Galatians 1:3-5. 3Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Martin Luther considered “delivered from the present evil age” to be a summation of the enter letter to the Galatians. Verse four is clearly a summation of the gospel – Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins to deliver us from this evil age.
Jewish theology taught that we are living in this present evil age until the Day of the Lord occurs. That apocalyptic day when Yahweh himself comes to judge the living and the dead. Deliverance from the present evil age is only a future event, quite literally the final event this side of history.
But Jesus has changed all that. Now, in Christ, we can know that we are delivered from the present evil age TODAY. No waiting for judgment day. No standing by until the resurrection of the dead. No biding our time until the Day of the Lord. We are presently delivered from this present evil age.
Delivered. We are rescued from a world and its system that actively prevents us from living in freedom, peace, and love. From the fall of man in the garden until today, this is a dangerous time to be alive. This evil age will kill you. Not just physically, but spiritually as well. Everything around us seeks to prevent us from living in a loving embrace with our heavenly Father.
But praise God that his will was our deliverance. And praise Jesus that he gave himself for our sins. Our rescue was a fatal mission for Jesus. It was a substitution of his life for ours. This is what makes the gospel so different. There’s nothing like this in any other faith. Unlike every other religion, the gospel of Christ has absolutely no room for any sort of self-salvation.
Christian, keep in mind that our salvation is not a removal from this present evil age, but a rescue from its power over us. It is a deliverance from the power of sin. Like Joseph delivered out of his afflictions and raised up in favor before Pharaoh, we too are raised to life before Jesus. Like Peter, delivered from his prison cell and its sentence of death, we too are miraculously set free from sin’s accusations and condemnations. Yes, sin still rages around us and even in us, but it has no power over us. That’s why Paul begins here – delivered from this present evil age – because there is no true freedom in this life, big or small, without first being delivered from evil’s domain.
You: In what ways does the present evil age still influence you?
You in Christ: How does the sacrifice of Christ free us from sin’s power over us?
Christ in you: Has rescue from sin produced grace and peace in your heart?
Pray: Father, my salvation was your will and all your doing. Keep me from the evil of all self-salvation schemes today. Amen.
To Live is Christ 