It may be that Paul wrote to the Galatian churches quite early in his ministry, after his first missionary journey. When Paul visited the Galatian cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (Acts 13:1-14:28), the Jewish leaders strongly opposed him. They were not willing to hear that God’s salvation was free for Gentiles apart from adherence to the Mosaic law. In Galatians, Paul argued that since Gentiles were justified by faith in Christ and not the Mosaic law, their spiritual habits and lifestyle were to reflect Christ and not obedience to the law of Moses. Paul later wrote that adherence to various elements of the Mosaic law was a matter of liberty for Jewish Christians (Romans 14), but in Galatians warned the Gentiles of Galatia that if they submitted to life under the law, then Christ would be of no value to them. Paul opened the letter by setting out his character and call as an apostle of the gospel of Christ (Gal 1:1-11). Paul reminded his readers of the circumstances of his life and his most recent ministry activities (Gal 1:12-2:14). He went on to set out his thesis: since Gentiles are justified by faith in Christ, they must not submit to the law as a system of spirituality (Gal 2:15-21).
(1) In Gal 2:3, Paul wrote that when Titus, a Gentile, accompanied Paul to Jerusalem, Titus did not feel compelled to be circumcised. The Lord made a covenant of circumcision with Abraham, commanding him to circumcise Ishmael and all the males of his household (Gen 17:1-14). The Lord told Abraham that any male who was not circumcised would be excluded from the covenant blessings He promised to Abraham. Abraham obeyed the Lord’s command by circumcising Isaac when the boy was eight days old (Gen 21:4). When Moses travelled toward Egypt to confront Pharaoh, the Lord threatened Moses because he had not yet circumcised his own son (Exod 4:24-26). Moses commanded Israel to circumcise their children but prophesied that one day the Lord would circumcise the hearts of His people so that they would fear the Lord (Deut 30:6). Before Joshua led the people into the promised land, he circumcised all the males who had been born in the period of wilderness travel (Josh 5:1-9). In Gal 2:1-10, Paul recounted to the Galatians that he and Titus went to Jerusalem to visit the apostles and set his gospel before them. They brought with them an offering from the church in Antioch for the needy saints in Jerusalem (Acts 11:27-30). While Paul and Titus were in Jerusalem with the apostles, some were persuading Titus to undergo the Jewish rite. Paul said that those advocating circumcision were attempting to rob Titus of his Christian freedom (Gal 2:4-5). In Paul’s account of his departure from Jerusalem, he noted that he planned to take the gospel to the Gentiles while Peter, James, and John would evangelize the circumcised (Gal 2:10). Paul’s use of “the circumcised” as a way of referring to the Jewish people expressed how strongly the Jews advocated circumcision.
(2) In Gal 2:11-14, Paul confronted Peter for separating from Gentiles at meals, promoting Jewish food laws. In addition to being circumcised, the descendants of Abraham were to avoid certain foods. In Lev 11:1-23, 41-47, Moses commanded Israel to avoid certain types of land animals, fish, and birds. He reiterated these commands in Deut 14:3-21. These laws called for Israel to abstain from the sinful practices of the nations that inhabited Canaan in the days of the conquest. As Israel maintained the covenant of circumcision and observed food laws, they could maintain their distinction as God’s holy people. While Paul was ministering in Antioch (Acts 14:26-28), Peter came down from Jerusalem to visit the believers there and partook in unrestricted table fellowship with the Gentiles. Yet “when certain men from James” (Gal 2:12a) came from Jerusalem, Peter withdrew and separated himself from the Gentiles because “he feared those from the circumcision party” (Gal 2:12b). In fear of upsetting those in Jerusalem, Peter abandoned his earlier confession at the home of Cornelius, that “God doesn’t show favoritism” (Acts 10:34) and submitted himself again to the dietary restrictions found in the law. In time, other Jewish Christians, including Barnabas, joined the hypocrisy. Paul accused them of “deviating from the truth of the gospel” (Gal 2:14). With the unity of the church at stake, Paul confronted Peter in the presence of everyone: “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?” (Gal 2:14). In Gal 5:13-14, Paul wrote, “You are called to freedom, brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one statement: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Galatians 3-4
Paul wrote Galatians to fortify believers he met during his first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-14:28). He first described the unchanging nature of the gospel (Gal 1:1-11) and then shared his testimony and ministry to date (Gal 1:12-2:14). Paul’s thesis in Galatians was that since Gentiles are justified by faith in Christ, they must not submit to the law as a rubric for Christian living (Gal 2:15-21). In Galatians 3-4, Paul contrasted the old covenant and the new. Paul paired texts from Genesis, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Habakkuk to root in the storyline of Scripture his argument concerning justification by faith.
