Walking Through The Epistles (book Of Galatians) by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Writing Order and Dating

Before entering the text, it helps to understand the chronological order in which the epistles were written, so the progression of revelation becomes clear.

1. James — 44–49 AD
2. Galatians — 48–49 AD
3. 1 Thessalonians — 50–51 AD
4. 2 Thessalonians — 51–52 AD
5. 1 Corinthians — 53–55 AD (Paul references a prior letter in this book, so some scholars consider this not his first letter to Corinth)
6. 2 Corinthians — 55–56 AD
7. Romans — 56–57 AD
8. Ephesians — 60–62 AD
9. Philippians — 60–62 AD
10. Colossians — 60–62 AD
11. Philemon — 60–62 AD
12. 1 Timothy — 62–64 AD
13. Titus — 62–64 AD
14. 2 Timothy — 66–67 AD
15. Hebrews — 60–70 AD (authorship debated — some attribute it to Paul, others to John Mark or Timothy)
16. 1 Peter — 62–64 AD
17. 2 Peter — 64–68 AD
18. Jude — 65–80 AD
19. 1 John — 85–95 AD
20. 2 John — 85–95 AD
21. 3 John — 85–95 AD

Overview of the Book of Galatians

The earliest surviving manuscript copy (Papias 46) dates to approximately 200 AD, though the letter itself was written around 48–49 AD.

Paul is arguing in this letter against another gospel — which he himself says is not really another gospel at all.

Scholars identify his opponents as the Judaizers — Jewish Christians who had accepted Jesus as Messiah but maintained that faith in Christ alone was insufficient for acceptance before God. They insisted that Gentile believers must also be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses (see Galatians 4:9–11 and Colossians 2:16).

Reading Galatians 1: Paul's Apostolic Authority

In Galatians 1:1, Paul opens by declaring himself "an apostle — not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead."

This is a deliberate, foundational claim: his apostolic office was not granted by any human institution. It was given through direct revelation and commission from Jesus himself — the same pattern seen when Ananias visited Paul at the street called Straight in Acts 9 and told him of the sufferings and mission ahead.

There is an important distinction here:

• Ordination is from God — God is the one who sets apart and calls. This was true of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:5), and it is the sense in which Paul speaks here.
• Confirmation is from men — What John the Baptist did for Jesus was not ordination; it was a public witness to what God had already ordained. In the same way, human commissioning today confirms and bears witness to a divine calling — it does not originate it.

The Shock of the Letter: Turning to Another Gospel

In Galatians 1:6–7, Paul writes: "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel — which is not another gospel."

In Galatians 1:8–9, he twice pronounces a curse: "If anyone — even we ourselves, even an angel from heaven — preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed." The Greek word used is anathema — meaning banished, cut off entirely. Paul is not speaking of mild discipline; he is saying such a person should be removed from the fellowship entirely.

A Key Principle: Words Find Their Meaning in Context

A principle essential to correct Bible interpretation: words find their meaning in sentences, and sentences find their meaning in the letter.

The word "grace," for example, carries different meanings depending on its context:

• "Your grace" — grace as a person, a title
• "Give me grace" — grace as an excuse or allowance
• "I have received grace" — grace as unmerited favour
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Pastor Dolapo Lawal
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• "I have been graced for this" — grace as empowerment

This is why a verse cannot be lifted out and taught in isolation. To understand Galatians 1:6, you must read the entire letter of Galatians. The letter is the body that gives the verse its meaning.

The Methodology of the Judaizers

Paul identifies four tactics used by the Judaizers to draw believers away from the true gospel. These are not external attacks — they operate from within the community of faith.

1. Infiltration — Galatians 2:4

   "False brethren secretly brought in, who came in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage."

   This is not persecution from outside — it is contamination from inside.

   The pattern is consistent across Scripture. In the Old Testament, the spirit of Jezebel operated through influence over those near power — a king, a ruler. In the New Testament, the same spirit operates from within the church:

   In Revelation 2:20, Jesus says: "You allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants." She is no longer outside attacking — she is now the teacher inside the assembly.

   This is why it must be understood: not every church is the church of God. Jesus himself uses the phrase "synagogue of Satan" in Revelation 2:9 and Revelation 3:9 to describe gatherings that claim to be of God but operate against his people — putting them in fear, in bondage, and convincing them that God does not love them.

