Dating the book of Galatians is a bit troublesome, as there is disagreement as to when it was written. Some conclude from Galatians 2:1-10 and Acts 15:1-32 that it was written after the Council of Jerusalem (approx. 50 A.D.), and many scholars believe that it was written during Paul's third missionary journey, somewhere between 55-57 A.D. The book of Romans was written soon thereafter. Paul began his third missionary journey in Galatia, in 54 A.D. and then went on from there to Phrygia and then on to Ephesus, where he stayed for about 3 years. Ephesus and Galatia are close together geographically. It's not a stretch to believe that Paul became aware of "the goin's-on" in Galatia while in Ephesus, and that, consequently, he wrote his famous letter from there.1
HOWEVER, there is considerable debate over the dating of this book, and it is related to where-the-heck Galatia was, in the first place.2 It's similar to the problem we find with the town name "Greenville". There are 50 Greenvilles in 48 U.S. states (NY and CA have more than one).3 The same conundrum applied to New Testament times, when there was a North Galatia (a larger country-sized area) and a South Galatia (more like a province or a county). The recipients of the letter geographically informs the dating of the book. So, I don't guess we'll know this side of Heaven what the right answer is to the dating question. It is interesting, however, to observe in Galatians 1:2 that Paul himself addresses the letter to "the churches of Galatia". This indicates that it was to be shared among several small congregations in the region of Galatia (north OR south, I guess.) Wiersbe claims that most scholars hold to the South Galatia view, an area that would encompass towns of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe.
Fully realizing that I've lost some of you at this point, let me say "Happy New Year", and "Welcome!" to my new readers. Some of you may have come to the Resplendent Daughter blog by way of EncouragingDads.com, the author of which asked me last week to write a guest post for them. If you are new to RD blog, I hope you'll stay and poke around. I've been at this blogging thing for going on two years, and it has been an enhancement to my personal growth in the Lord. I hope it will be to yours as well.
More crucial to our study is the question of why Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians. Galatians is the first of Paul's epistles to hammer home the centrality of grace to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Reformer Martin Luther was in love with the book of Galatians. He said, "The epistle to the Galatians is my epistle. To it I am, as it were, in wedlock."2 That's a pretty strong statement, isn't it? All of this makes me very excited to study and exegete this great book of the Bible.
Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
2 And all the brethren which are with me, unto the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father:
5 To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Galatians 1:1-5
Notably absent from the opening of this letter is Paul's usual commendation of the recipient, in this case the local churches in that region. Paul has received an extremely troubling report: that Satan is using the Judaizers to sow seeds of a false gospel among the Galatians. It is of vital, critical importance that Paul clarify by expounding upon the truth of the gospel immediately.
Before he gets to that, though, he establishes his authority as an apostle by laying out three "proofs", like a 3-legged stool.
1. Apostle
Paul claims the same level of apostleship as was conferred upon the original 12 apostles (Mark 3:13-19). What does it mean to be an apostle? The word means "one who is sent with a commission".4
Although scripture does not tell us whether or not Paul saw Jesus during His earthly ministry, he was certainly neither a disciple nor an apostle during that time. Due to Paul's seeing Jesus Christ during his Damascus Road experience (described in Acts 9:1-8), he could assert that he had seen the resurrected Christ and been commissioned by Him. See 1 Corinthians 9:1.
Because of the "unorthodox" method of his conversion and revelation/commission from Jesus Himself, Paul was suspect in the eyes of early Church leaders, at least at first. He did not even go to Jerusalem to meet with the leaders of that church body until after he had been in ministry for 14 years! In Galatians 1:1, Paul emphatically states that his apostolic authority generated from both the Lord Jesus Christ and from God the Father who raised Jesus from the dead. None of the Judaizers spreading false doctrine could make a claim anywhere equal to this.
2. Founder
If, like many Bible scholars, you hold to the South Galatia viewpoint, then the apostle Paul founded these churches while on his first missionary journey. This fact gave him the authority to address doctrinal errors springing up within those congregations. None of the Judaizers had founded any of these congregations.
3. Disciple-maker
Paul was a great evangelist and missionary. However, he was also deeply concerned with the discipleship of new converts. He realized that it was pointless to win someone to Christ and then allow them to become mired in a sandpit of error. He realized that to allow this to go on would derail the spread of the true gospel.
The true gospel places Jesus Christ and His finished work on our behalf as its cornerstone, it centerpiece. To move away from that anchoring truth is to preach a false gospel. Paul hints at that in 1:4-5. Note in those verses that Paul talks about what Jesus did, not about any rules/laws Christ-followers would keep/follow. Jesus Christ is the divine Person, who paid the highest Price, in order to achieve an eternal Purpose. Jesus alone is our Deliverer, and to Him alone goes all the glory, forever. The "Amen" at the end of verse 5 serves to say, "And that is the end of that." or "So be it." or "That fact is irrefutable."
It has been postulated that the Judaizers were in Galatia to put notches on their sashes, that is, to claim that they had won XX number of people to Christ, and "look how devout and holy they are too!" These false teachers were in the business of evangelism for their own glory. Beware of any Christian worker who seeks to glorify him or herself, by shining the spotlight on anyone other than on Jesus Christ.
Yesterday, my cousin, a recently retired missionary from Guatemala, shared a piece on Facebook5 about criteria for giving to missionary endeavors. One of the points made was that many evangelists barge into 3rd world people groups with little to no knowledge of the people themselves, claim converts and then return to the "civilized world" crowing about how many people were led to Christ. When evangelism is done in this type of one-shot-wonder approach, error gets sown in the hearts of the indigenous people because the missionaries do not take time to do it right. Often, the missionaries are even unaware the error is happening! Then, there is the problem of lack of follow-up, discipleship. It's much more "gratifying", I suppose, to brag about how many people became followers of Jesus Christ than it is to disciple them.
Paul was not going to make this mistake. He was not interested in his own glory. He was interested in glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, the only One to whom any glory is due. Out of Paul's love for these people he had led to Christ, he was unwilling to lose them to a false gospel.
Lord God, thank you for faithful ministers of the gospel, like the apostle Paul. I am so grateful for all of the discipleship that has been poured into me over the years, from people like Gene and Betty Dalton, Bill Carpenter, Martha Ausburn, Billy Burrell, W.A. Trotman, Faye Dalton, Maggie Duckett, Curtis and Vera Stowe, Buford Dalton, Frank Sailers, the faculty of Bob Jones University, Dean Beatty, Jim Emery, Donn Wright, Sidney Galloway, Ike Reighard, Marlon Longacre and George Anderson, to name a few. And, the list could go on and on. These have preached the pure, true gospel and have lived it with integrity. I am so thankful. Without their influences on my Christian walk, there would be no Resplendent Daughter blog, none at all. Let their eternal rewards be great! Oh Lord, may the winds of popular opinion never blow us away from the truth of the gospel, though unpleasant it may be to preach and teach it! Keep us true to you, true to your written Word. In Jesus' name, amen.
1. http://www.matthewmcgee.org/paultime.html
2. https://bible.org/article/date-and-destination-galatians
3. http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=623721
4. Wiersbe, Warren W., and Warren W. Wiersbe. The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament in One Volume. 2nd ed. Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook, 2007. Print.
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