Galatians 1:4

Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil world, according to the will of our God and Father.

Who gave himself... The essential Christian doctrine of Christ's vicarious sacrifice of himself to save people from sin is here emphasized in order to contrast the true source of salvation in Christ with the false premise of the Judaizers which made redemption to depend upon observing forms and ceremonies of the Law of Moses. In the last clause of this verse, Paul noted that Christ's giving himself was according to the will of God. For seven centers of initiative in the crucifixion of Christ see my Commentary on Romans 3:25-26. The word "ransom" is used of this sacrifice of Christ in Matthew 28:28; Mark 10:45, and in 1 Timothy 2:6. As Sanday observed, "It was a sacrifice for sinners, wrought in their behalf for their benefit, a sacrifice wrought in their stead. He suffered in order that they might not suffer."[13] Paul's stressing this here was for the purpose of "convincing the Galatians that the pardon of sin was not to be obtained by the Levitical atonements, nor by any service prescribed in the Law."[14]

Deliver... suggests rescue from a state of utter helplessness. However, the deliverance made possible in Christ is not universally applicable to sinners apart from their response to the gospel. As Howard put it, "Such a rescue is not the universal and automatic consequence of the cross, but is a provided possibility."[15]

This present evil world... The world is evil in the sense of its populations being largely dominated by the influence of Satan. As an apostle said, "The whole world lieth in the evil one" (1 John 5:19). This has always been true, but there was a special sense in which the world of Paul's day was "evil." The pagan culture of the ancient Roman empire represented the culmination of long centuries of mankind's turning away from God and walking in darkness.

[13] William Sanday, op. cit., p. 427.

[14] James Macknight, op. cit., p. 109.

[15] R. E. Howard, Beacon Bible Commentary (Kansas City, Missouri: Beacon Hill Press, 1965), Vol. IX, p 40