Our primary text for May 31 was Galatians 1:6-10. Our first reading was Romans 1:8-15. We read the thanksgiving section from Romans (1:8-15) to illustrate the contrast with Galatians.

Here in Galatians Paul did not thank God for the Galatians as he would later do for the Romans and other Christians in other letters. Here in Galatians Paul instead immediately identified the problem: “there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ”.

Paul was astonished. The Galatians were in the process of deserting God (1:6). There were heretics in Galatia who wanted to distort the gospel of Christ (1:7). Paul pronounced a double curse on each of these heretics: “let him be accursed” (1:8-9). Then Paul transitioned to his historical argument against this heresy: “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God?” (1:10).

We call the problem in Galatia the Galatian Heresy. We use the word heresy to categorize very serious false doctrines which if genuinely believed would prevent one from being saved. That is what deeply concerned Paul. If the Galatians taught and preached this false doctrine their own disciples could never come to saving faith in Jesus Christ. And by their false teaching they would be calling their own salvation into question.

There have been heresies that distorted Creation, the Fall, the Trinity, Chalcedonian Christology, Salvation, etc. Here in Galatia the heretics distorted the Gospel. We will find more details about the particular distortion they were trying to introduce as we work on through the letter. For now we could infer the distortion by quoting Paul:

yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:16, ESV

In Galatians 2:16 we see the great spiritual danger that drove Paul to write this letter: no one can be justified by works. We must diligently guard our understanding of the gospel; otherwise it will be distorted from Good News to Very Bad News.

Sermon Outline

"A Different Gospel" Galatians 1:6-10

1. Deserting God (1:6)
2. There Is Not Another Gospel (1:7)
3. Let Him Be Accursed (1:8-9)
4. Seeking the Approval of God (1:10)

Scripture References: Romans 1:8-15; Galatians 1:6-10;

1. Deserting God (1:6)

⁶I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel.

Galatians 1:6, ESV

In verse 6 Paul wrote “I am astonished”. This is the point in most of Paul’s letters where he would thank God for the behavior or faith of the recipients. The letter to the Romans gives a good example of thanksgiving of this sort:

First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.”

Romans 1:8, ESV

Here in Galatians Paul was instead very surprised and very disappointed because, as he wrote, they were so quickly deserting him who called them in the grace of Christ. The referent of the word him in verse 6 is most likely God the Father. The Galatians were in the process of rapidly deserting God the Father. Paul seems to be indicating that this process of desertion had started shortly after he left their churches. The verb deserting suggests that the Galatians were in the process of becoming traitors. God the Father had called them by the grace of Christ into salvation. This turning away from God would have been a serious, harmful sin. Abandoning the grace of God is always wrong and destructive.

The Galatians were turning to a different gospel. That is how they were deserting God, by turning to a different gospel. Accepting a false gospel after having been given the true gospel is desertion, rebelling against God. In the next clause (at the beginning of verse 7) Paul qualifies this characterization by asserting that “there isn’t any such thing as another gospel”. The words “deserting” and “turning”(supplied) are present tense verbs. So the Galatians were in the process of rejecting the only true gospel but they hadn’t done so as of yet.

2. There Is Not Another Gospel (1:7)

⁷not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 1:7, ESV

In verse 7 we will consider questions:

1. Did Paul contradict himself by writing “a different gospel” and then writing “not that there is another one”?
2. Who were the opponents?
3. What had the opponents wanted to do?

Paul did not contradict himself by writing that the Galatians “are turning to a different gospel–not that there is another one,” The problem that Paul highlighted by these phrases is that any distortion of the gospel changes it from being the gospel to being something else. You cannot and should not change the gospel and still call it the gospel. This redefinition of key words is a common characteristic of heresies. Heretics use the same words that we use but give the words different meanings.

Paul refers to the opponents for the first time with the phrase “but there are some who trouble you”. By implication the word “some” refers to false teachers who were disturbing the Galatians. We use the term false teacher to indicate a teacher who teaches false information about Christian beliefs and practices. Paul tells us two things about these false teachers:

1. The false teachers “trouble the Galatians”, that is, they disturb them and cause them to lose their spiritual balance.
2. The false teachers “want to distort the gospel of Christ”, that is, they wanted to pervert the gospel.

Paul may have used the word “want” to imply that you cannot alter the gospel and then still have the gospel.

Paul has not yet said what the distortion is but he will do so later in the letter. Essentially the false teachers want to add works of the law to faith as the means of salvation. Instead of being saved by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone these false teachers wanted to be saved by faith and works. Here in verses 6-7 Paul has stated the basic problem in the Galatian churches. The trouble-makers have started trying to convince the Galatian believers to abandon their allegiance to God by adopting another gospel that is not a gospel. The word gospel means good news. But going from salvation through faith to salvation by works is not good news. It is instead very bad news.

3. Let Him Be Accursed (1:8-9)

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 1:8-9, ESV

Paul was very concerned about the Galatian heresy. He asserted twice that the false teachers would be punished eternally in Hell for their sins. We must keep in mind that every single person who does not believe in the Lord Jesus will also be punished eternally in Hell for their sins. We have to remind ourselves what we mean by this word believe. True, personal, saving faith consists of three aspects and only three aspects: Knowledge, Assent, and Trust (KAT). Nonetheless, verses 8-9 are very harsh.

Let’s look at verse 8 in detail and then see how verse 9 differs from verse 8.

The verb “should preach” in verse 8 (“But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you …”) uses the subjunctive mood. It is highly unlikely that Paul or any “angel from heaven” would preach anything contrary to the true gospel. So Paul uses the subjunctive mood but he does include himself under this first statement of the curse.

