GALATIANS (Epistle)

Letter addressed by Paul to the churches of Galatia (Gal. 1:2).
(a) Recipients and date:
It is well established that the author of this letter is the apostle Paul, and his unity is not in doubt. On the other hand, problems appear about the recipients, the occasion and date of the epistle. There are two theories on this point.

(A) If Galatia (see) is understood as the entire Roman province of this name, encompassing the churches founded by Paul during his first missionary journey in the year 47 AD. (Acts 13:14), this epistle would have been written before the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15).

This Council dealt precisely with the problem of circumcision, and it is worth noting that Paul makes no allusion in this letter to such a confirmation of his position (cf. Acts 16:4). It is only after this conference that a journey to northern Galatia is spoken of in Acts (Acts 16:6). According to this hypothesis, the Epistle to the Galatians would be the oldest of Paul’s letters.

(B) If Galatia is understood only as the Galatian district itself, which was not evangelized until Paul’s second journey, the epistle could not have been written before the apostle Paul’s visit to Ephesus; Acts 18:23 would mention his second visit to this region (cf. Gal. 4:13).

On the other hand, the allusions to the welcome that Paul receives, and the omission of the name of Barnabas (Gal. 4:13-20) do not seem to agree with what we know of the first journey (in which Barnabas took part). The similarity of the epistle to the Galatians with that of Romans has given rise to maintaining that both were written at the same time, around the year 56 or 57 AD.

(b) Content.
This letter was occasioned by the intrigues of certain Judaizing teachers, who opposed the authority of Paul, teaching that it was necessary to observe the law of Moses. These Judaizers claimed that Paul, because he was not one of the twelve, had not directly received the knowledge of the Gospel.

These adversaries apparently accused Paul of inconsistency, since he preached to the Gentiles that they did not have to observe the law, while the converted Jews continued to do so, and even he himself occasionally (Acts 21:20-26).

On the other hand, they openly attacked the teachings of the apostle, persuading their converts to assume the Jewish prescriptions. Thus, the very essence of the Gospel was put into play. Moved by intense emotion, Paul wrote the epistle using forceful arguments. The Epistle to the Galatians is the Magna Carta of Christian freedom.

After the introduction (Gal. 1:1-10), in which the apostle speaks of the Galatians’ complacency toward false teachers, he vigorously affirms the divine inspiration of the good news he has proclaimed, defending his apostolic authority (Gal. . 1:1-2). Christ has conferred it directly.

The apostle does not depend on men. He also shows that the Jerusalem church and the twelve had admitted his apostleship (Gal. 2:1-10). As for his teaching, it had never changed (Gal. 2: 11-21), not even when Peter, in Antioch, seemed to oppose his behavior.

In chap. 3 Paul defends the doctrine of justification by faith alone, an experience that the Galatians themselves had had (Gal. 3:1-5); He refers to the Scriptures to demonstrate that this was the path that Abraham himself had followed to achieve salvation (Gal. 3:6-9).

Paul also highlights some scriptural truths regarding the law: because he demands perfect obedience as a condition of salvation, the law only brings down curses and punishment (Gal. 3:10-12). Christ, made a curse in our place, has freed us from the curse (Gal 3:13, 14).

God had ratified the covenant of salvation by faith entered into with Abraham and his descendants. Therefore, the law, coming later, could not annul the covenant made previously (Gal. 3:15-18); The law was intended to be a temporary discipline, forcing men to realize that sin is transgression of God’s commandments (Gal. 3:19, 20). The law, thus, played the role of pedagogue, to lead sinners to Christ (Gal. 3:21-24).

In chap. 4, the apostle gives his readers additional reasons to show the genuineness of the gospel of him: the adoption and inheritance of the son of God (Gal. 4:1-11); the affection of the Galatians towards Paul (Gal. 4:12-20); the parallelism that the story of Hagar, Sarah, and their children presents, with the Sinai covenant and the covenant of grace (Gal. 4:21-31).

From Ga. 5: 1-6: 10 the apostle illustrates the doctrine of freedom about the law: he exhorts the Galatians to safeguard this freedom, and to practice “the law of Christ”, which is that of love and mutual help .
The passage from Ga. 6:11-18, which Paul probably wrote in his own handwriting, is the conclusion; he recapitulates there the essence of his teaching.

(c) Importance of the Epistle to the Galatians:

(1) Because of the details it offers about the apostle’s life. The agreement it presents with the account found in Acts of Paul’s life and his relationship with the church has been strongly contested, but can be fully demonstrated. See PAUL for chronological mentions of Paul’s visit to Jerusalem after his conversion (Gal. 1:18, 19; Acts 9:26-29), and the Jerusalem conference (Gal. 2:2-10 ; Acts 15).

(2) The epistle further demonstrates that the twelve were in agreement with Paul, leaving the commission to evangelize the Gentiles to him.

(3) More concisely than the more detailed and less vehement Epistle to the Romans, and by means of particular examples, the Epistle to the Galatians gives the same plan of salvation and the same estimate of the Hebrew dispensation.

All men, so far as the Law is concerned, are under condemnation as transgressors; Therefore salvation by the works of the law is impossible. Only Christ can save, since He, by his death, has satisfied the demands of the law with respect to those who believe.

The law was never intended to save, but to be a tutor or pedagogue (which among the Greeks was a slave who took children to school) to bring us to Christ. Now we are no longer under this pedagogue. It is by faith that Abraham was saved, it is by faith, and by faith alone, that we become children of Abraham, partakers of the blessing, and heirs of the promise.

Judaism, as a method of salvation, constitutes an erroneous interpretation of the OT. The distinction between Jews and Gentiles has been abolished. The proclamation of these truths shows that Christianity is a faith of universal scope, and not a sect of Judaism.

The early Christian writers made much use of this epistle to the Galatians; During the first half of the 2nd century Polycarp used it in the epistle to Diognetes; in the second half of the same century, Justin Martyr, bishop of Sardis, and later Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, and Tertullian, who expressly mention it in their quotations. It appears in the Vetus Latina version, and in the Muratori fragment.