Galatians: Lesson 1

Overview

Galatians: The Heartbeat of the Gospel

Setting the Scene

Galatia was a sizable Roman region in Asia Minor (modern-day Anatolia, Turkey)—a peninsula bordered by the Black Sea, the Aegean, and the Mediterranean. Because it sat where Europe and Asia met, it was a crossroads for merchants, ideas, and travelers. Paul came to know these believers through his missionary journeys, and Galatians was likely written in the early 50s AD, sometime after his second journey (49–51) and before or during his third. We catch glimpses of his work in the region in Acts 16:1-6 and Acts 18:22-23, where he picked up Timothy, strengthened the disciples, and was directed by the Holy Spirit through this region. Paul was not a "one and done" missionary; he returned, wrote, and tended the congregations he had planted.

The Occasion: A Distorted Gospel

After Paul moved on, the Judaizers—Jewish Christians who confessed Jesus as Messiah but still required Gentile converts to keep Jewish rites and rituals—came in behind him. They were not denying Christ; they were adding to Him. They preached salvation and. In doing so, they undermined Paul's apostolic authority and, more dangerously, turned the gospel back into law. Galatians is Paul's response: a defense of his apostleship, a defense of the gospel of grace, and a clear proclamation that salvation comes through faith in the free and forgiving grace of God in Christ alone.

Timothy Keller called Galatians "the heartbeat of the gospel," and rightly so. The letter trains us to distinguish law from gospel. The law shows us who we are—sinners who fail at every point to meet God's holy righteousness; it brings us to the end of ourselves. The gospel shows us who Christ is for us—our freedom, our forgiveness, our righteousness. When the two are blended, believers are left wondering whether they are good enough or saved enough, and unbelievers receive a confused message. Paul will walk through his own conversion, his confrontation with Peter at Antioch, the promise to Abraham and Sarah, and the fruit of the Spirit—all to make plain that we are a new creation in Christ 2 Corinthians 5:17, the old Adam having died to the law and risen free in the gospel.

Pastoral Application

Every Christian is a missionary wherever God has placed them, which means every Christian must learn to handle law and gospel rightly. Legalism still wears many faces today: works-righteousness systems that ask us to earn or secure forgiveness, and even "free grace" churches that quietly attach new conditions—say this prayer, attend this service, or face judgment. Both burden the conscience with what Christ has already finished.

Yes, we are called to pray, to do good works, to love our neighbor. But these flow from salvation, not toward it. The Holy Spirit, working through the gospel, produces faith active in love. Heaven is not a ladder we climb; it is a gift we receive in Christ alone.

This also means we must have the courage to speak the full law and the full gospel, even when it is uncomfortable. Our task is to deliver God's Word faithfully; it is the hearer who must wrestle with it. As we move through Galatians together, read the whole letter each week. Every time Scripture is opened, God speaks—and the heartbeat we will hear, again and again, is this: we are free in Christ, and Christ alone.

