Raised From the Dead

Paul anchors what God has done for us in the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, which also inaugurated the time of fulfillment - Galatians 1:1-5.

The source of Paul’s apostleship is the same God who raised His Son from the dead. He died, and his Father resurrected him, “to rescue us from this evil age.” In his Letter to the Galatians, the Apostle responds to critics who behave as if the old era were still in effect, insisting that Gentile believers must be circumcised. They also question Paul’s apostolic authority.

Paul describes the present reality by employing apocalyptic terms and images. The “Christ event,” his Death and Resurrection, is the hinge on which History has turned. One “age” has ended and another has commenced. Therefore, we have been “delivered from this evil age” and must live accordingly.

[New Age Dawns - Photo by Luke Southern (OKC) on Unsplash]

Paul validates his apostleship by asserting a negative (“neither from men nor through man”), then by issuing a positive affirmation (“but through Jesus Christ”). In this way, he affirms his divine appointment and mission to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Paul’s opponents did not dispute his office but claimed that he received his apostleship from human authorities, presumably, the church leadership in Jerusalem. Thus, allegedly, his office was derivative.

• “Paul, apostle, not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ; and God, Father, the one who raised him from the dead. And all the brethren with me, to the assemblies of Galatia: Grace to you, and peace, from God, Father, and Lord Jesus Christ. The one who gave himself on behalf of our sins, that he might rescue us out of the existing evil age, according to the will of our God and Father. Unto whom be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen!” - (Galatians 1:1-5. Compare Isaiah 53:12).

Paul denied that his commission was dependent on any human authority, whether the mother church of Jerusalem or the Assembly in Antioch. He received his calling directly from the Risen Jesus, and his encounter with the Messiah qualified Paul as “the apostle to the Gentiles” - (Acts 1:21-22, 39:4-6, 22:7, 26:16):

• “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?”  - (1 Corinthians 9:1).

• “For I delivered to you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures; and that he was buried; and that he was raised on the third day, according to the scriptures; and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to the child untimely born, he appeared to me also”  - (1 Corinthians 15:3-8).

Not only did Paul receive his commission from the Nazarene, but he also links the Gospel that he proclaims to the God “who raised Jesus from the dead.” Not only does the Apostle anchor his Gospel in the past resurrection of Jesus, but he also presents Christ’s resurrection as the event that signaled the start of the Last Days, the Messianic Age that is replacing the old order.

Paul points to the Death and Resurrection of Jesus as the central event in God’s redemptive plan. His resurrection inaugurated an entirely new era, the final stage before the consummation of all things – (Compare Ephesians 1:20-22, Hebrews 13:20).

The Apostle Paul writes from the perspective of what Jesus has accomplished for us when he exhorts the Galatians not to enslave themselves again under “the elementary things of this world,” which is precisely what they will do if they submit to the ordinance of circumcision.

HIS DEATH AND RESURRECTION

With the sacrificial Death and Resurrection of the Son of God, the jurisdiction of the old order reached its termination point. Jesus appeared in Galilee in “the fullness of time,” inaugurating the long-awaited era of fulfillment. “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” - (Galatians 4:3-11, Romans 10:4).

By reminding his audience that he serves the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, Paul prepares his readers for the description in Chapters 1 and 2 concerning how he received his Gospel by direct revelation, and for his discussion of the Mosaic Law and its place in God’s redemptive plans in Chapters 3 and 4.

Christ’s death was necessary because of the sins of humanity that had alienated men and women from God, Jews and Gentiles alike, and enslaved them under the rudiments of this world. The same idea is found in two later declarations of the Letter:

• “The life I now live in the flesh, I live from the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself on behalf of me” - (Galatians 2:20).

• “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf” - (Galatians 3:13).

The sacrificial death of the Son of God was “according to the will of our God and Father.”  This statement emphasizes the magnitude of what God has done for us, and the danger we put ourselves in if we adopt circumcision and otherwise place ourselves under the deeds and rituals required by the Mosaic Law.

Through Christ’s death, God has “rescued us from the present evil age.” The time of “types and shadows” has given way to the age of fulfillment. We find this same idea elsewhere in Paul’s letters. For example:

• “For they themselves are reporting concerning us, what manner of entrance we had to you, and how you turned towards God from idols to serve the living and true God. And awaiting his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, who is delivering us from the coming wrath” – (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. Compare Isaiah 25:9, 59:18-20).

• “Giving thanks to the Father, who made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins” – (Colossians 1:12-14).

In the Hebrew Bible, history is divided into two ages: the present age, and the age to come. The jurisdiction of Mosaic Law over God’s people belongs to the previous age. It is part of the old order that began to pass away following the Death and Resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, we are no longer under the Law, but instead, we are “in Christ”:

• “So, we also, when we were children, we were enslaved under the rudimentary things of the world. However, when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, having come to be from woman, having come to be under law, that those who were under law he might ransom, that we might receive back the sonship” - (Galatians 4:3-5).

• “And those that use the world, as not using it to the full, for the forms of this world are passing away” - (1 Corinthians 7:31).

• “For I through law died to law, that to God I might live. I have been crucified together with Christ. Yet, I no longer live, but Christ is living in me. Moreover, that which I now live in flesh, I live in faith, that of the Son of God, who loved me and delivered himself on behalf of me. I do not invalidate the grace of God, for if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for no reason” - (Galatians 2:19-21).

By emphasizing the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, Paul highlights the all-sufficiency of Christ’s death for the forgiveness of sins and our deliverance from enslavement under the old order through his resurrection, so that we may now live for God as His children through His Son, Jesus Christ.

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SEE ALSO:

• The Foundation of the Church - (Christ’s Death and Resurrection are foundational and indispensable to the teachings of Jesus and the Apostles)

• To the Ends of the Earth - (The Gospel of the Kingdom of God announced by Jesus is a message of life for men and women of every nation and people)

• The Death of Death - (The return of Jesus in great glory will result in the resurrection of the righteous dead, and the end of Death itself - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28)

• El Fundamento de la Iglesia - (La Muerte y Resurrección de Cristo son fundamentales e indispensables para las enseñanzas de Jesús y los Apóstoles)