Sha’ul’s Letter to the Galatians ~ Part 1

We pause the ongoing story of Sha’ul to examine his Letter to the Galatians.

Note: To examine the graphics in this series, click on them for a pop-up version.

Introduction

As I pointed out in Part 2 of the Yerushalayim Council, there is some dispute about when Sha’ul wrote this letter. Although there is no consensus on the matter, it appears that while Sha’ul and Bar-Nabba were in Antioch, Sha’ul may have written this letter to the Galatian Believers among whom he and Bar-Nabba had worked during their recent travels to Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. If this assumption is correct, the letter would have been written about 50 CE, shortly following the Yerushalayim Council.  ^[1]

Galatians, which may be the earliest of Sha’ul’s letters, is also his most intense. It gives us a strong presentation of the truth that sinners are justified and live godly lives by trusting in Yeshua alone.

Understood politically, “Galatians” can refer to those living in the southern part of the Roman province of Galatia. That region included the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe, where Sha’ul worked to plant churches, as recorded in Acts 13:14–14:23.

On Sha’ul’s second missionary journey, he “went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia” (Acts 16:6) in north-central Asia Minor (near the modern capital of Turkey—Ankara). His later visit to the same general area is recorded in Acts 18:23 and 19:1. This is where a group from Gaul (modern France) invaded in the third century BCE and became known as Galatia.

In his letter to the Galatians, Sha’ul discusses what it means to be God’s people. Although many groups have special conditions for membership, the Family of God is open to everyone. As Sha’ul explains, there is incredible freedom in Yeshua – yet, at the same, His followers are called to live like Him through the power of the Ruach. Yeshua has set us free, and we are to use our freedom to love others.

Much about the life and movements of the Emissary Sha’ul is only known – or filled in significantly – from Galatians 1:13–2:14 (and the personal glimpse in 4:13–14). Among these factors are Sha’ul’s sojourn in “Arabia” (1:17) and descriptions of two trips to Yerushalayim (1:18–19; 2:1–10). Sha’ul described a confrontation with Kefa (2:11–14) mentioned nowhere else in the Brit Hadashah.

Galatians tells us much about the ministry of the Ruach concerning the Messianic life. After the Ruach’s role in the ministry of adoption (4:5–6), believers are commanded to “walk by the Spirit” (5:16), be “led by the Spirit“ (5:18), and “follow the Spirit” (5:25), as well as “sow to the Spirit” and “reap” the related eternal harvest (6:8). The moment-by-moment outcome of that kind of sensitivity to the ministry of the Ruach is what is meant by “the fruit of the Spirit” (5:22–23).^[2]

The theology of this letter is seen both in its explicit message and in the foundational presuppositions and implicit premises upon which the argument is built. The letter addresses a situation in which Sha’ul’s Gentile converts are being told by a new group of teachers that to be integrated fully into God’s covenant people they need to enter into the Mosaic covenant by circumcision (2:3; 5:2–6, 11–12; 6:12–13, 15). ^[3]

In our next post, we will continue to explore Sha’ul’s Letter to the Galatians.

Click here for the PDF version.

^[1] F. LaGard Smith.
^[2] Boyd Luter, “Galatians,” in Holman Illustrated Bible Commentary.

^[3] R. E. Ciampa, “Galatians,” in New Dictionary of Biblical Theology.