January 3, 2010 Notes

Here are some of the notes from yesterday. 

the outline for the board:

Rules Righteousness Relationship
Law Liberty Love



The opening verse identifies the author of Galatians as the apostle Paul. Apart from a few 19th-century scholars, no one has seriously questioned his authorship.

The date of Galatians depends to a great extent on the destination of the letter. There are two main views:

1. The North Galatian theory. This older view holds that the letter was addressed to churches located in north-central Asia Minor (Pessinus, Ancyra and Tavium), where the Gauls had settled when they invaded the area in the third century b.c. It is held that Paul visited this area on his second missionary journey, though Acts contains no reference to such a visit. Galatians, it is maintained, was written between a.d. 53 and 57 from Ephesus or Macedonia.

2. The South Galatian theory. According to this view, Galatians was written to churches in the southern area of the Roman province of Galatia (Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe) that Paul had founded on his first missionary journey (see note on 1:2 ). Some believe that Galatians was written from Syrian Antioch in 48-49 after Paul’s first journey and before the Jerusalem council meeting ( Ac 15 ). Others say that Galatians was written in Syrian Antioch or Corinth between 51 and 53 (see chart, Timeline of Paul’s Life ).

Almost without exception, Biblical interpreters who have written a commentary on Galatians believe that the letter was written primarily to counteract the activities of the Judaizers in Galatia. The mischievous work of these “legal men” is described in general in the previous section on the historical background; a more specific, though brief, treatment of these “Old Testament Christians” might be useful in aiding the reader to understand more fully the contents and the theological issue of Galatians. Who was a Judaizer and why was he called thus? The term is derived from a coined Lat. word Iudaizo meaning “to be or live like a Jew.” It is a religious designation rather than a national description. Bible students have called these opponents of the early Christian missionaries Judaizers because of their fundamental belief that Gentiles should live like Jews; that is, follow the Mosaic Law and Jewish customs and traditions, when and after they became Christians. It is not that Judaizers were wicked people or that they did not have good intentions; for them the issue was a matter of principle and from God Himself. But the implications of their insistence upon Jewish ceremonial law for the young Christian Church, both theologically and socially, were volatile and divisive indeed.
 
The theme of Galatians is Christian freedom in terms of salvation by grace and freedom from the law as the way to salvation. In this it partakes of the objective of the great letter to the Romans. Another way of asking the major question of the letter is: What is the place of the law in Christian theology? Is Christian salvation a question of faith and works, or faith without works? No one denied that the law was given by God and that it was divine. But did the new Pauline emphasis on grace and faith wipe out the law completely? Paul’s answer is negative and his statement of the relationship between law and Gospel in the letter becomes a dominant leitmotif. The law has its place in God’s plan but it is not the old Pharisaical or legalistic approach. The law tells a man what sin is. If there is no law one cannot transgress law; and if there is no transgression against law there is no sin.




Furthermore, for Paul the law drives a man to despair and causes him to throw himself upon the grace of God in one great act of faith. The honest legalist knows from experience that he can never completely obey the law for God and that the law only condemns. Only grace and faith give true life and liberty to the total man. In this letter then, the apostle’s great theme is Christian liberty which praises the grace of God.



The Judaizers attempted to answer this question of the law and the Gospel by opting for a legalistic system. Their argument was subtle and rational. If a Jew became a Christian, naturally he must bring Judaism with him into the Christian faith. Was not the Jew there first? Was not the law from God? It was so simple. A Jew must always remain a Jew. On the other hand, if a Gentile wished to become a disciple of Christ, he had to become a Jew to qualify. Were not all of God’s promises, even of the Messiah, promised to Jews alone? Christianity, like Judaism, was for Jews only. This was a new kind of slavery, worse than the old. It also faced man with demands he could not meet and drove all love for God and man from his heart. What hopes the poor Gentiles had were dashed to pieces. Everything in the letter is gathered about the theme of freedom in the grace of God, whether it be Paul’s own biography, his altercation with Peter, the works of a Christian ( Gal 2:19-21 ), the case of Abraham, the desires of the flesh and the compulsion of the Spirit, the doctrine of love, or forgiveness ( 6:15 ). Vehemently the apostle writes against the folly of salvation by works: “All who rely on works of the law are under a curse...Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” ( 3:10-13 ). In some way, each issue of the epistle has something to do with this theme.

The contents of the letter to the Galatians must compel the Christian’s personal attention. This is not just a theological or polemical essay which, like a Gr. debater, may take either side without impunity. The subject matter of this treatise of the Gospel involves every man and his eternal salvation or judgment. The news of Judaizers’ success caused great turmoil and even tempestuous anger in the apostle’s heart. He divided his wrath between the Judaizers for preaching such heresy and the Galatians for believing it. It is not only that the Galatians would lose their liberty; they would lose their God and His eternal salvation in Jesus Christ. Justification by faith rather than by works must stand at all costs.
 
Another special feature of this great letter is that it deals directly with basic concerns of man in his relationship to God and his life on earth. It reveals the basic nature of man in that he tends to turn from truth to untruth because deception seems more delectable than truth ( 1:6-9 ); it points up the basic premise upon which man is received by God, namely the grace of God in Christ ( 2:11-21 ); it shows the all-sufficiency of Christ’s atonement for the sins of all men and the gift of salvation through His saving work ( 2:15 , 16 ); it reveals that God chooses to give His Gospel through other men whom He has called to be His ambassadors ( 2:6-10 ); it teaches the relationship between legal requirements and the gospel of freedom and human responsibility ( 2:17-21 ); it exhibits a brief but profound statement and understanding of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith ( 2:15 , 16 ); it shows a proper use and understanding of the OT ( 3:15-18 ; 4:21-31 ); it speaks in no uncertain terms about the equality of all men under God in Christ ( 3:23-29 ); the unity of the Church is emphasized repeatedly ( 5:6 ); it teaches the work of the Spirit and His power in the lives of men ( 5:6-25 ); its admonition to forgiveness is held up as a basic fruit of the Gospel ( 6:1-5 ); in short, the letter teaches the basic elements of Christianity in brief and unforgettable form.
 
Thanks to the NIV commentary, Glo (and associated works), The Zondervan illustrated commentary, and the lifeway book we are studying through for the above.