Thoughts on Galatians 1:3-4

I have been reading through Galatians the past few days. I love Galatians because its all about the Gospel. Paul is defending it against the Judaizers, Jews who wanted to add additional requirements (i.e. the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament) to the Gospel and distort its truth. Paul teaches that Christians are not under the law, we do not have to obey it, but rather we are under grace.

One of the things that really stuck out to me was this though,

(vs. 3) "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, (4) who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God the Father..."

What is so striking about this? So often when talking about the atonement (death of Christ), whether it be in sharing the gospel, or preaching, or whatever, we talk about how Christ died to pay the penalty for my/our sins. This is absolutely true, and anyone who denies this fact has in fact abandoned the true Gospel of Jesus Christ, however this is not all the death of Christ did. The death of Christ is significant and effective on many levels beyond merely paying the penalty for sin.

Here in Galatians 1, Paul refers to another aspect to the atonement that of deliverance, or victory. I think this aspect of the atonement is not thought of often enough. The death of Christ did not just pay the penalty for sin so that I can now be reconciled to God, it defeated the power of sin and darkness over those who receive salvation. It delivers those who receive the effects of the atonement (i.e. those who are saved) from the domain of darkness, and the stranglehold that sin and death have over us, into the kingdom of light (i.e. the Kingdom of God). One additional thing, this does not in any way mean that the death of Christ is "paying off" Satan what he is due or any such thing, it means that the power that Satan has over mankind while in sin is broken by the power of Christ's death.

Why is this important? Christ's death does not have one effect, result, or aspect. There are multiple ones. Christ's death is penal (it pays the penalty for our sins), it is victorious (it delivers us from the power of sin), it is an example for humanity (of love and self-sacrifice), and there are other numerous aspects.

Each of these aspects is important to understand and proclaim for different reasons. The aspect of victory has often been preached in other areas of the world namely Africa, but has not often been preached as part of the gospel to Americans, at least not that I have heard. Often the gospel presentation in America is something along the lines of "christ died to pay the penalty for your sin so that you dont have to go to hell, but can go to heaven when you die". This is true, but it sure is minimalistic. I wonder what our gospel presentations would look like if we incorporated more of the truth of victory into our gospel proclamation. Something like "Christ died to break the bonds of sin and death that have brought brokeness, despair, suffering, and pain to all of our lives. Now through believing in what Christ has done and repenting of sin we can be delivered both from our sin and from the penalty we are due for it, and can be reconciled to God and begin the process of redemption and restoration that will last our whole lives until we get to be with God as new perfect people in a new perfect world".

Its something to think about. Its something to worship about. Christ came to earth, lived a perfect sinless life, and died the death we deserved breaking the power of sin and death, delivering us from the domain of darkness forever, that we can now be reconciled to God. Let us worship Him for that