The Epistle of Paul to the Galatians
The letter of Paul to the Galatians is the ninth book of the New Testament and the fourth book in the Pauline corpus. This book is also called ‘great manifesto of Christian Liberty’. It is one of the most important documents, both a historical document and a theological document from the early Christians. This document speaks of the early Christian history and gives us information regarding the setting and the background of the same. Theologically it gives us almost the complete statement of the Gentile Christian Theology.
By the middle of the first century CE, although the early Christian movement was still connected to Judaism, an increasing number of its members were gentiles. The tireless missionary activity of Paul, who saw himself as the apostle to the Gentiles [1:6], had fostered this development. The relationship between these non-Jew converts and Jewish Christian, and between the emerging Christian movement and Judaism, became an issue of burning importance. One crucial issue concerned the status of the Law of Moses. And their burning question was, ‘should the gentile Christians convert to Judaism in the process of becoming Christians? Were they required to observe the Jewish law, or at least a part? This letter of Paul to the Galatians addresses this issue, his view of the controversy and states a position on the Jewish law that will have varied consequences.
It is the most important document that gives us the self-definition in which the new Christian religion is separated from Judaism. ““The epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am as it were in wedlock. It is my Katherine.” Thus spoke Luther, who considered Galatians the best of all the books in the Bible. It has been called “the battle-cry of the Reformation,” “the great charter of religious freedom,” “the Christian declaration of freedom.”
Geographical Setting
When we learn about a particular document it is very necessary that we ought to know about the geographical setting of the particular place or region it was addressed. This letter was addressed to the congregation of ‘Galatia ’. This territory of Galatia is located in the north central region of the Asia Minor today’s Turkey around its capital Ankara . The people who gave their name to the area had originally been Celtic tribes from Europe that settled in the third century BCE, and founded their kingdom there. In 25 BCE, Galatia was made a province of the Roman Empire with its capital at Ancyra, todays Ankara, but its boundaries were extended southwards to include not only native peoples such as the Lycaonians, and various cities with a mixed population like those mentioned in the book of Acts: Iconium, Lystra, Dedre and Pisidian Antioch. Since “Galatia can refer to both a territory and to a province, it is difficult to know in which sense the word is used in the New Testament”
HISTORICAL SETTING:
a) Author:
For a long time the critical studies in the new testament, there have been a very few who have questioned the authorship of Paul in the epistle [1.1]. There were a few critics from the Dutch school of Critics Palestine and the Judastic pictorial in Gal 2:11-21. They claim that this ideology of Judaism could not have developed at the time as early as the days of the apostle Paul. They also claimed that “the Christology of the Galatians was far too lofty. All of this rest on purely subjective reasoning and is not worthy of further comments”.
But these criticisms were short-lived and did not have much influence on the scholarly world. This was confirmed by the literary form, style, argumentative methods, theological content as well as the traditions that it was Paul who wrote this document. Thus, this document is never doubted that it was written by Paul. Using the data drawn from the epistle it is possible to frame a full size picture of Paul, his movements and his methods. A few references to his past pre-Christian life, Paul address’ the audience who partly knew the event and about Paul.
Paul describes his apostleship as intended to underline its divine experience; he regards that his apostolic commission, both its source and its mediation from Christ. This letter to the Galatians bares so much about Paul. The original postscript was hand-written by Paul [6:11]. The remainder of the letter could have been written by a person employed to write. This fact might question the authorship of Paul technically but not substantially.
b) Date and Place of Composition
The letter to the Galatians can be dated only approximately, since no evidence exits. “Some scholars accept a date close to the first missionary journey of Paul [close to 50 A.D.] and the place as Antioch”[5], but there are a few who accept the date close to the apostle’s Roman imprisonment [close to 60 A.D.]. The former date is well accepted and most enjoyed its popularity amongst many scholars. Scholars have argued on both the early and the later dates as in relation to the other Pauline letters.
Theologically, Galatians reflect close to Thessalonians, while Romans, Paul’s extant last letter, shows the development and revision at important points. Therefore, the earlier date is more probable. The letter however, does not give us clues to a particular place of origin. The Marcionite prologues, say that this letter could be sent from Ephesus , but the subscript in some of the manuscripts of Galatians names Rome and the place from which it was sent. Scholars quite often debate that Galatians was written in the third missionary journey of Paul at Ephesus and a more precisely it could be at Ephesus a few weeks before writing first Corinthians or often first and second Corinthians but for sure before Romans.it could be on the journey from Macedonia to Achaia or at Corinth.
