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Galatians is not about how to get saved. It is about how Jews and Gentiles can become one people of God through the Messiah, apart from the Law of Moses. The Judaizers resisted Paul’s message and wanted to say that he was in conflict with the apostles in Jerusalem.
Paul says when Peter first visited Antioch, he shared the Lord’s Supper with the Jewish and Gentile believers there, but when agitators or Judaizers showed up from Jerusalem requiring the Gentiles to be circumcised, Peter decided not to eat with the Gentile believers because they were not circumcised. Paul says Peter did this out of fear.
The key to the whole book is Gal. 2:20. The believer has been crucified with Christ. The believer’s identity is determined by who Christ is, living in the believer.
Applications:
The danger of peer pressure: we all feel pressure to be and look like the people around us. This can result in sinful attitudes and behavior.
The danger of cliques in the church: people tend to gravitate toward people they are more comfortable with or people who are like themselves. Matthew 5:46-48 warns against loving those who love you. It takes courage and intentionality to engage people who are different.
The meaning of being crucified with Christ: We have died and risen with Christ. Our death with Christ begins with surrender and moves toward self-denial. Our dying with Christ and our life with Christ is rooted in the faithfulness of Christ, not simply in our human effort to do the opposite of what we wish to do. We live not only by faith in Christ but by the faithfulness of Christ.