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Saint Andrews Expositional Commentary #7
Galatians: An Expositional Commentary
The gospel has come under attack since the days of the Apostles. In first-century Galatia, false teachers were creeping into churches and convincing Christians that they had to keep the law of Moses to be saved. To call these churches back from the brink of destruction, the Apostle Paul wrote what is likely his earliest an unyielding defense of God’s saving grace in Jesus Christ. In this volume, Dr. R.C. Sproul guides us through Paul’s passionate letter to the Galatians. Knowing that the early church needed to safeguard the one true gospel, we too must defend the good news that we are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
143 pages, Hardcover
Published October 6, 2022
81 people are currently reading
139 people want to read
About the author
R.C. Sproul
675 books1,974 followersDr. R.C. Sproul (1939–2017) was founder of Ligonier Ministries, an international Christian discipleship organization located near Orlando, Fla. He was founding pastor of Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Fla., first president of Reformation Bible College, and executive editor of Tabletalk magazine.
Ligonier Ministries began in 1971 as the Ligonier Valley Study Center in Ligonier, Pa. In an effort to respond more effectively to the growing demand for Dr. Sproul’s teachings and the ministry’s other educational resources, the general offices were moved to Orlando in 1984, and the ministry was renamed.
Dr. Sproul’s radio program, Renewing Your Mind, is still broadcast daily on hundreds of radio stations around the world and can also be heard online. Dr. Sproul produced hundreds of lecture series and recorded numerous video series on subjects such as the history of philosophy, theology, Bible study, apologetics, and Christian living.
He contributed dozens of articles to national evangelical publications, spoke at conferences, churches, and academic institutions around the world, and wrote more than one hundred books, including The Holiness of God, Chosen by God, and Everyone’s a Theologian. He signed the 1978 Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy and wrote a commentary on that document. He also served as general editor of the Reformation Study Bible, previously known as the New Geneva Study Bible.
Dr. Sproul had a distinguished academic teaching career at various colleges and seminaries, including Reformed Theological Seminary in Orlando and Jackson, Miss. He was ordained as a teaching elder in the Presbyterian Church in America.
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Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews
February 28, 2024
I greatly appreciate Sproul’s writing! It’s so simple and matter of fact, that I think any believer, regardless of how long you’ve been a Christian, can read and understand his teachings.
October 24, 2024
Another great Sproul commentary. I'm not quite sure how to grade or classify Sproul's commentaries. In my ignorance, I will call them message or theme expositories. He covers all the chapters but does so by discussing the central truths, certainly not a word for word exposition. He does expound, as usual, on some etymology. Overall, I love this series as a companion to other expositions while studying a book.
January 24, 2023
This is the latest in a series of books containing adaptations of R.C. Sproul’s sermons at St. Andrews Chapel in Sanford, Florida, where he preached from 1997 until his death in 2017. In these sermons, though he sought to at least touch on each verse, he focused on the key themes and ideas that comprised the “big picture” of each passage he covered. Sproul’s recommendation is to use these books as an overview and introduction.
Sproul writes that in all probability, this letter from the Apostle Paul was the first of his letters. It was also the most fiery. Paul wrote the epistle in a spirit of righteous indignation.
A heresy had developed among the Galatians, and it threatened and denied the very gospel. It threatened the authority of Christ. Sproul tells us that the heresy, known as the Judaizing heresy, argued that to be a Christian, you must continue to practice the rituals and the ceremonies of the Old Testament law. This would, by implication, deny the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ.
This short book, comprised of twenty-two sermons, serves as an excellent introduction to Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
Here are 20 helpful quotes from the book:
• The gospel is a distinct message with a distinct content that has to do with the person and work of Jesus Christ and how the benefits of His person and work are appropriated by faith and by faith alone.
• The gospel is the good news that the basis of my salvation is not my merit and is not my righteousness; rather, it is the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to all who put their trust in Him.
• The only righteousness by which we can ever possibly be saved is an alien righteousness, a foreign righteousness, a righteousness that is apart from us. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
• If you want to be a Christian, you can’t be a man-pleaser. Being a man-pleaser and a servant of Christ are two incompatible options. It’s either/or. You please the Lord or you please your friends.
• Some people claim that calls to obey the law of God amount to legalism. However, legalism is when someone adds laws that God never prescribed.
• The righteousness by which we are justified is an alien righteousness. It’s not a righteousness that we possess. It is not something that we gain or that we merit.