Paul indicates the standard by which to judge whether the gospel has been corrupted by the phrase “a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you”. Paul was not setting himself up as the originator of the standard. Paul received the gospel directly from Christ and he conveyed it to others by preaching, teaching, and conversation. The standard was not Paul. The standard was the divinely imparted, revealed Word of God from the Living Word.

The verb translated “let him be” in the clause “let him be accursed” uses the imperative mood. Paul was here ordering the trouble-makers to be condemned. The noun translated “accursed” as used here by Paul indicates eternal punishment for sin in Hell. But the false teachers condemned themselves just by believing what they taught. By dragging others with them they made their sins even worse. We must note that this condemnation is really the worst thing that we could wish for anyone.

When Paul wrote “As we have said before, so now I say again:” he was probably referring to verse 8. But he certainly could have warned the Galatians in person. If he is referring to verse 8 he could be putting further emphasis on verse 9: “I just said this and it’s so important that I am saying it again!”.

In verse 9 Paul switches from subjunctive mood (“should preach”) to indicative mood (“is preaching”). Paul also changes the subject of the verb from “we or an angel from heaven” to “anyone”. Now instead of talking about unlikely problems he intensifies to the actual problems going on in Galatia right at that time. Otherwise it is the same assertion (same standard, same curse).

Why does Paul repeats himself (with intensification of mood)? Paul repeats himself to emphasize how serious this distortion of the gospel is.

4. Seeking the Approval of God (1:10)

¹⁰For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Galatians 1:10, ESV

Now in verse 10 Paul transitions from stating the problem to making his arguments. Paul asks two rhetorical questions about himself. He begins to answer these two questions in verse 10. Why Paul is asking these questions? How he is answering them?

Paul uses the words “For” and “now” at the beginning of verse 10 to refer to what he had said in verses 8-9. He had just said about the harshest words he could say. The word “For” indicates that Paul is reasoning about something. So we should look at the rest of the sentence.

Paul wrote “For am I now seeking the approval of man, …”. It is as if he had written “So do I now sound like someone who tries to please people?”. The word “now” indicates a change (I used to please man, but not any longer). Note that last sentence of verse 10 starts with a conditional assertion that is no longer true: “If I were still trying to please man,”. It seems that the trouble-makers (heretics) had accused Paul of being a people-pleaser after his conversion. Paul is implicitly acknowledging that he had been a people-pleaser but his harsh words in verses 8-9 demonstrate that he no longer was one.

The rhetorical question provides two choices. Paul either seeks the approval of man or the approval of God. We can expand “or of God?” by reapplying the fuller wording of first clause. The first question can be answered in one way or the other way. Paul strongly asserts that he now seeks the approval of God. Paul does not mean that he is trying to earn God’s favor. He means that he strives to obey God rather than man.

The second question, “Or am I trying to please man?” is very similar the the first question. “Am I still trying to obtain the approval of people?”. “Am I still trying to please people?”. Then Paul asserts that he “would not be a servant of Christ.” if he were a people-pleaser. Paul is not still trying to please people. He had been back when he persecuted the church but not now. Now Paul is serving Christ who is God.

Since distorting the gospel is so damaging we must be careful with the gospel. We often describe 1 Corinthians 15:1ff as the core of Paul’s gospel. The first element that Paul mentions is that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. We will find as we work our way through this letter that the trouble-makers (Judaizers) added works to faith alone. That addition corrupted the instrument of salvation (faith) and it distorted the atonement. If we add to faith it is no longer Christ alone who made atonement for our sins. We must be very careful about the law/gospel distinction here. Christ died for all of our sins. Christ completely atoned for all of our sins. Otherwise we would somehow have to save ourselves. But we could never do that. Let us rest in God our Savior.

Our primary text for May 17 was Galatians 1:1-5. Our first reading was Romans 1:1-7. We read the salutation from Romans for a second example of how Paul begins his letters.

High-level Outline of Galatians (by Timothy George)

Last week we looked at the outline of Galatians that Timothy George used in his commentary on Galatians. Paul, of course, does not start his letter with his historical argument in defense of his apostleship and his gospel. He starts his letter in his normal way with a salutation. But even in the salutation we will see hints of his historical argument and his theological argument. I have included George’s outline below.

1. History: No Other Gospel (1:1-2:21)
2. Theology: Justification by Faith (3:1-4:31)
3. Ethics: Life in the Spirit (5:1-6:18)

Today we will look at the structure and significance of Paul’s salutation in his letter to the churches of Galatia. I have included the sermon outline we will follow below.

Sermon Outline

"Grace to You and Peace from God" Galatians 1:1-5

1. Salutation (1:1-5)
2. Author (1:1-2a)
3. Recipients (1:2b)
4. Greeting (3-5)

Scripture References: Romans 1:1-7; Galatians 1:1-5; Acts 13:14-14:23; Acts 15:1-35;

1. Salutation (1:1-5)

¹Paul, an apostle— not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— ²and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 1:1-5, ESV

In the first century in the Roman Empire ordinary letters started with a salutation with three elements: the name of the author of the letter, the name of the recipient, and a single word greeting such as “greetings”. F.F. Bruce gives an example: “Theon to Theon his father, greetings”. Paul followed this convention but he expanded the elements whenever that was useful.

Some scholars add a fourth element of thanksgiving to Paul’s salutations. That element is missing from Galatians. Instead there is a brief doxology in verse 5. And right after that a rather harsh statement of the problem that caused him to write the letter. This letter to the churches of Galatia is the only letter from Paul that does not have a thanksgiving element in the salutation.

Paul often expanded the author element to further the goals of the letter. Here in Galatians he elaborates on the author element to defend his apostleship and to make a key assertion about the substance of his gospel.

