Galatians 1
Galatians 1 warns that there is only one gospel and that any message adding human works to Christ brings God's curse. Paul defends his apostleship and calls the churches back to the grace of God.
New Testament
The Book of Galatians
Paul's letter to the Galatians defends the gospel of grace against every attempt to add human works to the ground of acceptance with God. Written with unusual heat, it skips Paul's customary thanksgiving and goes straight to astonishment: the Galatians were deserting the gospel for 'a different gospel, which is really not another,' by submitting to teachers who required circumcision and law-keeping alongside faith in Christ. Paul's answer is total: a man is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, and if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died needlessly.
The letter grounds justification in the promise given to Abraham before the law, declares that all who are of faith are sons of Abraham, and presses freedom into life: 'It was for freedom that Christ set us free.' These chapter-by-chapter commentaries trace Paul's defence of his apostleship, his warning against a different gospel, the argument from Abraham, life in the Spirit against the flesh, and the freedom believers have in Christ.
Galatians 2
Galatians 2 defends justification by faith in Christ, showing that Gentile believers must not be enslaved to the Law or treated as second-class members of God's people.
Galatians 3
Galatians 3 shows that sinners are justified by faith, not works of the Law. Christ bore the Law's curse so Abraham's blessing and the promised Spirit come through Him.
Galatians 4
God sent His Son in the fullness of time to redeem those under the Law so they might receive adoption as sons. The Spirit confirms it in the heart. Why would anyone trade sonship for slavery?
Galatians 5
Christ sets His people free: not free to sin, and not free to add works to the gospel. What matters is faith working through love. Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Galatians 6
Walk by the Spirit: restore the fallen gently, bear one another's burdens, and do not grow weary in doing good. The only boast left to the Christian is the cross of Christ.