Galatians Overview

Key Purpose

To expose and rebuke those who would create an “in” vs. “out” community through making people become Jewish to be in God’s family. The Gospel of the unconditional gift of Jesus sets all free—both Jew and Gentile—to love God and others through the power of the Spirit.

Date

48 or 49 AD, just prior to the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15, or 49-50 AD just after the Jerusalem Council. There is debate about this, as some see the addressees in this letter as the Northern Galatian region, which would move the dating back to the mid to late 50’s AD.

Who are the Galatians?

Galatia was a region in modern day Turkey, and we can see the beginning of the churches in this region by looking at the Book of Acts in chapters 13-14. On Paul’s First Missionary Journey, Paul traveled though this region for roughly a year and a half, first speaking with Jewish men and women in the synagogues, then moving outward to the broader community. This mission saw Paul establishing local house churches, leading people to understand the gospel, and returning through this region appointing leadership for the churches. The cities that Paul visited were Roman to the core, and in Paul’s journeys he found the radical message of the gospel breaking through and setting people free.

The gospel message: The incongruous gift of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus has broken into the pervasive darkness of the sinful condition of all humanity; leading to the formation a new community of Messiah-people marked by believing loyalty in Jesus.

What’s Happening in Galatia?

Later, after Paul returned to his home base at Antioch, he was confronted a terrible reality: the gospel message he had been proclaiming was being challenged as misguided, misinformed, and not taking Jewish Law seriously enough. This terrible reality was being played out on two different fronts: in his home base of Antioch and in his new, precious little churches in Galatia. To put it simply, there were those insisting that within God’s program, there were those “in” and those “out.” What marked one as “in” vs. “out” to those opponents of Paul’s Gospel: Torah observance. After all, loyalty to the Torah had been what marked Jews as zealous and committed to their God for generations.  In Pre-Jesus Judaism, as well as in the Galatian Churches in Paul’s day, this created a racial tension between those who submitted to the Torah as their marker of being in the family of God and those who did not, and thus remained on the outside. This racial tension in Galatia unearthed a theological tension, which led to a practical tension—hypocrisy. The “agitators” who were disturbing Paul’s churches had missed the momentous and dramatic shift that occurred with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Paul’s gospel was that Jesus changed everything! The present evil age had been defeated and a New Humanity was here, built on faith in Jesus. All this, to Paul, meant that people weren’t living in the freedom of the Gospel and the Spirit and instead returning to their previous slavery, which is completely insane! How could someone think that observing the OT Law would lead to freedom? It never had! So how could you go back to it? This seems to be the exact same situation that is going on either just prior to or just after the writing of this letter, a Church meeting called the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15.

Why did Paul write Galatians?

Paul knew that he had to act quickly and destroy this threat to the gospel! This letter was Paul’s first that we know of, and therefore perhaps the very first New Testament writing ever written. While an inspired book of the Bible, this letter is surprisingly personal and passionate. Reading Galatians is a little like listening to only one side of a phone conversation, and an intense conversation at that. You might say Paul is pretty ticked off and heart broken as he sits down to write this letter. I imagine him pacing back and forth to his scribe, shooting from the hip, and completely up in arms, yet weaving the deep and profound truths of the Gospel of Jesus into every crack and cranny of his argument. A brilliant mind, but a brilliant emotional mind is at work in the creation of the letter to the Galatians.

Key Themes

Hypocrisy vs. Authenticity Racial Tension & the New Family of God How does a person “get right with God”? Faith The Law and it’s curse Life in the Spirit True biblical community rooted in love

Key Verse

Galatians 2:20, 5:1

Distinctive Features

No standard thanksgiving following the introduction, just straight into frustration Word πιστις “faith” used 22 times Word δικαιω “make right”/”justify” used 8 times Promises to Abraham and his “seed”  Intensity: See 5:12

Outline

Greeting (1:1-5) Messenger: Paul’s Authority & the True Gospel (1-2) Message: The True Gospel & the Law (3-4) Morality: Living Out of the True Gospel (5-6) Conclusion (6:11-18)