Matthew 22:1 Once again, Jesus spoke to them in parables: 2“The kingdom of Heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent his servants to call those he had invited to the banquet, but they refused to come. 4 Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.’ 5 But they paid no attention and went away, one to his field, another to his business. 6 The rest seized his servants, mistreated them, and killed them. 7 The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city. 8Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited were not worthy. 9 Go therefore to the crossroads and invite to the banquet as many as you can find.’ 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he spotted a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes. 12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless. 13 Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot and throw him outside into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are called, but few are chosen.” BSB
In these affairs, special wedding garments were provided for the guests and paid for by the father of the bride. Here, the king enters and sees a man without the proper wedding attire and immediately binds the man and casts him outside. The last two sentences in this parable can be uncomfortable because even though the doors have been flung wide open for everyone to enter the party, there is someone who doesn’t appear to fit in and as a result, is not allowed to enter (and is in fact, removed). Our question is whether there is something more required as despite the fact that everyone was invited to the wedding, the only ones allowed to stay were those with the proper garment. Galatians provides the answer to this question of “what gets me in?”
Galatians 1:1 Paul, an apostle (not from humans, nor through humans, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead), NHEB
Paul wants to assert that he is not writing as a friend but as an apostle appointed by God. Two issues: 1) what is the Gospel and 2) what makes Paul an accurate interpreter of the Bible, as Paul was not a follower of Jesus during His public ministry. This is problematic because we think of an apostle as those who were with Jesus from the beginning to the end. This, of course, wouldn’t be Paul although he was with Jesus post-Resurrection. Also, 2Corinthians suggests that he might have had a brief contact with Jesus during His earthly ministry. After the death of Judas, there is a vacancy and the eleven picked Matthias (who was never heard from again). This selection of a new apostle happened before Pentecost so Peter may have jumped the gun instead of waiting on God to fill the open slot.
Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the church was built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles. The simplest way to read this text in Ephesians is that the “prophets” are the Old Testament and “apostles” are the New Testament (although admittedly it is a little more complicated than that).
Galatians 1:2 and all the brothers who are with me, to the churches of Galatia: NHEB
As usual, Paul has a team of people with him. No one doubts that Paul wrote this but there is some controversy as to who Paul is writing to since Galatia, in Paul’s time, stretched from the Black Sea in the north to the Mediterranean Sea in the South. The southern area was separated after Paul’s ministry leaving only the northern area as part of the province. Early commentators assumed this remaining northern part of Galatia was the subject of Paul’s letter. More recently, there are scholars who believe Paul’s letter was written to churches in this southern area that were visited by Paul on his first missionary journey. Either way, it doesn’t affect the interpretation of the letter. As mentioned earlier, the question we want to know is “how do I get a wedding garment” and at the time Paul writes this (just prior to 50 AD), this is still an open question.
Galatians 1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father– 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. NHEB
Grace could be a Roman greeting while peace (“shalom”) is a distinctly Jewish greeting. If I am Jewish, this binarian coupling of God and Jesus is alarming, as this is the start of the Trinity. (We know that Paul is aware of the Holy Spirit and will address this later in Galatians). In the Jewish concept of time, there is the present evil age and there is the age to come with the Day of the Lord as the separation point. Note that some translations use “rescued” instead of “delivered”.
Colossians 1:13 He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His beloved Son, 14in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. BSB
It is the death of Jesus that accomplishes the forgiveness. We are forgiven but we have a new allegiance. As A.W. Tozer noted, we are both saved from our sins and saved to a new life. So far, so good.
Galatians 1:6 I marvel that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ to a different “good news”; 7and there is not another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you, and want to pervert the Good News of Christ. 8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed. 9 As we have said before, so I now say again: if anyone preaches to you a “good news” other than that which you received, let him be cursed. 10 For am I now seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? For if I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. NHEB
These are churches that Paul planted in Acts 13 and 14 who have now deserted Paul’s teachings for a different false teaching. Paul is shocked, amazed and stunned at this turn of events as there is only one Gospel….you don’t get to pick and choose the parts you like and dislike. “Good news” used here is typically translated as the Gospel in other translations. The Greek word translated as “cursed” is anathema. Among the definitions of anathema are: damned, condemned, reviled, loathed, and shunned. There are deceptive powers at work and in typical Hebrew parallel reasoning, Paul is driving this point home by restating it more than once just to be sure there is no misunderstanding among his readers about what he is teaching them.
Paul closes this section in verse ten by one again emphasizing his authority as an apostle – God made Paul an apostle and as such, he is accountable to God.