Written to a group of churches in Galatia made up of Jewish converts to Christianity, Galatians is a book all about freedom. The word ‘freedom’ occurs more frequently in Galatians than in any other NT book. Paul’s burden is to convince the Galatians not to give up their freedom in Christ by turning to dead religion and legalism.
 
False teachers were telling the Galatians their salvation depended on following the law of Moses as well as following Jesus; that as Gentiles they needed to become Jews in order to be Christians; that God’s grace needed to be topped up by human effort; that faith in Jesus alone wasn’t enough.
 
As a result they were in danger of subtracting from the gospel by adding to it, leaving them with nothing. They were in danger of adding to the grace of God and losing their freedom in Christ. They were in danger of replacing the joy of salvation with the drudgery of duty.
 
This is a temptation Christians throughout the ages have faced. 500 years ago the message of Galatians fired the starting gun of the Protestant Reformation when Martin Luther realised from Galatians that salvation is by faith alone, through grace alone, in Christ alone. This is precisely why the gospel is such good news. We don’t need to prove ourselves to earn God’s favour. We are loved and accepted because of Jesus’ atoning death on the cross and we are given power to live a new life by his Spirit within us.
 
The good news is that we don’t need to be good enough to be right with God: we get the righteousness we need from Jesus. Galatians is about how the gospel liberates us to follow Jesus without fear. Jesus said ‘the truth will set you free’ (John 8:32). The truth we see in Galatians is that Jesus is all we need. Jesus is enough.
 

1:1-10              Stay true to the gospel                                              22nd Jan
1:11-2:10        Transformed by the gospel                                      29th Jan
2:11-21            Live in line with the gospel                                      5th Feb
3:1-14              How to be blessed by God                                        12th Feb
3:15-22            How to be right with God                                        19th Feb
3:23-4:7          How to be a child of God                                         26th Feb
4:8-31              How to serve God                                                     12th Mar
 
MISSION SUNDAY / BIG WEEKEND GUEST SERVICES / EASTER
 
5:1-12              Remember what really counts                                 23rd Apr
5:13-26            Live in step with the Spirit                                       30th Apr
6:1-10              What a spiritual person looks like                           7th May
6:11-18            Living the new life in Christ                                    14th May