Paul also often expanded the recipient element to thank God for something or other about the recipients or to describe them positively. See, for instance, Romans 1:7: “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints:” ( ESV ). The recipient element of Galatians, by contrast, is terse. Galatians is Paul’s most stringent letter because of the grave potential consequences of the doctrinal error being introduced by the opponents. Although we cannot be certain which churches Paul sent this letter to it will be useful to briefly consider the North Galatia versus South Galatia issue. I am thoroughly convinced that Paul wrote to churches in what we call South Galatia.

Paul always used a Christian greeting in his greeting element. The conventional approach would be to use a single word like “Greetings” or “Health”. Paul, instead, always uses the words “grace” and “peace” in his greeting element. So verse 3 gives us a typical Pauline greeting. But Paul goes on to verse 4 and verse 5. In verse 4 Paul comes back to his gospel (which is the gospel) and makes another key assertion. Then in verse 5 he writes a short doxology concluded with “Amen”.

2. Author (1:1-2a)

¹Paul, an apostle— not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— ²and all the brothers who are with me,

Galatians 1:1-2a, ESV

Paul only records his Greek name. He never refers to himself as Saul (his Jewish name) in his letters.

Then Paul designates himself as “an apostle”. He uses the word “apostle” in the same sense that it is used of the Twelve Apostles. In other words, he considers himself to be an eyewitness of the resurrection of Christ who is called to preach the Gospel. He also considers himself to have been called to that apostleship by Christ Himself and God the Father. The word apostle is also used in the New Testament to mean something more like messenger without the direct commissioning by Christ. Perhaps Paul’s opponents were claiming that Paul was one of these “lesser” apostles.

Paul elaborates on the word apostle with the double assertion “not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ & God the Father”. It is from these two assertions that we derive the idea that Paul’s apostleship was being discredited by his opponents who distorted the gospel. This derivation is sometimes called mirror reading because we see a reflection of what is going on in the text rather than Paul explicitly telling us what is going on. The phrase “not from men” asserts that Paul’s apostleship did not originate from mere human beings. The phrase “nor through man” asserts that Paul’s apostleship was not mediated through a human being. There was no intermediary between Paul and God

Note that the word “but” is a strong adversative conjunction. The second use of the word “through” applies equally to “Jesus Christ” and to “God the Father”. In this second use “through” could indicate instrumentality or agency. The concept of instrumentality would especially fit Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus. Both Christ the Son and God the Father were equally involved in calling Paul to apostleship. This assertion that both Christ and the Father called Paul to apostleship supports the Trinitarianism and Christology expressed in the Creeds of Nicaea and Constantinople as well as the Definition of Chalcedon. This assertion is a summary of how Paul became an apostle.

Paul then makes a key assertion related to his Gospel (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-10): “God the Father, who raised him [that is, Jesus Christ] from the dead”. Both the deity and the humanity of Christ are asserted here in verse 1 since He is equal with God and He has died but also He has been raised from the dead. Paul, like all of the other apostles called directly by Christ to apostleship, had seen the risen Lord Christ on the road to Damascus. By direct revelation Paul knew that God the Father had raised Jesus Christ the Son after He had died for our sins. Paul doesn’t mention “for our sins” until verse 4 but here in this clause we have the death of Christ for our sins and the resurrection of Christ which is crucial for our salvation. By this resurrection Christ leads the way to our own future resurrections from the dead.

Then Paul adds “and all the brothers who are with me” as senders and/or endorsers of the letter. Paul may well have been at Syrian Antioch when he sent the letter. So Paul may mean that the leadership of Syrian Antioch agrees with the letter’s positions on Paul’s apostleship and on Paul’s Gospel. Of course, we don’t know where Paul was or who was with him when he wrote Galatians. But, if he is writing the letter right before the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15 he may well be writing from Antioch. Regardless, Paul demonstrates unity with all of these brothers by including them as senders.

3. Recipients (1:2b)

To the churches of Galatia:

Galatians 1:2b, ESV

Paul says nothing extra in the recipients element of the letter. But we need to consider 2 issues:

1) The North Galatia Versus South Galatia Location of the Recipients
2) The Correlation of Acts with Galatians and the Date of Galatians

Making decisions about these kinds of issues will sometimes help us to better understand the meaning of the letter. But there is no serious interpretive problem with any of the credible solutions. We won’t go into detail about the proposed solution. We would like to know which churches in the Roman Province of Galatia Paul wrote to if we can and how the letter relates to Acts.

1) The North Galatia Versus South Galatia Location of the Recipients

In the 1st century Galatia was an extensive Roman province in what is now know as Türkiye (formerly Turkey). This province contained both the North Galatia and the South Galatia areas. Until the modern era scholars assumed Paul meant ethnic Galatia which corresponds to North Galatia (which includes modern Ankara). This assumption led to many comments the recipients of the letter being like other Celtic ethnic groups.

But in the 19th century Sir William Ramsey did extensive archeological, epigraphical, and geographical work in what had been Galatia. Ramsey published multiple books on his work. He started with the North Galatia position but based on the evidence became convinced of the South Galatia position. In the 20th century F. F. Bruce further strengthened the argument for South Galatia based on his thorough grasp of ancient literature.

I favor the South Galatia position. The arguments are complex and numerous. Many proponents of either position give unconvincing arguments. I find Bruce’s arguments to be quite convincing.
I think that the South Galatia position fits very well with the corresponding narrative found in Luke’s Acts of the Apostles. So I think Paul is writing to the churches in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra. (Pisisdian Antioch is to be distinguished from Syrian Antioch.)

2) The Correlation of Acts with Galatians and the Date of Galatians

The choice made about correlating Acts with Paul’s letter needs to also fit with the chosen date of the letter. So we handle them together.

I think Paul was writing to the churches that Luke identifies in Acts 13:14-14:23 (Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Derbe, and Lystra). If Paul wrote Galatians to those churches he could have written to them before the Jerusalem Council of Acts 15:1-35 (which is thought to have occurred AD 49 or 50). That assumption would suggest that Paul wrote this letter in about AD 48.

