Who Wrote This Book?  The apostle Paul (1:1; 5:2). 

Date of Writing:   Paul wrote his epistle sometime toward the end of that journey, or afterward (i.e., around 57-58 A.D. or later).

Written To:   The churches of Galatia and all its people.

Why It Was Written.

Paul wrote to correct two errors: Do you have to become a Jew before you can be saved? The second error was, "If Christ has set us free, then we can live as we please!" (cf. 5:1, 13). He demonstrates clearly the only way sinful man can stand before a holy God is by God’s grace made available through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, and we are also sanctified by grace through faith (3:3). The Judaizers taught that works was necessary for salvation and sanctification. It was a religion based on legalism. Someone said, "Judaism was the cradle of Christianity and very nearly its grave."

Galatians answers clearly the question posed in Acts 16:31, "What must I do to be saved?" Are we saved by believing or achieving? Paul declared, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Because Christ has done it all, there remains nothing for us to do except believe in His finished work, and receive the free gift of eternal life. He gives evidences to that declaration in Galatians. We are free of the law. Not only is the Christian saved by grace through faith, but the saved sinner lives by grace through faith. "Grace is the way to life and the way of life."

Much of what Paul says in the letter is an argument stating Paul’s position on the issue of whether Christians have to keep the Jewish law of Moses. It was no academic question. It was a matter of salvation.

The false teachers made it so. "Certain ones who came down from Judea (to Syrian Antioch) were teaching the brothers, saying, 'If you are not circumcized according to Moses’s custom, you cannot be saved'". (Acts 15:1).

Paul made it so. "You have been severed from Christ, you who seek to be justified by the law —you have fallen from grace" (Gal 5:4).

Key Verses:      

Galatians 2:19

"For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God"

Galatians 2:21

"I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness coule be gained throught the law died for nothing."

Galatians 5:1

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, 
and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage."
 
Galations 5:14-15
 
For the entire law in fulfilled in keeping this one command:
”Love your neighbor as yourself.”  15: If you keep on biting and devouring each other, 
watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. (NIV)