Hendriksen has suggested a few of his theories on what the date and place of composition could be. (a) This letter was surely written after the Jerusalem council as it describes Paul’s relation with the other leaders at that great meeting. The journey mentioned in Gal 2:1 must be identified with the one indicated in Acts 15:1-4. (b) I0t was written after the two previous visits to South Galatia, the first of which is said in Acts 13-14 (this is still debated as many scholars do not agree with the South Galatian hypothesis) this is the interpretation of Gal 4:13. (c) It was composed not long after the conversion of the Galatians, for we see that Paul was amazed that the Galatians are so quickly moving away from God, Gal 1:6. (d) It may well have been written on the second missionary journey, at Corinth , before the arrival of Timothy and Silas (a theoretical position taken by: Zahn, Bakhof, Hiedert, lensk, etc.)
These theories however, can be just suggested hypothesis, not exact, as there has been debating on this issue of the letter and it cannot be said that any undisputable conclusion has been reached. It is very necessary that we need to have concrete evidence to come to a conclusion with regard to the date and place of composition as the letter gives us not many clues as to when and where it was written.
c) Audience and Purpose
This letter is addressed to the congregation of Galatia [1:2, 3:1]. The location of the area called ‘Galatia ’ has been discussed thoroughly but never did we get a definite answer. Most likely the location could be central Anatolia, where wandering Celtic tribes settled in 278/278 B.C.E. less likely in the south of Galatia (province hypothesis) which assumes that Paul meant the ‘Province Galatia ” that was established in 25 B.C.E. This included Galatia as well as some of the area to the south like Pisidia, Lycaonia and Pamphylia, which can be connected to Paul’s first missionary journey, as in Acts 13, 14.
But still the information contained in Acts and Galatians cannot be harmonized because Acts 13, 14 does not mention Galatia as all. In Acts 16:8 a ‘Galatian country’ is mentioned but there is not any mission to this place as such. Moreover the citizens or the inhabitants of Pisidia, Lycaonia were not called as ‘Galatians’. Although no archaeological traces seem to be found, Central Anatolia is the most likely location of the church of Galatia
A one stretch reading of the letter we can understand that Paul was really very angry with the people of Galatia , as he abruptly begins without the usual friendly greetings and it also appears as though Paul has to defend himself against the charges which he is indignantly refuting. He accuses the Galatians of being stupid and foolish enough to be taken in by the agitators who have been stirring up trouble, twisting the gospel into something quite different from what it ought to be.
This letter actually shows us the heart of the problem the early church had to face in the earliest of its days. It was crucial and far more than teething troubles of a growing young church. It was, a rejoicing situation for the early Christian community that there were many convert into the Christian faith, but little did the Judeans in Jerusalem acknowledge the gentiles’ conversion, for it was hard for them to accept that the Gentiles were accepted without circumcision and without following the law of Moses. This agitated the nominal Pharisee converts who were strict in observing the Law of Moses, raised their voice against the Gentile conversion using Acts 15:5 as their main support. And these people were persuading the gentiles to believe that their salvation is in the Torah and circumcision, therefore Paul had to address this issue and write to the Galatians explaining the theological insight in the salvation that is in accepting Christ. Under such critical situation, is when Paul wrote this letter.
Galatians as a Historical Document
The letter to the Galatians gives us vital pieces of information about the history of the early church, without which the earliest history of the early Christian community would be even more obscure than what it is now. Paul in his writing is to an extent biased, therefore only some data can be driven from this textual document to the Galatians.
Galatians gives us information about: (a) Paul’s own past life: Paul sets aside his past life [1.15] and gives information about his conviction on the road to Damascus and God’s calling of him to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles [1.16]. Paul also speaks of his strict Jewish Orthodoxy and his zeal to persecute the church before his conversion. There is some information of Paul's missionary work at Arabia and Damascus [1.16, 17]. His first visit to Jerusalem occurred three years later [1.18] he first visits with Cephas and James the brother of Jesus. There were a lot more work at Syria and Cilicia . He is also the apostle who remained unnamed to the churches of Judea [1.22] until his second visit to Jerusalem after fourteen years [1.22].