(1) In Gal 3:6 and 8, Paul quoted God’s covenant statements to Abraham in order to establish that justification before God has always been on the basis of faith and not the law. In Gen 15:6 it is written, “Abram believed the LORD, and He credited it to him as righteousness.” Abraham believed God’s promise, the promise God made to him while he was yet in Haran. God told Abraham that He would bless him in both land and lineage such that all nations would be blessed in him (Gen 12:1-3). Paul exhorted the Galatians to be confident in their faith, reminding them that by faith they received the Spirit (Gal 3:1-5) and by faith Abraham was justified (Gal 3:6-9). If they submitted to the law, they would contradict both the Spirit’s work among them and the historical precedent established in Abraham who believed.
(2) In Gal 3:10 and 13 Paul explained his thesis of Gentile freedom by quoting Moses’ curses upon unfaithfulness in Israel. In Deuteronomy 27 and 28 Moses listed the covenant curses and blessings the Lord would exhibit toward Israel based upon their faithfulness, or lack thereof, in the land. Paul quoted Deut 27:26 in Gal 3:10b, writing, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law.” Israel did not keep the law—and that was Paul’s motivation for citing the text. Since no one could keep the law, anyone who tried was cursed. But Paul saw in the words of Moses another curse text, citing Deut 21:23 in Gal 3:13: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” Moses’ concern was that any who were executed on a tree needed to be removed and buried before nightfall because that person was under God’s curse and the land would be polluted if they hung on the tree beyond the day of their execution. Paul saw Christ as the link between Deut 21:23 and Deut 27:26. The Galatians should stand fast against the threat of those who proposed that Gentiles needed to submit to the law because throughout history all who tried had failed and been cursed—and Christ was cursed for them when He submitted to being crucified.
(3) In Gal 3:11 and 12, Paul explained the means of spiritual life by quoting Hab 2:4 and Lev 18:5. Habakkuk struggled to understand how God could use the ungodly Chaldeans to discipline His people. The Lord told Habakkuk that the Chaldeans would grow so puffed up that He would eventually exhibit His wrath upon them. In the meantime, however, the Lord told Habakkuk and the people of Judah, that the righteous will live by their trust in God to work His plan even if it did not make sense to them (Hab 2:4). Faith was necessary for Habakkuk and Judah if they were going to trust God in the midst of their confusion. Paul said that faith in Christ, not observance of the law, was necessary for spiritual life in Christ. Paul used Lev 18:5, “Keep My statues and ordinances; a person will live if he does them. I am the LORD,” to contrast justification by faith and justification by the law. In Lev 18:1-5, Moses emphasized that as Israel practiced the law and abstained from idolatry, they would enjoy life in Canaan. Paul argued that faith and not practicing the Mosaic law was the basis of life in Christ.
(4) In Gal 4:27 and 30, Paul quoted Isa 54:1 and Gen 21:10 to explain the favored status of those in the new covenant. Paul understood the new covenant to be based upon the supernatural work of God. Because God had empowered Abraham and Sarah to conceive Isaac in their old age, Isaac was a symbol of God’s faithfulness to His promises—unlike Ishmael who was the product of natural conception between Abraham and Hagar, Sarah’s handmaid (Gen 16:1-4; 21:1-7). Paul used Hagar and Sarah to represent the old and new covenants. He saw in Isa 54:1 a prophetic description of God’s faithfulness to Sarah: she was once barren but became the mother of many children. In Gal 4:27 Paul wrote, “Rejoice, O barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor, for the children of the desolate are many, more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.” Paul contrasted the exalted, lofty status enjoyed by those who had received God’s favor in the new covenant with the stern word spoken by Sarah in Gen 21:10, “Throw out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never inherit with the son of the free woman” (Gal 4:30). For Paul, there was a chasm fixed between those adhering to the old covenant and those in the new. The participants in the new covenant needed to reject those advocating that the law was the basis of life for Gentiles.
Commentary Galatians New Testament