I am excited to begin studying Galatians this Sunday. Galatians is a short but very powerful letter. Paul writes to the churches he and Barnabas planted in Acts 14 because false teachers had begun corrupting the gospel. These teachers, commonly known as Judaizers, taught that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. He indeed died and rose from the grave, but in order to be accepted by God, trusting in Jesus life, death, and resurrection was not sufficient. Those who desired righteous before God must believe in Jesus, be circumcised, and walk according to the customs and traditions of Moses. Paul doesn’t take this lightly. Galatians is a scathing rebuke of what Paul says is a rejection of the true gospel. There is only one gospel. It is a complete and perfect salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
Galatians isn’t just a primer to prepare believers to defend the gospel against false teachers. We need to defend the gospel against our own hearts. In this fallen world, believers still have a tendency to fall back into thinking that we are more accepted by God when we do good things, or less acceptable when we fail. We must continually preach the true gospel to ourselves. We must walk in the identity we have been given through Christ. This is what Paul warns the Galatians about. We cannot allow ourselves to be swayed away from the gospel from the outside teachings or the inside feelings.
Galatians is only six chapters so I would recommend reading the whole book (it may take 15-20 minutes). We will only cover the introduction Sunday, but verses 1-5 summarize the argument Paul makes through the whole book. He defends his authority as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, and he defends the only true gospel of grace. I look forward to diving into the word of God with you Sunday. Remember to set your clock forward!