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 that a different "gospel" that cannot save anyone. Centuries later, Martin Luther would fight the very same battle.

Questions this study answers:

1. What is the book of Galatians about? Paul defends one simple truth: we are saved by trusting Jesus, not by following rules to earn it. Adding anything to that good news ruins it.

2. Who were the Judaizers? Teachers who said faith in Jesus had to be combined with circumcision and the Jewish law, pulling people's trust away from what Jesus had already done.

3. What does the word "anathema" mean? It means "cursed," or cut off from God. Paul uses it twice in Galatians 1:8-9: even an angel preaching another gospel should be accursed. "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." — Galatians 1:8 (NKJV)

Dr. Toby Holt is President of New Geneva Theological Seminary, and his sermons have been downloaded more than 1.9 million times on SermonAudio. Find more verse-by-verse Bible teaching at newgeneva.org; support this ministry at newgeneva.org/give.