Whole world, guilty. `Not one' righteous. Deliverance only through the redemption in Christ

SECTION 2

The epistle opens with a statement concerning the apostleship of Paul, and the gospel he preached. The

atmosphere of conflict in which we read the challenge of Galatians 1 is now absent. Paul can with deeper delight

and loving humility call himself `the bondslave of Jesus Christ', before he styles himself an apostle. That which he

could not say till last in the Galatian epistle, `I bear in my body the brand-marks of the Lord Jesus', can be said first

here. `Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, a called apostle, separated unto the gospel of God'. That the gospel was

not something entirely new he immediately indicates by the parenthesis of 1:2, `Which He had promised afore by

His prophets in the Holy Scriptures'. The true definition of the gospel of God is found, however, by omitting verse 2

for the moment and reading straight on:

`The gospel of God ... CONCERNING HIS SON' (1:1-3).

Too often our definition of the gospel turns upon one or more of the blessings that flow from it. We would

define the gospel as God's good news concerning our redemption, our justification, our forgiveness etc. It is

nothing of the kind. Those are the effects and the results; the gospel is not concerning us at all; it is concerning His

Son. The definition is twofold. The gospel concerns the Lord Jesus, the Son of God, (1) according to the flesh, and

(2) according to the spirit. Peter's message had much to do with Christ as the Seed of David, and occupant of

David's throne (see Acts 2). Paul's message has more to do with that same One raised from the dead as the minister

of the promise to Abraham. We can spare no time to linger over the opening verses, other than to give the general

A a 1:1.  Paul separated unto the gospel of God.

b c 1:2.  Promised in Scripture.

The gospel as it concerns Christ.

Its sphere. All nations.

C 1:7-13-.  Paul's salutation. Paul's prayer. Paul's journey. Paul's ministry.

B 1:-13-15. Paul's sphere. Greek and Barbarian, etc.

A a 1:16-. Paul unashamed of the gospel.

The gospel as it concerns believers.

c 1:17. Scripture reference to believers.

By noting the recurring word `for' in verses 16,17 and 18 we shall have the subject divided for us accurately, and

see the connection that one part bears to the other.

FOR I am not ashamed of the gospel. - This first for is only understood when we know the statement made in

1:13-15. The apostle had not stayed away from Rome because he was ashamed of the gospel - no, he was debtor

alike to Greek and Barbarian; as much as was in him, he was ready to preach the gospel at Rome also.

FOR it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. -

This second passage reveals the good reason the apostle had for glorying in the gospel - `It is the power of God'.

The apostle needed none of the accessories that many modern preachers seem to deem necessary. It was the power

of God unto salvation and it was such to every one that believeth. The dispensational character is indicated in the

closing words of 1:16, `To the Jew first'. This, repeated in 2:9,10, shows that the expression does not merely mean

that the Jew received the gospel before the Gentile (a statement too obvious to be intruded into either 1:16 or

2:9,10), but it is an integral part of that gospel, and without it that gospel could not have been proclaimed. This is

the underlying basis upon which Paul builds when he proves the right of the Gentile believer to the promises of

Abraham. He had no need to prove the right of the Jew. This same principle is manifest in the figure of the olive

tree. The tree itself is Israel, but the wild olive branches (the Gentiles) are grafted in.