Transcript

Thank you so much for your word. 8s

Your word is truth. 10s

We thank you that you guide us through your word. 12s

That you guide us first calling us as your own. 14s

That we would know that we are saved. 17s

That we are forgiven. 21s

Not by our own doing. 23s

Not by our own acts. 24s

But by your love for us. 27s

Lord, we ask that as we go about our day, 29s

that we would continue to cling to the promise that we have in you, 32s

use this time of study to open our hearts and our minds 37s

even more to the grace that abounds in your love. 40s

Let us use it as we face the week ahead to your honor and your glory. 45s

This we ask in your holy name, amen. 51s

Okay, so I'm going to actually try to draw a little bit on here. 55s

Oh my gosh. 63s

Oh, this is not going to be pretty. 65s

This is the drawing version of paraphrasing. 69s

So we are going to Galatia. 75s

Galatia is Asia Minor. 81s

Oh gosh. 85s

Hold on a second here. 87s

I have to find my other map that I'm following. 88s

Oh, this is what I want. 90s

I don't know that that's helpful. 93s

Hold on. 95s

Okay. 97s

So you're holding good. 99s

So pretend that this is Europe. 101s

Have you all been to Europe? 107s

Does it look pretty much like this? 109s

Okay. 112s

Good. 114s

Good. 115s

I'm glad. 115s

And never noticed the line. 119s

And then. 122s

You see Europe. 125s

Yes, as you're flying over, it says Europe. 130s

Okay. 134s

Y'all are hecklers. 137s

And I know this. 139s

And yet. 140s

Okay. 143s

And then there's, and Europe has some little parts here and stuff. 144s

And then you've got, you've got Asia. 148s

Okay. 152s

And this little part in here is Asia Minor. 153s

Okay. 160s

And you know what? 162s

Maybe during this week, I will take some time to really draw a beautiful map. 162s

And impress you all. 167s

Or I'll call Jessica Kulson up here too. 168s

Draw a beautiful map. 171s

And I'll just take credit. 173s

Okay. 174s

So we're in Asia Minor. 175s

And. 178s

And so this is its modern day, Anatolia, Turkey. 178s

This is a really important, important area in the world, especially at that time. 184s

Because this is that land area where Europe and Asia meet. 192s

This is where anyone who is traveling between Europe and Asia, 196s

this is where they're going to do business. 201s

This is where they're going to have an exchange of goods. 203s

It's a very, very important place for I.M. 207s

Ideas for merchants for a lot happening. 214s

It is, okay, so I didn't make this a peninsula. 220s

It is a peninsula. 222s

Galatia is. 224s

People at home. 227s

Don't look at this right now. 229s

Next week, we're going to have a zoom in on a beautiful map. 232s

Okay. 237s

So we have, there's a peninsula. 237s

It's a peninsula and it's got the black sea to the north, the agency to the west, 241s

and then the Mediterranean Sea to the south. 247s

So the letter to the Galatians that we're studying, Galatians, is written by Paul. 251s

Paul was Saul. 258s

He would have traveled. 261s

He was the one to really bring the word to the Gentiles. 262s

But he also would go as we read through the book of Acts. 270s

We read how he is traveling from area to area, and he was seeking out the synagogues 274s

or the places where the Jewish people would pray. 281s

That's how he came across Lydia, because he was expecting to find this area. 285s

They wouldn't have had a lot of Jews in the area. 290s

And so as he went to where the Jews would have gathered to pray, he found all these women. 294s

And that's where he met Lydia. 300s

So Paul went on his missional journeys. 302s

And what we find in the letters are often letters checking back in with his congregations. 309s

Galatia would have been one of those. 315s

He did his first missional journey between 47 and 48. 318s

He talks with Paul, or Peter, in Antioch, in 49. 324s

He does his second missional journey in 49 through 51. 329s

And then in the couple of years that follow, that's when it's estimated that he wrote this letter to the Galatians. 334s

And the Galatia is a whole big area. 342s

Pastor I will you can see I have a beautiful map here that looks pretty much like the one in your Bible, right? 348s

So it's a large area. 359s

It's not just one little space. 363s

He writes this letter and then he in between 52 and 53, or 55, he takes his third missional journey. 366s

So Paul couldn't always be in the places he wanted to be. 375s

We see this time and time again in his letters to the congregation. 380s

How he says, oh, I long to be with you. 384s

But since I'm not, I'm sending this one with my greetings to you, my letter to you, my word to you. 387s

And he always takes a message. 394s

We find Galatia mentioned in the Book of Acts. 398s

If you open to the Book of Acts, this is the first book in the New Testament after the four Gospels. 402s

This is after his conversion. 409s

We're going to the Book of Acts, the 16th chapter. 412s

Chapter 16. 421s

Bless you. 426s

So we find that just starting in the first verse Paul went on also to Derby and to Lyscher, 429s

where there was a disciple named Timothy, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 436s

