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The Epistle to the Galatians Pauline Epistles—Galatians i The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians Christ’s Community Study Center Mbarara, Uganda Donald F. McNeill Westminster Theological College and Seminary—dfm Pauline Epistles—Galatians ii Outline of the Epistle to the Galatians I. Introduction—Gal. 1: 1-10 A. The Greeting—1: 1-5 B. Paul’s Condemnation of the False Teachers—1: 6-10 II. Paul’s Defense of His Apostleship—Galatians 1:11—2 : 14 A. Introduction to His Defense—vv. 11-12 B. Paul’s Apostleship Independent of the Apostles in Jerusalem (1: 13-24) 1. He was a fierce persecutor of the church and would have persecuted the Jerusalem apostles if he had had the opportunity (vv. 13-14). 2. He was converted through the direct revelation of Christ, not through the influence of the Jerusalem apostles (vv. 15-16). 3. He did not consult with the Jerusalem apostles immediately after his conversion but saw them only briefly three years later (vv. 16b-24). 4. For fourteen years He preached the gospel independently of the Jerusalem apostles and afterwards was received by them as an equal (2: 1-10). 5. On one occasion he had to correct Peter whose behavior contradicted his gospel (2: 11-14). III. Paul’s Defense of the Gospel (Galatians 2: 15-6: 10) A. Introduction to Paul’s Defense (2: 15-21) 1. Justification has never been by the Law, but only by faith (vv. 15-16). a. The Jews were never justified by the Law. b. We [Paul and Peter] were never justified by the Law. c. Universally, no one (Jew or Gentile) has ever been justified by the Law. 2. Objection to justification by grace: If having been justified by grace we are still sinful in our behavior, then Christ has given us a gospel which promotes sin (v. 17). 3. Answer to the objection: Far from promoting sin, the gospel of pure grace is the only gospel which delivers us from sin to a life of righteousness (vv. 18-21). B. Defense of the gospel from the Galatians’ personal Christian experience (Gal. 3: 1-5) (See Stott, pp. 71-72) 1. How did you receive the Spirit? 2. Having begun the Christian life by the Spirit, will you complete it by the flesh? 3. Was all your suffering for the gospel in vain? 4. Did you witness miracles by keeping the Law or by hearing the gospel? Westminster Theological College and Seminary—dfm Pauline Epistles—Galatians iii C. Defense of the Gospel from the Superiority of the Abrahamic Covenant to the Mosaic Covenant (Gal. 3: 6-29) 1. The Gospel to Abraham (vv. 6-9) 2. The Curse of the Law (vv. 10-14) 3. The purpose of the Law (vv. 15-29) D. Defense of the Gospel from the Superiority of Mature Sonship to Childhood and Slavery (Gal. 4: 1-11) 1. Being under the Law is the state of childhood and slavery (vv. 1-3) 2. Being in Christ is the state of liberty and adoption as sons (vv. 4-11) Excursus: Paul’s Personal Plea (Gal. 4: 12-20) E. Defense of the Gospel from the Allegory of Sarah and Hagar (Gal. 4: 21-5: 1) 1. The Old Testament Scripture (the “law”) tells the story of freedom and bondage (vv. 21-23). 2. Sarah and Hagar represent two covenants—the Law and the Gospel—the first producing slaves, the second producing free men (vv. 24-31). F. Defense of the Gospel from the Superiority of Faith to Human Merit (Gal. 5: 2-6) 1. Those who are seeking to be saved by circumcision have been cut off from Christ (vv. 2-4) 2. Righteousness is by faith through the Spirit (vv. 5-6). Excursus: Questions and Imprecations (Gal. 5: 7-12) G. Defense of the Gospel from the Superiority of the Spirit’s Sanctifying Work in Believers (Gal. 5: 13-6: 10) 1. The Meaning of Freedom—Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself (vv. 13-15) 2. The Spirit in opposition to the flesh (vv. 16-26) a. The Spirit’s superiority to the flesh (vv. 16-18) b. The deeds of the flesh (vv. 19-21) c. The fruit of the Spirit (vv. 22-23) d. The crucifixion of the flesh with its passions and desires (v. 24) 3. The exhortation to walk by the Spirit in opposition to the flesh (5: 25- 6: 10) a. Practical example of not walking by the Spirit (v. 26) b. Practical examples of walking by the Spirit (6: 1-10) (1) Bearing one another’s burdens of sin (vv. 1-5) (2) Bearing the financial burdens of teachers (vv. 6-8) (3) Doing good to all men, especially believers (vv. 9-10) IV. Postscript—Gal. 6: 11-18 Westminster Theological College and Seminary—dfm Pauline Epistles—Galatians iv Westminster