I’ve been in extensive study of the book of Galatians for my personal life and I am pretty sure I figured out what it’s all about.
If you ever read through Galatians, test me to see if this is what you gather as well.
The Thesis of Galatians:
The true gospel is to live by faith in Christ. And to live by faith in Christ is to live in the Holy Spirit.
Overview of Galatians (in my own words):
As Paul is responding to people who want to entrap the Galatian church into thinking that circumcision has meaning for the new covenant, he has to debunk “opponents of the gospel” by saying that the true way that God is expecting his people to respond to his revelation in Christ is to have faith in Jesus, not obey the Torah anymore. To be in right relationship with God no longer means to be Jewish (2:11-14), or does it mean obedience to the Torah (3:10-14), but it is the reality of the Christ living within us (2:20).
2:20 is the thesis verse of the entire book: “I have been crucified with Christ, it is not longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
This “Christ” is not just some abstract concept; Christ living in side of Paul, for Paul, is the presence of the Holy Spirit in his life. This Spirit is the relationship that the prophets longed to reveal (3:14), and the means by which Paul has seen his own transformation (1-11-2:10, 3:3), exemplifying now the fruit of the Spirit (5:22-23).
So, for Paul, if you want to be a true Christian, you must have faith in Christ, and have a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
And so today, if you want to live a full Christian life, it must involve being full of God’s presence.
