Galatians 1:4 says that Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” Here we see that in His crucifixion Christ gave Himself for our sins. Apart from Christ’s death on the cross, there is no way for us to be redeemed from our sins.
Although Christ was crucified for our sins, the goal of His crucifixion was to rescue us out of the present evil age. An age is a part of the world as the satanic system. An age refers to a section, an aspect, the present or modern appearance, of the system of Satan, which is used by him to usurp and occupy people and keep them away from God and His purpose. The world system of Satan has different ages, different sections. We may regard each decade as a distinct age or section of Satan’s world system. The present age is the present section of Satan’s cosmos, his world system. Whereas sins are devilish, the present age is satanic. As the Devil God’s enemy is involved with sins, and as Satan he is involved with the evil age. God’s enemy is subtle, lurking behind sins and the evil age. Apart from the crucifixion of Christ, we have no way to deal with sins, behind which the Devil hides, or the evil age, behind which Satan hides. Christ was crucified for our sins so that He might rescue us from this evil age. This indicates that only Christ can save us from the Devil and Satan. Both sins and the evil age have been dealt with by Christ crucified. He gave Himself for us on the cross according to the will of God. He died for our sins so that we might be delivered from the present evil age. Therefore, if we would be delivered from this evil age, our sins must be dealt with. If we, through the preaching of the gospel, help others to have the forgiveness of sins, they will begin to realize that they need to be rescued from the present evil age.
Literally, the Greek word translated “rescue” in Galatians 1:4 means to pluck out, to draw out, to extricate. The present evil age in this verse, according to the context of the book, refers to the religious world, the religious course of the world, which at Paul’s time was the Jewish religion. This is confirmed by Galatians 6:14 and 15, where circumcision is considered part of the world-the religious world to which the Apostle Paul is crucified. Here Paul emphasizes that the purpose of Christ’s giving Himself for our sins was to rescue us, to pluck us out, from the Jewish religion, the present evil age. This is to release God’s chosen people from the custody of the law (Gal. 3:23), to bring them out of the sheepfold (John 10:1, 3), according to the will of God.
In Galatians 1:4 Paul points out that in order to rescue us from the present evil religious age, Christ gave Himself for our sins. This indicates that Christ died in order to rescue us from Judaism. In John 10 we see that Christ as the good Shepherd entered into the fold in order to bring His sheep out of the fold and into the pasture. The fold in John 10 signifies the law, or Judaism as a religion of the law, in which God’s chosen people were kept and guarded in custody until Christ came. Eventually Christ came as the Shepherd to bring the sheep out of the fold to the pasture, where they may feed on His riches. Although Christ came to release the sheep from the fold, the Judaizers crucified Him. Christ died on the cross not only for the sins of His sheep but also to bring them out of the fold.
In Galatians 1 we see that Christ gave Himself for our sins for the purpose of rescuing us out of religion, out of the present evil age. The Judaizers crucified Him. But through His death on the cross the Lord Jesus gave Himself for our sins in order to rescue us from the religious fold. The principle is the same both with the believers in Paul’s time and with us today.
Home | First | Prev | Next