Free In Christ: A 6-Day DevotionalSample

In Galatians 1, we learn that Paul is nearly apoplectic because Christians in Galatia are turning from the true gospel to a counterfeit, substitute gospel, which is no gospel at all. In this classic defense of the gospel, Paul begins by making it clear that the true gospel, in all its wonder and power, was given to him by way of divine revelation, not by human tradition. The reason Paul is so exercised, so distressed, becomes clear to us in chapter 2, where he reminds the Galatians of the precious and unique content of the true gospel. It is in the content of this gospel that we find the only remedy for humanity’s greatest predicament.

You can see this from the repetition of an important word: “justification” or “righteousness” (same Greek word). Paul teaches here and elsewhere that we are justified before God through faith alone, apart from any works that we perform. Shortly after Paul and Barnabas had planted the churches, some men came from Jerusalem, Jewish Christians, who taught that indeed we must believe in Jesus to be saved, but that we must also keep the ceremonial traditions of the Jews to be accepted into God’s family. They taught three falsehoods to which Paul responds in this chapter: (1) that Paul was wrong, (2) that he was out of step with the lead apostles in Jerusalem, and (3) that Paul’s doctrine came with dangerous consequences. These Judaizers were beginning to make significant inroads into the minds and hearts of the Galatian Christians.

—Sandy Willson