GALATIANS
(Answers)



CHAPTER 1

  1. They had tuned from following the simplicity of the gospel of Christ.
  2. They were trying to uphold the Mosaic Law and its rituals and ceremonies by blending it in with the gospel of faith.
  3. Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus and made known to him that the gospel was true.
  4. Paul conferred with no one immediately. It was three years before he met with Peter. Paul was lead and taught by the Spirit.

CHAPTER 2

  1. He was compelled by God to go to the apostles and communicate to them the substance of his labor and teachings of the gospel.
  2. a. They avoided being circumcised. b. They wanted to show the freedom they had in the gospel from the rites and rituals of the law.
  3. They asked Paul only to remember the poor saints.
  4. Peter would eat with the Gentiles who were uncircumcised, but not when the "pillars" (the leaders of the Jews) would be present.
  5. The Mosaic law and its rituals would not justify them but having faith in Jesus Christ and the atonement that came from His sacrifice would.

CHAPTER 3

  1. The Holy Spirit will enter us.
  2. They had fallen back to practicing the law and circumcision.
  3. Abraham believed God through faith (430 years before the law).
  4. The law identified sin and guided and cleansed them until Jesus would come who would give atonement for sins and send the Spirit to guide us.
  5. Moses was mediator of the law and Jesus was the mediator of the Spirit.
  6. a. God and Israel in the first mediation; God and the world in the second. b. The law is the tool between God and the Jews. The Spirit is the helper between God and all nations.

CHAPTER 4

  1. The Holy Spirit by whom we are guided in the faith.
  2. First by our faith in His son and then by His Spirit who is in us.
  3. a. They were turning back to the rituals and ceremonies of the law observing days and seasons, etc. b. He was afraid he had labored in vain because the law could not save them. Only faith in the gospel could save them.
  4. Paul’s infirmity may be referring here to his lost eyesight. Because of this event he began preaching the gospel.
  5. Those of the faith of Abraham and Isaac are free from the works of the law. Those who hang on to the law are still in bondage.
  6. The physical Jerusalem in the time of Paul was still in bondage to the law. The spiritual Jerusalem is of above in those who have faith in the gospel.

CHAPTER 5

  1. They were trying to uphold the rituals of the law and circumcision again. They are in bondage to the whole law to do all things it requires.
  2. They fell from the freedom they had in Jesus. Jesus did away with the law and all its seasonal and ritual observances.
  3. We are free from the law but not its virtues.
  4. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are some characteristics of walking in the Spirit..
  5. We must crucify the corrupt passions and selfish desires of the flesh.

CHAPTER 6

  1. a. We must help others gently, kindly, patiently, and in forgiveness. b. We must consider that we too can fall into the same predicament as they and we would want loving correction.
  2. a. Fulfilling your soul of worldly desires, corrupt passions, and selfish desires is sowing to the flesh. b. Sowing to the flesh reaps things that are temporal and will perish including your soul at the judgment.