Introduction
Justified by Faith, Redeemed from the Curse of the Law, and Called to Walk in the Spirit
Key Scripture — Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Introduction
The Epistle to the Galatians is one of Paul's strongest defenses of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul writes with urgency because churches that had received the Gospel were being influenced by teachers who insisted that faith in Jesus Christ was not sufficient apart from adopting requirements associated with the Mosaic covenant—circumcision being the central issue discussed in the letter.
Paul recognized that this was not a minor disagreement.
The very nature of the Gospel was at stake.
He therefore begins without the lengthy thanksgiving found in many of his other letters and quickly confronts the problem:
Galatians 1:6–7 (KJV)
"I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."
Galatians asks fundamental questions:
How is a person justified before God?
What is the relationship between faith and the Law?
Why was the Law given?
What is the significance of God's promise to Abraham?
Must Gentiles become Jewish covenant proselytes in order to belong to God's people?
What does Christian liberty mean?
Does freedom from the Law mean freedom to sin?
How should believers overcome the works of the flesh?
What does it mean to walk in the Spirit?
Paul's answer centers upon Jesus Christ.
A person is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ.
Christ has redeemed His people from the curse of the Law.
Those who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed according to the promise.
Believers have received the Spirit.
They are sons and heirs.
And their liberty must now be expressed not through sinful self-indulgence but through love and a life governed by the Holy Spirit.
Who Wrote Galatians?
The author identifies himself immediately.
Galatians 1:1 (KJV)
"Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)"
The Pauline authorship of Galatians has been widely recognized.
Paul identifies himself as an apostle.
The Greek word apostolos carries the basic idea of one who is sent.
But Paul immediately emphasizes that his apostleship did not originate with human appointment.
He was not made an apostle merely because a religious organization selected him.
His calling came:
"by Jesus Christ, and God the Father."
This becomes important because Paul's opponents apparently challenged or undermined his apostolic authority.
Paul therefore spends a substantial portion of the opening chapters explaining the divine origin of his Gospel and apostleship.
Paul Before His Conversion
Before becoming an apostle of Jesus Christ, Paul was known for his intense commitment to Judaism and his persecution of the Church.
He reminds the Galatians:
Galatians 1:13–14 (KJV)
"For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:
And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers."
Paul was not someone unfamiliar with the Jewish religious world.
He had been deeply immersed in it.
He had been zealous for ancestral traditions.
He had persecuted believers in Jesus.
Acts records him approving of Stephen's death and later attempting to destroy the Church.
Then everything changed.
Paul encountered the risen Jesus Christ.
The persecutor became a preacher.
Paul Was Called by Grace
Paul describes his calling:
Galatians 1:15–16 (KJV)
"But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen..."
Paul understood his ministry as a work of divine grace.
The man who had persecuted the Church was called to proclaim the Christ he had once opposed.
His primary mission became particularly associated with taking the Gospel to the Gentiles.
Where Was Galatia?
Paul addresses the letter:
Galatians 1:2 (KJV)
"...unto the churches of Galatia:"
Unlike Romans, Corinthians, or Philippians, Galatians is not addressed to one local congregation.
It is addressed to churches—plural.
Galatia could refer either to an ethnic region in north-central Asia Minor or more broadly to the Roman province of Galatia, which included territories farther south.
This has produced two major historical proposals:
North Galatian view — Paul wrote to ethnic Galatian communities farther north.
South Galatian view — Paul wrote to churches in the southern portion of the Roman province, potentially including places associated with Paul's missionary work such as Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.
The precise identification affects proposals concerning the date of the letter, but the central message of Galatians does not depend upon resolving the debate.
When Was Galatians Written?
The exact date is debated partly because of the question of which Galatian churches Paul addressed.
Some scholars date Galatians relatively early, perhaps in the late AD 40s, sometimes connecting its circumstances closely with the controversy surrounding the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15.
Others date it somewhat later, often in the AD 50s.
Galatians itself does not provide a precise calendar date.
Therefore, it is best to recognize the historical debate rather than state one date as absolutely certain.
What is certain is that the letter belongs to the formative period of the early Church when Jewish and Gentile believers were wrestling with important questions about covenant identity, circumcision, the Mosaic Law, and membership among God's people.
The Central Historical Problem
Gentiles were believing the Gospel.
This raised an enormous question within the early Church:
Must Gentile believers be circumcised and come under the Mosaic covenant in order to belong fully to God's people?
Acts records a closely related controversy.
Acts 15:1 (KJV)
"And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved."
