Galatians it is!

"Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for 'The righteous shall live by faith.'" Galatians 3:11

Okay, so I'm going with Galatians, which, come to find out, has a lot of the same themes as Romans. It also has some controversial passages which should be fun. :)

In my study so far today, I have found out that Galatians was written by Paul sometime after the "Jerusalem Council" (Acts 15, Galatians 2:1). Some speculate that it was written around AD 48 or 49. It was written, obviously, to the churches of Galatia but, more specifically, the churches of southern Galatia (which is not "ethnic Galatia" which is to the north). This is most likely true since Paul's missionary travels had already taken him to southern Galatia where he had already set up several churches, but he had not yet been to northern Galatia. (Note: I am using a John MacArthur study for all of this information but have found it to be backed up in other places that I have looked.)

Galatians main theme has to do with justification by faith. There were false teachers at the time who were teaching that Gentiles must first become Jewish proselytes and submit to all the Mosaic Law before they could become Christians. The Galatians were apparently open to this teaching and Paul wrote this letter to defend justification by faith and to warn these churches of the consequences of abandoning such doctrine. This is Paul's only epistle where he does not commend his readers, which would lead you to believe that he was very concerned about the path they were headed down. (Kind of like getting a letter from your parents that never asks how you are doing or what you've been up to lately.)

Thank God for Paul and his letters...they reveal SO many truths about the gospel. He is probably the world's greatest missionary because his mission is still active through his letters in the bible.