Introduction

The Epistle to the Galatians is known as the “Magna Carta” of Christian freedom. It was addressed to a group of churches in Galatia.  It was a Roman province in the Asia Minor.  Paul and Barnabas evangelized the southern part of Galatia during their first missionary journey and founded these churches (Acts 13:14-14:26).  The people of Galatia once worshiped nature and had a love for new ideas. Many Bible commentators favor the Pauline authorship of this letter.  Scholars believe that Paul wrote this letter from Antioch in A.D. 49, just before the council of Jerusalem. The false teachers distorted the gospel of Christ by mixing faith with work and urged the Galatians to submit to circumcision to be saved (Galatians 1:6; 4:10).  They taught that gentiles should obey the law of Moses to attain salvation.  Many believers were influenced by these false teachers. The purpose of writing this letter was to root out the error of legalism and win back the believers to Christ. Paul destroys their argument of mixing the law with faith by pointing out that Abraham was justified by faith 430 years before the law was given.  Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ. Paul clearly sets forth grace as opposed to law, faith as opposed to works and Spirit as opposed to flesh in this epistle. The letter to the Galatians teaches that justification is by faith and not by work.  Christendom is permeated by the leaven of legalism, ritualism, and materialism. A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump (5:9).  Our performance never is the basis of our acceptance with God.  As the present church is facing many challenges from the cults, the epistle of Galatians has relevance in its message today.