Lesson 60 – Letter to the Galatians

Paul had visited “the Galatians” on his second mission. Given the contents of the letter, it is most likely that this was addressed to a community in North Galatia and area known to be settled by descendants of the Celts who had invaded the area four centuries before – in other words, they were not Hellenized people. The pastoral situation Paul is addressing is that other missionaries have come to the area since Paul’s time and they are preaching “the cross of Jesus” … but they are also preaching that more is needed. The people must come into full compliance with the Law of Moses – that is, become fully an observant Jew.

They were undermining Paul’s authority also, asserting that he had not been trained by Jesus himself, that his gospel did not agree with that of the original and true apostles in Jerusalem, that he had kept from his converts in Galatia the necessity of accepting circumcision and other key obligations of the Jewish law, in order more easily to win them to Christ, and that his gospel was thus not the full and authentic one held by “those of repute” in Jerusalem.

When Paul learned of the situation, he wrote this defense of his apostolic authority and of the correct understanding of the faith. He set forth the unique importance of Christ and his redemptive sacrifice on the cross, the freedom that Christians enjoy from the old burdens of the law, the total sufficiency of Christ and of faith in Christ as the way to God and to eternal life, and the beauty of the new life of the Spirit. Galatians is thus a summary of basic Pauline theology.