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 nor free, there is neither male nor 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 and may be the earliest letter written by Paul.  He had spent some time with the Galatians and preached the gospel of faith in Jesus Christ which makes us right with God.  Justification and salvation follow.  After Paul had moved on certain men came out of Jerusalem ( legalizers) who  told the Galatians it was necessary to embrace the ceremonial aspects of Judaism – circumcision and acceptance of the law to be assured of salvation.  The letter to the Galatians is occasioned by this threat to gospel preached by Paul.

The promise of salvation was made by God to Abraham before the law was given to Moses 430 years later.  The law did not abrogate the Promise.  Christ, the  Messiah, was promised as Abraham’s seed.  The law was given to teach the Jews that sinfulness could not be defeated by works.  No man could keep the law.  Jesus is the Messiah and the end of the law.  Belief and faith in Jesus Christ is the path to salvation.  Faith in Jesus makes ALL who believe, heirs to the promise given by God to Abraham  – all, Jews or Gentiles, are on a level; all alike are children of God in the same manner and on the same terms that Abraham was.

Paul states a position unique in Christianity that all are sinners; all are on a level; all are saved in the same way and all are entitled to the same privileges as children of God.  This does not mean that ability or distinctions are ignored – it does not mean that all are on a level with talents, comforts or wealth.  It means that all are on a level with regard to salvation.  This is what Paul is discussing in these verses.  He is not trying to break down distinctions in society.  All are on a level before God.  All are equally accepted through faith in Jesus Christ.

(16)  knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by 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.  Paul had founded Christian churches in southern Galatia and after he moved on, he was alerted that certain “legalizers” from Jerusalem had approached these churches and corrupted the gospel that Paul had preached.   They claimed that Gentile Christians must adhere to the Mosaic Law and be circumcised.   They also questioned Paul’s authority as an apostle.

In Chapter 2 of his letter to the Galatians, Paul stresses his authority as an apostle and as one who received his knowledge of the gospel directly from God.  He writes that the other Apostles recognized his authority as proof of his equal commission.

The verses we study today concern the doctrine of justification through faith in Jesus Christ.  The death of Christ was the death of the Law.  The gospel Paul preached is that justification – where the guilty are pardoned and reinstated as God’s children and fellow heirs with Jesus Christ – is only by faith in Christ.  The gospel is the instrument of our justification and not the law.  Faith is the means, not the source, of justification.  In verse 16 we see that the Apostle Paul repeats this great doctrine of justification three times.   Then Paul ends verse 16 by stating that there is no possibility to be justified  by works done in obedience to any statutes.

Paul continues in this letter by becoming personal and particular.  He declares that he is dead to the law – that he has abandoned all hope of justification and salvation by obeying the law as Christ’s death superseded the law.  It was treated as an end in itself and no one can perform perfect obedience to the law.  Paul had renounced all hopes of justification under the law – there was no further need for sacrifice, purification.  Paul claims life unto God through Jesus Christ – a new life of faith in the free grace given by God to those who become “right” with God through faith in Christ.

Paul closes this chapter by saying that if justification comes under the law – to be the result of works – it is not of grace from faith.  He argues that if salvation is from works, it must follow that Christ died in vain.  Wow.

But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not accordin 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 immediately confer with flesh and blood, (17) nor did I 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 I 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.  He founded Christian churches in what was known politically as southern Galatia and it is believed this letter was written to those believers.  Paul preached salvation by God’s free grace through faith in Jesus Christ who died for the redemption of sin – he did not teach that conformity to Jewish law and the Jewish rite of circumcision brought salvation to sinners.

After Paul had moved on from the Galatians in his missionary journeys he heard that conservative Jewish teachers – called legalizers – had arrived from Jerusalem.  These legalizers claimed authority from the Christian church in Jerusalem to teach that the converted Christians had to obey the Law of Moses and also be circumcised.  These men challenged Paul’s apostolic authority as a genuine apostle and rejected his teaching.  Paul wrote in response to the subsequent situation in the Galatian churches where the believers were abandoning the gospel.

In the early chapters of this letter Paul writes the story of his life emphasizing that his apostolic teaching came by revelation from God.  He cites the recognition of this authority by the other apostles as confirming his apostolic standing.  Most importantly in this letter Paul addresses the issue of the law providing the path for salvation and states that the basis of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ as redeemer.

Paul stresses that the gospel he preaches is of divine origin –  the conditions and trajectory of his life to the time of his conversion proves he could not have received this gospel from men.  Paul was a “Hebrew of Hebrews” and not only opposed but actively persecuted the early church.  He was a fanatic against the church.  Paul stresses that only God could – and did – accomplish a conversion in him and called him by His grace,  Paul began to preach Christianity immediately.  He insists that he did not consult anyone, particularly the Jerusalem apostles but instead he went to Arabia.  Paul was not under the authority of the Apostles but was on his own.  His revelation was directly from God.  Paul taught that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ alone and NO work can earn salvation.  Any other thinking contradicts the truth and is a turning away from God.