Theological College and Seminary—dfm Pauline Epistles—Galatians 1 The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians The Context and Purpose of Galatians The book of Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul to a group of churches in the southern part of the province of Galatia which is now modern day Turkey. He had planted these churches in Psisdian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe on his first missionary journey, and the record of his work in these four cities is recorded in Acts 13 and 14. On his second missionary journey, Paul passed through these same cities strengthening the churches as he went. You can read about this in Acts 15 and 16. Acts 18: 23 tells us that Paul visited these same churches again on his third missionary journey. You can imagine that after such a large investment of time in these churches that Paul had a peculiar fondness for the people in these churches. You might say that they were his babies because the Holy Spirit had used Paul to give birth to them and to nurture them in the faith during the time of their infancy. He even speaks this way in another place in Galatians in chp. 4: 19, “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you.” Paul was like a mother giving birth to these four churches and the pain involved in this labor was as intense, except in a different way. Given this very close relationship to the churches of Galatia, you would expect Paul to experience a great deal of anxiety over them when he found out that certain teachers had visited these churches, teachers who disagreed with the gospel which Paul was teaching. They were not teaching a way of salvation which Paul had taught them when he planted the churches on his first missionary journey. They were teaching what Paul called a “different gospel” which was really “not another” gospel but a distortion or twisting of the true gospel into a false gospel. Well, if Paul could have boarded a plane, he would have flown to these churches as fast as possible, but there were no planes. And he was a long way from the Christians in Asia Minor, so he didn’t have the time to take a long journey from wherever he was at the time, so he wrote them a letter instead. This letter is the book of Galatians. You will find in your reading of the NT epistles that they were always written for the purpose of clearing up specific problems in the church: theological problems, leadership problems, relational problems, moral problems, marriage problems, and so on. All the churches had problems which at this time in the early churches’ history needed the input and authority of an apostle of Jesus Christ. The same was true in this case. A problem arose over the interpretation of the gospel itself. What was the gospel and how could a person get saved? Paul had said one thing, and now these so-called apostles were saying something else. Who was right, and who had the apostolic authority to define the gospel? This brings me to another problem which Paul is addressing in this letter. Not only had these false teachers questioned Paul’s gospel, they were also questioning his authority as an apostle; they were attempting to slander the Apostle by saying that he really was no apostle at all. He didn’t know what he was talking about, and they were there in Asia Minor to clear up what Paul had confused in the minds of the church. In answer to these men, Paul spends a considerable length of time defending his apostleship (his credentials) to the Galatian Christians. This part of the letter was distasteful to Paul since he didn’t like to boast or talk about himself, but if he failed Westminster Theological College and Seminary—dfm Pauline Epistles—Galatians 2 to establish his right and authority as an apostle, he was in danger of losing these churches to error—like a mother losing her babies. He was determined not to let this happen. I. Introduction—Gal. 1: 1-10 A. The Greeting—1: 1-5 It is characteristic of Paul always to greet his audience. Whenever you are reading his letters, notice that these greetings are always at the very beginning of the epistles. This greeting is found in vv. 1-5, and for the most part there is nothing unusual about it. The words, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” are found in the greetings of most of Paul’s letters to other churches (Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor.
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