Rescue (deliver) (1807)(exaireo from ek = out + aireo = to take, remove, seize) literally means to take out (used literally in Lxx of Jdg 14:9KJV "he took the honey out of the mouth of the lion"). In some context it means tear out or pluck out (Mt 5:29, 18:9, Lxx = Lev 14:40). To take out from a number. To select.
In the middle voice (most of the uses in the Lxx and NT are middle voice) it means to take out for oneself and hence to rescue or deliver someone from a perilous or confining circumstance, setting them free. Spicq adds that "This idea of extracting or removing is indicated by the reflexive meaning of the middle voice, which places the beneficiaries of the act of deliverance in the hands of the agent of deliverance (Ed: Which in Gal 1:4 is Jesus!)."
Vine adds that
the middle voice, suggests that He who thus delivers us has an interest in the result of His own act. Thus in Ephesians 1:4 there is the thought that God “chose us for Himself” in Christ, i.e., that we might be His sons, verse 5. So here. The words may be paraphrased, “Who gave Himself for our sins, in order that He might deliver us out of this present evil age that so we might belong to Him.”
Exaireo signifies to deliver by rescuing from danger! In some secular uses exaireo meant to choose for oneself or to carry off as booty.
J. B. Lightfoot writes that the exaireo, rescue, ‘strikes the keynote of the epistle’. ‘The Gospel is a rescue, an emancipation from a state of bondage.
DELIVERED FROM THE
POWER NOT PRESENCE
OF THIS AGE
Guzik has an excellent explanation of this rescue or deliverance...
The idea behind the word deliver is not deliverance from the presence of something, but deliverance from the power of something. We will not be delivered from the presence of this present evil age until we go to be with Jesus. But we can be experience deliverance from the power of this present evil age right now.
John MacArthur says that exaireo
was used by Stephen in his sermon before the Sanhedrin as he described the divine deliverance of Joseph and the children of Israel from Egyptian affliction (Acts 7:10, 34). Peter used the word to describe God’s deliverance of him from prison (Acts 12:11), and the Roman commander Claudius Lysias used it of his rescue of Paul from the belligerent mob in Jerusalem (Acts 23:27; cf. Acts 23:10). Galatians 1:4 contains the only metaphorical use of the term in the New Testament.
John Eadie on exaireo...
In other passages of the New Testament it has the sense of rescue from peril by an act of power, as of Joseph (Acts 7:10); of the Hebrews out of slavery (Acts 7:34); of Peter from the hand of Herod (Acts 12:11); of Paul from the mob in Jerusalem (Acts 23:27); and it is the word used by the Divine Master to the apostle in reference to his frequent deliverances from danger (Acts 26:17). Compare Genesis 32:11, Isaiah 42:22, Psalms 140:1.
Exaireo - 8 verses in NT - pluck(1), rescue(2), rescued(3), rescuing(1), tear(1).
Matthew 5:29 "If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out (aorist imperative) and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Comment: The right eye was presumed to be more precious, so it was the one to go after in an enemy: “that I gouge out the right eyes of all of you” (1Sa 11:2; Zech 11:17); “to gouge out their right eyes” (Josephus, Ant. 6.71)
Zodhiates: These functions (tear it out) symbolize actions we should perform at the inception of temptation. The second we are conscious of it, we must cut off the temptation. When we lose the function of our hands or eyes, we are severely handicapped. So if that which causes us to sin is destroyed, sin loses its power over us. (Exegetical Commentary on Matthew)
Matthew 18:9 "If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out (aorist imperative) and throw it from you. It is better for you to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell.
Acts 7:10 and rescued him (Joseph - Acts 7:9) from all his afflictions, and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he made him governor over Egypt and all his household.
Acts 7:34 'I HAVE CERTAINLY SEEN THE OPPRESSION OF MY PEOPLE IN EGYPT AND HAVE HEARD THEIR GROANS, AND I HAVE COME DOWN TO RESCUE THEM; COME NOW, AND I WILL SEND YOU TO EGYPT.'
Acts 12:11 When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me from the hand of Herod and from all that the Jewish people were expecting."
Acts 23:27 "When this man (Paul) was arrested by the Jews and was about to be slain by them, I came up to them with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman.
