“Grace & peace to you from God our Father & the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God & Father, to whom be glory for ever & ever. Amen”
Depending on which translation you read from, Galatians 1:3-5 might say that Jesus gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from the evil world, or that Christ set us free from this evil world, or that He was the sacrifice for our sins.
My husband & I have been quite blessed that we were not ‘raised’ in a church & instead were taught by the Holy Spirit & the Word directly. I’ve heard many Christians declare that Jesus died & rose again as the propitiation for our sins, & this is true – 100% true. But if it were only that then Paul would have ended Galatians 1:4 at “who gave himself for our sins.”
But Paul did not do that; he went on to write more. The part that so many Christians I meet daily have missed is the second part of Galatians 1:4; “…to rescue us from the present evil age”.
Jesus did not die only to save us from the wrath of God & His eternal judgement. He died, & rose again, to rescue us from the present evil age. That means right now, today. Not one day after we die & go to heaven. Jesus was & is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, allowing us to stand in the right relationship with the Father. But Jesus also came that we might be set free from the sin, corruption, & evil that plague the Earth today.
That is the good news guys! We can live free from the evil of the world.
I recently heard someone say: ‘If I have to wait until death to be free from sin, that makes sin my saviour & not Jesus.’
Today, I implore you – let Jesus be your saviour.
Read previous commentary on Galatians 1:1-2
Read next commentary on Galatians 1:6-7
