- \n
- Salutation (1:1-5)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rebuke (1:6-4:11)\n\t\n\t\n
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- Autobiography (1:13-2:21)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Argument from Scripture (3:6-4:11)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Request (4:12-6:10)\n\t\n\t\n
Galatians is one of the most striking letters of the Apostle Paul, both for its intensity of personal concern and succinct summary of the gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Galatians was written by Paul (1:1) to a group of churches in the Roman province of Galatia (1:2), which is in present-day Turkey. Paul wrote this letter sometime around 52 AD, plus or minus five years. There is scholarly debate about whether this letter was sent to churches in southern Asia Minor or northern Asia Minor. It seems most likely that the recipients were in southern Asia Minor, consisting of churches that Paul planted in and around Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe (Acts 13-14), and which he subsequently visited in his travels (Acts 16:6; 18:23).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our view of the geographical location of the churches shapes our understanding of the nature of the recipients. If, as suggested, the recipients were in southern Asia Minor, they would be a culturally diverse group of Gentiles. However, if the recipients were in northern Asia Minor, they would predominantly have been Gauls, who settled there after invading the area in the third century BC. Either way, the churches Paul is writing to are now influenced by \u201cthe circumcision party\u201d (Galatians 2:12), who are Judaizers of some sort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Paul writes in more personal terms in Galatians than in nearly any other letter, twice indulging in extended autobiographical reflections on his life and ministry (1:13-2:21; 4:12-20). His personal reflections are a means by which Paul directly addresses the challenge to the gospel that has arisen within this group of churches (1:6-9; 2:11-14), as well as the validity of his gospel and ministry as \u201capostle to the Gentiles\u201d derived directly from God (1:11-12, 15-16). The Galatian believers have come under the spell of a group of people, likely Jewish Christians, who are warping the gospel. Paul goes so far as to call their message \u201creally no gospel at all\u201d (1:7) because they are commingling faith in Christ with a command to observe circumcision, the Mosaic law, and certain dates, as necessary badges of faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One significant question about the historical background of Galatians is how we should fit together Paul\u2019s two visits to Jerusalem mentioned in this letter (1:18; 2:1-10) with the five visits recorded in the Book of Acts (Acts 9:26-30; 11:30; 15:1-30; 18:22; 21:15-17). This question centers on whether the visit to Jerusalem mentioned in Galatians 2:1-10 fits with the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15:1-30 or with Paul and Barnabas\u2019 famine relief for the Judean churches in Acts 11:27-30. The first approach leaves us with unanswered questions about why Paul fails to mention his other visits to Jerusalem in Galatians, while the second approach alleviates those previous concerns by questionably suggesting that Paul\u2019s conference with the Jerusalem apostles in Galatians 2 goes unmentioned within the Acts narrative. Scholarly conflict on this issue shows us that there are unresolved challenges with both approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Galatians follows an epistolary structure with two major sections, as well as an introduction and conclusion (adapted from Longenecker, Galatians<\/em> and G.W. Hansen, \u201cGalatians, Letter to\u201d in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters<\/em>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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