What Paul wrote in Galatians 1:6 seems to indicate a tight timeline: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him”. The words “so quickly” seemingly indicate that the Galatians had been exposed to the distortions of the Gospel very soon after Paul and Barnabas had left the Galatians to go back to Syrian Antioch. There are certainly other plausible correlations, dates, and explanations. But I think Acts 13:14-14:23 indicates who Paul wrote to and I think he did so just before the Jerusalem Council (therefore, about AD 48).

4. Greeting (1:3-5)

³Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Galatians 1:3-5, ESV

Paul expands the conventional greeting in all of his letters. We should consider three aspects of this greeting:

1) The Greeting Itself (3)
2) The Elaboration of the Greeting (4)
3) The Concluding Doxology (5)

1) The Greeting Itself (3)

Paul prays as he writes “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,”. The two words grace and peace summarize the gospel (cf Timothy George). The word grace indicates that God shows us His unmerited favor to save us. This free gift of salvation brings us into true peace. This salvation comes from one source: the one God in three persons. Here in Paul’s greeting the Father and the Son are explicitly linked. They are both fully God, they both save us. Paul acknowledges here the humanity of the Son as well by the name “the Lord Jesus Christ”: the Lord indicates deity and control; Jesus indicates His human nature; and Christ indicates that He is the anointed one, the Messiah.

2) The Elaboration of the Greeting (4)

Paul elaborates on “the Lord Jesus Christ: “who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age,”. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who gave Himself for our sins. He provided the atonement for our sins and gave us personal salvation through faith alone. It is the Lord Jesus Christ who delivers us from the present evil age . We are, as believers, on our way to a new sinless age.
So Paul brings core aspects of his Gospel into the greeting element just as he had also done in the author element. Then Paul asserts that this salvation is “according to the will of our God and Father,”. Here Paul implicitly calls attention to our election. Our God and Father has chosen us before the foundation of the world. This “will of our God” makes it inevitable that we will be saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

3) The Concluding Doxology (5)

Paul concludes his greeting with praise to God for our great salvation: “our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.”. We also ought to respond to our salvation in this same way. Doctrine leads to doxology or at least it ought to.

We have mentioned election and the corresponding inevitability of salvation. But from our perspective, we do not need to try to discern the secret will of God. We are commanded to Believe in the Lord Jesus and we then will be saved. Is that not what we need most? The grace and peace of God and Jesus.

In this podcast Dr. Gavin Ortlund discusses

the earliest surviving Christian canon list from Melito of Sardis and explores why this second-century testimony may provide significant historical support for the Protestant Old Testament canon.

(from the podcast description on Spotify)

Ortlund, per his bio, earned a Ph.D. in historical theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the President of Truth Unites and he also presents many interesting podcasts on the Truth Unites Podcast. These podcasts are also available on YouTube at Truth Unites.

In this podcast Ortlund argues that the ancient church (possibly in or near Jerusalem) held to the same Old Testament canon that Protestants hold to. The book on Canon by Gallagher and Meade is available at The Biblical Canon Lists from Early Christianity.

Our primary text for May 10 was Galatians 1:1-5. Our first reading was Galatians 5:1-6. We read Galatians 5:1-6 because Galatians 5:1 summarizes Paul’s solution to the problem in the Galatian churches.

Today, we began our series on Galatians with an overview of the letter. Next week we plan to start working through the letter sentence by sentence. We considered four topics about Galatians from the field of New Testament Introduction to give us a general sense of the letter.

• We looked at why Paul wrote Galatians (see also Occasion).
• We looked at Paul’s solution to that problem (see also Key Themes).
• We looked at the overall flow of Paul’s argument about the problem and the solution (see also Outline).
• We looked at the significance of Galatians for the Reformers and for us. (see also History of Interpretation).

Sermon Outline

"To the Churches of Galatia" Galatians 1:1-5

1. Problem
2. Solution
3. Argument
4. Significance

Scripture References: Galatians 5:1-6; Galatians 1:1-5; Galatians 1:6-9; Galatians 2:14-16, 21; Galatians 5:1;

New Testament Introduction

New Testament Introduction is a major component of New Testament academic studies. New Testament Introduction covers various background topics that can help us understand the New Testament. The information covered by New Testament Introduction is derived from the Bible, from extra-Biblical written sources, from archaeology and various other disciplines. For further comments about New Testament Introduction see An Introduction to Galatians.

1. Problem

The basic problem in the first century Galatian churches is quite clear from Paul’s letter. The sixth verse of the letter brings the problem out into the open.

⁶I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 1:6-9, ESV

There are earlier hints about this problem even before verse 6 and there are several more indications on through the letter, as, for example, in Galatians 2:14-16.

¹⁴But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” ¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:14-16, ESV

To summarize, the Galatians were deserting God by allowing the Gospel to be corrupted with works-righteousness.

2. Solution

According to the Gospel we are justified by faith not by works. Paul summarized the solution to allowing the gospel to be corrupted with works-righteousness in Galatians 5:1.

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:1, ESV

The first clause of 5:1 summarizes much of the preceding letter (For freedom Christ has set us free): Christ, by His conception, birth, sinless life, suffering, obedience, conversations, teaching, preaching, healing, signs, death, burial, resurrection, appearances, ascension, intercession, and second return has, is, and will save us from the power and the penalty of sin. In other words, Christ has freed us from the impossible task of saving ourselves. We are, in Christ, freed from the slavery of works-righteousness.

