Book Study · Week 1 of 5

The Good News Under Attack

Galatians 1:1-2:10

The gospel of grace versus works

Main Point

Paul received the gospel directly from Christ, not from human intermediaries. Salvation is by grace through faith — not through keeping the law — and Paul's apostolic authority was affirmed even by Peter.

Application Ideas

When Paul discovered the gospel, his whole understanding of how to be right with God was shattered. What you believe about grace fundamentally shapes how you live. Do you trust that you're justified by faith alone, or are you still performing to earn God's approval?

Discussion Questions

Why was it so important for Paul to establish that he received the gospel directly from Christ? What does it mean that the gospel was 'revealed' to him? How does this setting affect the tone of the entire letter?

Detailed Sermon Outline

Primary Text: Galatians 1:1-2:10

Supporting Texts: Acts 9:1-19; Romans 3:21-26; Philippians 3:4-9

Big Idea: Paul received the gospel from Christ Himself — salvation is by grace through faith, and there is no other gospel to fall back on.

Target Length: 35-40 minutes

Introduction

Every other letter Paul writes opens with thanksgiving. This one does not. He skips the courtesy and goes straight to alarm: 'I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you.'

Something had come into the Galatian churches after he left — teaching that added requirements to faith in Christ. It sounded like a small refinement. Paul treats it as a different religion.

The main point: the gospel is not a foundation you build additions onto. Add to it and you have replaced it.

I. No Other Gospel (Galatians 1:1-10)

Paul's urgency shows in the first sentence. He is an apostle 'sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father.' The credentials matter because his message is being questioned.

'I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting.' Not drifting over decades. Quickly, and after real experience of grace.
'Some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.' The word suggests twisting something until it no longer functions.
'Even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God's curse.'

That is a startling thing to say, and Paul says it twice. He is not defending his authorship. He is saying that his own credentials would not save a false message, and neither would an angel's.

II. Where the Message Came From (Galatians 1:11-24; Acts 9:1-19)

Then his story, told to settle one question: is this gospel something Paul invented or inherited from other men?

'I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.'
He names his past without flinching: 'I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it', and he was 'extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.'
'But when God, who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me' — the turn was God's doing, not his research.

And the detail he wants noticed: the churches in Judea 'only heard the report, The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy. And they praised God because of me.' The evidence is a changed life, and it was God who was praised for it.

III. The Gospel Confirmed, Not Corrected (Galatians 2:1-10)

Fourteen years later Paul goes to Jerusalem and lays out his message before the leaders there. The outcome is the point of the passage.

'They added nothing to my message.' The apostles who had walked with Jesus had no corrections to offer.
Titus, a Greek, 'was not compelled to be circumcised' — a test case, and Paul refused to yield 'so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.'
'James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship.'

And one request: 'that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.' A gospel of pure grace produced not laziness but generosity, and everyone in that room assumed it would.

Conclusion & Appeal

The Galatian error is alive and well, though it rarely uses the old vocabulary. It shows up as a quiet conviction that God accepts you and then keeps a running tally of whether you are holding up your end.

That is not a smaller version of the gospel. It is a different one, and it will exhaust you, because a righteousness you maintain is a righteousness you can lose.

So ask yourself this week: what am I doing to keep God's approval that Christ has already secured? Write it down. Then read the first two chapters of this letter again and notice how hard Paul fought to keep you from having to do it.