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northern Galatia.
are a record of
the southern mission. There is no account in
Acts of a northern venture.
PURPOSE
: To vindicate Paul's call by God
and the gospel of grace.
Paul and the gospel of Christ were both under
attack. Some false teachers, who were profess-
ing Jewish Christians (called Judaizers), were
teaching a double error. They taught (1) that a
person was saved partly by faith and partly by
works, and (2) that a person grew in Christ
partly by faith and partly by his own effort. A
person had to believe in Christ, yes, but he
also…
had to undergo the main ritual of reli-
gion which was circumcision (compare
baptism, church membership, and other
requirements today).
had to observe all the ceremonies and
rituals of religion.
(See notes—
for more discussion.)
Of course, Paul did not teach this. He taught
something different—that a man is saved by
Christ and by Christ alone. His message was
the message of God's grace, of pure grace. A
person does not win, earn, or merit salvation.
A person is saved by the grace of God through
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of
this, the Judaizers charged Paul with deceit:
his apostleship was a false claim of his own
making, created in his own imagination. They
said that he was not a true minister of God—
not a true apostle as he claimed, for he mini-
mized the law of God and no true minister
would ever minimize the law of God.
Paul thus sits down and pens Galatians to
combat these charges. Writing with great force
and stern insistence, he lays down the wonder
of God, the wonder of God's glorious grace.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
1. The Area of Galatia. Galatia was a district
that stretched across the middle of Asia
Minor. The Galatian district sat in the
highlands, several thousand feet above sea
level. It was formerly settled by the Gauls.
The cities visited by Paul stretched across
southern Galatia. They were Iconium,
Lystra, Derbe, Pisidion, and Antioch of
Pisidia. There is no record of Paul ever
visiting northern Galatia.
The native
Galatians were
themselves an emotional,
impulsive, and changeable people. They
were an impetuous, fickle, arguing, loud,
boastful, and immoral people. They had a
love for the strange, the curious, the un-
known. They were attached to a religion
that was mainly the worship of nature.
The area was also heavily populated by
Jews who clung to their staunch Judaistic
religion. Greeks were also numerous and
gave the area a strong Hellenistic influ-
ence. The nature and strange mixture of
people in southern Galatia can be seen in
their treatment of Paul. They could both
worship and stone him (Acts 14:13-19).
2. The churches in Galatia. Paul visited Gala-
tia on his first and third missionary jour-
neys (Acts 13:14; Acts 18:23f). He was
forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach in
Galatia on his second mission (Acts 16:6).
The church was spiritually immature. The
very reason for Paul writing the Epistle
was to deal with the basic doctrine of
Christianity: salvation by grace. As one
would expect, there were Gentile converts
in the churches. In Acts 20:4 Paul lists the
delegates who were going to Jerusalem
with him. There is at least one Gentile
delegate, perhaps two, from Galatia. This
would point to a large group of Gentiles
within the churches. There was also a
large number of Jewish converts. The
problem of mixing the law with grace is
evidence of an influential body of Jewish
members.
3. Galatians is "The Heart of the Gospel."
Man must receive the gospel by faith. He
does not work for it by keeping the law.
The law does not produce faith. It only
works a curse. Therefore, Christ Himself
has to redeem man. But man must go be-
yond receiving the gospel; he must live it
out in his life. This is done by the power
of the cross and by the power of the Holy
Spirit (Galatians 5:1-6:18).
The one point Paul makes is that man
cannot earn or win or do anything for sal-
vation. Human effort is nothing more than
a fleshly sign, a sign that is born within
man himself, of his own thought and ener-
gy. It is earthly, and the earthly and cor-
ruptible perishes. The works of men and
of the law do not last. Human effort is not
of a spiritual or eternal nature. It has noth-
ing to do with spirit. Salvation is a free
gift of God. It is eternal and lasting. It is
spiritual. Therefore, salvation is by the
grace of God and by the grace of God
alone.
4. Galatians is "The Message of Liberty, yet
Subjection; of Unity, yet Diversity; of
Oneness, yet Difference."
a. There is a recognition that Gentiles do
not have to live as Jews, and Jews do
not have to live as Gentiles (Galatians
2:11f). Paul never says it is wrong for
Jews to be circumcised. He never says
it is wrong for them to keep the law or
to observe special festivals. What he
says is that these have nothing to do
with salvation. Customs and practices
differ, but salvation never differs.
There is only one way to be saved: by
the grace of God.
b. There is also a recognition that minis-
ters are not all alike (Galatians 2:1f).
They are not all called to serve the
same kinds of people, nor are ministers
themselves called to observe the same
customs and life-styles. Paul was
called to the Gentiles; Peter to the
Jews. The customs and life-styles of
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