The Resurrection of Jesus as Seen in the Message to the Galatians

[As I am teaching through Galatians in Sunday school at Kosmosdale Baptist Church, I decided to recognize Resurrection Day in class this morning by looking at what this letter has to teach us about Christ as the One who conquered death- the following are my teaching notes.]

There is one direct reference to the resurrection in Galatians, in the first verse of the letter:

Paul, an apostle not from men nor through a man but through
Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead,

Paul’s defense of his authority to preach the gospel to the Galatians depends on the resurrection, as Paul’s testimony is that the risen Christ was revealed to him and personally instructed him (1:12, see Acts 9:1-9, which testimony would certainly have been known to the Galatians):

For I did not receive it [the gospel] from a man, nor was it taught to me, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

The focus of Paul’s argument in Galatians is not so much on the resurrection of Jesus as on His perfect faithfulness to the Law in His life before the crucifixion (2:16; 3:22), and His redeeming His people from the curse of the Law by His crucifixion (3:13):

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, becoming a curse for our sake, as it has been written, “Everyone hanging on a tree is cursed.”

(Apparently those preaching a false gospel to the Galatians were not denying the resurrection of Jesus, but the sufficiency of His faithfulness to the Law and His payment for our curse accrued by breaking the Law.)

The Good News of reconciliation (reconciliation to God, which also shows itself in reconciliation to others) presupposes the resurrection (3:27-28):

For as many of you as have been immersed in Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

(We are not “immersed in,” “clothed… with,” or made “one in” a dead man, but in the living Lord Jesus.)

3 Implications for believers of Jesus’ resurrection (as seen in Galatians):

1. In the risen Christ the gospel is revealed
2. In the risen Christ believers are robed in righteousness
3. In the risen Christ believers are reconciled to one another