The thoughts and note material given on these pages are only a possible suggestion of the meaning, they must not be taken as inspired, however they are prayerfully prepared and compared with other similar material. There are many ways in which God’s Word can be analyzed and none must be taken in place of the Word of God itself.

Galatians

WRITER. The Apostle Paul Gal 1.1.

Date: DATE. It is thought that Galatians was probably written about A.D. 53 though some think much earlier 48 or 49 from Antioch. It is possible that it was written during Paul’s third visit to Corinth though some students think it was written during Paul’s visit to Ephesus in the third missionary journey.

Reason. It had been brought to Paul’s notice that the church at Galatia, who were not Greeks, but Gauls, were developing errors in doctrine. They wanted to add to the Death and resurrection of Christ.
The Galatian had two main errors. They felt that obeying the Law must be part of and mixed with faith as the way for the sinner being made right with God - justification.
The second error was that they believed that the justified believer is made perfect by keeping the law.
Location of Church.
There is a slight problem on the location of the Galatian church. Galatia originally applied to tribes which had moved from Gaul (today France) into Asia Minor creating "the country of the Gauls" Galatia. However under Roman rule this area was combined with several other local areas and called Galatia. So was Paul talking about the small original area or the greater Roman province? The matter is not settled but evidence suggests he was writing to the Southern area of Galatia which contained Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe, churches Paul had started during the first missionary journey.

The letter is broken up in seven parts as follows:

1) Greetings and Salutation. Authority for writing. Gal 1:1-5.

2) Reason for writing, Gal 1:6-9.

3) Paul’s Gospel is a revelation, Gal 1:10 - Gal 2:14.

4) Being made right with God, justification, is by faith without the law, Gal 2:15 - Gal 3:24.

5) The control of the believer’s life is through grace, not by law or legal action, Gal 3:25 - Gal 5:15.

6) Being set aside for God, sanctification is through the Spirit, not the law, Gal 5:16-24.

7) Encouragement and conclusion, Gal 5:25 - Gal 6:18.