Acts 26:17 rescuing you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you,
Galatians 1:4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
Exaireo - 113x in 111v in the Septuagint (Lxx) - Gen 32:11; 12.21" class="scriptRef">21-Gen.37.36" class="scriptRef">37:21f; Ex 3:8; 18.4" class="scriptRef">Ex 18:4, 27" class="scriptRef">8ff; Lev 14:40, 43; Num 35:25; Deut 23:14; 25:11; 9" class="scriptRef">19" class="scriptRef">19.9" class="scriptRef">9" class="scriptRef">32:39; Josh 2:13; 9:26; 10:6; 24:10; Jdg 10:15; 14:9; 22" class="scriptRef">1 Sam 4:7f; 7:3; 10:18; 12:10f, 21; 14:48; 17" class="scriptRef">17.37" class="scriptRef">17:37; 26:24; 30:8, 18, 22; 2 Sam 14:6; 19:5, 9; 22:1f, 20" class="scriptRef">20; 23:12; 1Kgs 1:12; 2Kgs 17:39; 29-2Kgs.18.37" class="scriptRef">18:29f, 34f; 19:12; 1Chr 16:35; 2Chr 25:15; 32:17; Job 5:4, 19; 10:7; 36:21; Ps 31:1f; 37:40; 50:15; 59:1; 64:1; 71:2; 82:4; 91:15; 116:8; 119:153; 140:1, 4; 143:9; 144:7, 11; Eccl 7:26; Isa 16:12; 31:5; 38:14; 42:22; 43:13; 44:17, 20; 47:14; 48:10; 50:2; 57:13; 60:16; Jer 1:8, 17, 19; 15:21; 20:13; 21:12; 22:3; 31:11; 34:13; 42:11; Ezek 33:5, 9, 12; 34:10, 27; Da 3:15, 17, 29; 6:14ff; Hos 2:10; 5:14; Mic 5:8; 7:3; Nah 2:1; Zeph 1:18; Zech 11:6
Exodus 3:8 (cf Ex 18:8,9,10) "So I have come down to deliver (Lxx = exaireo) them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Comment: Notice how the purpose of the deliverance by God was to bring about a people of His own. That OT "shadow" is fulfilled in the NT where Jesus' delivers us that we might be His possession. (Titus 2:14, 1Pe 2:9, cf 1Cor 6:19-20)
2 Samuel 22:20 "He also brought me forth into a broad place; He rescued (Lxx = exaireo) me, because He delighted in me.
Comment: Keep the context in mind - for at least 10 years David had been in "tight" places.
David's bold prayer for deliverance - Psalm 31:1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Your righteousness deliver (Lxx = aorist imperative) me. 2 Incline Your ear to me, rescue (Lxx = aorist imperative) me quickly; Be to me a rock of strength, A stronghold to save me.
Spurgeon on "rescue me quickly": We must not set times or seasons, yet in submission we may ask for swift as well as sure mercy. God's mercies are often enhanced in value by the timely haste which he uses in their bestowal; if they came late they might be too late—but he rides upon a cherub, and flies upon the wings of the wind when he intends the good of his beloved.
Psalm 37:40 The LORD helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him.
Psalm 50:15 (Ps 50:14 - context is offering spiritual sacrifices from the heart, not dead ritual) Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor (KJV = glorify which is supported by the Greek verb used in; Lxx = doxazo = to glorify) Me."
Spurgeon: Oh blessed verse! Is this then true sacrifice? Is it an offering to ask an alms of heaven? It is even so. The King himself so regards it. For herein is faith manifested, herein is love proved, for in the hour of peril we fly to those we love. It seems a small think to pray to God when we are distressed, yet is it a more acceptable worship than the mere heartless presentation of bullocks and male goats. This is a voice from the throne, and how full of mercy it is! It is very tempestuous round about Jehovah, and yet what soft drops of mercy's rain drop from the bosom of the storm! Who would not offer such sacrifices?
Troubled one, haste to present it now!
Who shall say that Old Testament saints did not know the Gospel? (cp Gal 3:8) Its very spirit and essence breathes like frankincense all around this holy Psalm.
I will rescue (Lxx = exaireo) you. The reality of your sacrifice of prayer shall be seen in its answer. Whether the smoke of burning bulls be sweet to Me or not, certainly your humble prayer shall be, and I will prove it so by My gracious reply to your supplication. This promise is very large, and may refer both to temporal and eternal deliverances; faith can turn it every way, like the sword of the cherubim.