The rest of 5:1 gives us two commands:

• stand firm in the Christian freedom that Christ has obtained for us
• but do not revert to the slavery of works-righteousness

We are using this second clause of Galatians 5:1 as a thematic guide verse for this series: Stand Firm: Do Not Submit Again. Notice the word again in Paul’s letter. He wrote to Gentiles. He knew they would not have been observing Jewish ceremonial laws before. The again indicates returning to works-righteousness slavery but a different variant of works-righteousness slavery than that of Second Temple Judaism.

3. Argument

We want to get an overall idea of Paul’s argument in the letter. One way to depict the argument of the letter is by means of an outline. For this series on Galatians I have chosen to follow Timothy George’s outline for Galatians as documented in the second edition of his excellent commentary on Galatians. There are many other good outlines but I think this one will be very helpful for us. Here is the top-level outline George works from in his commentary.

1. History: No Other Gospel (1:1-2:21)
2. Theology: Justification by Faith (3:1-4:31)
3. Ethics: Life in the Spirit (5:1-6:18)

This outline is easy to remember. Each section spans two chapters: (1) History, 1-2; (2) Theology, 3-4; (3) Ethics 5-6. We went through how Paul’s argument flows from biography to doctrine to application.

4. Significance

When I think about the significance of Galatians two periods of history come to mind: the Reformation and right now. Luther, Calvin, and many other reformers found great help from Paul’s letter as they reformed the church. Paul was so helpful to the Reformers because works-righteousness was a key problem for the Reformers. Luther loved Galatians (see Martin Luther on Galatians). Luther needed freedom from works-righteousness as much as anyone alive in his day. But really we all need freedom from works-righteousness.

That is why I would say Galatians is very important to us right now. We want to be spiritually self-sufficient. We want to be spiritually self-reliant. We want to earn our keep spiritually. We want to do what only God can do. Works-righteousness currently plagues the church.

We need to go back to God. We need to go back to the Gospel. We need to rest in Christ our God. The Gospel is supposed to be Good News. Save yourself, keep yourself saved, work for your salvation, etc. is Bad News because we cannot do it. Once God has saved us we can in fact live “life in the Holy Spirit”.

The Gospel summary in 1 Corinthians 15 is very important to me. I repeat it over and over. I hope it is important to you as well.

¹Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, ²and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain. ³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. ⁶Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. ⁸Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. ⁹For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.

1 Corinthians 15:1-10, ESV

I hope you savingly believe this Gospel.

New Testament Introduction is one of the major fields of New Testament studies. New Testament Introduction covers various topics which aid in our understanding of the New Testament. Some of the topics covered include authorship, canonicity, recipients, the date of authorship, occasion, themes, history of interpretation, genre, and structure and/or outline.

Such introductions are typically quite technical and may include extensive bibliographical information. There are books that solely focus on New Testament Introduction such as the Carson, Moo Introduction and the Thiessen Introduction (see Other References). Many technical commentaries also focus on New Testament Introduction: Timothy George’s commentary contains an extensive introductory section (see Commmentaries) as do several of the other commentaries I’ve listed.

The background information that New Testament Introduction provides can be helpful for determining the meaning of a given word, sentence, paragraph, or even an entire book. That is why we want to spend some time on the subject for Galatians.

Both internal (the Bible itself) and external sources (other documents, archeology, etc.) are used to develop New Testament introductions.

For different books of the New Testament different topics may be of special usefulness or interest. For Galatians we especially will want to review the occasion that prompted Paul to write the letter and also to review the key themes of the letter to get some idea of Paul’s approach to responding to the occasion. A good outline is always helpful so we will want to consider that as well. The Reformers utilized Galatians a great deal. It was certainly a favorite of Martin Luther’s (see Martin Luther on Galatians). So it will be interesting to get some background on the interpretation of Galatians in the modern era.

2. Author

We do not need to focus on authorship because virtually no reputable New Testament scholar denies that Paul wrote Galatians. In both Galatians 1:1 and 5:2 Paul asserts that he is the author of Galatians.

3. Canonicity

Because Paul’s authorship is not credibly disputed neither is the canonicity of the letter.

4. Recipients

We know with certainty that the recipients were the people who belonged to the churches of Galatia (Galatians 1:3). But we cannot be certain how Paul is using the words Galatia and Galatians. The question is usually summarized as “were these churches in North Galatia or South Galatia?”. The answer had usually been North Galatia up until recent times. The North Galatia position could also be called the ethnic position: the Galatians would then have been Celts. The South Galatia position could also be called the provincial position: the Galatians would then have been residents of a Roman province known as Galatia.

Sir William Ramsey (1851-1939) put forward solid evidence for the South Galatia position which he obtained by working on the ground in the territory that had been designated as Galatia (now known as Türkiye, formerly Turkey). I accept the South Galatia position as more likely. But the impact on how one interprets Galatians is relatively minor either way. Correlations between Acts and Galatians can certainly make use of the chosen recipients and the chosen date. These choices in turn can also be influenced by attempts to correlate Acts and Galatians.

5. Date

The date when Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians is also difficult to pin down precisely. Scholars credibly defend a range of dates from AD 48 to AD 57. Certainly it must have been more or less sometime during that range. Without going in to details I am going to stick with the earliest date (AD 48). That choice makes Galatians quite possibly Paul’s earliest preserved letter. I find the arguments for South Galatia and AD 48 taken together seem most likely.

6. Occasion

Why did Paul write this letter? Paul gets to the reason he wrote the letter quite quickly:

⁶I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Galatians 1:6-9, ESV

A false teacher or false teachers had started to turn the Galatians away from the true gospel. Paul implies that the Galatians were turning to works righteousness as he elaborates on the time he opposed Peter at Antioch:

¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Galatians 2:15-16, ESV

We could cite several more passages from Galatians on this point. It becomes evident upon reading the letter that a false teacher or false teachers were trying to draw the Galatian believers into a form of Judaism. The situation in the Galatian churches alarmed Paul greatly. This letter is Paul at his most agitated and abrupt.

