The Liberator

INTRO

Galatians is famous for its description of the fruit of the Spirit. Secondarily, Galatians is known for its description of freedom in Christ. Because of this association, our word for Galatians is Liberator. Galatians 5:1 says, “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.” Because of Jesus’ work as our Liberator, we have freedom to live in the Spirit and display the fruit of the Spirit.

Galatians gets its name from a region in Asia Minor in what is most likely modern-day Turkey. It was a large region that included many churches. Paul is unquestionably the author, which is established in Galatians 1:1, “Paul, an apostle.”¹

Paul was originally from Tarsus, in the province of Silicia, which was near Galatia. As a result, Paul understood this region well. Paul studied under the famous rabbi Gamaliel as stated in Acts 22 and became a rising star within Judaism before his Damascus road experience with Jesus.² After this encounter, MacArthur noted Paul went from being “Christianity’s chief persecutor to its greatest missionary.”³

Galatians is one of 13 letters Paul wrote that are contained in the New Testament. This letter was written to a group of churches— “to the churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2). In Galatians 2, Paul describes a visit to the Jerusalem council. If this was the Jerusalem council of Acts 15, which most scholars date to AD 49, then Galatians was most likely written a few years later.⁴

Before Galatia became a province in the Roman Empire, the title referred to a smaller, ethnic region. The Romans created a large province and gave it the name Galatia. Because of the wide range of possible recipients, MacArthur notes two schools of thought have emerged about how to understand Paul’s references to the Galatians:⁵

1. Galatia was used in an ethnic sense—Galatia was a region in central Asia Minor inhabited by Galatians who were Celtic people. They had migrated to the region from Gaul in the third century BC. Then around AD 25, Rome created the province of Galatia, which was inhabited by some people who were not ethnically Galatians.
2. Galatia was used in a political sense—Galatia described the entire province and was not limited to the original region inhabited by ethnic Galatians.

Paul founded churches in the southern Galatian cities of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. MacArthur notes these cities were not located in the ethnic Galatian region. There is no record of Paul having founded churches in northern Galatia. However, it is difficult to say with certainty who the original recipients of this letter were. Paul traveled through the northern regions of Galatia, but there is no record of him conducting any evangelistic ministry in those areas (Acts 16:6; 18:23). At a minimum, it is reasonable to conclude that at least the four churches in southern Galatian whom Paul founded probably received it.⁶

MacArthur highlights two main reasons why Paul wrote Galatians:⁷

To emphasize justification by faith—Judaizers added observing the Law to faith, which Paul argued was contrary to the gospel.

Some were ignoring the decree of the Jerusalem Council—these false teachers argued that a person must first become a Jewish proselyte and observe the Mosaic Law before becoming a Christian.

TEACHING

Galatians 1:1-5: Paul followed a pattern for beginning his letters. He identified himself (v. 1), addressed his recipients (v. 2), and offered a greeting (v. 3). Afterwards, Paul quickly moves into a short recitation of the gospel (vv. 4–5).

Galatians 1:6–9: Now, Paul addresses head-on his reason for writing. He was “amazed” the Galatians had turned away from the gospel he preached to them and embraced “a different gospel” (v. 6). Paul was so adamant the gospel of justification by faith alone was the true gospel that he pronounced a curse on the deliverer of that gospel, even if it were an angel (vv. 8–9).

Galatians 1:10: Paul had no interest in listening to someone’s message just to make them happy. Because he was in Christ, he gave no consideration to appeasing any person other than Jesus (v. 10).

Galatians 1:11–12: The gospel Paul preached was given by “a revelation from Jesus Christ” (v. 12). Paul’s radical encounter with Jesus had completely changed him. “As he traveled and was nearing Damascus, a light from heaven suddenly flashed around him. Falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?’ ‘Who are You, Lord?’

he said. ‘I am Jesus, the One you are persecuting,’ He replied. ‘But get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do’” (Acts 9:3–6).

Galatians 1:13–17: Nelson’s Commentary defined the “Judaism” Paul referenced in v. 13 as “the Jewish way of life, which was based partly on the OT and partly on additional traditions of the fathers.”⁸ While Paul “advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries” (v. 14), God had a different plan for his life. After his Damascus road experience, Paul went to Arabia for three years before consulting with anyone else.

Galatians 1:18–20: After his time in Arabia, Paul went to Jerusalem where he met with Peter for 15 days.

Galatians 1:21–24: Paul established how God did this work in his life through grace. As news about Paul’s conversion spread, the churches glorified God because of what God had done in Paul’s life.

CLOSING

Paul’s life trajectory was changed by God. Jesus revealed Himself to Paul, and Paul received the Liberator and refused to go back to embrace the yoke of slavery again (Galatians 5:1).