Thank you for listening to the First Day podcast. I am Patrick Cooley, the pastor of Northport Methodist Church, and I hope that your faith will grow as we take a look at this second oldest book of the New Testament.

In the last series we took a deepish dive into James’ letter to Jewish Christians who were facing trials and, apparently, giving into temptation. He wanted to let his brothers and sisters know how to remain faithful to the Messiah’s call on their lives.

What he set about doing—and all he actually did—was remind them of what they already knew from their faith in the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It’s like he’s saying, “It’s all right there. You’ve heard a thousand times what God desires and how to remain faithful. Duh.” We’ll, I doubt he would say duh…But I would have.

By the end of the forties and into the early fifties, Claudius’ treatment of the Jews had begun to sour, and his more mercurial nature was beginning to show with the expulsion of the Jews from Rome.
I like how one source I read described his governance: “pedantic, uninhibited, alternately humane and wrathful, and ultimately despotic.” (Britannica on-line) Sounds like a Cleon from the Foundation series on Apple TV.

This definitely would provide some fodder for worry in Christian converts.

But unlike James’ Church, one facing organized, external—even institutional—pressures, the Church in Galatia is facing an internal crisis. Something is happening there that is threatening the Gospel; and Paul is miffed about it.

Most scholars think that the crisis has arisen from the Galatians’ welcoming teachers into the church that are stressing the necessity of circumcision. Beyond this, the exact who’s, where’s, and why’s have little common ground.

Paul’s letter is addressed to two possible audiences of converts: one in northern Galatia and the other in the south. The Galatians were Paul’s converts and most likely the descendants of the Celts that settled in what is today central Turkey—if the audience is in the north. He had passed through this area on his second missionary journey—Acts 16:6—and again on his third—Acts 18:23. Although part of the Roman province, the Galatians maintained their own Celtic culture and language until the second century.

Some scholars, on the other hand, think that Paul’s letter is addressed to the Church in Perge, Iconium, Pisidian Antioch, Lystra, and Derbe—in the south. (Acts 13:13-14:27) Theses cities were part of the Roman province of Galatia—which had been established by Augustus in 25 BCE after incorporating the Gallic Kingdom of Galatia into the empire. These towns and cities in the south would have had more heterogenous populations.

In any case, the audience were converts from paganism who are now being enticed by missionaries to add particular Jewish observances that included circumcision to the cross of Christ for salvation.

Some suggest that these missionaries were Essene Jewish Christians converts. The Essenes were a sect of Judaism that taught austerity. The other main sects were the Sadducees, the Pharisees, and the Zealots.

As we’ll see in chapter two, they claimed that Paul was not a real apostle and that he didn’t preach a real gospel. In addition, there may be a second group luring the church away that is addressed in closing chapters of the letter. These seem to place their emphasis on the Spirit and set all norms for libertine behavior. Those poor Galatians.

Unlike James’ earlier letter, Paul’s is addressed to thoroughly Gentile church, one seeking to understand its new identity in Christ. Were they to see themselves as branches of Judaism or something new, neither pagan nor Jewish? How were they to live their lives? Were they to take up Jewish practices or were they to keep their former ways?

If you recall from the last series, James’ letter centered on Christian living and how the Church and all believers can remain faithful amid trial and not give into temptation. On the other hand, Paul’s letter to the Galatians is the first thoroughly theological text of the New Testament and nascent Christianity. In it, the Apostle to the Gentiles lays the foundation for the preeminence of Christ!

Unlike James’ more practical solution, Paul responds to the Galatian’s problems with a theological one.
Many scholars believe that Paul’s letter was written before the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), where James argues that Gentiles do not have to convert to Judaism, since the number of Gentile converts to Christianity was growing quite rapidly. Acts 15 is quite informative and helps to provide context to Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

“When they [Paul and Barnabus] arrived in Jerusalem, they were received by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to keep the Law of Moses.’” (4,5)

Then the “apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter [of Gentile conversion],” (6) Peter argued that Gentile Christians should not be bound to the Law of Moses, since “He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.” (9) And afterward, “12 All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles.”

And it’s at this point that we should begin our look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians.

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