7. Key Themes

Galatians is thematically rich. As a starting point I list below the key “theological themes” that Douglas Moo identifies in his commentary on Galatians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on Galatians, pp 75ff):

• Salvation History and Apocalyptic
• The Gospel
• Christ
• The Spirit
• The Law
• The Christian Life
• The Faith of Christ
• Justification/Righteousness

Timothy George calls particular attention to true Christian freedom as a key issue in Galatians (Galatians: The Christian Standard Commentary, p 209). He, like many before him, calls Galatians “the Magna Carta of Christian liberty”. He also suggests that Galatians 5:1 “has to be considered one of the key verses of the epistle.” (p 458).

We are using 5:1 as our focus verse for this series: “Stand Firm: Do Not Submit Again”. We will have to be careful about Christian liberty. It is not freedom to sin; instead, it is more like freedom from sin.

Richard Longenecker approvingly quotes H. D. Betz about this freedom Paul mentions in 5:1. This freedom

“is the central theological concept which sums up the Christian’s situation before God as well as in the world. It is the basic concept underlying Paul’s argument throughout the letter”

Galatians, Volume 41, World Biblical Commentary, location 12,270.

Through out the letter we will be seeing why the Reformers came to believe that justification is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone in no small part because of Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

We will inevitably be interacting with all of these themes as we work through Galatians.

8. History of Interpretation

We will confine our history of interpretation to the modern era (1500 to the present), but we acknowledge that the Fathers and Schoolmen did make contributions to our understanding of Galatians. But it was at the Reformation that Galatians began to be very important to the development of Reformed soteriology. The Protestants used Galatians and Romans extensively in their ongoing debates with Roman Catholicism. It seems to me that Luther, Calvin, et al had to deal with problems analogous to those Paul dealt with in Galatians. Some scholars assert that they over-projected sixteenth century issues back into Galatians. But the way I see it is that Paul had to deal with works-righteousness and so did Luther and Calvin and so do we.

Occasionally we will be considering Martin Luther’s analysis of Galatians as we work through the text. His comments on the Law/Gospel distinction will be of particular historical and theological significance to us.

Both Luther and Calvin saw that Galatians answered to many problems that Christians faced in their day. Crucially, “how [does] one obtain right standing before God?” (George, p97).

Many of the Puritans continued in the Luther/Calvin line of thought on Galatians and salvation. But slowly, Evangelicalism drifted from Calvin and the Puritans on salvation. By the time we get to the twentieth century we encounter the New Perspective on Paul (NPP). As is often remarked anything but the old Protestant view of Paul, salvation, Galatians, and Romans would be acceptable to many modern theologians.

The NPP started a very scholarly trend to enable abandonment of the Old Protestant Perspective on Paul (OPPP). There are things we can learn from NPP scholars but their reading of Paul distorts the gospel and the law not much less than Paul’s original opponents distorted the gospel and the law.

Although NPP covers a wide range of views what I particularly object to is the basic concept of “getting into the community (the universal, invisible church) by grace” but “staying in that community by works”. NPP and similar trends are very widespread in our own day. We need to bring folks back to the old Gospel of Jesus, Paul, John, the rest of the Apostles, Augustine, Luther, Calvin, …

We will focus on what Paul teaches but we will have to mention the deviations that trouble us as we go.

9. Genre

There is some discussion in the literature as to whether Galatians is a letter or an epistle. The former indicates an informal letter and the latter indicates a formal letter. Galatians definitely matches the style of an informal letter. I don’t think the genre designation has much impact on our interpretation in this case.

10. Bibliography

For our purposes I have documented most of the books that I am using for this sermon series in Commentaries on Galatians. If I add books to the list that I am using I intend to update that post accordingly. Note that the bibliography post covers more than New Testament Introduction. I used many of the listed books to compile this summary of introductory matters.

11. Outline

I have chosen to follow Timothy George’s overall outline. It is simple and helpful. Of course we always have to be careful about imposing structure or meaning upon the words of a book of the Bible. We use such outlines to organize our thoughts about the book but we try not to impose those ideas on the book. Many scholars utilize similar outlines of Galatians. There is some variability in where the second major section ends and the third major section begins. We can look into that a bit when we get there.

Below is the top-level outline that Timothy George provides in his commentary.

1. History: No Other Gospel (1:1-2:21)
2. Theology: Justification by Faith (3:1-4:31)
3. Ethics: Life in the Spirit (5:1-6:18)

We can easily remember this outline. Each section spans two chapters: (1) History, 1-2; (2) Theology, 3-4; (3) Ethics 5-6.

“The letter to the Galatians is my little letter, and I am married to it. It is my Käthe von Bora.”¹

Luther lectured on Galatians at least two times, once in 1516-1517 and again in 1531. These two commentaries are often dated 1519 and 1535 or 1538 respectively due to when they were published. The second set of lectures was published twice with Luther’s direct cooperation. The 1538 edition seems to be the definitive edition. In 1545 Luther said of his many books:

If they took my advice, they would print only the books containing doctrine, like Galatians.²

Galatians was very important to many of the Reformers. Timothy George characterizes the central role of Galatians and Romans in the Protestant Reformation:

During the Protestant Reformation, Galatians and Romans became the bedrock of a Pauline renaissance as Luther, Calvin, and other Reformers rallied around the doctrine of justification by faith over against a compromised theology of grace in the prevailing late medieval systems of theology.³

Galatians is also very important to us. We need Paul’s logic of righteousness just as much as Luther, Calvin, et. al. needed it. Paul argued that we must be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:16). The issue of justification has troubled the church from the first century of the Christian era till now. We are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Many who call themselves Christians dispute the Protestant position but Paul, in Galatians, makes it all very clear.