(b) History of the early church: The history of the early church is rich even though it is extensively brief. The mission spread to Syria and Palestine very early; there were apparently no regulation to the ethnic backgrounds. Therefore opposition arose over the practice of making converts from the Gentiles without asking them to circumcise or without asking them to follow the Torah covenant. This lead to dispute between various factions and became three parties. These disputes lead to the Jerusalem conference [2.1-10], where the parties came together: Paul, Barnabas and Titus as delegates of the Gentile mission: James, Cephas and John as the pillars of the Jerusalem Church and the Anti-Pauline opposition called as ‘false brothers’, in which the last group demanded circumcision and observance of the Torah for the Gentiles as well as the Jewish Christians.
However, the agreement was made at the cost of the third group; Cephas was in charge of the Apostolate of the Circumcision while Paul was appointed the leader of the Gentile mission. And now the Jewish Christians could have table fellowship with Gentile Christians without the former violating the Jewish purity laws. But then Paul stood by the side of the gentile Christians and defended their religious faith and salvation. This dispute was not resolved but resulted in the separation of Paul from the other Jewish Christians, as a result of the crisis in Galatia Paul wrote this letter.
(c) It is equally important of what information we have about the anti-Pauline opponents, whose agitation he traces back to the Jerusalem conference [2.4], as he believes that the intruders believed that the intruders actually persuaded the Galatians believe that their salvation rested in acceptance of the Torah and circumcision, but the question as to who these intruders were, still remains a debate and a matter of controversy. The traditional belief is that the opponents are identified and the false apostles according to the Marcionite Prologues, they were seen as Jewish Christian who sternly prescribed Torah and Circumcision for all Christians.
Galatians as a Theological Document
“Galatians is a testimony to the first radical questioning of Paul’s gospel and theological views by his own church, a challenge, the apostle met by his first systematic apology.” Paul's report about the Jerusalem conference induces that he had to justify his preaching of the gospel to the gentile community and converting them to become Christians.
The account of the Antioch incident suggests fierce debate in which Paul had to defend his position. This letter contains Paul’s line of argument as he justifies his preaching to the gentiles and their acceptance into the church without the Torah and circumcision. The theological legitimacy of this message and mission was questioned by first by his Jewish Christian adversaries and then by the Galatians themselves. Paul then demonstrates by exegesis of scripture [3.6-4.31] what he calls the truth of the gospel [2.5, 14].
His later arguments reveal that Paul can draw on wide variety of conceptual, spiritual, and doctrinal of the Holy Spirit is fundamental. The preaching of Kerygma of Christ crucified accompanied by the gift of the Holy Spirit, leads to baptism [3.27]. In this ritual the non-Christian is made a Christian and simultaneously becomes a member of the Christian church. The gift of the Holy Spirit continues to serve in enabling the Christian to walk in the spirit [5.16, 25] and to bring the fruit of the spirit, the Christian virtue [5.22-23]. The whole Christian community awaits the coming of the eschatological judgement by living a life that is endowed and assisted by the Holy Spirit.
The Outline and Structure
Salutation 1:1-5
Rebuking and Statement of Thesis 1:6-10
Thesis concerning the gospel 1:11-12
Autobiographical Information 1:13-2:21
Further rebuking 3:1-5
Extended Argument from the scripture 3:6-4:7
Discussion of Paul’s distress 4:8-20
II Argument from the scripture 4:21-5:1
Discussion of pastoral concerns 5:2-6:10
Spiritual meditation and pastoral exhortations 5:13-6:10
Paul’s autograph and conclusions 6:11-18
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Neil, William. The letter of Paul to the Galatians. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Hendriksen, William. The New Testament Commentary. Baker Book House; Michigan-1971.
Dennis R. MacDonald; Galatia India : Bangalore
Hans Dieter, Betz. The Epistle to the Galatians; the Anchor Bible Dictionary. Freedman, David Noel. Bantan Doubleday Dell Publishing Group. Inc. New York-1922.
Marion, Soards. The New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible. Doob, SakenFeld Katharine. Abingdon Press: Nashville , USA
Guthrie, Donald. Galatians. Thomas Nelson and sons Limited; printed by: Hazell Watson and Viney limited, Aylesbury, Bucks. 1969
Fung, Ronald. Y. K. The Epistle to the Galatians. Eerdman Publishing Company, Michigan
Ridderbos. H. N. The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia. Bromiley. W. Geoffery. The Paterson Press Book-house Australia