So here he picks up Timothy with him. 441s

He was well spoken of by the believers in Lyscher and Iconium. 444s

Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he took him and had him circumcised because of the Jews who were in those places. 448s

For they all knew that his father was a Greek. 455s

We'll come back to this in the weeks to come. 458s

As they went from town to town, they delivered to them for observance the decisions that had been reached by the Apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 461s

So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in numbers daily. 469s

They went through the region of Frigia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 474s

So they would have been heading or Paul wanted to be heading into Asia, and the Holy Spirit instead had them in Asia Minor, in this area here. 482s

And that's where he met Lydia. 494s

If you go over to chapter 18, where Paul is heading to Syria, he's accompanied by Priscilla and Aquila. 498s

If you look at verse 22, when he landed at Cessaria, he went up to Jerusalem, and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. 514s

After spending some time there, he departed and went from place to place through the region of Galatia and Frigia, strengthening all the disciples. 527s

So once again, so he would go on a missional journey, he would go, he would meet people, he would share the gospel, people would come to faith, and he would continue on, and then he would be writing letters. 536s

And as he went on his other, his next missional journeys, he would go back to these places and encourage them, and teach them further, and have that community and fellowship with them. 551s

So he was not generally a one stop, you know, once and done missionary. 569s

So Paul would have been in Galatia during his missional journeys. 576s

Timothy Keller, I love this, just quick description of Galatians. Timothy Keller says it's the heartbeat of the gospel. 583s

The book of Galatians is the heartbeat of the gospel, and I love that description of it because the heartbeat of Scripture, the heartbeat of Scripture really gets at law and gospel. 593s

And the importance of distinguishing between law and gospel, it's so important that both are there, and it's so important that they are very distinct one from the other. 615s

Because when we confuse law and gospel together, when we put them together and mangle them all up, we end up being a very confused believer, or we end up bringing and proclaiming a very confused word to the non-believer, which just confuses them more. 633s

So how do we do this in mission? Because everything comes back to our role as believers, or our call, as believers, we are always called to be in mission. 655s

Right? We are all missionaries always, wherever God has placed us, that is where we are, a missionary. 673s

So how it's so important, or why it's so important to distinguish the law from the gospel in mission is because when we are sharing the law with people, and we're going to talk a lot about this during these times of study together as we're in Galatians, but as we're sharing the law with someone, we are killing them. 682s

We are killing them because the law kills us. It shows us exactly who we are as sinners. It shows us exactly how we fail at every point in living up to the demand of God's holy perfection and righteousness. 708s

And so when we are sharing the law with someone, we are bringing them through God's word, or God is bringing them to nothing, to a place of absolute nothing. 736s

I kind of like the expression finding myself at the end of myself, and I don't know if I said that right, because I don't always say things right? 754s

But the law brings us to the end of ourself. It shuts us down. No one is righteous before the Lord as his or her own person. 769s

And then we have the gospel, and why it's so important to be clear in sharing the gospel is because it is absolute freedom. 784s

It is absolute glory, not in our own being, but it shows us through whom we have freedom, through whom we have forgiveness, and that is Christ and Christ alone. 800s

And so when we mix the two up, we never know if we're good enough, and we never know if we're quite saved. 823s

And so that leaves us, and that leaves those that we are missioning to, really confused, because it's a really mixed message. 837s

So Galatians is the heartbeat. It really gets at the distinction between the law and the gospel. 849s

So over the next several weeks, we are going to talk over and over and over again about law and gospel. 858s

So that by the time we're done with this adult ed series, you will go out, and it's going to be a burden of love, because every time you hear law and gospel mixed up or confused or put together in a wrong way, you're going to figure out, 869s

okay, is this the appropriate time to say, stop it, because you're going to hear it everywhere, and it's going to drive you up the wall. 895s

But that's why we're here, so that we have that clarity, and that we can stand firm in God's Word, and on God's Word, and under the authority of His Word. 909s

