Paul’s greeting (1:1 – 1:5)
The nature of Paul’s apostleship (1:1)
The endorsement of the epistle by the brethren (1:2)
God’s blessing on them through the gospel (1:3 – 1:5)
The unchangeable gospel of Christ (1:6 – 1:9)
The Galatians’ failure to hold fast the truth (1:6 – 1:7)
God’s curse on those who preach another gospel (1:8 – 1:9)
Paul’s independent apostleship (1:10 – 2:21)
His early lack of contact with the other apostles (1:10 – 24)
God’s servant cannot be a man pleaser (1:10)
The source and agency of Paul’s gospel (1:11 – 12)
Paul’s pre-conversion life (1:13 – 14)
Paul’s conversion without human agency (1:15 – 16)
Early absence of contact with the twelve (1:17)
His first return to Jerusalem (1:18 – 20)
His time in Syria and Cilicia (1:21)
Paul’s lack of contact with the churches of Judea (1:22 – 24)
The Jerusalem apostles endorsement of Paul (2:1 – 10)
The occasion of the Jerusalem meeting (2:1 – 2)
The outcome of the meeting (2:3 – 5)
The recognition of Paul’s apostleship by the Twelve (2:6 – 10)
The division of labour (2:9)
Care for the poor (2:10)
Paul’s correction of the Peter’s failure (2:11 – 21)
Peter’s separation from the Gentiles and bad example (2:11 – 13)
Paul’s public rebuke of Peter (2:14 – 21)
Peter’s inconsistency (2:14)
Admission of sin required in coming to Christ (2:15 – 17)
The error of returning to the law (2:18)
Death to the law through Christ (2:19 – 20)
The necessity of grace (2:21)
God’s blessings come only through faith (3:1 – 14)
The Galatians rebuked (3:1)
The Spirit received by faith (3:2 – 6)
The blessings of Abraham upon the Gentiles (3:7 – 14)
Gentile conversion included in the Abrahamic promise (3:7 – 9)
The inability of the law to justify (3:10 – 13)
The Spirit given to the Gentiles by faith (3:14)
The Abrahamic covenant (3:15 – 18)
Once confirmed cannot be disannulled (3:15)
Confirmed in Christ (3:16 – 17)
Blessings by promise, not by law (3:18)
Purpose of the law (3:19 – 24)
Law inferior to promise (3:19 – 20)
Law makes faith the only viable option (3:21 – 23)
A schoolmaster for mankind in its youth (3:24)
The coming of faith (3:25 – 29)
Release from the schoolmaster (3:25)
United with Christ (3:26 – 27)
All earthly distinctions done away in Christ (3:28 – 29)
God’s timetable (4:1 – 7)
Mankind’s status as a child under tutors (4:1 – 3)
The Father’s appointed time (4:4)
Adoption and the receiving of the Spirit (4:5 – 7)
The foolishness of returning to bondage (4:8 – 11)
Paul’s expression of affection (4:12 – 20)
Their conversion affection for Paul (4:12 – 16)
Judaizers flawed motives (4:17)
Need for constancy (4:18)
Paul’s concern for the Galatians (4:19 – 20)
The two covenants (4:21 – 31)
The allegory found in Abraham’s two sons (4:21 – 24)
The two Jerusalems (4:25 – 27)
The children of the flesh and the children of promise (4:28 – 31)
Holding on to the liberty of the gospel (5:1 – 13)
Stand fast in liberty of Christ (5:1)
Danger of bondage to the law (5:2 – 4)
Hope of righteousness by faith (5:5 – 6)
Recognizing spiritual enemies (5:7 – 12)
Not abusing liberty (5:13)
Love’s fulfilment of the law (5:14 – 15)
Walking in the Spirit (5:16 – 26)
The spiritual battle (5:16 – 17)
Victory through the Spirit (5:18)
The works of the flesh (5:19 – 21)
The fruit of the Spirit (5:22 – 23)
Crucifying the flesh (5:24)
Living consistently (5:25 – 26)
Loving our neighbour as ourselves (6:1 – 10)
Restoring the backslider (6:1)
Bearing one another’s burdens (6:2)
Honest self-evaluation (6:3)
Avoiding comparison with others (6:4)
God’s individual assessment (6:5)
Support for ministers (6:6 – 8)
Doing good to all (6:9 – 10)
Paul’s closing remarks (6:11 – 18)
His characteristic handwriting (6:11)
The false promotion of circumcision (6:12 – 16)
The false teachers glorying in the flesh (6:12 – 13)
Paul’s glorying in the cross alone (6:14)
The irrelevance of circumcision for the believer (6:15 – 16)
Paul’s plea for cooperation (6:17)
Final farewell (6:18)
- to defend the independency of Paul’s apostolic authority
- to defend the doctrine of justification by faith alone
- to expose false teachers and their strategies and motives
- to protect the people of God under attack from error
- to rebuke believers for turning aside
- to encourage recovery from backsliding
- to warn against adding anything to Christ
- to guard against reliance on the law
- to explain the nature of the two covenants
- to show the impossibility of justification by works
- to expound the liberty of the gospel
- to teach the nature of the Christian warfare
- to show the nature of true obedience to the law
- to contrast the true minister with the false teacher
Bible Commentary on Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians
by Bible Notes
Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians is distinctive from the start. It is written in response to an urgent problem which the apostle sees as fatally destructive to the faith of believers in Galatia, if allowed to go unchecked (Galatians 5:4). He could not possibly have written this letter in a detached way; he was too intimately concerned with the spiritual welfare of these churches and of every individual believer in them. He loves them because they belong to Christ and he loves them the more because he has personally been God’s instrument in bringing them to trust in Christ.
When therefore he sees their faith attacked by false teachers bringing doctrine which he knows to be utterly destructive to salvation, he hurries to protect them as a parent would hurry to protect a vulnerable child. Not that they have yet completely fallen – and indeed Paul knows that God’s foundation stands secure – but this knowledge does not reduce his sense of urgency or alarm, as if he could stand by and wait for God to solve the problem. Rather he sees that God has sent him to be their deliverer from false doctrine, just as he had been the one to bring them the gospel in the first place.
From the opening words this letter therefore reflects the deep concern in his mind. His characteristic greeting, which is not typical of standard letters of the day, varies even from what is normal for him. He begins his polemic in the opening words, and already he is defending his apostleship, a subject which is to be a major theme of the letter. This has come under attack because the Judaizers have been forced in attacking Paul’s doctrine to attack his authority as well. Blessed are those who can continue to hold onto the truth without wavering, when Satan and his servants flatly deny it.
Why does some of God’s word take the form of polemic, and why does some of its teaching come to us in the context of dispute, rather than calm didactic teaching as the letter to the Romans? Because often, we too must set forth the word of God in the context of the battle for the truth. The same issues will arise again and again and the truth will need to be defended when it is under strong attack. In kindness to the church therefore, God allowed the apostle to face the same errors and doctrinal attacks that would repeat themselves in the history of the church. By having his apostle deal with these things, God has provided us with the perfect defence and taught us to recognise error in all its forms. Truly, the word of God is sufficient for all our needs.