• The Father turned His back on Jesus because in the attribution of our sin to Him, Jesus was the most obscene individual in all of human history, so filthy that God couldn’t even look at Him.
• There are two things you must remember when you’re praying: first, who God is, and then who you are.
• Even more important than how the culture influenced the writing of the Bible is how our culture now influences us in our understanding of the Bible.
• We derive our ethics from what’s happening in the world around us rather than from the Word of God.
• In the final analysis, it’s not whether you know Jesus that matters; it’s whether Jesus knows you.
• The whole point of our sanctification is that Christ may be formed in us.
• The Apostle Paul is setting before the Galatians an either/or proposition. Either go back to the law or have the gospel; you can’t do both.
• Original sin does not describe the first sin that was committed by Adam and Eve. Rather, original sin refers to the result of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve. It signifies God’s judgment on the human race, of whom Adam and Eve are representatives.
• If you live a lifestyle of constant, impenitent, gross, and major sin, you will not get into the kingdom of God, because you have shown that you do not belong to Christ.
• Joy is foundational to the Christian life.
• The most difficult part of the business of the church is to exercise church discipline.
• For the unbeliever, the cross is equated with scandal. For Paul, it was the highest source of personal pride. Christ and His cross were the only things worth boasting about for Paul.
• The whole point of this epistle to the Galatians is to put the flesh to death and to walk in the Spirit.
• Rebirth is only by the power of God the Holy Spirit, who changes your nature from flesh to Spirit.
Sproul writes that in all probability, this letter from the Apostle Paul was the first of his letters. It was also the most fiery. Paul wrote the epistle in a spirit of righteous indignation.
A heresy had developed among the Galatians, and it threatened and denied the very gospel. It threatened the authority of Christ. Sproul tells us that the heresy, known as the Judaizing heresy, argued that to be a Christian, you must continue to practice the rituals and the ceremonies of the Old Testament law. This would, by implication, deny the sufficiency of the sacrifice of Christ.
This short book, comprised of twenty-two sermons, serves as an excellent introduction to Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
Here are 20 helpful quotes from the book:
• The gospel is a distinct message with a distinct content that has to do with the person and work of Jesus Christ and how the benefits of His person and work are appropriated by faith and by faith alone.
• The gospel is the good news that the basis of my salvation is not my merit and is not my righteousness; rather, it is the righteousness of Christ freely imputed to all who put their trust in Him.
• The only righteousness by which we can ever possibly be saved is an alien righteousness, a foreign righteousness, a righteousness that is apart from us. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
• If you want to be a Christian, you can’t be a man-pleaser. Being a man-pleaser and a servant of Christ are two incompatible options. It’s either/or. You please the Lord or you please your friends.
• Some people claim that calls to obey the law of God amount to legalism. However, legalism is when someone adds laws that God never prescribed.
• The righteousness by which we are justified is an alien righteousness. It’s not a righteousness that we possess. It is not something that we gain or that we merit.
• The Father turned His back on Jesus because in the attribution of our sin to Him, Jesus was the most obscene individual in all of human history, so filthy that God couldn’t even look at Him.
• There are two things you must remember when you’re praying: first, who God is, and then who you are.
• Even more important than how the culture influenced the writing of the Bible is how our culture now influences us in our understanding of the Bible.
• We derive our ethics from what’s happening in the world around us rather than from the Word of God.
• In the final analysis, it’s not whether you know Jesus that matters; it’s whether Jesus knows you.
• The whole point of our sanctification is that Christ may be formed in us.
• The Apostle Paul is setting before the Galatians an either/or proposition. Either go back to the law or have the gospel; you can’t do both.
• Original sin does not describe the first sin that was committed by Adam and Eve. Rather, original sin refers to the result of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve. It signifies God’s judgment on the human race, of whom Adam and Eve are representatives.
• If you live a lifestyle of constant, impenitent, gross, and major sin, you will not get into the kingdom of God, because you have shown that you do not belong to Christ.
• Joy is foundational to the Christian life.
• The most difficult part of the business of the church is to exercise church discipline.
• For the unbeliever, the cross is equated with scandal. For Paul, it was the highest source of personal pride. Christ and His cross were the only things worth boasting about for Paul.
• The whole point of this epistle to the Galatians is to put the flesh to death and to walk in the Spirit.