And thou you glorify Me (cf Gal 1:5). Your prayer will honour Me, and your grateful perception of My answering mercy will also glorify Me. The goats and bullocks would prove a failure, but the true sacrifice never could. The calves of the stall might be a vain oblation, but not the "calves" of sincere lips. Thus we see what is true ritual. Here we read inspired rubrics. Spiritual worship is the great, the essential matter; all else without it is rather provoking than pleasing to God. As helps to the soul, outward offerings were precious, but when men went not beyond them, even their hallowed things were profaned in the view of heaven.
Psalm 59:1 For the choir director; set to Al-tashheth. A Mikhtam of David, when Saul sent men and they watched the house in order to kill him. Deliver (aorist imperative) me from my enemies, O my God; Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me. (PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE)
Psalm 64:1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint; Preserve (aorist imperative) my life from dread of the enemy. (PRAYER FOR PRESERVATION)
Psalm 71:2 In Your righteousness deliver (Lxx = rhuomai - aorist imperative) me and rescue (Lxx = exaireo - aorist imperative) me; Incline Your ear to me and save me.
Spurgeon: “Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape.” Be true, O God, to thy word. It is a righteous thing in thee to keep the promises which thou hast made unto thy servants. I have trusted thee, and thou wilt not be unrighteous to forget my faith. I am taken as in a net, but do thou liberate me from the malice of my persecutors. “Incline thine ear unto me, and save me.” Stoop to my feebleness, and hear my faint whispers; be gracious to my infirmities, and smite upon me: I ask salvation; listen thou to my petitions, and save me. Like one wounded and left for dead by mine enemies, I need that thou bend over me and bind up my wounds. These mercies are asked on the plea of faith, and they cannot, therefore, be denied.
Psalm 82:4 Rescue (Lxx = exaireo - aorist imperative) the weak and needy; Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked. (PRAYER FOR RESCUE)
Spurgeon: “Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked.” Break the nets of the man-catchers, the legal toils, the bonds, the securities, with which cunning men capture and continue to hold in bondage the poor and the embarrassed. It is a brave thing when a judge can liberate a victim like a fly from the spider’s web, and a horrible case when magistrate and plunderer are in league. Law has too often been an instrument for vengeance in the hand of unscrupulous men, an instrument as deadly as poison or the dagger. It is for the judge to prevent such villainy.
Psalm 91:15 "He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
Spurgeon: “I will deliver him, and honour him.” The man honours God, and God honours him. Believers are not delivered or preserved in a way which lowers them, and makes them feel themselves degraded; far from it, the Lord’s salvation bestows honour upon those it delivers. God first gives us conquering grace, and then rewards us for it.
Psalm 116:8 For You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling.
Spurgeon: “For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.” The triune God has given us a trinity of deliverances: our life has been spared from the grave, our heart has been uplifted from its griefs, and our course in life has been preserved from dishonor. We ought not to be satisfied unless we are conscious of all three of these deliverances. If our soul has been saved from death, why do we weep? What cause for sorrow remains? Whence those tears? And if our tears have been wiped away, can we endure to fall again into sin? Let us not rest unless with steady feet we pursue the path of the upright, escaping every snare and shunning every stumblingblock. Salvation, joy, and holiness must go together, and they are all provided for us in the covenant of grace. Death is vanquished, tears are dried, and fears are banished when the Lord is near.
Psalm 119:153 Look upon my affliction and rescue (Lxx = exaireo - aorist imperative) me, For I do not forget Your law. (PRAYER FOR RESCUE)
Psalm 140:1 For the choir director. A Psalm of David. Rescue (Lxx = exaireo - aorist imperative) me, O LORD, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men (PRAYER FOR RESCUE)
Spurgeon: “Deliver me, O LORD, from the evil man.” It reads like a clause of the Lord’s prayer, “Deliver us from evil.” David does not so much plead against an individual as against the species represented by him, namely, the being whose best description is—“the evil man.” There are many such abroad; indeed we we shall not find an unregenerate man who is not in some sense an evil man, and yet all are not alike evil. It is well for us that our enemies are evil: it would be a horrible thing to have the good against us. When “the evil man” bestirs himself against the godly he is as terrible a being as a wolf, or a serpent, or even a devil. Fierce, implacable, unpitying, unrelenting, unscrupulous, he cares for nothing but the indulgence of his malice. The persecuted man turns to God in prayer; he could not do a wiser thing. Who can meet the evil man and defeat him save Jehovah himself, whose infinite goodness is more than a match for all the evil in the universe? We cannot of ourselves baffle the craft of the enemy, but the Lord knoweth how to deliver his saints. He can keep us out of the enemy’s reach, he can sustain us when under his power, he can rescue us when our doom seems fixed, he can give us the victory when defeat seems certain; and in any and every case, if he do not save us from the man he can keep us from the evil. Should we be at this moment oppressed in any measure by ungodly men, it will be better to leave our defence with God than to attempt it ourselves.
