The Taurus Mountains of south central Asia Minor form the southern rim of a great basin in which one finds the central Anatolian steppe. Grass, shrubs, and salty lakes fill this dry, lower ground over which enterprising Greeks passed in search of Persian riches to the east. Greek (Hellenistic) settlements grew up at Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe alongside the Taurus Mountains.
But after the conquests of Alexander the Great, Celts came raiding out of central Europe (c 287 BC) and settled in the region. These Celts or Galatians (“people of Gaul”) sided with the Romans against the Hellenists so that the great basin became the Roman province of Galatia in 25 BC. When the apostle Paul and Barnabus entered the great basin in c AD 47, they found Jewish synagogues in Greek speaking cities in a region named for Celts but ruled by the Romans. Is it any wonder that the inhabitants of the region found aspects of Paul’s message confusing as the book of Acts and the letter to the Galatians describe?
This blog post is adapted from Lutheran Bible Companion Volume 2: Intertestamental Era, New Testament, and Bible Dictionary.
Purpose and Recipients of Galatians
Paul probably heard of the activity of the Judaizers and of their incipient success while he was still at Antioch on the Orontes. Since he could not go to Galatia in person, as he might have wished (Galatians 4:20), to meet the attack and to combat the danger, he met it by writing the Letter to the Galatians, which may be dated AD 51–53.
Characters in Galatians
The most significant characters in the letter, after the apostle himself, are “James, the Lord’s brother” and “Cephas,” the Aramaic name of Simon Peter. Paul refers to these Galilean men, who were leading in Jerusalem, as “pillars” for the church there. According to Paul, James sent Judaizers to Antioch and they travelled there with Peter. Paul’s letter highlights a conflict with these leaders who had approved of Paul’s teaching. Acts 15 describes agreement between Paul and the Jerusalem leadership, which perhaps resolved their earlier tensions.
Paul also mentions his traveling companion and coworker, Barnabas, as well as other figures.
Summary Commentary of Galatians
Galatians 1:1–10 Paul’s greeting anticipates the letter’s central argument. According to His Father’s will, Christ has graciously given Himself for our sins and delivered us from this present evil age; therefore, works of the Law are not necessary for salvation. Galatians begins not with an expression of thanksgiving but with a stern warning against defection from the one true Gospel.
Galatians 1:11–2:21 Selecting key facts from his personal history, Paul proves that his apostleship comes from God, independent of human sources. For by divine revelation, Paul went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus to visit Church leaders who, despite some opposition in their midst, approved of his message and mission to the Gentiles. Also, for the sake of the truth of the Gospel, Paul publicly rebuked Peter for his hypocritical conduct, which communicated that the Gentiles must keep Jewish laws. With this incident with Peter as the backdrop, Paul presented Galatians’ core theological argument: justification is by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law.
Galatians 3–4 The Galatians’ experience (3:1–5) and Scripture’s witness concerning Abraham (vv. 6–9) teach that all believers are heirs of Abraham, to whom faith “was counted … as righteousness” (v. 6). Paul warned against being mesmerized by the foolish notion that salvation is completed by works of the Law. Christ redeems us from the Law’s curse by becoming a curse for us. Through Christ, God fulfills the promise He gave to Abraham. All united to Christ by Baptism become heirs of the promise and therefore are righteous before God. In this way, the Holy Spirit assures us that we are God’s children, redeemed by Jesus Christ and made full heirs of the promise to Abraham. The Spirit never derides God’s Son or spiritual matters (1 Corinthians 12:3).
Paul appeals to the Galatians as a pastor with affection and tenderness, genuinely desiring to restore their friendship and especially the freedom in Christ they once so gladly embraced. He reverses the Judaizers’ definition of Abraham’s true children. The uncircumcised Gentile Christians are Sarah’s children (and thus free), not Hagar’s (slaves).
Galatians 5:1–6:10 Paul specifically argues that the acceptance of circumcision in principle violates Christian freedom and endangers a person’s relationship to Christ. Christian freedom means walking (conducting oneself) by the Holy Spirit’s power and leading. Members of God’s family restore the erring, bear one another’s burdens, support their teachers, and do good to all—especially to fellow Christians.
Galatians 6:11–18 In a handwritten postscript, Paul leaves us with an interpretive lens through which to evaluate all Christian teaching and life: the message of the cross.
Martin Luther on Galatians
“The Galatians had been brought by St. Paul to the true Christian faith, from the law to the gospel. After his departure, however, false apostles came along. They were disciples of the true apostles, but they so turned the Galatians around that they believed they had to be saved by works of the law and were committing sin if they did not keep the law—as even several dignitaries in Jerusalem maintained, Acts 15.
“To refute them, St. Paul magnifies his office; he will not take a back seat to any other apostle. He boasts that his doctrine and office are from God alone, in order that he might silence the boast of the false apostles who helped themselves to the works and reputation of the true apostles. He says it is not true, even if an angel were to preach differently, or he himself, to say nothing of disciples of apostles, or of apostles themselves. This he does in chapters 1 and 2, and concludes that everyone must be justified without merit, without works, without law, through Christ alone.
“In chapters 3 and 4 he proves all this with passages of Scripture, examples, and analogies. He shows that the law brings sin and a curse rather than righteousness. Righteousness is promised by God, fulfilled by Christ without the law, given to us—out of grace alone.
"In chapters 5 and 6 he teaches the works of love that ought to follow faith.” (AE 35:384)
Scripture: ESV®.
Quotation marked AE 35 is from Luther’s Works, American Edition, vol. 35 © 1960 by Augsburg Fortress. Used with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.
Blog post adapted from Lutheran Bible Companion, Volume 2: Intertestamental Era, New Testament, and Bible Dictionary © 2014 Concordia Publishing House. All rights reserved.
Read more summary content with important theological commentary in Lutheran Bible Companion: Volume 2.