That claim struck directly at the sufficiency of Christ's saving work.
Paul's answer is emphatic.
Gentiles do not need to become Jews in order to become God's covenant people in Christ.
Their standing before God is based upon Jesus Christ.
Another Gospel
Paul writes:
Galatians 1:8 (KJV)
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
This is one of the strongest warnings in the New Testament concerning false teaching.
Paul does not say that a teaching should be accepted because:
an impressive preacher teaches it,
a respected apostle teaches it,
or even because a supernatural being supposedly delivered it.
The message must agree with the Gospel already received.
Spiritual experiences do not have authority to overturn the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Paul's Gospel Was Not Invented by Man
Paul declares:
Galatians 1:11–12 (KJV)
"But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Paul is defending the divine origin of his apostolic message.
This does not mean Paul never learned anything from other believers.
Rather, the Gospel he proclaimed and his apostolic commission were not merely secondhand human inventions.
His calling was rooted in his encounter with and revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul and the Jerusalem Apostles
Paul later describes contact with recognized leaders in Jerusalem.
He names James, Cephas, and John.
Galatians 2:9 (KJV)
"And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship..."
Paul was not preaching one Gospel while the Jerusalem apostles preached another.
They recognized God's grace in Paul's ministry.
Paul had a particular mission among the Gentiles, while Peter's ministry was particularly associated with the circumcision.
The Gospel remained centered upon the same Jesus Christ.
Paul Confronts Peter
One of the most historically important episodes in Galatians occurs when Paul confronts Peter at Antioch.
Galatians 2:11 (KJV)
"But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed."
Peter had been eating with Gentile believers.
But when certain people came, he withdrew.
Other Jewish believers followed his example, including Barnabas.
Paul saw that their conduct compromised the truth of the Gospel.
The issue was not simply where Peter sat at dinner.
His withdrawal communicated something about whether Gentile believers were truly accepted as equal members of God's people without adopting Jewish covenant markers.
Paul therefore confronted him publicly because the behavior had public consequences.
Justification by Faith
Paul then states one of Galatians' foundational doctrines.
Galatians 2:16 (KJV)
"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ..."
To be justified is to be declared righteous or placed in right standing before God.
Paul denies that justification comes through works of the Law.
The Law cannot become the means by which sinners establish righteousness before God.
Christ stands at the center of justification.
"I Am Crucified With Christ"
Paul makes the Gospel intensely personal.
Galatians 2:20 (KJV)
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me..."
Christianity is not merely adopting a new set of religious rules.
The believer has been united with Christ.
The old identity has been decisively affected by Christ's death.
The life now lived is a life of faith in the Son of God:
"who loved me, and gave himself for me."
Did the Galatians Receive the Spirit by the Law?
Paul asks:
Galatians 3:2 (KJV)
"This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?"
This is crucial.
The Galatians had already received the Holy Spirit.
Their reception of the Spirit was evidence that God had accepted them through faith.
Why, then, would they now believe that they needed the Law to complete what God had begun by the Spirit?
Paul asks:
Galatians 3:3 (KJV)
"Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"
The Christian life begins by God's grace and continues by dependence upon God.
Abraham Believed God
Paul reaches back before Moses to Abraham.
Galatians 3:6 (KJV)
"Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
This quotation comes from Genesis 15:6.
Abraham's faith becomes central to Paul's argument.
God's plan of justification by faith was not a late Christian invention.
The principle appears within Abraham's own story.
The Gospel Preached Before Unto Abraham
Paul writes:
Galatians 3:8 (KJV)
"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."
This connects Galatians directly with Genesis 12.
God's promise to Abraham always contained an international dimension.
"In thee shall all nations be blessed."
The inclusion of the Gentiles was therefore not an emergency adjustment to God's plan.
It belonged to the promise from the beginning.
Christ Redeemed Us From the Curse of the Law
Paul declares:
Galatians 3:13 (KJV)
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us..."
Jesus bore the curse.
Redemption therefore rests upon His sacrificial work.
Paul immediately connects this with Abraham:
Galatians 3:14 (KJV)
"That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
Notice the movement:
Abraham → Promise → Christ → Gentiles → Spirit → Faith.
Christ stands at the center of the fulfillment.
The Seed of Abraham
Paul writes:
Galatians 3:16 (KJV)
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made..."
Paul then focuses the promise upon Christ.
Later he explains:
Galatians 3:29 (KJV)
"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
This is one of the major theological conclusions of Galatians.
Belonging to Christ establishes the believer's participation in the Abrahamic promise.