Our primary text for May 3 was James 5:19-20. For our first reading we read Galatians 6:1-5. We read the passage from Galatians because Paul addresses restoration there just as James does in 5:19-20.

We began with a review of the Doctrine of Perseverance because some folks use this paragraph to argue against Perseverance. However, James neither confirms nor denies Perseverance in 5:19-20. Then we looked at two questions: 1. How can we identify the wanderers? 2. How do we bring back the wanders? We concluded our series on James by looking back at some of the paragraphs that could help us to bring back a sinner from his wandering.

Perseverance

We used the Second London Confession, Chapter 17, as a reasonable definition of what we mean by Perseverance. Below I have included Chapter 17 of the Second London Confession. To see the same chapter with “proof texts” in context see, for instance, Second London Confession, Chapter 17 or here.

We discussed this doctrine because some folks use James 5:19-20 to deny it. But James neither confirms or denies either position in these two verses. We noted that our membership application requires agreement with the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints. We discussed three terms used as near synonyms for this concept: eternal security, perseverance, and preservation. We read from John 6:35-40 and John 10:28-29 but we could have looked at many more passages. Jesus is emphatic: “whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” (from John 6:37) and “no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” (from John 10:29).

How can we identify the wanderers?

First, we ought to note that James must expect his readers to be able to determine that someone has wandered from the truth. Otherwise, why would he discuss it. That does not mean that his readers could infallibly determine who had wandered. But sometimes it must have been possible. We can see a few characteristics of these wanderers in James 5:19-20.

The wanderers were or had been among them. Maybe they were members or adherents. But there was some kind of proximity to the readers.

The wanderers had wandered from the truth. They had veered from the standard (the truth). James uses this word three times in his letter. In James 1:18 the truth means the Gospel or perhaps the Law and the Gospel. In James 3:14 the truth means behavior consistent with the Gospel. So here in 5:19 James probably means that the wanderers had deviated from sound doctrine and/or sound behavior. We have to admit that true believers can also deviate from sound doctrine and/or sound behavior. But here James probably has in mind serious, ongoing sin that the wanderers will not repent of.

The verb translated in the ESV as brings back suggests “turning back” or “returning”. So James is writing about people who had been unrepentant but had then been brought back. They would be brought back to faith and repentance. Note that since we hold to perseverance we think this is the first time these people have truly believed and repented. As we often discuss, these folks would believe in the old Protestant sense of Knowledge, Agreement, and Trust (KAT).

How do we bring back the wanderers?

We considered both how James might answer this question (based on James 5:20) and how Paul might answer it (based on Galatians 6:1).

James 5:20 contains two phrases that are much debated as to meaning. The phrase will save his soul from death and the phrase will cover a multitude of sins are sometimes associated with the restorer rather than the wanderer. This doesn’t make sense of the sentence to me. What we see from these two phrases is that the wanderer is in need of salvation. So logically we infer that bringing back the wanderers involves proclaiming the Law and the Gospel.

Paul, in Galatians 6:1 gives us other insights into this endeavor. He writes that you who are spiritual should restore the transgressor. The adjective spiritual indicates one who is spiritually mature, walking in the Spirit, keeping in step with the Spirit. Paul is not saying the restorer has to be perfect. Paul also writes that we must restore him in a spirit of gentleness. We’ve got to exhibit humility, kindness, gentleness. And Paul warns us to Keep watch on ourselves, lest we too be tempted.

Note that God ultimately saves anyone who is saved. But God uses means. He uses even us. He puts us into the causal chain of causes. In a way the letter from James ends on a very Gospel-oriented note.

Let steadfastness have its full effect

We concluded our series on James by reviewing five passages that all can certainly help us to be more mature. Or to put it in the words of James, to help us let steadfastness have its full effect (James 1:4). We again briefly looked at the following five paragraphs from this letter:

1. 1:1-4 Let steadfastness have its full effect (v4)
   The “trials of various kinds” in v2 give us opportunities to grow. The “testing of your faith produces steadfastness” in v3 is about true faith which includes (and only includes) Knowledge, Agreement, and Trust, KAT. We need to “let steadfastness have its full effect” (v4). This growth in “steadfastness” is available only to true believers.

2. 1:16-18 Of His own will He [God the Father] brought us forth by the word of truth (v18)
   In 1:18 James tells us how we are born again so that we can become true believers by faith. We are regenerated (born again) or as James puts it “brought forth by the word of truth”. We hear the Law and the Gospel proclaimed. The Holy Spirit regenerates us. This beginning point is essential to growing in grace.

3. 1:21-25 Be doers of the word, and not hearers only (v22)
   We need to “receive this implanted word with meekness” (v21). We also need to “be doers of the word, and not hearers only” (22). So the Word of God is also essential to growing in grace.

4. 4:1-10 God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (v6)
   In James 4:6 James gives us the spiritual posture needed for receiving divine favor. We define grace as unmerited favor shown to us by God. Some would use the word demerited instead because not only do we not earn this favor but we actively sin against God to demerit it. Surely, we need this posture of humility to grow in grace.

5. 5:13-28 The prayer of a righteous person has great power (v16)
   Last week we looked at the powerful prayers of the righteous. Fortunately we are righteous by God’s grace because of the imputed righteousness of Christ who died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, was buried, was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and appeared to many. Certainly there are many other statements in Scripture about prayer that we should take very seriously. Prayer is essential to growing in grace and in bringing the wanderer back.

James invites us to let steadfastness have its full effect in our own lives. Growing in grace will enable us to faithfully attempt to bring the wanderers home.

