Who wrote the book?
Galatians has always been among those Pauline epistles least challenged on the issue of authorship. Paul wrote to the churches in southern Galatia after having a hand in starting them on his first missionary journey to Asia Minor. Paul’s close relationship to these churches helps to explain the extremely strong tone he took with them from the very beginning of the letter. Galatians exhibits Paul at his angriest, as he risked the good favor of the converts in those churches to make sure they were on the path of truth and not led off into deception. In fact, to emphasize the seriousness of his purpose, he took the pen from his scribe and wrote the end of the letter himself in large letters (Galatians 6:11).
Where are we?
Upon arriving back in Antioch from his first missionary journey after eighteen months on the road, Paul received a report that the churches he had started in Galatia had fallen into hard times—specifically, they had fallen into error. A group of Judaizers—those who sought to make living under the Mosaic Law a requirement of the Christian faith—had gained an influence in the Galatian churches. Paul wrote the book a few months before his attendance at the Jerusalem Council in AD 49, a meeting where the apostles would take up this very topic (Acts 15:1–30).
TO WHOM:
To whom is Paul writing this letter? The answer might seem obvious: “To the churches of Galatia” (Galatians 1:2), but there is much disagreement over whether Paul is writing to the “Celts” in the north (the “North Galatian Hypothesis”) or to the churches in the Roman province that included the south (the “South Galatian Hypothesis”). Many scholars argue strongly for one possibility or the other, but the arguments on either side are finely balanced, and it is difficult to come to a firm conclusion. Paul’s address in Galatians 3:1 (“You foolish Galatians!”) might point to the North Galatian Hypothesis, as “Galatian” really means “Celt,” which would most appropriately be applied to those in the North. It has been pointed out, however, that Paul here could deliberately be using a term that would annoy an audience in the South, so this argument is inconclusive.
In favor of the South Galatian Hypothesis, scholars look to the Acts of the Apostles for support. According to Paul, Galatians 2:1-10 describes his second visit to Jerusalem (the first is mentioned at Galatians 1:18-19). If Acts is reliable (in which case, the meeting in Acts 11:27-30 is to be identified with Galatians 2:1-10), then this would mean that Paul had only visited the south of Galatia at the time of writing his letter. The problem with this argument is that Galatians 2 seems much closer to Acts 15:1-35, and so it is not clear that Acts can be used to reliably determine the destination of the letter.
The question of date is closely bound up with the issue of destination, and is likewise inconclusive. If the Acts of the Apostles provides a reliable record of Paul’s missionary journeys, then on the North Galatian Hypothesis the letter would be written after he had evangelized these areas, and therefore in the mid-50s (after 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians, but before Romans). If the South Galatian Hypothesis is correct, then the letter would have been written before Acts 15, and therefore be the earliest of Paul’s letters. Given the apparent correspondence between Acts 15 and Galatians 2, however, this very early date is unlikely.
WHEN WAS IT WRITTEN:
In about AD 46-48, Paul made the first of several missionary journeys, when he left Syrian Antioch (not far from his home town of Tarsus), sailed a short distance to the island of Cyprus, then north to the coast of Asia Minor, and then overland through the central part of that great land mass which today is called Turkey, to the north of the Mediterranean Sea. The region in South-Central Asia Minor which Paul traveled through was then called the Roman Province of Galatia, comprised of an assortment of cities including Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.
Paul preached the Gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, and he pioneered some of the first Christian churches in the region. Importantly, Paul taught the Galatians about Christ and how He came to fulfill the law and prophets, how He was God incarnate, how He lived uprightly before the father, how He was sacrificed for our sins and how He was raised for our justification. Paul taught salvation by grace through faith, and he taught that salvation comes by the work of Christ and not by our work.
Having done these things, Paul moved on in the work God had called him to do, and soon Paul received news that some deceivers were polluting the Gospel in Galatia. These “Judaizers” were teaching that salvation was possible only for those who were circumcised and who practiced keeping various Old Testament laws, including ceremonial Jewish laws and customs. Their argument was that a Jew (which described most of the early Christians of the period), in order to be a “real” Christian must keep such laws. In short, the doctrine of salvation by faith and not by works, as taught by the Apostle Paul, was being challenged.
WHY WAS IT WRITTEN
When the Galatians fell away so quickly from the gospel of grace Paul had preached to them, they also made clear their disloyalty to Paul’s authority as an apostle. Therefore, Paul began the letter to the Galatians by spending two chapters defending that very issue. Only in chapter 3 did he begin to get to the heart of their error; namely, that these Galatians sought to be justified by the Mosaic Law. In contrast, Paul presented his argument that justification comes to people by faith in Jesus Christ, not by their works under the Law.
Part of the problem that confronted the Galatians came in one of the arguments made by the Judaizers. These false teachers suggested that to live by grace and in freedom meant to live a lawless and therefore degenerate life. And so in the final chapters of the letter, Paul made clear that justification—an act of grace through faith—need not result in a sinful lifestyle. Because Christians have been freed from bondage to the sinful nature, we now have the path of holiness open to us.
Why is Galatians so important?
In advance of the Jerusalem Council, Paul’s letter speaks wisdom and clarity into the first real controversy that plagued the church in its early years—the relationship between Christian Jews and Christian Gentiles. Paul’s aggressive tone shows just how important it was to him that the people embrace unity in Christ, no matter their racial distinctions. For him, this was no minor issue, as he went so far as to call the Galatians deserters of Christ, people turning from the truth toward a gospel contrary to the one they had received from Paul (Galatians 1:6–9).
HOW SHOULD WE APPLY IT TODAY:
How is the 21st Century Church Doing?
One of the most serious weaknesses in the modern Christian Church is that it has significantly abandoned concern over doctrine. Another way of putting this is that much of Christiandom has come to accept false and questionable doctrines without any trouble, as long as they are “popular.” Wrap it up in a gleaming smile, a $2,000 suit, an opulent auditorium, impressive audio-visuals, and a couple books with catchy titles and glossy covers, and we can believe almost anything!
Many churchgoing Americans do not even think in the category of doctrine or theology, preferring to stick with simple, snap, catch phrases and entertainments. In other words, what Paul and the apostles regarded as crucial, many of today’s Christians regard as optional, superfluous, “technical,” “academic,” basically meaningless, and certainly boring. As long as Jesus is “in our heart,” theology and doctrine are often considered to be beside the point. Who can prove it anyway? Isn’t it all just so much fine print? Can’t something be validly true for one but not for another, especially when it comes to technical details of doctrines? Can’t anything be proven with the Bible? Didn’t men write it anyway? And it is so hard to understand!
Such ideas are not found anywhere in the New Testament, and they have no valid place in the Church. Neither do the scriptures support a reductionist approach to Christianity. Can God save someone at the last second, not asking them to study scripture, or to learn the doctrines of the faith? Of course He can! And He sometimes does! He saved a thief on the cross next to Jesus, and from all we know of the thief, he did not know much about Christ, scripture or doctrine except what he observed on the day of his torture and death.
Can God save us if we choose not to care at all about doctrines or theology? Yes! We are not saved by our works; that means we are not saved by study or by learning any more than we are saved by keeping the Law. He saves us despite the fact that we miss the mark – that is the very meaning of “saved”.
Today, no less than in the first century, Paul's letter to the Galatians reminds believers about the inseparability of theology and life. By setting forth in clearest terms what is "the truth of the gospel, " the apostle was able, under divine direction, to preserve the glorious doctrine of salvation by grace.