In Psalm 136 God shows His people how to give thanks to Him rightly. Praise that is rooted and grounded in the truth of who God is and how He has revealed Himself in His Word.

Before New Covenant faith in Christ came we were held captive to Law, imprisoned in our sin. But now that Christ has come we are all one in Him and experience freedom.

God's promises and His Law do not go against one another. Because when God gave the Law He did so in order to drive His people to His promise which is fulfilled in Christ.

We are all under the curse of God's Law. But thanks be to God who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who redeemed us from the curse of the Law by becoming a curse for us.

Paul reminds the Galatians that is was by faith in Christ that they had begun the Christian life, not by works. So, for them to now think that they can finish what they did not begin is foolishness, as Paul makes clear.

The way that anyone will ever stand before God being counted as righteous is not by their own works. Justification comes by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Paul continues to defend himself and the gospel that he preaches. Paul gives his defense so that the Galatian Christians and you would know that he speaks the words of God, not man.

The false teachers that were seeking to deceive the Galatians accused Paul of being a second rate apostle, receiving his gospel from man, and being a man pleaser. Paul however, seeks to show that this is not true.

The Galatians were being deceived by another gospel that the false teachers were putting before them. Paul however, is very clear in saying that there is only one Gospel.

An Introduction to Paul's letter to the Galatians