Galatians

Galatians - General Information

Outline and more information from MacArthur Study Bible

Personal: The Preacher of Justification (1:1-2:21)

- Apostolic Chastening (1:1-9)

- Apostolic Credentials (1:10-2:10)

- Apostolic Confidence (2:11-21)

Doctrinal: The Principles of Justification (3:1-4:31)

-The Experience of the Galatians (3:1-5)

-The Blessing of Abraham (3:6-9)

-The Curse of the Law (3:10-14)

-The Promise of the Covenant (3:15-18)

-The Purpose of the Law (3:19-29)

-The Sonship of Believers (4:1-7)

-The Futility of Ritualism (4:8-20)

-The Illustration from Scripture (4:21-31)

Practical: The Privileges of Justification (5:1-6:18)

-Freedom from Ritual (5:1-6)

-Freedom from Legalists (5:7-12)

-Freedom in the Spirit (5:13-26)

-Freedom from Spiritual Bondage (6:1-10)

-Conclusion(6:11-18)

Outline from The Bible Project

The Gospel of the Crucified Messiah (1:1-2:21)

Creates a New, Multi-Ethnic Family (3:1-4:31)

Transformed By the Spirit (5:1-6:18)

Outline: 

1. Introduction and Warning against Other Gospels (1:1-10)

2.  Paul Defends His Apostolic Call (1:11-2:21)

3.  Justification by Faith (3:1-4:31)

4.  Freedom in Christ (5:1-12)

Living by the Spirit (5:13-6:18)

Why it was written: To warn against legalism and defend justification by faith as well as Paul’s apostolic authority.

To – Church at Galatia

Where Written – Antioch in Syria

When Written – AD 49

Theme – Free in Christ Through Faith

Fascinating Facts:

-Galatians is often referred to as the “Magna Carta of Christian Liberty”

-Because Martin Luther used Galatians to support his doctrine of justification by faith alone, Galatians is often called “Luther’s Book”.

-Galatia was settled by Celts around 270 BC Celtic culture and language were still present when Paul traveled through the region. 

-Good fruit flows from the Spirit. We do good things because God saved us by his grace; we don't do good things in order to achieve salvation.

Being God's People

God's promises made to Abraham were fulfilled with Christ. Just as Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Gal. 3:6), by God's grace, our faith in Jesus is credited to us as righteousness. We are no longer slaves to rituals, laws, and observances.

Sometimes, adherence to rituals, laws, and doing good works as our sole purpose in order to attain salvation can be tempting. Our good works are important, not because they earn us salvation, but  because they show the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Jesus in Galatians

By the grace of God, Jesus died so that all who believe in him are saved. To  say that faith needs to  be accompanied by strict adherence to the laws and rituals of Judaism is to return to the yoke of slavery from which Jesus freed  us. To suggest one is justified by anything other than faith in Jesus is corrupting the grace of God that is Jesus Christ, his death, and his resurrection.

What provokes You To Action?

The Works of the Flesh 

Galatians 5:19-21 19  Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20  idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21  envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

The Fruits of the Spirit

Galatians 5:22-26 22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24  And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25  If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.26  Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. 

Religious efforts are not what make us right with God.

Purpose

When some Jewish teachers begin disputing Paul's message and discrediting his ministry, he writes a strong letter to say that we are saved by God's grace alone through our faith alone—and not by anything we do.

Galatians is a strong warning against a corrupted view of the gospel. Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia in order to defend his apostolic authority and argue that justification is by faith alone against some "preachers" who were corrupting the gospel.  These preachers were Judaizers, Jewish Christians who believed that certain Jewish rites were still necessary and should be enforced by the church. According to Judaizers, all Gentile Christians should be circumcised. Apparently, Judaizers were also questioning Paul’s authority and convincing the Galatians that Paul had removed certain legal requirements in order to make the gospel more appealing to Gentiles.

Religious efforts are not what make us right with God.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul adamantly defends his apostolic authority and the true gospel he preaches. He stresses that a person is justified by grace through faith in Jesus and only faith in Jesus. Life is renewed by grace through faith alone, and life in Christ depends on and flows from the Spirit. The Spirit shapes the life of a Christian and the fruit of the Spirit is good and beneficial to the community. The ways of the flesh—the ways of the law—do not produce good fruit and to follow these ways is futile.

The Gentile Problem 

After Paul had left Galatia on one of his missionary journeys, several “preachers” arrived in Galatia and began teaching that Although faith in Jesus was important, justification was not complete without obedience to the law and rituals of Judaism. Faith in Jesus needed to be accompanied by circumcision (Gal. 6:12-13) and adherence to the Jewish calendar (4:10).

The question of whether Gentile converts should adhere to Jewish laws and rites came up over and over again in the early church.  In AD 49, Paul met with the leaders in Jerusalem to discuss this issue. In response to those arguing in favor of these requirements, the apostle Peter stood up and said, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. Go, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.  He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are” (Acts 15:7-11).