• Rebirth is only by the power of God the Holy Spirit, who changes your nature from flesh to Spirit.
March 12, 2023
As a confessional Baptist, there are some things that I disagree with the Westminster Confession of Faith, but they are surely secondary in nature. No one presents the clarity of the gospel, the historical recovery of the gospel at the Reformation and the continuing battle for the Biblical gospel better than R. C. Sproul. He was surely a gift to the church.
The message of Paul's letter to the Galatians is clear, do not mess with the gospel of grace. Do not bring your soiled works to Christ and think you are adding anything that He will accept in your futile attempts to reconcile yourself to God. The only thing you bring to your salvation is sin, enmity, hatred and rejection of God. He has done everything in the person and work of Jesus. Look to Him and only to Him.
Great read, highly recommend.
The message of Paul's letter to the Galatians is clear, do not mess with the gospel of grace. Do not bring your soiled works to Christ and think you are adding anything that He will accept in your futile attempts to reconcile yourself to God. The only thing you bring to your salvation is sin, enmity, hatred and rejection of God. He has done everything in the person and work of Jesus. Look to Him and only to Him.
Great read, highly recommend.
March 23, 2025
Mostly good. Sproul enjoys pulling from other Scripture in order to bolster his application, which makes for a great pastoral commentary, but inevitably means you don’t spend a whole lot of time in the book of Galatians itself.
May 5, 2024
Great exposition of Galatians. Very readable and understandable. This would be a quick read as you are studying the book of Galatians. I highly recommend this book!
August 2, 2025
5 ☆
Another solid commentary!
Another solid commentary!
November 30, 2022
R.C. Sproul’s infectious intimacy with the gospel does not go unnoticed in this expositional commentary of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. These sermons are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to be used “as an overview and introduction.” The volume is very accessible and yet thoroughly edifying.
January 2, 2025
As noted in the introduction, this is not really a commentary but rather a collection of sermons put to writing for those who would rather ingest them in that way. With that being the case, this suffers from R.C’s rather sporadic preaching. I love the man and his labor for the Reformed faith, but he seems to fit a lot (history, philosophy, systematics, etc.) into a particular text/sermon. This makes it so this ‘commentary’ is more Sproul’s musings on the text and how said text connects to those things he was passionate about.
If that’s what you’re looking for, this is for you. I was not looking for that, but rather looking for a Reformed exposition of Galatians even if not very technical. I was looking for more explicitly reformed thoughts, such as the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New, the place of the Law, and the ongoing validity of the Decalogue. The popular commentaries (e.g., Schreiner, let alone Wright) will be antagonistic to such interpretations, and I was looking for some kind of answer and was not satisfied.
Again, for what it is, it’s not terrible. And bonus points for being able to hear Sproul’s characteristic way of speaking while reading some lines.
If that’s what you’re looking for, this is for you. I was not looking for that, but rather looking for a Reformed exposition of Galatians even if not very technical. I was looking for more explicitly reformed thoughts, such as the relationship between the Old Covenant and the New, the place of the Law, and the ongoing validity of the Decalogue. The popular commentaries (e.g., Schreiner, let alone Wright) will be antagonistic to such interpretations, and I was looking for some kind of answer and was not satisfied.
Again, for what it is, it’s not terrible. And bonus points for being able to hear Sproul’s characteristic way of speaking while reading some lines.
November 26, 2023
Audiobook.
Quotes
It might be true that Jesus died for sins. And that you want a purpose. And that God makes you happy. But that is not the gospel. Very few people, including ministers, know what the gospel is. Paul says “I cant believe you are turning to another gospel!” To the Galatians.
Electoral votes- we cannot believe something based on it being majority view or someone that we like holding that view, yet this is often the grounds & reasoning for belief. “Well 60,000 people cant be wrong in thinking….” Yes they can be.
Head coverings. Cultural differences: we do not tithe in denari or take off our shoes in evangelism. We show submission in other ways than head coverings. But we must obey the creation order presented with head coverings scripture.
Fell asleep a little on plane but loved every part I heard. Good book for inductive Galatians Bible study?? Spoke on so much- catholicism, evolution, head coverings, more catholicsm
Quotes
It might be true that Jesus died for sins. And that you want a purpose. And that God makes you happy. But that is not the gospel. Very few people, including ministers, know what the gospel is. Paul says “I cant believe you are turning to another gospel!” To the Galatians.
