Paul's Letter to the Galatians, An Introduction

As Paul traveled on a series of missionary journeys (covered in Acts 13-20), he wrote letters to the various synagogue-churches he found.  One of the earliest letters was to the churches in southern Turkey, in the province of Galatia.  As we finish up our study of Acts, we will go on to look at that early letter. 

An introduction to Paul epistle (letter) to the Galatians

Paul’s ancient letter to the Galatians (probably written around 49 AD) answered a hot topic of the early Christian church, “Must a new Christian become a Jew?”  But in dealing with that ancient question, Paul addressed higher, more eternal issues about grace, Christian life, the Holy Spirit and Christian community. 

As we study this text, it is my hope that we will better understand Paul’s message to the first century church and then use that understanding to hear God’s message to us in the 21st century.  In this study of Galatians, I will make some basic (possibly simplistic) assumptions about the text.  You need not agree with me, but we need to start somewhere.  I will be using a fairly standard English translation of the Koine Greek, such as the NIV translation of the Bible.  I am assuming that the letter has a divine purpose, that in some way, the Creator of the universe, acting through the Jewish Messiah, Jesus, and through the very human individual, Paul, is communicating with humanity today.

A rough outline of the letter

If you sit down and reads through the letter in one sitting – which you should do! ... maybe several times! – the letter breaks into three basic parts.  The first part (chapters 1 & 2) is biographical; it involves a very personal and passionate plea from the man Paul to people he knows in the Galatian region.  In his appeal, he describes in some detail his conversion and divine appointment to minister to the Galatian synagogues and communities.

In the second part (chapters 3 & 4), Paul's argument becomes more theoretical, more philosophical, reviewing the Jewish understanding of God's relationship with them and arguing that this is completed by the Messiah, Jesus.

In the last third of the letter, Paul's argument become practical and down-to-earth; if they understand his message so far, his readers' lives will take on a certain practical nature of joy, love and freedom guided, indeed driven, by the Holy Spirit.

If we were to then outline this book (conveniently choosing words that begin with 'P'!) we might say that the three parts of the book are

• Personal (1-2)
• Philosophical (3-4)
• Practical (5-6)

This structure is not unusual in Paul's writings; indeed many of his letters have a philosophical component followed by a practical component.  However, the length of the personal component is quite unusual; Paul takes up a third of the letter in defending himself!

A comment on Bible reading (read fast/read slow)

In many Christian churches, there is a tendency to read the Bible a verse or two at a time, meditating on the text and then seeking some devotional insight, some five-minute, brief "encouragement" of the day.  Although this is a possibly useful practice for a busy Christian, this is not the original intent of the New Testament writings.  The New Testament writings were letters or essays, in the common language of the day, and were meant to be read in one setting.  They did not have chapter or verse markers (these were added much later!)

For this reason, I encourage others to sit down with a New Testament book and read it through in one reading.  Read it fast!  Most of the New Testament books are quite short; none are more than 25 pages!  Read them easily, casually, in a comfortable translation that reflects the language (English?) that you are most comfortable with.  In this way, you will get a general idea of the original reading of the letter.

Furthermore, if we assume that God was using these writings to speak to us (across many centuries) we should seek to first understand the statements of the text.  Our modern tendency is, in fact, to skip this understanding of the text and jump to a modern interpretation or modern application of the text. Our modern (hurried) tendency is to try to immediately apply the text to today's personal activities, to classes and meetings and family emergencies.  In our hurry, we often neglect to really read the text and understand what is says (said.)  So here, I encourage patience.  Be very slow to interpret or apply the text to daily life.  First, take time to understand it, as it was originally written, with its original message.

An aside ...

If one wonders about the writing materials Paul might have used in his letter to the Galatians, take a look at this video on the letters of Paul and examples of old papyrii