Psalm 140:4 Keep me, O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve (Lxx = exaireo - aorist imperative) me from violent men Who have purposed to trip up my feet. (PRAYER FOR PRESERVATION)
Spurgeon: “Preserve me from the violent man.” His intense passion makes him terribly dangerous. He will strike anyhow, use any weapon, smite from any quarter: he is so furious that he is reckless of his own life if he may accomplish his detestable design. Lord, preserve us by thine omnipotence when men attack us with their violence. This prayer is a wise and suitable one.
Psalm 143:9 Deliver (Lxx = exaireo - aorist imperative) me, O LORD, from my enemies; I take refuge in You. (PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE)
Spurgeon: “Deliver me, O LORD, from mine enemies.” Many foes beset us, we cannot overcome them, we cannot even escape from them; but Jehovah can and will rescue us if we pray to him. The weapon of all-prayer will stand us in better stead than sword and shield. “I take refuge in You.” This was a good result from his persecutions. That which makes us flee to our God may be an ill wind, but it blows us good. There is no cowardice in such flight, but much holy courage. God can hide us out of reach of harm, and even out of sight of it. He is our hiding-place; Jesus has made himself the refuge of his people: the sooner, and the more entirely we flee to him the better for us. Beneath the crimson canopy of our Lord’s atonement believers are completely hidden; let us abide there and be at rest. In the seventh verse our poet cried. “Hide not thy face,” and here he prays, “Hide me.” Note also how often he uses the words “unto thee”; he is after his God: he must travel in that direction by some means, even though he may seem to be beating a retreat; his whole being longs to be near the Lord. It is possible that such thirstings for God will be left unsupplied? Never, while the Lord is love.
Psalm 144:7 Stretch forth Your hand from on high; Rescue (Lxx = exaireo - aorist imperative) me and deliver me out of great waters, Out of the hand of aliens (PRAYER FOR RESCUE)
Spurgeon: Make a Moses of me,—one drawn out of the waters. My foes pour in upon me like torrents, they threaten to overwhelm me; save me from their force and fury; take them from me, and me from them.
Psalm 144:11 Rescue me and deliver (Lxx = exaireo - aorist imperative) me out of the hand of aliens, Whose mouth speaks deceit And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood. (PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE)
Spurgeon: Because of what the Lord had done, David returns to his pleading. He begs deliverance from him who is ever delivering him. “Rid me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children.” This is in measure the refrain of the song, and the burden of the prayer. He desired to be delivered from his open and foreign adversaries, who had broken compacts, and treated treaties as vain things.
Jeremiah 1:8 Do not be afraid of them, for (term of explanation - What does Jehovah explain to Jeremiah?) I am with you to deliver (Lxx = exaireo) you,” declares the LORD.
Present evil age - The KJV says we are rescued from this "present evil world" but this is not as accurate as "age." The grand purpose of the rescue is to deliver us from the dominion of this godless age. We have been rescued from the enslaving power of this present evil age—a world ruled by Satan, full of cruelty, tragedy, temptation, and deception. Our rescue is from an ethical system, a way of thinking under the dominion of the Evil One and thus diametrically opposed to God. Our holy purpose now in this world which is passing away (1Jn 2:17) is to be salt (Mt 5:13) and light (Mt 5:14-16, cp Php 2:14, 15). So yes, for the present, we are in the world but we are no longer of the world (Jn 17:11, 14-18, Php 3:20-21, 1Jn 5:5.) And so now
The present evil age is under the domination of "the prince of this world" (Jn 12:31; 14:30; 16:11), the "Evil One," (1Jn 5:19) which helps understand why it is so evil.
"The faithful Christian life is the heavenly life lived on earth." (John MacArthur) (Yes, even in the midst of a present evil age.)
