Show Notes
What must you do to be saved? The book of Galatians gives a surprising answer: nothing. We are saved by trusting Jesus, not by anything we do to earn it. In this first study of Galatians 1:1-10, Dr. Toby Holt begins a ten-part, verse-by-verse walk through one of Paul's most passionate letters. Soon after Paul left Galatia, false teachers told new Christians that faith in Jesus was not enough — they also had to keep the old Jewish laws. Paul is stunned, and calls...
More from Galatians Explained: A Bible Study
Is the gospel just a human idea? No. In Galatians 1:11-24, the Apostle Paul says the good news he preached did not come from any person and was not something he made up. It came straight from Jesus Christ. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt shows why the source of the gospel changes everything. Paul’s critics tried to discredit his message by attacking him. They claimed he was a second-rate apostle who learned the gospel secondhand. Paul answers with his own story. After...
Is God's grace really for everyone? Yes. In Galatians 2:1-10, the Apostle Paul shows that God welcomes outsiders into His family by grace, without making them earn it. Dr. Toby Holt explains why this was such amazing, unexpected good news. For centuries Jews and Gentiles were bitter enemies, so it shocked many to learn that God planned all along to bless "all the families of the earth," as He promised Abraham. Paul brought Titus, a Gentile believer, as a living...
Why did Paul confront Peter to his face? In Galatians 2:11-21, the Apostle Paul publicly corrects the Apostle Peter. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains why Paul did it — and why it was about far more than a shared meal. In the city of Antioch, Peter had been eating with Gentile, or non-Jewish, Christians as equals. But when a group of strict Jewish visitors arrived, Peter pulled back and stopped eating with them, afraid of what they would think. Even Barnabas...
Can your good works add to your salvation? No. In Galatians 3:1-14, the Apostle Paul asks a sharp question: "Who has bewitched you?" Dr. Toby Holt explains why adding works to faith is not a small mistake but a dangerous one. The Galatians had started well, trusting Jesus alone, but were now being talked into adding rules, as if their effort could finish what Jesus began. Paul reminds them they received God's Spirit by faith, and points to Abraham, accepted simply...
If the law can't save us, why did God give it? In Galatians 3:19-25, the Apostle Paul explains why God gave His law, even though no one is saved by keeping it. Dr. Toby Holt walks through what God's commands are really for. If we are saved by faith, why have rules at all? Paul answers that the law was never meant to save us; it shows us our sin, restrains evil, and points us to Jesus. He calls it our "tutor," a guardian who guides a child until the right time. John...