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. ...

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. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains why this was such amazing, unexpected good news.

For centuries, the Jewish people and the Gentile, or non-Jewish, nations were bitter enemies. So it shocked many to learn that God planned all along to bless “all the fam...

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 w...

Can your good works add to your salvation?

No. In Galatians 3:1-14, the Apostle Paul asks the churches a sharp question: “Who has bewitched you?” In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains why adding works to faith is not a small mistake, but a dangerous one.

The Galatians had started so well, trusting Jesus alone. But now they were being talked into adding rules, as if their own effort could finish what Jesus began. Paul remi...

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. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt walks through what God’s commands are really for.

If we are saved by faith, some people wonder, then why have rules at all? Paul answers that the law was never meant to save us. Instead, it shows us our sin, holds back evil, and points ...

Does God really love you like a father?

Yes. In Galatians 3:26 through 4:7, the Apostle Paul describes one of the most comforting truths in the Bible: through faith in Jesus, God adopts believers as His own children. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains what it means to call God your Father.

Many people who believe in God still struggle to believe He loves them. Paul’s answer is the truth of adoption. Everyone has a spiritual ...

Can you earn your way into God’s family?

No. In Galatians 4:21-31, the Apostle Paul uses the story of Abraham’s two sons to show that we are saved by God’s promise, received through faith — never by our own effort. In this study, Dr. Toby Holt unpacks the surprising lesson.

Abraham had two sons. Ishmael was born through human scheming, when Sarah grew tired of waiting on God’s promise. Isaac was born lat...

What does a changed life look like?

In Galatians 5:16-26, the Apostle Paul describes what God’s Spirit produces in a believer’s life — the “fruit of the Spirit.” In this study, Dr. Toby Holt explains how this fruit grows, and why it matters.

Our good works do not save us, but they do show that we have been saved. Paul contrasts two kinds of life: the “works of the flesh,” such as anger, jealo...

Do your daily choices really matter?

Yes. In Galatians 6:7-18, the Apostle Paul closes his letter with a farmer’s truth: you reap what you sow. In this final study, Dr. Toby Holt explains what we are planting with our lives — and the harvest it brings.

Just as a seed decides the crop, the way we live produces a harvest. Paul says those who “sow to the flesh” reap decay, while those who “sow to the Spirit...