Galatians 1:4-5

‘Who gave himself for our sins, that he may deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.'

He then declares that in full accordance with the Father's will, Christ has freely given Himself up and paid a price for us (compare 1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Peter 1:18), offering Himself up for our sins so as to set us free from all the controls and influences, and all the condemnation, of this present ‘evil age'. This is something too that he will develop later in his letter. We are therefore to see ourselves as dead with Christ (Galatians 2:20), dead to the flesh and to the Law (Galatians 2:19), dead to condemnation (Romans 8:1) and as raised with Him to walk with God and serve Him (Galatians 2:20), no longer looking to what will benefit us, and what we can get out of the world, but looking to how we can please God and be free from the world's influences (Galatians 2:20).

‘Who gave Himself for our sins.' Jesus Christ, he tells them, freely gave Himself. He chose to lay down His life (John 10:18). What happened was no accident or unexpected circumstance. It happened within the divine purpose. It was the divine gift. He came as the sacrificial Lamb, chosen from the foundation of the world (Isaiah 53:10; John 1:29; Revelation 13:8), in order that He might offer Himself for us. He was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21), and made a sin offering (Isaiah 53:10; Hebrews 10:12)

‘That He may deliver us from this present evil world.' And through that sacrifice of Himself offered once for all (Hebrews 10:10) He had brought deliverance so that men could be forgiven, could be declared acceptable to God, could be ‘counted as righteous', and could be freed from sin and its demands. Of old God had delivered His people from bondage in Egypt. Now, through Christ's sacrifice of Himself, He is delivering men from the evil that corrupts and condemns the world.

This is what the letter is in fact all about. It answers the question, How do we come to enjoy that deliverance? Is it by faith? Or is it by slavishly seeking to fulfil God's Law, and entering the Jewish version of the covenant, and seeking to fulfil all its detailed requirements, a hard and unthankful, and indeed impossible task?

The ‘present evil age' is in contrast with the ‘ages of the ages' (translated ‘for ever and ever') in which God will receive glory. In contrast with God's everlastingness man has only a brief span in this world. And yet he uses it to evil ends, through selfishness, and thoughtlessness and lack of consideration (we have not done those things that we ought to have done), and through violence, lust, greed and self-seeking (we have done those things which we ought not to have done). It refers to man living for himself with his eyes and his thoughts concentrated on the present world and its ways, with all that that involves of selfishness, sin and wickedness, and with little real concern for God and His ways, and no thought for the eternal future.

Thus by this introduction Paul brings home his main concern. It is to centralise their thoughts on the crucified and risen One and what He has accomplished, in contrast with what they are in themselves. For to him the death and resurrection of Christ is the one central message, which alone can free those who trust in Him from all bondage, both of sin and of the Law.

The word 'aiownos can be translated either ‘world' or ‘age'. It regularly stresses a contrast between ‘the world' in its present existence and the working and purposes of God throughout the ages and in the ages to come. So while Christians are in ‘the world', they are not of it. They live in this age but they look for, and live in the light of, the age to come.

‘According to the will of our God and Father.' And he wanted us to recognise that what Jesus Christ did was part of the eternal will of God, as the Father now reaches out to draw to Himself those whom He has given to His Son (John 6:44) in order to deliver them from the evil that is intrinsic in the world, and give them new life, eternal life, and prepare them for their glorious future. This is the will of God for those whom He has chosen out for Himself (compare Ephesians 1:4).

‘To Whom be the glory for ever and ever (to the ages of the ages).' All glory arising from this deliverance must therefore go to God. It is not of our doing, but of His. And it will be His into unseen ages, in contrast with those who cling to this age (Galatians 1:4).