1:1 Paul, 1 an apostle, (not a of men, neither by b man,
but by c Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him
from the dead;)
(1) A salutation which puts in a few words the sum of the
apostle's doctrine, and also immediately from the beginning
shows the gravity appropriate for the authority of an
apostle, which he had to maintain against the false
apostles.
(a) He shows who is the author of the ministry generally:
for in this the whole ministry agrees, that whether
they are apostles, or shepherds, or teachers, they are
appointed by God.
(b) He mentions that man is not the instrumental cause: for
this is a special right of the apostles, to be called
directly from Christ.
(c) Christ no doubt is man, but he is also God, and head of
the Church, and in this respect to be exempted out of
the number of men.
1:42 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us
from this present evil d world, according to the will of
God and our Father:
(2) The sum of the true Gospel is this, that Christ by his
offering alone saves us who are chosen out of the world, by
the free decree of God the Father.
(d) Out of that most corrupt state which is without Christ.
1:63 I marvel that ye are so soon e removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
(3) The first part of the epistle, in which he witnesses that
he is an apostle, nothing inferior to those chief disciples
of Christ, and wholly agreeing with them, whose names the
false apostles abused. And he begins with chiding,
reproving them of unsteadiness, because they gave ear so
easily to those who perverted them and drew them away to a
new gospel.
(e) He uses the passive voice to cast the fault upon the
false apostles, and he uses the present voice to show
them that it was not completely done, but in the
process of being done.
1:74 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble
you, and would f pervert the gospel of Christ.
(4) He warns them in time to remember that there are not many
Gospels; and therefore whatever these false apostles
pretend who had the Law, Moses, and the fathers in their
mouths, yet these ones had indeed corrupted the true
Gospel. And he himself, indeed, also the very angels
themselves (and therefore much more these false apostles)
ought to be held accursed, if they go about to change the
least thing that may be in the Gospel that he delivered to
them before.
(f) For there is nothing more contrary to faith or free
justification, than justification by the Law or by
deeds.
1:8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you,
let him be g accursed.
1:105 For do I now persuade h men, or God? or do I seek to
please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the
servant of Christ.
(5) A confirmation taken both from the nature of the doctrine
itself, and also from the manner which he used in
teachings. For neither, he says, did I teach those things
which pleased men, as these men do who put part of
salvation in external things, and works of the Law, neither
went I about to procure any man's favour. And therefore
the matter itself shows that that doctrine which I
delivered to you is heavenly.
(h) He refers to the false apostles, who had nothing but
flattery in their mouths for men, and he, though he
would not detract from the apostles, preaches God, and
not to please men.
1:116 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was
preached of me is not after man.
(6) A second argument to prove that his doctrine is heavenly,
because he had it from heaven, from Jesus Christ himself,
without any man's help, in which he excels those whom
Christ taught here on earth after the manner of men.
1:12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught
[it], but by the i revelation of Jesus Christ.
(i) This passage is about an extraordinary revelation, for
otherwise the Son revealed his Gospel only by his
Spirit, even though by the ministry of men, which Paul
excludes here.
1:137 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in
the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God, and wasted it:
(7) He proves that he was extraordinarily taught by Christ
himself, by this history of his former life, which the
Galatians themselves knew well enough. For, he says, it is
well known in what school I was brought up, even from my
childhood, that is, among the deadly enemies of the
Gospel. And no man may raise a frivolous objection and say
that I was a scholar of the Pharisees in name only, and not
in deed, for no man is ignorant of how I excelled in
Pharisaism, and was suddenly changed from a Pharisee to an
apostle of the Gentiles, so that I had no time to be
instructed by men.
1:14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in
mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the k
traditions of my fathers.
(k) He calls them the traditions of his fathers, because he
was not only a Pharisee himself, but also had a
Pharisee for his father.
1:15 But when it pleased God, who l separated me from my
mother's womb, and called [me] by his grace,
(l) He speaks of God's everlasting predestination, by which
he appointed him to be an apostle, of which he makes
three distinctions: the everlasting council of God, his
appointing from his mother's womb, and his calling.
And we see that there is no mention at all of foreseen
works.
1:16 To reveal his Son m in me, that I might preach him among
the heathen; immediately 8 I conferred not with n flesh
and blood:
(m) To me, and this is a type of speech which the Hebrews
use, by which it shows us that this gift comes from
God.
(8) He says this because it might be objected that he was
indeed called by Christ in the way, but afterward was
instructed by the apostles and others (whose names, as I
said before, the false apostles abused to destroy his
apostleship), as though he delivered another Gospel than
they did, and as though he were not of their number, who
are to be credited without exception. Therefore, Paul
answers that he began immediately after his calling to
preach the Gospel at Damascus and in Arabia, and was not
from that time in Jerusalem except for fifteen days, when
he saw only Peter and James. And afterwards, he began to
teach in Syria and Cilicia, with the consent and approval
of the churches of the Jews, who knew him only by name: so
far off was it, that he was there instructed by men.
(n) With any man in the world.
1:20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, o before
God, I lie not.
(o) This is a type of an oath.
1:23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in
times past now preacheth the p faith which once he
destroyed.
