The Apostle Paul wrote this letter (epistle) in accordance with the information that God and the Lord Jesus Christ revealed to him.
Galatians 1:1-5:
1:1Paul, an apostle, not from men nor by means of man but by means of Jesus Christ and God (the) Father, the (One) having raised him up out-from dead-people, .2and all the brothers together with me – to the churches of Galatia; .3grace to you and peace from God (the) Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, .4the (one) having given himself concerning our sins so-that he may take us to-himself out-from the age of the evil having stood-in2, according to the intention of God (Who is) also our Father .5to Whom (is) the glory into the ages of the ages, with-certainty.
Paul begins this letter by identifying himself to those to whom he is writing. He not only identifies himself by name (Paul) but also by what we might call his job title, description, work function from God’s and the Lord Jesus Christ’s viewpoint – “apostle.”
The word "apostle" means: a person sent-forth or sent-away by someone on a specific mission or assignment to someone else. He immediately clarifies that he was an apostle…
But contrary to being an apostle from men or by means of man, he was an apostle…
The greeting to the churches of Galatia is: grace to you….
Grace is what is freely bestowed without any merit on the recipient's part; it includes reference to the attitude and quality of the one giving something favorable to another. Grace is not bestowed because somebody deserves a wage that is owed for something they said or did, nor because they begged so hard, nor because they forced the giver to give! Grace is bestowed because the giver wants to give by his own freedom of will to the recipient - it is completely unmerited favor from the giver to the recipient. Here, grace is given to the Galatian holy-people from God Who is the Father of all holy-people and from the Lord Jesus Christ who is Lord (Master) of all holy-people, including Paul.
And, peace to you….
Peace is a tranquil-harmony without strife. We may think of peace as the opposite of war, the opposite of conflict, the opposite of being at odds with the other party. Who are the other parties involved here? God and the Lord Jesus Christ. All holy-people are at peace with God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in the spirit category because we have received holy spirit, but in the walk/behavior category it is up to each one of us to decide day-by-day whether we walk with and for God and our Lord Jesus Christ, or not.
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, the one having given himself concerning our sins…. Paul is reminding the churches of Galatia that our Lord Jesus Christ is the one who gave himself (his whole being) encompassing "our sins" – again Paul includes everybody! The Lord Jesus Christ himself did not commit any sinful acts against God his Father (II Corinthians 5:21) but he gave himself to be the sacrificial offering encircling our sins (our aberration from God's Word), thereby making sure that everything was included and no sin was forgotten-about or left-out.
Jesus Christ gave himself concerning our sins in such a manner that he would take us to himself (pluck us out for himself, removing and separating us off) out-from the age of the evil (the duration of the active malignancy, the exercised badness of the evil-one who is satan/the devil) which has stood-in and is still standing-in. It is presently in force, it has already begun to stand and is presently-in-effect in the world; this action is still going-on today. This age will stop at a future time after Christ comes to gather all holy-people together with him and he carries out what God asks him to do at that time. For more details on this, you may read my studies on I Corinthians chapter 15, I Thessalonians and II Thessalonians, and the Book of Revelation.
The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself concerning our sins so-that he may take us to-himself out-from the age of the evil having stood-in and continuing standing-in, in accordance with the intention of God (God’s will, his Father’s active volition and desire) Who is also our Father – to Whom is the glory into the ages of the ages, with-certainty.
[Reference: Matthew 28:5-7; Acts 2:22-24, 31, 9:1-20, 16:6, 18:23, 22:1-21, and 26:12-23; Romans 4:24, 25, 5:1-21, 8:3, 10:8-13, 11:36, and 16:27; I Corinthians 16:1; II Thessalonians 3:3. Note: verbs with a superscript 2 (2) immediately following them indicate the "perfect" tense - details are provided in the "Relevant Notes" link of this study.]
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