Why Was the Law Given?
Paul anticipates the obvious question.
If the promise came before the Law, and justification does not come through the Law, then:
Why was the Law given?
Galatians 3:19 (KJV)
"Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions..."
The Law had a God-given purpose.
Paul is not teaching that the Law was evil.
The problem is using the Law for a purpose God did not give it—namely, as the means by which sinners justify themselves before Him.
The Law as a Schoolmaster
Paul writes:
Galatians 3:24 (KJV)
"Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith."
The Greek term translated "schoolmaster" is paidagōgos.
In the ancient Greco-Roman world, a paidagōgos was typically a guardian or attendant responsible for supervising a child.
Paul's imagery therefore emphasizes the temporary supervisory role of the Law within redemptive history until Christ.
The Law pointed beyond itself toward the need fulfilled in Christ.
One in Christ Jesus
Paul declares:
Galatians 3:28 (KJV)
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus."
Paul is not claiming that ethnic, social, or biological distinctions cease to exist.
Rather, none of these distinctions establishes a superior standing before God or a separate means of entering His covenant family.
All believers share the same fundamental standing in Christ Jesus.
From Servants to Sons
Galatians moves from justification to sonship.
Galatians 4:4–5 (KJV)
"But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."
Christ came at God's appointed time.
He entered human history.
He was born of a woman.
He was born under the Law.
He accomplished redemption.
And through Him believers receive adoption.
The Spirit of His Son
Paul continues:
Galatians 4:6–7 (KJV)
"And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."
Galatians therefore presents salvation in deeply relational terms.
God does not merely forgive.
He brings believers into His household.
They become sons and heirs through Christ.
Hagar and Sarah
Galatians 4 uses Hagar and Sarah in an allegorical argument concerning slavery and promise.
Paul explicitly says:
Galatians 4:24 (KJV)
"Which things are an allegory..."
Paul draws upon Genesis to contrast bondage with freedom and human attempts to secure the promise with God's fulfillment of His promise.
This passage must be interpreted carefully within Paul's argument rather than used to demean Hagar personally or make ethnic judgments about her descendants.
Paul's concern is covenantal and theological:
bondage versus promise.
Stand Fast in Liberty
Paul declares:
Galatians 5:1 (KJV)
"Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free..."
Christian liberty is one of Galatians' major themes.
However, Paul immediately prevents misunderstanding.
Freedom in Christ is not permission to sin.
Liberty Is Not an Occasion to the Flesh
Paul writes:
Galatians 5:13 (KJV)
"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another."
This is essential for understanding Paul's Gospel.
He opposes legalism.
But he also opposes lawlessness.
Freedom from attempting to establish righteousness through the Law does not mean freedom from holiness.
Christian liberty should produce loving service.
Walk in the Spirit
Paul gives the answer to the power of sinful desires:
Galatians 5:16 (KJV)
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh."
The Christian life is not sustained merely through human determination.
Believers must walk in dependence upon the Holy Spirit.
Paul describes a conflict between flesh and Spirit.
The flesh in this context refers to fallen human desires operating contrary to God.
The Spirit leads believers into a life pleasing to God.
The Works of the Flesh
Paul identifies behaviors produced by the flesh.
Galatians 5:19–21 (KJV) includes:
"Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings..."
Paul's list demonstrates that the flesh is expressed not only through sexual immorality but also through destructive attitudes and relationships.
Hatred, jealousy, uncontrolled anger, division, envy, and strife are also works of the flesh.
The Fruit of the Spirit
In contrast, Paul writes:
Galatians 5:22–23 (KJV)
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
Notice that Paul says "fruit" rather than "fruits."
These qualities collectively describe the character produced through the Spirit's work in the believer.
The evidence of spiritual maturity is not merely giftedness, knowledge, or religious activity.
Character matters.
The Holy Spirit produces:
Love.
Joy.
Peace.
Longsuffering.
Gentleness.
Goodness.
Faith.
Meekness.
Temperance.
Crucifying the Flesh
Paul writes:
Galatians 5:24 (KJV)
"And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
Belonging to Christ requires a decisive break with the rule of sinful desires.
Christian liberty is not the freedom to obey the flesh.
It is freedom to live under the direction of the Spirit.
Restoring the Fallen
Galatians also explains how spiritual believers should respond when another believer falls.
Galatians 6:1 (KJV)
"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness..."
Spiritual maturity is demonstrated not merely by identifying another person's failure.
The goal should be restoration.
And restoration must be approached with meekness and self-examination.
