Galatians: Context and message

Target year level: Year Five, Year Eight

Scripture text

Due to the length of this passage, please refer to Bible Gateway for the full text of the Book of Galatians (Galatians 1:1 – 6:18)

Introduction

The Galatians, to whom the letter is addressed, were Paul’s converts. Most likely they were descendants of Celts who had invaded Western and Central Asia Minor in the third century BCE. They had settled in the territory around Ancyra (modern Ankara in Turkey).

Although the letter is addressed to “the churches of Galatia”, there is dispute among scholars about the exact location of these churches. The original kingdom of the Galatians was in the north central area of Asia Minor, but in 25 BCE the Romans included areas to the south in a newly constituted province of Galatia. Some scholars opt for the theory that churches addressed in the Letter to the Galatians are churches in the added southern region, churches established during the first missionary journey of Paul (Acts 13:4 – 14:28). Other scholars contend that the churches addressed in the letter are from the northern area, the original kingdom of Galatia on the grounds that Acts 16:6 may imply a trip to this northern area.

World behind the text

Galatia was a Roman province in central Asia Minor. It had been settled by immigrant Celts around 270 BCE and retained features of Celtic culture and language in Paul's day. Acts records Paul as travelling to the region of Galatia and Phrygia. The churches of Galatia seem to have been mostly composed of converts from pagan religions. Judaizers in the Galatian churches were causing confusion by proposing an alternative teaching to Paul’s, emphasising salvation through the Mosaic Law. The Judaizers were probably Jewish Christians who taught that Christians could not be the true People of God unless they observed at least some aspects of Mosaic Law. The Epistle to the Galatians indicates that major points of controversy between the Judaizers and Paul included circumcision, Sabbath observance, and the Mosaic Covenant. The Judaizers appear to have questioned Paul's legitimacy and authority as an authentic apostle.

Some scholars suggest that these Judaizers were Jewish Christians who had come from the austere Essene sect of Judaism and who were exhibiting missionary zeal in the attempts to impose what they understood as a more rigorous and demanding observance on their fellow Galatian Christians. By insisting on the necessity of following certain precepts of the Mosaic law along with faith in Christ, these Judaizers were undermining Paul’s authority.

They were asserting that Jesus himself had not trained Paul and that Paul’s preaching of the gospel did not agree with that of the apostles in Jerusalem who had been trained by Jesus himself during his earthly life. These Judaizers accused Paul of having kept from his Galatian converts the necessity of accepting circumcision and other key obligations of the Jewish law.

They implied that Paul had taken the easy path as a sop to the Galatians in order to more easily win them over to Christ. According to the Judaizers, Paul’s preaching of the gospel was neither full nor authentic and compared badly with the full and authentic preaching of the apostles in Jerusalem.

Some scholars also detect in chapters 5 and 6 of the Letter to the Galatians a further and separate set of opponents against whom Paul is writing. These were people who placed a distorted emphasis on the Spirit in a fashion that set aside all norms of ethical conduct. These people were becoming libertines in their moral living.

Socially and religiously, the Galatian churches were dominantly Gentile. The text of the letter indicates that Paul’s mission is primarily directed towards non-Jews (1:6; 2:2,7-9). The issue of circumcision, a major focus of the letter, would not have been an issue for Jewish converts to the Christian community.

When Paul implies that his readers had not known God (4:9), he is very likely referring to their previous life in paganism. The text of chapters 3 and 4, in which Paul employs a Scriptural argument, seems to suggest at least some Jews in the local Christian churches who had contact with the synagogue. As in other Pauline churches, members of Paul’s readership were drawn from a variety of social and economic classes.

The letter was not written until at least fourteen years after Paul’s conversion (2:1). The consensus seems to be that Galatians probably was written from Ephesus in about 55CE.

For further information on Galatians, see the New American Bible, Revised Edition (NABRE), Introduction to Galatians.

World of the text

Paul writes with the threefold purpose of defending his apostolic authority, correcting misinterpretations and distortions of authentic Christian faith and communicating the correct and authentic understanding of faith in Christ. In arguing for this threefold purpose, Paul sets out in summary form, theological themes that are central to his theology throughout all the Pauline letters.

Central to Paul’s theological message is the unique importance of Christ and his redemptive sacrifice on the cross. Paul’s theology emphasises the freedom that Christians enjoy, liberated through Christ of old burdens of the law. Christ is seen as totally sufficient. Faith in Christ is asserted as the way to God and to eternal life. Paul also emphasises an authentic Christian understanding of Christian life in the Spirit brings authentic freedom and new life.

In his vigorous emphasis on the absolute pre-eminence of Christ and his cross as God’s way to salvation and holiness, Paul stresses authentic Christian freedom and the ineffectiveness of the Mosaic law for gaining divine favour and blessings (3:19-29). Paul was arguing against a view that could place an undue emphasis on meticulous observance of ritual, social and moral regulations as the way to win divine approval. Paul’s profound insight is his understanding of the priority of promise and faith. He cites the experience of Abraham (3:6-18) and the supernatural gifts of the Spirit (3:2, 5:5, 6:6-10) in support of this theological understanding.

World in front of the text

It is important that Paul’s arguments against the Judaizers and his theological dispute with them not be understood as anti-Semitic. Paul is arguing against what he sees as distortions of the Jewish tradition. He tries to restore a balance. Modern Catholic teaching emphasises esteem and respect for the Jewish faith tradition and the enduring covenant of God with the People of Israel. Contemporary scholarship on the person, teaching and life of Jesus, emphasises Jesus as a Jew. The theological and spiritual riches of the Jewish tradition into which Jesus was born and in which he grew and matured were crucial in his religious and spiritual formation. Jesus was born a Jew and died a Jew. For Christians, Jesus comes not to abrogate the Jewish law but to bring it to its fullness.