The Letter of the Apostle Paul to the
GALATIANS
Author:
Paul an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Date:
Sometime between 49 and 58 AD.
Themes:
At least some of the churches in the province of Galatia (an area in what is now the country of Turkey) were a direct result of Paul’s labors (Gal 4:13-15. See Acts chapter 14. Iconium, Lystra and Derbe were towns in what was known as Lacaonia, but sometimes called “Southern Galatia”). Later on some Jewish Christians who professed to be servants of Christ came there and tried to pervert the gospel of Christ. They taught that for salvation faith in Christ and the grace of God were not sufficient, but that all Christians, whether Jews or not, must keep the law of Moses. Paul had taught the Galatian Christians what he taught everywhere: Salvation comes only by the grace of God through faith (compare Eph 2:8-9). In this letter, using the illustration of Abraham the father of the Jewish nation, and setting forth other evidence, Paul proves this truth once and for all. He also emphasized that spiritual completeness and a holy life can be realized only by the same means – by grace through faith. Some key words in this letter are “faith”, “justified”, “grace”, “freedom”, “flesh”, “Spirit”, “cross”. Some key verses are Gal 2:16-21.
Contents:
Introduction 1:1-5
Some were trying to pervert the gospel of Christ 1:6-9
Paul sets forth his apostleship 1:10—2:21
Christ Himself revealed the gospel to Paul 1:11-12
Paul’s early days after he believed in Christ 1:13-24
Paul with other apostles in Jerusalem 2:1-10
Paul and Peter in Antioch 2:11-15
The truth Paul taught 2:16-21
Salvation through faith alone 3:1-29
Receiving God’s Spirit through faith 3:1-5
The illustration of Abraham 3:6-9
Trying to be saved through the law brings
a curse 3:10-12
Christ has rescued believers from the curse
of the law 3:13-14
God’s promise and God’s law 3:15-25
We become God’s children through faith 3:26-29
The law brings bondage, the gospel brings freedom 4:1-31
Heirs of God 4:1-7
Did the Galatian Christians want to be slaves? 4:8-16
False teachers, Paul’s desire 4:17-20
The illustration of Hagar and Sarah 4:21-31
The way of life Christians are to follow 5:1—6:10
Freedom from the law 5:1-12
Serving by love 5:13-15
The struggle between God’s Spirit and the
sinful nature in believers 5:16-18
The works of the “flesh” (sinful nature) 5:19-21
The fruit of God’s Spirit 5:22-26
True Christianity 6:1-10
What Paul gloried in 6:12-16
Closing words 6:17-18