The overspill of a strong core message.

Because I was forced to sit and wait for a substantial amount of time at a bank the other day, I had enough time to read the entire book of Galatians. When I returned the next day, I again had to wait, so I started reading it again. And I was really struck by the opening, where Paul says he’s an apostle sent by God not by men.

See, I had always read this as Paul just emphasizing to his people that he’s the real thing, and it almost seemed like a persuasive trick or perhaps a bit of vanity to me. But the point he’s making here is really just a result of how saturated his mind was with the core message he was communicating in the letter.

The entire message of Galatians is that there’s man’s way of doing anything and there’s God way of doing it, and the only way that works is God’s way of faith. We are saved by faith, not by keeping the law, so we should pursue sanctification by faith, not by the law. Abraham had an heir in Isaac by faith, not by works of the flesh in Ishmael. And even the deeds of the Spirit are profoundly different than those of the flesh.

So when Paul says this business about his authenticity, it’s really just because he’s so overcome with the bright line distinction between God’s ways and our ways, and rejoicing he’s been delivered from men to be with God. And I would never have seen it if I hadn’t gone back to reread the beginning with the whole thing fresh in my mind.