realized that the key for a full

appreciation of the book is often found in the introduction.

Information on the author and his or her background, and what

they had in mind in writing the book, can make the book so much

more meaningful.

The Bible is often boring to people because its historical setting is

not grasped. We cannot see how it relates to our lives because we

have not taken the time to understand its original setting and the

purpose for which is was written. We must be able to enter into the

emotions of Paul's letter and understand what he is doing if we are

to appreciate its relevance for today. The best of Bible students have

their dry days, however. John Bunyan wrote in his Grace

Abounding, "I have sometimes seen more in a line of the Bible then I

could well tell how to stand under, and yet at another time the whole

Bible has been to me as dry as a stick; or rather my heart has been

so dead and dry unto it that I could not conceive the least dram of

refreshment, though I looked it all over."

We cannot escape the dry spells of life, but these are of little

consequence in our lives if we develop the habit of finding

refreshment at the fountain of the Word regularly. One of the ways

to add value to Bible study is to get all the information you can on

the author and his purpose. We want to do just that with this letter

to Galatians. The more we can understand Paul's feelings and

intentions the more meaningful this letter will be.

Let's begin with the name Paul. We all know that Paul's name is

Saul in the book of Acts when he first appears on the stage of

biblical history. After his conversion and his appointment as God's

ambassador to the Gentiles he is called Paul. Many have assumed

that his name was changed, but the likelihood is that he had both

names from birth. This is the conviction of men like J. Gresham

Machen and John Brown, who are great scholars on the life of Paul.

Their reasoning makes sense. As a Pharisee it was natural for Paul

to go by the name of Saul. This was his Jewish name, but when he

became Apostle to the Gentiles it was equally natural for him to go

by his Roman name of Paul. He was a Roman citizen by birth, and