Bible Study - Galatians

About The Book Of Galatians

Galatians was written by the apostle Paul. It was written between 42 and 57 A.D., with the most likely date being between 47 and 49 A.D.

Galatia was a Roman territory in the central part of modern Turkey. The northern half was settled by people from Gaul, (which is today's France.) The province was named after these original settlers. The southern half of Galatia was added on by the Romans. While the exact location of Paul's missionary journey there is not specified, it is likely that it was southern Galatia, which includes the cities of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe. But northern Galatia is almost as likely.

Galatia would have been a gentile region. Although there is no evidence of a jewish presence prior to Paul's first visit, there is no evidence against it. And considering the state of the diaspora, (the dispersed Jews,) it is likely there were some Jews living in the area. But they were the tiniest minority. Therefore the concept of a Messiah would have been foreign to them. However, a divine being who endures torments for the benefit of humanity would have been a theme they were familiar with through the strong Greek culture influence and myths like Prometheus.

In Galatians, Paul writes to counter two different attacks against the gospel. One is the Judaizers from Jerusalem teaching that Christians had to become Jews. And the other was the pagan/secular culture that taught a works-based justification. While we do not have the Judaizer influence today, we most definitely have the exact same pagan/secular cultural problem. It is so pervasive that a majority of self-identified Christians wrongly think that you can get into heaven if you do more good than bad. And the cultural influence has resulted in the vast majority of Christians, and pastors, to read an error into Galatians.

There is a very important lesson here. As the cliche goes, a fish doesn't know it is wet. In like manner, we don't see the errors our cultural context brings because we are unaware it even exists. It simply is the way things are because we have never known anything different. We read scripture through the distorting lens of our secular/pagan culture just like the Galatians viewed the gospel through the distorting lens of their culture. While the Spirit can correct us, when it comes to these blind spots the most Spirit filled person is usually deaf to the Spirit's correction. The problem with cultural lenses is that it takes deliberate effort to even be aware of them, let alone set them aside. And when the error has been taught in Christian churches for generations, it is even more difficult to see past it.

The Judaizers were teaching a false gospel, that Christians had to become Jews. But they were not teaching justification by works. Although every one of the hundred preachers I've heard speak in churches around the world, and nearly every online teaching, have taught that they were. In reality, these pastors are making the same error the Galatians were making. It is reading into scripture because of the influence of the culture. However, the motivation is the opposite. The Galatians were going back and incorporating their cultural beliefs. Whereas today it is an opposition to the false teaching of the culture incorrectly read into scripture.

Judaism is not a form of legalism. It is actually a form of nomism, specifically covenantal nomism. Western culture has nothing like this and therefore has no frame of reference for it. This makes it even easier to falsely incorporate our pagan culture to replace the truth. Living by the law was not about salvation or earning merit with God, nor was it giving thanks to God. As Josephus wrote in Antiquities Of The Jews, (written in 93 or 94 AD,) earning merit was not possible, and God doesn't need anything from us, let alone thanks. Observance of the law was the proper response to a loving God who had chosen them purely out of his grace, acted for their benefit, and had asked that they keep his commands to set themselves apart. In short, observance was their identity as children of Abraham, and how they identified as God's chosen people. Thus, the objection to Gentiles staying Gentiles was that they were not becoming God's chosen people.

When Paul addressed Abraham being justified by faith in Galatians 3:6 and Romans 4:9, quoting from Genesis 15:6, he was not correcting the Judaizers. He was correcting the Gentiles who couldn't understand nomism and read into it with their pagan belief systems. The Judaizers understood that they were God's chosen people by the grace of God and not by anything they did. Living by the law was their identity, the mark of their inclusion into the covenant, not their justification.

On a side note, if the law was viewed as salvific, then the position of the Sadducees was incoherent. They didn't believe in a resurrection. Therefore, there was nothing to be saved for. However, an identity or nomistic view of the law makes their view comprehensible, even if it is inconsistent with scripture.

Galatians Bible Study

Galatians Chapter 1
Galatians Chapter 2
Galatians Chapter 3
Galatians Chapter 4
Galatians Chapter 5
Galatians Chapter 6