Stand fast therefore in the Liberty by which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. (13)  For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use Liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.  (14) For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (15) But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!  (16) I say then:  Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  (17) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  (18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

The letter to the Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul. Paul visited Galatia on each of his three missionary journeys and founded churches there. After Paul moved on, legalizers expanded and changed the heart of the gospel Paul preached – jewish men who preached  salvation comes through faith in Christ AND also thru observance of the mosaic law, Jewish customs and ceremonies. Paul made his furious stand against the Judaizers in Galatia realizing that the issue must be resolved. The Law is a standard of behavior but the law cannot grant salvation. Man cannot do anything to earn salvation; it is of grace through the completed saving works of Christ.  Through Christ only we are saved and we now have priceless liberty to cling to.

The doctrine is that we must love our neighbors as ourselves. When saving faith is ignored by not following Christ, peace and unity end. Saving faith compels love. Christianity is not just words and the indwelling Spirit is to be desired. Flesh and Spirit oppose each other – they are directly contrary.  Paul does not lose sight of the doctrine of justification but shows us at every turn that it is impossible to be justified by works.   Paul tells us we are led by the Spirit in faith, and so are NOT UNDER THE LAW.

Paul is telling the Galatians that the gospel gives freedom from consequences of sin, not freedom to sin. He is calling the Law a standard of righteousness, not the SOURCE of righteousness – that what the law cannot do, Jesus did. Further Paul is saying devotion to Jesus is not possible without love for each other.

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.  (27) For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. (28) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave or free, there is neither male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (29) And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

The letter to the Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul. In the verses we study today Paul is addressing the teaching of disgruntled Jews who went to Galatia to tell the Gentile Christians that they needed to follow the Jewish law to gain salvation. The Judaizers sought to make something out of the law of Moses that it was never meant to accomplish – they preached salvation by man’s works to make men righteous before God.

The Judaizers failed to make a distinction between God’s covenant with Abraham and the Mosaic Law – between works and promise, law and grace. Paul had – earlier in Chapter  3 – reminded the Christians that Abraham was justified by faith and that Abraham was NOT under the Law. Paul is writing that grace is over the Law. By faith we are children of God and the Law cannot do this. The simple means of faith in Christ Jesus makes us God’s children.

Nothing we do qualifies or earns us salvation. In Christ nothing else matters; not circumstance or worth or achievements. In faith we are all equal before God. There is no need for Gentiles to become Jews.  All human distinctions disappear in Christ.

Paul tells his audience to put on Christ. According to the Jews this means to follow the example of Christ.  However according to the gospel putting on Christ   means a new birth; a new life, a new affection toward God and a new determination affecting our will.

(16) “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but be faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.  (19) For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. (20) I have been crucified with Christ;it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  (21) I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” 

The letter to the Galatians was written by the Apostle Paul.  Our verses today concern the foundational truth of the gospel: that salvation for man is by faith in Christ Jesus who became sin and offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice to redeem man.  Paul preached justification by faith in Christ Jesus without deeds mandated by the Law.  This totally new ” good news” was fiercely opposed by some Jews who held that salvation was of faith BUT also through the observation of Jewish law, ceremonies and traditions.

Earlier in chapter two of Galatians Paul writes that the apostle Peter came to Antioch where Paul was preaching. This visit was after Peter and the apostles had agreed that Paul was indeed an apostle by the will of God, and that the gospel is for all, Gentiles and Jew – and that salvation is  faith alone in Christ Jesus. That the Jewish law doesn’t make us righteous but Christ alone does – there is no self merit and man lives through the merit of Christ Jesus.

This chief article of Christianity allowed the converted Gentiles to eat meats forbidden by the Law. and Peter, a Jew, ate with them knowing this.  With the arrival of Judaizers who claimed the law and circumcision were necessary – in addition to faith –  Peter separated  from the Gentiles.  This was a very big deal – the very foundational truth of the gospel – that faith in Christ alone – was by example of Peter being questioned.  Paul stood alone in his disagreement with the Judaizers – even his beloved companion on his missionary trips, Barnabus, disagreed with him.  Paul publicly rebuked Peter for disguising his ( Peter’s) attitude to the Law. He accused Peter of hypocrisy.  Paul claimed that Peter erred and denied Christ by giving the impression that he was endorsing the Law.

So the words of Paul were addressed to Peter but in our verses today Paul writes a summary statement to the Galatians.  Paul tells them that if we are justified in Christ, then we are not justified by the Law.  We cannot have it both ways.  And to be dead to the Law means to be free of it. The Law (works) can never justify a man so to live for the law is to die to God.  Sin, evil and death are crucified in Christ.  If we look at ourselves we have sin. If we look at Christ we have no sin. If we believe we are justified by the Law we reject the grace of God and reject the death of Christ.

But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.  (12) For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.  (13) For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.  (14) And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers. (15) But when it pleased God who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, (16) to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. (18) Then after three years  went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. (19) But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

The letter to the Galatians was written by the apostle Paul. There were false teachers (Judaizers) who disputed Pauls divine calling and in our verses today Paul is emphasizing his authority as an apostle called by God. It was important because Paul needed to assert the authority of the gospel he preached. In speaking about his calling and purpose, Paul contrasts his position in God with his former life.

The Judaizers were telling the Christian  Galatians that Pauls gospel was defective. Paul was preaching salvation by grace from God through the perfect sacrifice of Christ Jesus. And the false teachers were saying salvation comes through Jewish traditions and obeying the Law – in other words, through works, not faith.  These Judaizers boasted that they had been instructed by the “real” apostles.

Paul begins his defense and claim of authority by telling the Galatians that he had been the chief opponent of the gospel and the enemy of Christianity.  He had been educated in the faith of his ancestors – a Hebrew of Hebrews.  But then Paul experienced his miraculous conversion on the road to Damascus when our Lord revealed that Saul/Paul was a “chosen vessel unto Me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel”.  That he  was separated by God from his mothers womb was the divine purpose and the sovereignty of God.  Paul further made it clear that he relied on God alone and intended to have nothing to do with human counsel.  His trip to Jerusalem was not to learn of the gospel but to meet with Peter and hear first hand of Our Lords life here on earth.  He did not meet with the other apostles but Peter alone, again making it clear that he was not in Jerusalem to learn but was there for mutual talk.