"This age is evil, corrupt and corrupting, deceived and deceiving." (Hindson)
Ron Dunn - The Christian lives in two worlds. He is resident of this present evil age and of the Age to Come. Though he is a citizen of this world, the Bible says his "citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20) and that already he is "seated... with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). As a believer he has been delivered "from this present evil age" (Gal. 1:4) and has "tasted... the powers of the age to come" (Heb. 6:5). Eternal life is a present possession. The Christian lives simultaneously in the physical world and in the spiritual world, in the seen and in the unseen, in the present and in the future, on earth and in heaven.
Robert Rapa explains that exaireo in Gal 1:4 - “denotes not a ‘deliverance from,’ but a ‘rescue from the power of’ ” (Boice, 426). Thus, defeat of the power of this “age” (ainos) to incite and exacerbate human sinfulness is included in humanity’s rescue in Christ’s self-sacrifice. God’s power in Christ is available to the believer not only to rescue from eternal death but also to energize an obedient life as a dependent disciple of Jesus (cf. Ro 6:12–14). (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 11)
John Stott agrees - The purpose of Christ’s death, therefore, was not only to bring us forgiveness, but that, having been forgiven, we should live a new life, the life of the age to come.
William MacDonald - Christ died to deliver us from this present evil age. This includes not only the moral and political corruption of this age, but also the religious world which mixes rituals and ceremonies with faith in Christ. It was especially timely, therefore, for the Galatians to be reminded that they were going back into the very system from which Christ had died to rescue them!
Alan Cole - The division between ‘the present age’ and ‘the age to come’ was familiar to every Jew, and therefore to the Christian.
Timothy George - The notion of two ages, borrowed from Jewish apocalyptic thought, juxtaposes a present age of sin and decay and a future age of blessing and peace. For Paul, however, the death and resurrection of Jesus has radically punctuated this traditional time line. The Christian now lives in profound tension between the No Longer and the Not Yet. The coming of Christ has drastically relativized, though not completely obliterated, former distinctions of race, class, and gender. It also has placed in a totally new perspective such former requirements as circumcision, food laws, and feast days. Christ has rescued us from this present evil age through justifying us by faith and pouring out his Spirit in our lives. This is an accomplished fact, and we must not be drawn back into “a yoke of slavery” (Gal 5:1). But while Christ has rescued us from this evil age, he has not taken us out of it. Thus our liberty must not degenerate into license nor the gift of the Spirit be abused by selfish carnal behavior (Gal 5:16–26). (The New American Commentary)
Wayne Barber - Now this strikes the key note of the whole epistle. He has taken us out from under something that has been pulling us down for quite a while. Christ came to die for our sins to deliver us. And from what? A state of bondage. Bondage to what? This present evil age. (KJV = "present evil world") Now I don’t know if you’ve studied Romans, but Romans focuses more on the fact that Jesus saved us from the penalty of sins. Yes, He did. And He saves us from the power of sin. Yes, He did. But Galatians has a slightly different focus on what Jesus came to do, which is germane to the remainder of the epistle. He wants them to understand this very thing. Our sins are simply indications of our bondage, bondage to a system of living and thinking that is found in this world. You turn a television on, you’re listening to that system. You turn the radio on, and I hear stuff on that thing, I’m thinking good grief! Get a clue people! But, you know, it’s interesting. I love to listen to it to kind of keep up with what the system’s doing to people’s minds. Christ not only delivered us from our personal sins, but He from the pull and the power of a system, which is the way the world does what it does.
We live in a spiritually (and morally) dark time, but God promises that this night (present evil age) is almost spent and the Day of the Lord is near (Ro 13:12-note). The possibility that Christ could come at any time and the certainty that He will come at some time should motivate us to holy living right now!
Note that Gal 1:4 does not promise that Christ will deliver us from all of our present earthly problems.
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Read freely Greek Word Studies from the Austin Precept text commentary of the Bible in text and pdf format. Precept Austin is an online free dynamic bible commentary similar to wikipedia with updated content and many links to excellent biblical resources around the world. You can browse the entire collection of Commentaries by Verse on the Precept Austin website.We have been "bought with a price" to be "ambassadors for Christ" and our "salvation is nearer to us than when we believed" so let us "cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" "so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." (1Cor 6:20, 2Cor 5:20, Ro 13:11, 2Cor 7:1, 1Jn 2:28)