Sermon Outline

"If Any among You Wanders" James 5:19-20

1. Perseverance
2. Wanders from the Truth (5:19)
3. Save His Soul from Death (5:20)
4. Let Steadfastness Have Its Full Effect

Scripture References: Galatians 6:1-5; James 5:19-20; John 6:35-40; John 10:28-29; James 1:16-18; James 3:13-18; James 1:2-4; James 1:21-25; James 4:1-10; James 5:13-18;

Second London Confession (1677/1689)

Chapter 17: Of the Perseverance of the Saints

Section 1: Those whom God has accepted in the beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, and given the precious faith of his elect unto, can neither totally nor finally fall from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved, seeing the gifts and callings of God are without repentance, from which source he still begets and nourishes in them faith, repentance, love, joy, hope, and all the graces of the Spirit unto immortality; and though many storms and floods arise and beat against them, yet they shall never be able to take them off that foundation and rock which by faith they are fastened upon; notwithstanding, through unbelief and the temptations of Satan, the sensible sight of the light and love of God may for a time be clouded and obscured from them, yet he is still the same, and they shall be sure to be kept by the power of God unto salvation, where they shall enjoy their purchased possession, they being engraved upon the palm of his hands, and their names having been written in the book of life from all eternity.

Section 2: This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father, upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ and union with him, the oath of God, the abiding of his Spirit, and the seed of God within them, and the nature of the covenant of grace; from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof.

Section 3: And though they may, through the temptation of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins, and for a time continue therein, whereby they incur God’s displeasure and grieve his Holy Spirit, come to have their graces and comforts impaired, have their hearts hardened, and their consciences wounded, hurt and scandalize others, and bring temporal judgments upon themselves, yet shall they renew their repentance and be preserved through faith in Christ Jesus to the end.

Today’s sermon audio can be found on Castbox at 159 “The Prayer of a Righteous Person” James 5:13-18.

Our primary text for April 26 was James 5:13-18. For our first reading we read 1 Kings 19:1-8. We read from 1 Kings to remind ourselves that Elijah was in fact a person with a nature like ours. This week we started with the second sentence in James 5:16 (The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.). This sentence could be construed to mean that only the prayers of super-spiritual believers (like Elijah) exhibit great power. However, James, in the very next sentence, writes that Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. The point is that the prayers of any true believer can exhibit great power.

Of course we should pay attention to all that the Bible has to say about prayer. James tells us not to be double-minded when we pray (1:5-8). He also tells us to practice humility in all that we do and say (4:6-10). Humility is the best spiritual posture to receive the grace of God.

We also looked at the following questions we had raised two weeks ago.

• What does James mean by the word “elders” (14)?
• What is the significance of the phrase “anointing him with oil” (14)?
• Does the phrase “the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick” mean that we should expect always to be healed if we pray (15)?
• How does James know that Elijah prayed (17, 18) [and why did James pick this example]?

Crucially, we should not expect to always be healed.

We concluded with a repetition of the call to always pray that we derived from verse 13 two weeks ago. That is a great privilege and responsibility of all true believers. The prayers of such people can exhibit great power. Remember, the real source of the power is God Himself. If we are born again we can pray such prayers.

Who is born again? All those who savingly believe in Christ Jesus. Saving faith Knows the truth, Agrees with God about the truth, and Trusts God to apply the truth to us. We use the acronym KAT to remember this old Protestant definition of true, saving faith. The truth includes the Law and the Gospel. Paul summarizes the core of the Gospel at 1 Corinthians 15:1-8.

See also The Gospel Paul Preached (1 Corinthians 15:1-13).

"The Prayer of a Righteous Person" James 5:13-18

1. A Righteous Person (5:16B-18)
2. Is Any among You Sick? (5:14-15A)
3. If He Has Committed Sins (5:15B-16A)
4. Pray (5:13)

Scripture References: 1 Kings 19:1-8; James 5:13-18; Romans 4:1-5; James 1:5-8; James 4:6-10; 2 Corinthians 12:7-9; Hebrews 9:27; 1 Corinthians 11:27-32; 1 John 1:9;

Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary produces the Covenant Podcast. The podcast features various hosts and guests. The April 13, 2026 podcast (On Hermeneutics with Jared Ebert) was hosted by Austin McCormick and Dewey Doval. They interviewed Jared Ebert on the subject of hermeneutics. Ebert is working on a doctoral dissertation on William Tyndale. He aligns with Tyndale’s hermeneutic as do I. Ebert makes a good case for Scripture having only one sense as per the Westminster Confession and the Second London Confession (see 1.9 in either confession). He and his colleagues bring up several useful points: quadriga, sensus plenor, Tyndale’s stance on the literal sense, etc.

Here is how the Second London Confession Chapter 1, Section 9 reads (the Westminster Confession reads very similarly):

The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself; and therefore when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which are not many, but one), it must be searched by other places that speak more clearly.

This assertion of one sense would seem to argue against seeking the four-fold sense (quadriga) if one claims to be reformed.

I hope that Jared Ebert will be able to publish his dissertation on Tyndale as a book.

Note that the Timothy George commentary I am using is the second edition which technically has a lower ranking at the Best Commentaries website than the first edition (NAC). I consider the second edition to be even better than the first. I would probably rank the second edition as the best commentary on Galatians in English that we have in print.

There are some other commentaries I would use if they weren’t so expensive (for instance, the Annotations on Galatians and Ephesians by Erasmus).

The second table lists some of the other reference works I plan to use. There are theological works on Galatians and works on or by Luther and Calvin among other subjects. You may notice that I have listed six volumes by Michael Horton. I find Professor Horton to be very helpful in the area of Justification. Although we can certainly learn from the New Perspective on Paul I still think that the Reformers correctly interpreted Paul by and large. Generally speaking I find Historical Theology to be a great help to our understanding of Scripture.

The third table lists the Series abbreviations.

Commentaries

Other References

Series Abbreviations