And I will say also doing that in mission. And we talked about this during the Incarnation Series. There are times where as missionaries, as knowing the truth, as knowing God's Word, there are times when we will be called to speak truth in love, to speak the law. 925s

And it's not comfortable, and it's not fun, but we are called to deliver the full law, the full gospel, because if we don't have the full law, and we don't have those awkward conversations, then that person doesn't get the opportunity to wrestle with the Word of God. 952s

That was some of, and I've shared this with some of you before, that was some of the best counsel I have ever received, was that we are called to bring the Word. 975s

When we deliver that, it's the hearer that needs to wrestle with the Word. It's the hearer that is wrestling with God's Word. It is not our job to wrestle with it for them. 990s

Okay. So circumstances, the circumstances of Paul writing, Galatians, it really comes or is started with a doctrinal issue. He was dealing with a doctrinal issue, because as he was going, and on his missional journeys, and he was sharing the law and the gospel, 1006s

and people were coming to faith, and they were believing in God, and believing in the salvation they had in Christ and Christ alone, as he was going on, there were others that were coming in behind him. 1033s

They were the Judaizers. They were the Jewish Christians. They believed that Jesus was Messiah. They did believe that Jesus was Messiah, but they also continued to cling to Jewish practices, Jewish rights, and rituals, and Jewish doctrine. 1050s

And so they were coming behind Paul, and they were adding on to what he had taught them. They were adding on to the law and to the gospel. 1072s

More importantly, they were adding on to the gospel and making it law. So they were teaching salvation and plus. 1087s

And there's a great sermon, I don't remember when it was, a few years ago that Pastor Eibel did on that addition, that saved and that I encourage you to find if you can, but they were coming behind him and teaching that there was more to do. 1107s

And we see that in modern day Christianity, don't we? We'll see either the straight out legalistic Christian faiths or the legalistic Christian faiths like Catholicism that has a works righteousness basis of faith, 1128s

that you do these things in order to secure your salvation or in order to have God want to forgive you. 1154s

When I always had a problem with confession when I was growing up, it really, really bothered me when I was a little kid, wouldn't have been able to articulate it, but it really bothered me that I had to come up with things that I had done that were wrong. 1168s

I had to go and talk to this old man, honestly he was probably not even old, but to a second grader he was ancient, had to tell this old man all the naughty things that I could think of that I had done and then he would tell me what I could do to make up for it. 1185s

And so growing up I had a very confused idea of my sin and my salvation because I always thought there was something more that I had to do, there was something more that had to be done. 1204s

And for anyone who has grown up in that sort of situation, you know what I'm talking about, that I remember talking to a relative and talking about confession and how we do confession and absolution here. 1223s

And this relative said, so if someone comes and has confession with you, what do you tell them? 1241s

I said, I tell them that they are forgiven in the name of Jesus Christ, that their sins have been forgiven. 1249s

And they said, and then what? I said, well then I give them a hug. Say, beyond your way. 1258s

We have forgiveness in Jesus Christ. Are we called to pray? 1269s

Yep. Are we called to do good works? 1276s

Yep. Are we called to do those things in the name of saving ourselves? 1282s

Absolutely not. It's the salvation that comes first. 1287s

And as we are saved and the Holy Spirit works in us, the Holy Spirit nudges us and urges us to speak to the Father. 1293s

The Holy Spirit is faith active in our lives that brings us and calls us to do good things, good works for those around us. 1306s

It's the salvation that has come first, the forgiveness that has come first, so that we can love our neighbor as ourselves. 1319s

It's not an everlasting attempt to climb a ladder to heaven. 1333s

We have entrants to heaven through Christ and Christ alone. 1341s

So anything that we do for our brothers and sisters or for the unbeliever this side of heaven, it's not getting us into heaven. 1346s

But it's serving out of the love that we have for Christ and out of the love that we have for our neighbors. 1358s