Electoral votes- we cannot believe something based on it being majority view or someone that we like holding that view, yet this is often the grounds & reasoning for belief. “Well 60,000 people cant be wrong in thinking….” Yes they can be.
Head coverings. Cultural differences: we do not tithe in denari or take off our shoes in evangelism. We show submission in other ways than head coverings. But we must obey the creation order presented with head coverings scripture.
Fell asleep a little on plane but loved every part I heard. Good book for inductive Galatians Bible study?? Spoke on so much- catholicism, evolution, head coverings, more catholicsm
March 5, 2024
I find this commentary as repetitive and heavy on historical fact of the time. I found it to be heavy reading. I have read many commentaries, but I believe the lay person want a commentary sprinkled with history, words at a higher reading, but not all the way through. Sproul's book on Mark and John was excellent. I get the feeling those who bring these books out after Sproul's death sprinkled the book with too much of their writing style. I would not recommend this commentary as well as the Ephesian commentary which both of these probably was edited after his death. A burning question some people may have is... did I finished the book... NO. I move on to Grant Osborne Commentaries.
November 18, 2025
An expositional commentary on Galatians by Sproul. Reads kind of all over the place. He does note at the beginning of this book that he won’t be diving deep into each verse but instead will be looking at key themes and that it is more pastoral in nature. Even so, while there were a lot of great insights, he seemed to delve off into tangents that peaked his own particular interests but were loosely related to the passage— probably would not recommend to someone wanting to study Galatians more in depth
February 22, 2023
Sproul’s expository commentary. This one on Galatians. They are always an excellent choice, unless you want something academic. They are light reads and this one is particularly thin. Heavy on Luther. Heavy on Calvin. Heavy on illustration. Nothing groundbreaking in here. You will read it in Sproul’s voice and tempo. And you’ll love it!
May 5, 2025
Despite my wickedness God has saved me, despite my best attempts to draw away from Him and serve my flesh He has drawn me to Himself. By faith alone, by Christ alone I have been saved. May I never boast in my strength, for when I am weak, then I am strong.
March 20, 2023
Awesome commentary. I personally use this set to go with devotional readings and they are perfect for that — simple enough for a quick read and not too heady.
June 7, 2023
Another outstanding exposition by RC Sproul. I highly recommend this series for those who want to study the Word of God.
August 19, 2023
Decent and very basic reformed commentary. Okay resource.
November 13, 2023
As always, Sproul, it was a pleasure 💙
May 8, 2024
Another great commentary by Sproul. Easy to read and understand and filled with practical pastoral wisdom.
June 22, 2024
Such a good book like everything RC Sproul write. As a Reformed Baptist obviously there are some things I don't agree with which are very minimal but so much of it is so good.
December 4, 2024
A decent commentary. Not Sproul's best work.
December 17, 2024
I really enjoy just about anything RC Sproul writes. He really clarifies scripture and gives so much background as to what and why something is written.
April 8, 2025
Very simple commentary on Galatians from Sproul.
June 23, 2025
truth
R.C. Sproul is always a good source of information. He always makes me think and he always uses God’s word to back up what he teaches.
R.C. Sproul is always a good source of information. He always makes me think and he always uses God’s word to back up what he teaches.
August 15, 2023
Loved it. Perfectly pointed out how we are saved by Christ alone and not anything that we do. You can't add anything other than Christ alone!
December 27, 2025
Sproul takes you on a deeper, and more insightful dive into Paul’s defense of salvation by the payment of the cross.
April 2, 2024
Loved it. It may be short, but it is no less powerful than the rest of Sproul's commentaries. A great devotional resource.
May 29, 2024
I'm now a fan of Sproul.
He brought so much out of Paul's letter. I learned so much about the Judaizing heresy that was plaguing Paul's young Church in Galatia, that caused him to write to them so passionately and volcanically.
Sproul will mention a verse or too and then just go off like Paul. Incredible writing and teaching.
I need to go re-read Galatians now.
St. Paul, pray for us!
He brought so much out of Paul's letter. I learned so much about the Judaizing heresy that was plaguing Paul's young Church in Galatia, that caused him to write to them so passionately and volcanically.
Sproul will mention a verse or too and then just go off like Paul. Incredible writing and teaching.
I need to go re-read Galatians now.
St. Paul, pray for us!
Displaying 1 - 28 of 28 reviews