Galatians

In the Epistle to the Galatians, Paul is battling the legalistic mindset that often infiltrates a church with an emphasis on some work or ritual that is a prerequisite to acceptance and status within the church. For the legalist grace is a wonderful thing so long as you deserve it. Paul’s counterattacks on the legalists in the churches of Galatia were meant to remind everyone that no one should suffer from any delusions of virtue for one can never merit unmerited favor.

Therefore Chapters 1 and 2 contain Paul’s defense of his apostleship, a fact denied by the Judaizer legalists who were attempting to cast doubt about Paul as a trustworthy messenger so they could discredit his message. Paul spends the first two chapters defending his authenticity so that the gospel he preached could be viewed with authority.

In Chapter 1, Paul says he could not be preaching another gospel because there is no other gospel to preach. The gospel he preached is unalterable. Furthermore, he did not receive the gospel he preached from any man. He received the gospel directly from the source, Jesus Christ. He then lays out a brief history of what he did before and after he received the gospel.

In Chapter 2, he says he went to Jerusalem a second time to make sure they were still correctly preaching the gospel, not for the disciples there to evaluate whether he was correctly preaching the gospel. He mentions that false brethren were secretly activated to spy out our freedom in Christ. He mentions the other disciples recognized the grace given to him and the fact he had been tasked with being a missionary to the Gentiles. Later in Antioch he observed that Peter and Barnabas had succumbed to Jewish pressure…so he confronted them. He notes the foolishness of trying to rebuild what Jesus Christ has torn down because it nullifies the purpose of the cross.