Bear One Another's Burdens
Paul continues:
Galatians 6:2 (KJV)
"Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ."
Christian freedom does not produce selfish independence.
It produces responsibility toward others.
The Spirit-filled community carries burdens.
Sowing and Reaping
Paul gives a universal spiritual principle:
Galatians 6:7 (KJV)
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
Then:
Galatians 6:8 (KJV)
"For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
Our decisions are seeds.
A life repeatedly surrendered to the flesh produces corruption.
A life directed toward the Spirit produces a different harvest.
Do Not Become Weary in Well Doing
Paul encourages believers:
Galatians 6:9 (KJV)
"And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."
Faithfulness does not always produce immediate visible results.
Paul therefore encourages perseverance.
Continue doing good.
Continue walking in the Spirit.
Continue serving.
Continue sowing.
God determines the harvest season.
Neither Circumcision Nor Uncircumcision
Near the conclusion Paul returns to the controversy that prompted the letter.
Galatians 6:15 (KJV)
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature."
Neither Jewish covenant identity nor Gentile uncircumcision gives a person superior standing in Christ.
What matters is the transforming work of God:
"a new creature."
Major Themes of Galatians
The True Gospel — The Gospel must not be altered by human or supposedly supernatural additions.
Paul's Apostleship — Paul's calling and Gospel came through Jesus Christ.
Justification by Faith — People are not justified through works of the Law.
Jesus Christ Crucified — Christ's sacrificial death stands at the center of redemption.
Abraham and the Promise — God's promise anticipated the blessing of the nations through faith.
Christ the Seed — The Abrahamic promise finds its fulfillment in Christ.
The Purpose of the Law — The Law served God's purpose within redemptive history but was never the means by which sinners could establish their own righteousness.
The Holy Spirit — Believers receive the Spirit through faith and are called to walk in the Spirit.
Sonship — Through Christ believers become sons and heirs.
Christian Liberty — Christ frees believers from bondage, but liberty must not become an excuse for sin.
The Flesh and the Spirit — The Christian life involves rejecting the works of the flesh and walking according to the Spirit.
The Fruit of the Spirit — Spiritual maturity produces godly character.
Restoration — Those overtaken in faults should be restored in meekness.
Sowing and Reaping — Our choices have spiritual consequences.
New Creation — Life in Christ produces genuine transformation.
Why Galatians Matters Today
Galatians guards the Church against two opposite errors.
The first is legalism—the attempt to establish righteousness before God through human works, religious regulations, ceremonies, or personal performance.
The second is lawlessness—the mistaken belief that grace gives Christians permission to continue living according to the flesh.
Paul rejects both.
We cannot save ourselves.
And grace does not give us permission to live however we please.
Christ redeems us.
The Spirit transforms us.
The Gospel therefore produces both:
liberty and holiness.
Galatians also teaches us to test every supposed spiritual message.
Paul's warning remains powerful:
Even if someone claims supernatural authority, the message cannot contradict the Gospel already revealed.
Truth is not established by charisma.
Truth is not established by popularity.
Truth is not established by religious tradition alone.
Truth is not established merely because someone claims an angel delivered it.
The Gospel must remain centered upon Jesus Christ and His finished redemptive work.
Conclusion
The Epistle to the Galatians is Paul's passionate defense of the Gospel of grace and the believer's freedom in Jesus Christ.
The churches of Galatia were being pressured to accept circumcision and requirements associated with the Mosaic covenant as necessary to their full standing among God's people.
Paul recognized that the issue reached to the heart of the Gospel.
Therefore he reminded them that Abraham:
"believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
The promise preceded the Law.
The Law had a God-given purpose.
But the promise finds its fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
Christ has redeemed His people from the curse of the Law.
Gentile believers do not have to become Jews to become heirs of Abraham's promise.
Galatians 3:29 (KJV)
"And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."
But Paul does not stop with justification.
Those who have been justified must now live as people transformed by the Spirit.
We are called to:
Stand fast in liberty.
Serve one another through love.
Walk in the Spirit.
Crucify the flesh.
Produce the fruit of the Spirit.
Restore the fallen with meekness.
Bear one another's burdens.
Sow to the Spirit.
Continue doing good.
Galatians therefore brings together what should never be separated:
Grace and holiness.
Faith and transformation.
Liberty and responsibility.
Justification and life in the Spirit.
Paul's message remains:
We do not begin with Christ and then become complete through human religious effort.
We begin with Christ.
We continue in Christ.
We walk by the Spirit.
And our confidence remains in the One:
"who loved me, and gave himself for me."
