BACKGROUND NOTES ON PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

Author
     This letter was written by the apostle Paul, who identified himself as "sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father" - a significant identification against the historical backdrop of the letter,setting the tone for what is to come.
 
Why was it written?
     Paul established the Galatian churches on his first missionary journey with Barnabas, about AD 47. Upon their return to Antioch they "reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles" (Acts 14:27). The news obviously travelled to the mother church in Jerusalem, and some people, probably "believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees" (Acts 15:5), went to Antioch and started teaching that believers had to be circumcised, otherwise "you cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1). This led to a sharp dispute with Paul and Barnabas, and the church in Antioch decided to send a delegation to Jerusalem, "to see the apostles and elders about this question".
     At the "Jerusalem Council" Peter told of his experiences among the Gentiles, and Barnabas and Paul reported on their work, after which James (the brother of Jesus) took the lead in confirming that salvation is by faith, and that Gentile believers should not be burdened apart from a few requirements (Acts 15:28-29), which did not include circumcision. They wrote a letter to the church in Antioch, which brought happiness and encouragement to the church in Antioch.
     But the legalistis Jews were not happy, and started going to the churches founded by Paul and Barnabas, preaching that Christians should be circumcised and live as Jews, according to the law of Moses. It seems that they found a receptive audience in the churches in Galatia, who were now in danger of replacing salvation by faith with the works of the law. They also attacked Paul, contending that his preaching wasn't true, and that he wasn't a true apostle.
     Paul wrote this letter in response to these false teachers, and if the letter seems angry and harsh, it is because Paul understood that the heart of the gospel was at stake. The Galatian believers were in danger of turning away from the truth, this was a time for straight talk!
 
How and when was it written?
     Galatians was written not long after the Paul preached and started the church there, but after the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15). It was probably written during his second missionary journey, at Corinth, while he was waiting for Timothy and Silas. The most probable date is AD 50-53, just before the writing of 1 Thessalonians. It may be the first, or oldest, of Paul's letters preserved for us.
     Paul wrote with three purposes in mind
First, to defend his authority as an apostle of Christ.
Second, to explain and defend the doctrine of salvation by faith alone.
Third, to show that everyday Christian living is only possible in the power of the Holy Spirit, based on freedom from the law.
 
First audience and destination:
     The letter is adressed to "the churches in Galatia", probably those in Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. Most of the believers came from a Gentile background, and had already witnessed confrontations between Paul and Barnabas and their Jewish opponents — they even stoned Paul in Lystra nad left him for dead — which makes it hard to understand that they would fall for the false teachers.
 
Literary style:
Galatians is a typical first century epistle written in Koine (common) Greek, except that the thanksgiving (and/or prayer) for the receivers is missing — hardly surprising, given the background! It contains a lot of personal information about Paul, the gospel he preached, and how he "got" it.
 
Special themes:
Justification by grace through faith in Jesus christ is the central theme of this letter. Paul focuses on
· Grace
· Faith
· Justification
· Freedom
· Life in the Spirit, including the fruit of the Spirit.
 
Special features
· The most striking feature of Galatians is the contrasting concepts employed by Paul:
Only true gospel vs no gospel at all (1:6-9)
Grace/promise vs law (2:21, 3:18)
Faith vs works of the law (2:16, 3:2, 5, 10-14)
Fleash vs Spirit (3:3, 5:16, 6:8)
Slave woman vs free woman (4:21-31)
Earthly Jerusalem vs the Jerusalem that is above (4:25, 26)
Freedom vs slavery (5:1)
To love vs to bite and devour (5:14-15)
Circumcision vs new creation (6:15)
 
General structure:
¤ Introduction — Chapter 1:1-10
¤ Paul's defense of his apostleship — Chapters 1:11-2:21
· The divine origin of his gospel - Chapter 1:11-17
· His relationship to the other apostles — Chapters 1:18-2:21
¤ Defense and explanation of the gospel of justification by faith —Chapters 3:1-4:31
· The Galatians' personal experience of the gospel — Chapter 3:1-5
· Abraham's experience — Chapter 3:6-9
· The curse of the law — Chapter 3:10-14
· The priority of the promise — Chapter 3:15-18
· The purpose of the law — Chapter 3:19-25
· Sons, not slaves — Chapters 3:26-4:7
· The danger of turning back — Chapter 4:8-11
· Paul's appeal to embrace the freedom of God's children — Chapter 4:12-20
· God's children are children of the free woman — Chapter 4:21-1
¤ Call to stand in the freedom of the gospel — Chapters 5:1-6:10
· Freedom from circumcision — Chapter 5:1-6
· Freedom fulfills the law —Chapter 5:7-15
· Freedom is to be led by the Spirit — Chapter 5:16-26
· Freedom with responsibility —Chapter 6:1-10
¤ Conclusion — Chapter 6:11-18
 
 

---