1v1 Jesus - raised from the dead

As the letter opens Jesus is centre stage. He's introduced as the one who called Paul to be an apostle but more so, he is the one who the Father raised from the dead. Talking about the God of Christianity means talking about the Father who raised the Son. The letter will turn to Jesus death in v4, but starting with resurrection isn't all that conventional.

Christians are often, rightly, quick to speak and sing of the crucifixion of Jesus. But the story is incomplete without the resurrection of Jesus. The historical, eyewitnessed, physical resurrecction of Jesus. When Paul later speaks of portraying Christ crucified we're to take it as Bible-code for a much bigger story - one dating back to Abraham but also forward to the empty tomb and the resurrected Son.

From the outset in the letter to Galatia it matters that Jesus is raised from the dead. He's alive. He's the one God made his promises to, and he's the one in whom Christians will find their life. If Jesus is dead so are Christians. If he's alive, then there is the possibility of a resurrection for others.

The door opens for us to be a new creation, no longer in our old life and so free. Because as Martin Luther comments: In this whole epistle Paul treats of the resurrection of Christ. By His resurrection Christ won the victory over law, sin, flesh, world, devil, death, hell, and every evil. And this His victory He donated unto us. These many tyrants and enemies of ours may accuse and frighten us, but they dare not condemn us, for Christ, whom God the Father has raised from the dead is our righteousness and our victory.

Paul's status as an apostle stands upon the resurrection of Jesus who commissioned him. And his status as a Christian rests in the very same risen Jesus. Christian life is not buried in history but in Jesus, the resurrected inheritor of all.