There are also the modern Christian churches, which I've also had an experience with. 1368s

I had an interesting journey into Lutheranism, praise the Lord I'm home. 1375s

But the churches that say you are saved by grace, it is a free gift if you say this right prayer. 1381s

Or if you do these certain things, and they want to be so far from Catholicism and works righteousness that they come right back to it. 1398s

And it's still legalism. 1411s

I know I've shared this story before, but it's one that I don't think will ever leave my brain. 1413s

My neighbor in Charleston was told she was going to a Christian church and she was told that because she wasn't going to church on Wednesday nights, she was going to go to hell. 1418s

That is not free gift of salvation. 1434s

That is another burden. That is the law bearing her down. 1439s

So this is where we have to be very conscious and very aware of how we are bringing the law and the gospel to those who don't believe, to those who do believe, and to those in between. 1444s

We have to be very cautious and careful with it. It's a great responsibility and I know that sounds kind of heavy, but it's a great responsibility to distinguish between the law and the gospel. 1462s

We're going to see as we go through Galatians, we're going to see Paul answering an attack on his apostleship. 1478s

There is so much danger in undermining authority. 1486s

So much danger in undermining authority. 1496s

And that's exactly what these people, these Judaism's coming in after Paul, they were undermining his authority as an apostle. 1502s

And so we're going to start the whole thing next week with Paul's apostleship. 1511s

So he answers an attack on his apostleship. 1519s

He answers the attack upon the gospel, the attack that Paul was not teaching the full demand of God, that he wasn't demanding the rights and the rituals that were prescribed under Jewish law, but that he was omitting them. 1522s

From the gospel. 1540s

We see an attack or his answer to an attack on the proclamation of salvation through faith in absolute free and forgiving grace of God. 1542s

When the non-believer comes to a full knowledge or a knowledge, an understanding of grace and what that truly is and what that truly means for one's life, it is an entirely new person. 1558s

It is an entirely new creation that is made. 1581s

And we read about that in Corinthians when Paul says that anyone who is in Jesus Christ, the old has passed away and there is a new creation, because the old Adam has died to the law and has risen free in the gospel. 1588s

It's the new Adam that is born in the gospel of salvation. 1610s

Paul is going to walk the reader, so us through his own conversion, we're going to hear how he visited with the apostles in Jerusalem, we're going to hear the discussion that he had as he confronted Peter at Antioch. 1618s

We know that Paul was a Pharisee, we know that he was very learned in the Jewish law, he was taught under Gamaliel. 1635s

Gamaliel was a, he was on the Pharisee on the Sanhedrin, the high council of the Jewish council. 1646s

Paul knew what he was talking about when it came to Jewish law, Jewish ceremony. 1656s

He knew, he knew God's word of the Torah, he knew it, and so he builds, in Galatians, we'll see how he builds the case for grace, how he builds the case for that freedom that we have in Christ. 1663s

Christ and Christ alone, he teaches on Abraham and Sarah, he teaches on Hagar, the promises that come through Sarah, versus what we receive through the law. 1684s

We're going to come through and we're going to find the fruit of the Spirit. 1701s

There's a lot to cover, but everything that we study will come back to the fact of the heartbeat of the gospel, that we are free, that we are free in Christ and Christ alone, that there is nothing that we have done, that we are doing or that we can do, that we'll free us from the law. 1706s

But it is Christ alone who has freed us, we will touch on anti-nomianism as well, on those that say, oh, well I'm free, so I get to do anything, no, no. 1733s

And we will come back to where we read in the book of Acts, where he had Timothy circumcised, because it seems to be exactly against what he's saying in Galatians, so we are going to talk about that as well. 1749s

In the meantime, I really encourage you, each week, take time, each week, read through the book of Galatians, the whole book. 1765s

We know that every time we open God's word, we hear from Him. 1776s

If you have any amazing insights, send them to me, because then I'll share them with everyone else. 1782s

You 1797s