Introduction to Galatians

False doctrine is one of Satan’s favorite tools to attack believers and the church.  There may be many reasons behind why false teachers do what they do, ranging from financial gain to personal popularity.  However, the underlying and true motives behind false teaching are that Satan wants to destroy the church, destroy believers and keep unbelievers trapped in their sin.  The epistle of Galatians was written to a group of churches that Paul founded in the southern part of a region of the Roman Empire called Galatia, this is modern day Turkey.  This church was under attack by Judaizes who were trying to impose the Law on the Gentile believers as a means of salvation.  Paul had clearly taught them that justification is through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross.  However, false teachers were coming in and preaching a salvation of works be keeping the Law.  In this letter Paul takes this heresy head on; exposing the false teachers and calling the church back to sound doctrine.  These kinds of attaches are common in churches today as well.  False gospels seep to sprout up all over the place.  We must learn to do as Paul did and confront these teachings with the truth of Scripture. 

THE FIGHT FOR JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH: Paul stats off this letter with a bang getting right to the point of confronting the church and even chastising the church for being drawn away into the false teachings.  He calls them foolish and indicates that they have fallen under a spell of deception.  The message of the Gospel in the central doctrine of the church and is absolutely essential to our faith.  There can be no tiptoeing around this issue.  Justification is by faith in Christ alone apart from the works of the Law.  Paul makes it clear that nobody can make changes to that doctrine and that those who do so, whether they are leaders angels or even himself; should be accursed of God.  Being tolerant of false doctrine is not something for which we can stand.  Paul follows his condemnation with a clear statement of his own apostolic authority.  We are given a review of Paul’s testimony as well as how he was personally trained by the Lord Himself and not be a group of men.  Much like 2 Corinthians, Paul defends his own authority because it is essential to defending the sound doctrine that he taught.  Paul expresses that he has every confidence that the people will hear his exhortation, respond to his call for repentance and be restored to sound doctrine.  That is one of the hard things about a written letter; because there is no way to tell how the readers are responding.  Paul assumes the best about his readers and begins to teach and instruct them as brothers who are open to his biblical instruction.  It is important for us to believe the best about people until we have proof otherwise.  We must not shy away from confrontation but we must also show confidence in people who are under the power of the Spirit of God.

THE FACTS OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH: Paul’s main argument for justification by faith goes back to Abraham.  The Scripture clearly tells us that Abraham was justified by faith and this was long before the Law was ever given through Moses.  So since the Jews saw Abraham as their physical and spiritual father it only made since for them to understand their own justification through his experience.  The Law came after Abraham to bring condemnation to mankind as a means of demonstrating our inability to save ourselves through works.  God’s promises were given as a means of giving life and hope so that we could see that salvation came to us from God through faith and not by any works of our own merit.  The Law in and of itself is not unholy, for it came from God; but it was not given to man as a means of justification.  Rather, the Law was given to man as a means of demonstrating God’s holiness and man’s corruption.  Because of the Law we become aware of our own sinfulness and recognize our need for Christ.  We cannot be saved because of religious rituals or by self-righteous works.  We are powerless to save ourselves and can only be saved by the work of Christ on our behalf.  Paul illustrates this truth by comparing the Law to Hagar who gave birth to a child through Abraham’s works and by comparing justification by faith to Sarah who gave birth to a child through Abraham’s faith.  All Jews would clearly recognize Isaac as the child of promise while rejecting Ishmael as the offspring that was pleasing to God.  Faith is the only means through which we can be acceptable to God because none of us have the ability to keep the Law or accomplish works in an adequate manner.

THE FREEDOM IN JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH: In justification by faith we can find great freedom.  The promise of Christ is to set us free from our enslavement to sin.  We can be set free from the rituals required by the Law.  Religion is not a means of justification; God longs to have a relationship with us and is not impressed by or needful of our rituals.  Legalism is another evil from which we have been set free.  We do not need to be enslaved to a religion of works that never allow us to find peace or have assurance of our forgiveness.  We are free to live lives of obedience to the Lord out of love for Him not because of our ability to abide by rules.  God has granted us His Spirit through whom we have been adopted into the family of God.  We are not slaves to the law of sin but are free from the condemnation of sin because we have been made sons of God through faith in Christ.  The difference between Law and faith is the difference between slavery and sonship.  Why would anyone who has become a son of God want to go back to being a slave of sin?  Christ came into the world to make us free.  We are free from the condemnation of sin because He was condemned in our place.  We are free from enslavement to the Law because He fulfilled the Law on our behalf and met all of the righteous requirements that were imposed because of the Law.  We are free from sin because Christ overcame both sin and death.  Our hope and our faith rest fully on the Son of God who gave Himself on our behalf so that we might enjoy with Him the joy of becoming sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.