13.05 | Astonished

Galatians 1:1-2:10

‘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—not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.’

Galatians 1:6-7

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Admittedly I’m biased, but the English language must have some of the finest phrases on earth to express astonishment.

You can be baffled, befuddled, or bamboozled. You can be staggered, stumped, and stunned. You can also be bewildered, flummoxed, gobsmacked, confounded, mystified, flabbergasted and discombobulated.

When astonished, we do it with style.

Today we’re back to a letter written by Paul, this time to the Galatians. Galatia was a region — not a city — in modern day Turkey, and thus Paul is writing to a number of churches across this area.¹ And there's something unique about Galatians from the first page. 

Paul’s letters always followed the conventional four-part formula of First Century letter writing: greeting (including the name of the sender and recipients); content; specific greetings to individuals; benediction. Paul added to this a paragraph of thanksgiving after the opening greeting, for those he was writing to — words of gratitude for their faith and steadfastness in the Way of Jesus. In fact, all of his letters include this. 

Except when he writes to the Galatians. 

The Galatians don’t get thanksgiving. Instead, they get astonishment. He’s baffled. He’s bamboozled. He’s discombobulated. 

I am astonished.

This might strike us as strange. He writes addressing major issues of division or theology or morality to other churches. And yet, for the Galatians, he’s so outraged that he bypasses the usual social niceties to go straight for the jugular and outline to them their great flaw.

Their issue is simple. They have adjusted the essential message of Jesus. They have changed the gospel. They have taken what Paul gave them — a message of how to be reconciled to God — and from there how the good, wholesome, beautiful life of Jesus unfolds — and had added elements to it. For the Galatians, this plays out in the addition of both circumcision, and historic Jewish social boundaries to the Gospel. But Paul is so outraged because these additions undermine the essential truths that the Gospel brings.

We’re going to spend a few days with these six chapters, and it’s six chapters of working those core essentials of belief so firmly into our souls. As with any building, a strong building requires strong foundations.

The message is this. You have been perfectly reconciled to a relationship of utter love, pure standing, blameless righteousness, total belovedness, perfect acceptance, and extraordinary purpose. In biblical words, you have been justified. Not because you’ve done something impressive. Not because you go to church or pray regularly or give money or watch your language or pay your taxes or serve your city. Not because you fight injustice and proclaim the gospel and heal the sick and drive out the demonic. Not because of your impressive abilities or radical lifestyle or your steadfastness in persecution.

But simply this: because you have put your belief and trust in Jesus. Because you have given Him your allegiance. 

Paul’s astonishment goes to the jugular for us too. Because his outrage points to the central importance that the Gospel be something not that we pay attention to at some point, before moving onto a kind of faith that adapts and changes and modifies. There’s more to learn, for sure, but growth in our discipleship always means going deeper into the basics, that those essential truths become more and more and more greatly the fabric of our souls and the foundation of our every thought, choice, and action.

Here we begin. Forgiven. Beloved. Free.

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Reflect:

As we start this journey through Galatians, run a check of your soul. 

Are there things you do, think, or say, that you think can break God’s love for you?

Are there things that you do, think, or say, that you think can  increase His love for you?

Bring these to the Cross of Jesus. 

And now, settle your soul in the truth of His unending love for you. This is your foundation. Utterly loved.

Everything else begins from here.

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Pray:

Father,

So easily do I wander into a way of thinking,

Where your pleasure and acceptance of me is conditional.

I make the Gospel

Jesus and;

Jesus and my spiritual practices;

Jesus and cutting out that sin;

Jesus and serving my city

As we journey through Galatians,

Would you send your Spirit upon me,

To rework the paradigms of my soul

Into the truth that

All practices,

All purity,

And all purpose,

Are merely overflow from the foundation

Of your accepting, delighted, and perfect

Love,

That forgave me, reconciled me, and is now daily healing me,

In the footsteps of Jesus,

And in His Name,

Amen

Old Testament: 

For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:

2 Samuel 6-9 | Psalm 63

1. You can read about Paul’s first visit to Galatia in Acts 13-14