   The Judaizers were doing exactly that: telling Gentile believers they must keep the Law of Moses and be circumcised, or they were not accepted by God.

   Deception does not announce itself. It is not 90% lies and 10% truth — that would be too obvious. Deception is 80% truth and 20% lies. But that 20% is the lens through which the 80% is interpreted.

   If the devil had a pulpit, he would use the Bible. The difference between Jesus and the Pharisees was not the text — they shared the same Scripture. The difference was interpretation. This is exactly what happened in Matthew 4, when the adversary quoted Psalm 91 to Jesus but applied it to coerce rather than to trust. Jesus did not dispute the verse; he corrected the interpretation.

   This is why sound Bible interpretation is not optional — it is the difference between being rooted and being tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:14).

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   Pressure — Galatians 2:11–13

   "Before certain men came from James, he [Peter] would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision."

   When Peter was free from external scrutiny, he fellowshipped fully with Gentile believers — as God had instructed him through the vision in Acts 10, where he was told not to call common what God has called clean. But when men from Jerusalem arrived, Peter withdrew.

   Paul confronted him directly: Peter's retreat gave the impression that Gentile believers were somehow second-class, that something beyond faith in Christ was required. Even Barnabas was swept along in the hypocrisy.

   What makes this particularly sobering is that Paul, who wrote these words confronting Peter, himself circumcised Timothy (Acts 16:3) and shaved his head to keep a vow when traveling to Jerusalem — the very practices he argued against here. The point is not to diminish Paul's apostleship, but to show that pressure is a powerful force, capable of causing even mature leaders to act contrary to what they preach.

   It is worth noting that the sharp contention between Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15:36–39, recorded at 48–50 AD — the same period as this letter — was likely not only about John Mark. The hypocrisy described in Galatians was also a source of that separation.

3. Flattery and People-Pleasing — Galatians 1:10, Galatians 4:17

   "For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ."

   Galatians 4:17 exposes the motive behind the flattery: "They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them."

   One of the most effective ways to please men is to make God hard to reach.

   The gospel in Greek is euangelion — good news. Not complicated news, not earned news. Good news. The message is that the wrath of God has been fully satisfied in Jesus Christ, and the response required is simply to believe and to submit to his lordship. God is not asking people to do something for him — he is asking them to allow him to work through them.

   This means the gospel is the same message to the moral and the immoral:

   • If someone is good by behavior, they are still in sin and need Christ.
   • If someone is bad by behavior, they are also in sin and need Christ.

   It has nothing to do with what a person has done. It is entirely about what Christ has done.

   But human nature resists this. People want to hear what they contributed. Consider how testimonies are typically shared: the story of faith, the fasting, the hospital visits, the perseverance — by the time it ends, the attention has shifted from what God did to what the person did to make God act. Making the gospel hard earns admiration. Making God accessible sounds like license.

   The Judaizers understood this instinctively. They made the message complicated because complexity creates devotion — to the teacher. Galatians 4:17 says plainly: they zealously court you so that you will be zealous for them.

   As Paul argues in Romans 1:16, he is not ashamed of the gospel precisely because its apparent simplicity is not weakness — it is "the power of God to salvation." And in 1 Corinthians 1–2, he notes that God designed that through the "foolishness of preaching," salvation would come. The Jews wanted signs; the Greeks wanted wisdom. The gospel offers both, but not on human terms.

   The length of a prayer is not what carries power. The authority behind it does.

4. Fear — Galatians 6:12

   "As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ."

   The Judaizers used fear of persecution, fear of rejection, and fear of divine displeasure to gaslight and pressure believers into compliance. They positioned circumcision and law-keeping as protection — without it, you were unacceptable to God.

   These Jewish teachers — insiders using Scripture — were employing deep covenantal language and misapplied teaching on the Law of Moses to lure Gentile believers away from the truth of the gospel.

The Gospel Is Revelation, Not Human Wisdom

Paul closes the argument of chapter one with a crucial epistemological point in Galatians 1:11–12: "The gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ."

What some label "strong meat" or deep theological teaching is often nothing more than human wisdom dressed in religious language. True understanding of the gospel comes the way Luke 24:45 describes: "He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures." It is not earned through intellectual effort — it is received by revelation. God must open the eyes.