It is often the case that believers, though justified and made new creations by God’s grace, find themselves struggling with sin. Yet, instead of receiving help and encouragement from their fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, they instead encounter haughty judgment and condemnation. Here Paul teaches that one of the most practical ways for the...
Arguably the most familiar passage in the entire letter to the Galatians is the description of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit. Here, Paul sets forth a non-exhaustive list of the many characteristics of those who continue to live according sinful flesh with its passions and desires. For the Christian...
Having preached and defended the gospel of grace – “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Rom. 3:22-26) – Paul has been laboring to articulate the life of freedom that God’s children may now experience. This new life that we have been called to is one characterized by, submitted to,...
In Paul’s discussion of the believer’s freedom as found in the gospel of Jesus Christ, he warns the Galatians of two possible and dangerous errors: losing gospel freedom (Gal. 5:1-6) and abusing gospel freedom (5:13-15). While the Christian can foolishly turn back to legalism, to law-reliance as a means of acceptance before...
Paul boldly and unapologetically preached “Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles” (1 Cor. 1:23; 2:2). Yet the Galatian false teachers had been bringing all sorts of accusation against Paul and his ministry, in addition to preaching a subtly different gospel that in fact was no gospel...
In Galatians 5 and 6, Paul appeals to the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer as further proof for the gospel of justification by faith. He demonstrates that only faith working through love, as a result of the freedom that comes from the gospel of grace, counts...
Far from being an issue only faced by the Galatian church, the tendency to slip back into justification by works is a present reality in the church even today. The difference between gospel-centered law-obedience is far too easily replaced by a works-driven law-reliance. However, the solution for the true believer is...
Galatians 4:13 is crucial in our understanding of suffering in the life of believers: “You know it was because of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you at first.” For the Apostle Paul, suffering is most definitely to be included in the “all things”, of Romans 8:28-29,...
Having proclaimed the beautiful gospel truths of justification by faith and explained the adoption and sonship of the believer, Paul once again passionately voices his concerns for the Galatian church. These brothers and sisters in Christ, who truly had “come to know God, or rather to be known by God” (Gal. 4:9), were turning back to...