Galatians 1:2

And all the brethren that are with me, unto the churches of Galatia, Grace to you and peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

All the brethren... does not imply that Paul had discussed the situation in Galatia with his associates and that they concurred in his admonitions; on the contrary, as Wesley put it, "This phrase must be regarded as belonging exclusively to the greeting, and not to the exhortations which follow it.[10] It is pointless to speculate on the identity of these "brethren." We simply do not know.

Churches of Galatia... It is remarkable that Paul did not address them as churches "of God" or "of Christ," possibly "because they did not deserve such honorable appellations because of their great defection."[11] However, Paul's omission of this usual designation does not deny it in their case but merely avoids emphasis of it. For the identity of these congregations, see the introduction. The view being followed in these studies is that they were the churches of southern Galatia, the ones founded on Paul's first missionary tour.

Of deep significance are the tit]es of God and Christ in the third verse. Paul spoke of "the Father" when he had in mind the unique relationship between God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who alone in the New Testament referred to God as "my" Father, but who also taught his followers to pray "our" Father. Paul often used "our Father" in his epistles (Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:3; Philemon 1:1:3).

"Jesus" is the transliteration of the Hebrew name Joshua, meaning Jehovah is salvation, or Jehovah is Saviour; and "Christ" is the Greek rendition of the Hebrew word Messiah, meaning anointed.[12]

"Lord" is the translation of a Greek term [@Kurios], and it had at first a number of secondary meanings; but the Christians, from the very first, applied the term to Christ in the sense of absolute Deity. Thus, Thomas said of Christ, "My Lord and my God" (John 20:28); Peter on Pentecost preached of Jesus that God had made him "Lord" (Acts 2:36); and again, in the home of Cornelius, said, "He is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). Paul's use of "Lord" in the exalted sense in this epistle a bare twenty years after the resurrection of Christ shows that from the very first and reaching far back into the Lord's personal ministry, the exalted meaning prevailed. Jesus, from the very first, used the title of himself in the sense of the All-Powerful One. Thus, "Many shall say to me in that day (that is, the judgment day), Lord, Lord, etc." (Matthew 7:22). For more extensive commentary on this title, see the introduction to my Commentary on Luke.

[10] John Wesley, One Volume New Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1972), in loco.

[11] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 108.

[12] W. E. Vine, An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Old Tappan, New Jersey: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1940), 2p. 274, 1p. 190.