Welcome To Galatians

Introduction: 

Welcome! Over the next 14 weeks we will be examining one of the Apostle Paul's most nail-biting letters. We are overjoyed to read through this life-giving text with you; we pray that it benefits you greatly. To supplement our weekly Bible study on Monday nights at Anchor, we will also be providing (every Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday morning) a resource study guide on this blog. We are excited to see God move through His word.
             Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a joyful celebration of God’s invitation to freedom and liberation through the Gospel. It speaks of God’s power to take people who were once captivated by sin to be captivated by the living God. The letter speaks of a truth that has the ability to knock down dividing walls setup by those hoping to wreck the freedom that God offers his people. It reminds the Christian that the gospel is not only for the lost, but also for them as well. Paul allows the reader to see through the window of his own experience and into this gospel of grace.

             The letter focuses on two main issues: (1) the nature of salvation for Christians and (2) disunity between Gentile (Gentiles merely refers to all nations and people outside of Judaism) and Jewish Christians within the church. The historical context reveals that a group of Jewish Christians had come to Galatia soon after Paul left to teach the Galatians a gospel contrary to Paul's own; they taught that salvation from God, through Jesus, was only available for those who continued to practice Jewish traditions—such as Jewish dietary laws and circumcision.  In a modern analogy, it would be similar to a pastor telling someone that their salvation depended not on trust in Christ alone, but upon their weekly offering or church attendance. Although these may be biblical principles, it is no requirement for salvation, and to impose such a belief on another person would be wrong. Paul is struggling with the same problem. 

            This letter is difficult to read in modernity without allowing a strong influence of the Reformation. Martin Luther and John Calvin found this letter to be a distinct feature of their theology, which was mostly based in response to the Roman Catholic Church. The letter has since been regarded as a way to understand the outworking of salvation from a non-Christian perspective. However, Galatians is addressed to Christians and is not about how someone might “become saved,” but rather whether or not a believer has any other requirements than trust in Jesus. The Jewish Christians, in their desire to promote a message of Jesus + law, created tensions among Galatian Christians as they were being forced to live opposed to the way they had learned from Paul.