Introduction To The Epistle Of Paul To The Galatians
Overview
Paul's defense of the true gospel in this letter provides us with some of the clearest statements about grace found anywhere in the Bible. Romans may be Paul's most detailed treatment of the subject (see INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF ROMANS), but Galatians is his strongest. Paul minces no words in condemning trust in self-righteousness. He skips most of the customary politeness of an introduction and gets right to the point with a stinging curse placed on anyone who would dare to preach another gospel other than the one the Galatians had already received (Gal. 1:8-9).
Paul is very disturbed that the Galatians had been seduced (Gal. 3:1) from their faith in Christ through a perversion of the gospel (Gal. 1:7). They had been told that faith in Christ alone wasn't enough for salvation, and that they had to keep the precepts of the Old Testament law, specifically the rite of circumcision. He writes to turn them back to a pure faith in Christ alone for salvation.
Paul reveals that trusting in anything other than Christ alone for salvation voids the death of Christ (Gal. 2:21). He also says in Galatians 5:4 that the work of Christ can be made of no effect unto the person who is trusting in his own "keeping of the law" in order to produce justification. He is fallen from grace.
Aside from the obvious purpose of this letter, which was to bring the Galatians back to a pure faith in Christ, Paul gave some personal information about himself and his beginnings in ministry which are not recorded elsewhere in scripture (Gal. 1:13-2:21).
Authorship
The very first verse of this letter to the Galatians clearly states that Paul is the author. It is amazing that any scholars would doubt such an obvious point, but some do. However, those that doubt the inspiration of this first verse are few in number. The letter itself definitely declares Paul as the author.
The Recipients Of The Book Of Galantians
Galatia was the name of a region (see note 1 at Acts 16:6) in Asia Minor (biblical Asia--see note 3 at Acts 16:6). The earliest recorded inhabitants of this area were Gauls (now French). They invaded Macedonia and Greece around 280 B.C. and then migrated to this area. The Gauls were called Galatia by the Greeks, thus the name Galatia.
The chief cities of the original Galatia were Ancyra, Pessinus, and Tavium (not mentioned in scripture), but due to war, the region varied in size from time to time. Under Galatia's last king, Amyntas, Galatia's borders were extended to include parts of Phrygia (see note 15 at Acts 2:9), Pisidia (see note 1 at Acts 13:14), Lycaonia (see note 6 at Acts 14:6), and Isauria. This put the cities Lystra (see note 4 at Acts 14:6), Derbe (see note 5 at Acts 14:6), and Iconium (see note 3 at Acts 13:51) in what became the Roman province of Galatia. Paul visited these cities on his first (circa A.D. 46-48--see note 2 at Acts 14:26), second (around A.D. 51-53--see note 1 at Acts 18:22), and third (circa A.D. 54-58--see note 2 at Acts 18:23) missionary journeys.
Date And Place Of Writing
There is no consensus among scholars as to when and from where this epistle was written. It is evident, from the letter itself, that the book of Galatians was written after one of Paul's visits to this area, but which visit? He went through the cities of Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium on all three of his missionary journeys.
Some scholars think that the subject matter and the detailed rebuttal to legalism corresponds to that of Romans and makes this one of Paul's latter writings. The subscript at the end of this letter, which is only contained in some manuscripts, supports this view by saying it was written from Rome. However, Paul said in Galatians 1:6, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." This would imply that this letter was written shortly after the Galatians' conversion. Also, there is no mention of Paul's bonds as there is in other letters from Paul which we know were written from prison (Eph. 6:20; Phil. 1:7, 13, 14, 16; Col. 4:3, 18; 2 Tim. 2:9; and Phile. 10, 13).
Dake's Study Bible places the writing of Galatians at 68 A.D. while the Davis Dictionary of the Bible ascribes it to A.D. 55-58. The New International Version Study Bible presents two views which date the letter between 51 and 57 A.D.
The only thing that is certain is that this was written shortly after one of Paul's visits to the churches of Galatia (Gal. 1:6).
The place from which this letter was written cannot be stated emphatically either, since Paul's location at writing was dependent on when he wrote. The subscript at the end of this letter is not included in all copies of the letter because it is not considered scripture.
About The Author
There are numerous footnotes about Paul in the Acts of the Apostles (some of the main notes_note 4 at Acts 7:58; note 1 at Acts 9:1; note 1 at Acts 9:26; and note 1 at Acts 28:30).
