John 8:31-36, Introduction to Galatians (1)

(Today we are beginning a journey through the letter of Paul to the Galatians.  We are hoping our thoughts will be an encouragement to you to read the letter and to be drawn to the Savior, Jesus Christ.)

Of Galatians, Martin Luther said, “This is my epistle; I am wedded to it.”  John Wesley came to experience peace with God during a sermon on Galatians.

Galatians is a SURGICAL letter.  Jesus said, “I did not come to bring peace but a sword.”  We saw Christ use the sword against the Pharisees, the moral legalists of His day.  The New Testament Church saw a similar sickness when legalists began teaching that salvation was a matter of faith plus works.  Paul sought to cut away this false teaching.

Galatians is a HEALING letter.  This Legalism left believers in slavery.  They felt the heavy requirements of the law and at the same time experienced the inability to fulfill the law.  Paul sought to bring them back to the same freedom in Christ they knew when they first came to receive the truth that sets one free (John 8:38).

Galatians is an INVIGORATING letter.  The slave is not only healed as he realizes his liberation in Christ.  He is also equipped to reach the full potential of all free men.  This potential is experienced when believers live and walk in the Spirit.

1.  Audience (to whom was Galatians written).

This can be an important question in terms of interpretation.  However, we must not allow ourselves to think there is nothing here for us. 

Galatia was literally a “nation of Gauls” (Gaul-atia) relocated by the Romans from other parts of the Empire.  While predominantly Gentile, most major cities contained a Jewish community.

Some hold to what is sometimes called the “North Galatia” theory, that the letter was written to churches over all of Galatia that Paul had visited on his 2^nd and 3^rd missionary journeys (see Acts 16:6; 18:23).  This older view would make Galatians one of the later NT letters, written after Paul’s 3^rd journey.

A more recent “South Galatia” theory maintains Paul wrote the letter to the churches he visited on his 1^st and 2^nd journeys, the churches in Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Antioch.  This allows for an earlier date, before the council at Jerusalem in Acts 15, thus explaining why Galatians makes no reference to that council which dealt with the same issue of Law-Grace.

We will pick this up in our next post.