Sunday Morning Bible Study: Galatians 1 & 2 — No Other Gospel
- Feb 15
- 3 min read
Last week we finished James 4 and 5, bringing to a close a searching letter that pressed us toward integrity of faith, humility before God, patience in suffering, and prayerful dependence in every season of life.
This week we turn a corner.
We move from James—practical, pastoral, and searching—to the Epistle to the Galatians, a letter written in urgency, even alarm. If James asks how genuine faith lives, Galatians asks a more foundational question:
What is the gospel itself—and can it be altered?
Bring your Bibles. We will read Galatians 1 and 2 together.
Setting the Stage — Why Galatians Matters
Galatians was written to churches that had begun well but were being pulled off course.
Teachers had come insisting that faith in Christ was not enough—that obedience to the Mosaic law, especially circumcision, must be added.
Paul does not treat this as a minor disagreement.
At stake is the gospel itself.
From the opening lines, Galatians sounds different from Paul’s other letters. There is no extended thanksgiving. No gentle introduction.
Paul moves straight to the heart of the crisis: a different gospel is no gospel at all.
Galatians 1 — The Gospel Comes from God, Not Man
Paul begins with a startling warning:
There is only one gospel.
Any addition or alteration—no matter who teaches it—is a distortion.
Even an apostle, even an angel, must be rejected if he preaches another message.
Paul then defends the source of his gospel.
He did not receive it from human teachers, tradition, or religious authority. It came by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
His own story proves the point.
Once a persecutor of the Church, Paul was not argued into faith or eased into belief. He was confronted, called, and transformed by God Himself.
The gospel he now preaches is not man-made—and therefore cannot be man-modified.
Galatians 2 — Justified by Faith, Not by Law
In chapter 2, Paul moves from personal calling to public defense of the gospel.
He recounts standing firm in Jerusalem so that Gentile believers would not be compelled to live as Jews in order to belong to Christ. The truth of the gospel was at stake, and Paul would not yield—even briefly.
The chapter reaches its theological center in one of the most important statements Paul ever makes:
We are justified by faith in Jesus Christ, not by works of the law.
The law cannot give life.
To add law-keeping to faith is not to strengthen the gospel, but to undermine it.
Paul’s confrontation with Peter underscores the danger. Even sincere believers can drift when fear or pressure replaces gospel clarity.
The chapter closes with words that should be memorized, prayed, and lived:
“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”
This is not merely doctrine—it is the Christian life itself.
Why Galatians, After James?
James taught us that living faith produces visible fruit. Galatians reminds us that faith itself rests entirely on grace.
James guards us from empty profession. Galatians guards us from legalism.
Together, they give us a full picture:a faith that is free, finished, and fruitful.
Closing Prayer
Lord, keep us faithful to the true gospel of Your grace, guard us from every distortion, and teach us to live by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. Amen.
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Hold fast to the old fashioned Gospel,
New tho’t may be well in its way,
But give me the dear Holy Bible,
A guide that will ne’er lead astray.
Refrain
Hold fast, hold fast,
The Word of our God tried and true;
Hold fast to the old fashioned Gospel,
Whose pages will ever be new.
The Word that our fathers have cherished,
Whose precepts brought comfort and cheer,
The Gospel that living or dying,
Brings God and His Heaven so near.
Refrain
Hold fast to the old fashioned Gospel,
Thro’ ages it still is the same,
A message of perfect salvation,
To all who believe in His name.
Refrain
Words: Lizzie DeArmond, 1917
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