We have seen that in the book of 2 Corinthians, Paul gives us a record of his life, showing us how he experienced the indwelling Christ. After this, in the book of Galatians, he still is speaking about the indwelling Christ, but with a specific aspect. This is the matter of religion. We all must realize that religion is mostly composed of four things: teachings or doctrines, regulations, traditions, and ordinances. In any religion, there are the teachings, the regulations, the traditions, and ordinances or rituals. All of these four things are covered in the book of Galatians.
We also see that in the book of Galatians the law is thoroughly and absolutely dealt with. There are some similar aspects in the books of Romans and Galatians, but Romans does not mention the law as much as Galatians. Paul shows us in Galatians that if we use the law in a wrong way, it becomes an entanglement to us in enjoying Christ. Therefore, the law in this book is fully dealt with in a negative way.
Paul tells us that he was one of the foremost ones in the Jewish religion. As such, he opposed Christ and persecuted the church, while at the same time he kept all the traditions of his forefathers. Hence, we see the religion, the teachings, the law, and the traditions. He also mentions the matter of circumcision two or three times. This is a kind of ordinance. Moreover, he was concerned about them keeping the days, months, seasons, and years. This is all a matter of ordinances. Therefore, we can see in this short book how religion, which includes the teachings, the law, the traditions, and the ordinances, is opposed to the indwelling Christ.
Paul opens the book of Galatians by calling such a religion the present evil age. “Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of God and our Father” (Gal. 1:4). Every book in the Bible opens in its own specific way. Paul opens Galatians by saying that Christ gave Himself for our sins in order to deliver us from this present evil age. He did not say that Christ gave Himself to deliver us from hell. In a general sense, all Christians usually consider that Christ gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from hell. But here Paul says that Christ gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age. This was the age in which Paul was living.
Many Bible translators translate the Greek word for age into world, because an age is a part or period of the whole world. All the ages added together equal the world. During the time of the Apostle Paul, there was a certain age. If you have ever read the world history of that period of time, you could see that that age had three aspects: Greek philosophy, Roman politics, and the Hebrew religion. The Greeks brought in the philosophy, the wisdom, and the knowledge. The Romans brought in the way to govern and organize a strong administration. Then the Hebrews had the best religion.
Now we can see that what Paul means when he speaks of the present evil age is the Hebrew religion. As far as he was concerned, he was not in Greek philosophy or Roman politics. But he was very much in the Hebrew religion. And his subject in this book is not in the sphere of philosophy or politics. It is fully related to God. Therefore, we must realize that religion is part of the world. Most Christians do not know what Paul meant when he said that Christ gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from this present evil age. They all interpreted this word to mean the world in a general way. But this is not the Greek word kosmos. It is the word for age. It is not the world in a general way, but the age in which Paul lived. And of course this had to be the religious world of the Hebrew religion. In Galatians 6:13-15 the Apostle Paul also made it very clear that circumcision, the religious ordinance, was something of the world to which Paul was crucified.
Also, at the time when Paul wrote this letter to the Galatian churches (Galatia was a province of the Roman empire), the saints in those churches had become ensnared in a kind of religion. This means that they had been caught by the present evil age. This is why the Apostle Paul wrote this letter. All the believers in Galatia had been caught in a religious realm which at that time was the present evil age.