Remember, we’re still following Paul through his third missionary journey. He’s been in Macedonia (probably in Philippi or Thessalonica, we don’t know for sure), where he wrote his second letter to the church in Corinth. We know from what he says in 2 Corinthians 13:1 that he’s headed for his third visit to Corinth. Acts 20:1-3 tells us he travels south from Macedonia down to Greece and to Corinth, where he stays for three months.
Given the somewhat direct and corrective nature of 1 Corinthians and the way Paul was compelled to defend his ministry there in 2 Corinthians, we are not made privy by either Paul or Luke just how this third visit went. We do know Paul made it clear that if disciplinary action was warranted, he would not hesitate (2 Corinthians 13: 2-4).
It was during his three-month stay in Corinth (probably the winter of AD 58) that Paul writes his letter to the Galatian church. Again, Paul and Barnabas established this church on their first missionary journey some 8 years earlier. Galatia was a Roman province in what is now central Turkey, inhabited by the descendants of Gallic (French) warriors, who had subdued this area some years before. Traveling from Antioch to Philippi, Paul was too ill to continue and stopped in Galatia. While there he preached Christ and the people there warmly accepted both Paul and his message. (Galatians 4:13-14)
As was the case in other places, sometime after Paul left, false teachers came in and convinced these new believers that it was necessary to follow the ritual laws of Judaism in order to benefit from any claims of the Gospel message – the door to Christ was only through Abraham. This letter was written to refute these false teachings. Paul is angry (we always know when Paul is angry because he resorts to sarcasm, as he did in 1 Corinthians) and defends both his teaching and his integrity. Then there are two issues related to the false teaching: believers in Christ are not to be in bondage to traditional rituals and man-made rules; and there is a true freedom in Christ that must be understood. We’ll examine these two issues as well.
After his usual greeting and introduction, Paul launches into a defense of his message and his personal integrity. I won’t examine this in detail, verse by verse; but it goes from Galatians 1:10 to 2:14 and covers five main points. He first emphasizes the fact that his message was not something he learned from other men, but was “by the revelation of Jesus Christ”. (Galatians 1:12) He then adds to this the fact that for the first seventeen years following his conversion (see 1:18 and 2:1) he had little contact with the other apostles, with the exception of that brief, fifteen-day visit with Peter and James. (Galatians 1:17- 2:1) Therefore, his message could not have been learned from spending time with the other apostles, but was by revelation as he claimed.
Paul then recounts his visit to Jerusalem following those seventeen years, when he refused to give in to those false brethren who insisted that Titus (a Greek) be circumcised. (Galatians 2:1-5) Here Paul is simply documenting the fact that he had been consistent on this issue of opposing these false teachers from the very beginning. The next point Paul makes in his defense is the fact that James, Peter and John recognized the truth of his message and endorsed his ministry to the Gentiles. (Galatians 2:7-10) Then, the last point he makes is that in the past he had not hesitated in confronting Peter, Barnabas and others when they yielded to pressure from these false teachers to follow the old ritualistic tendencies. (Galatians 2:11-14)
Now Paul is going to focus in on the folly of these believers abandoning their newfound faith in Christ and returning to the old legalism. (Galatians 2:15-21) His argument here may seem a bit convoluted in some translations, so let me break it down for you. “If you’re a Jew by birth, you have no advantage over a Gentile – all are sinners”. (Verse 15) “We all know that we cannot be justified (in right relationship with God) by keeping the rules, but by faith in Jesus Christ. No one can please God through a system of self-improvement. So we put our faith in Christ Jesus that we could be justified by trusting in Christ, not by keeping the rules”. (Verse 16)
“Have you ever noticed that people like me, who seek to be justified by trusting in Christ, still sin? Does that mean Christ has led us into sin? That’s crazy! If I was hoping to be justified by keeping the rules or by trying to be good, I would be trying to build again the old system of rules I already tore down”. (Verses 17- 18). “I tried keeping the rules, and it didn’t work. I died to the Law and its demands, so I could live for God”. (Verse 19)
“(Christ was crucified, as the Law demanded) and I was crucified with Him. Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by trusting in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me”. (Verse 20) “Therefore, I will never consider God’s gracious gift as something that has no value. If righteousness comes through keeping the Law, then Christ died for nothing”! (Verse 21)
Through the rest of his letter Paul uses several more illustrations to support his argument against reverting back to the Law. I’ll just point out a few of them. In Galatians 3:2-3 Paul asks, “Tell me this, did you receive the Spirit by keeping the Law, or was it by believing in a message of faith? Are you that foolish? You started your new life with the Spirit, are you now going to reach maturity by trusting in the flesh?”
Just a few verses later Paul quotes Genesis 15:6, “Abraham believed in the Lord and it was counted to him for righteousness.” He then goes on to explain that all men must be justified in the same way. In actuality, God considered Abraham righteous over 400 years before the Law was ever given, so he could not have been declared righteous because he kept a set of rules that did not yet exist.
Let’s move on to Galatians 5. It’s evident the false teachers had convinced some that they must be circumcised. (Verse 2) Paul then explains the fact that since circumcision is a token of submission to the Law, they were now obligated to keep it all (sacrifices, offerings, commandments, observances, etc., compare Galatians 3:10, Deuteronomy 27:26) and this has alienated them from Christ and He is of no value to them. (Verses 3-4)
Now, earlier I mentioned Paul sometimes resorted to sarcasm when he was angry. In Galatians 5:7-12 he turns his attention to the false teachers and gets personal. “You started out so well, who interfered and stopped you from following the truth? (Verse 7) This kind of evil persuasion does not come from the One Who called you (to this freedom in Christ). This is a perfect example of how a little sin can corrupt an entire life. (Verses 8-9) I’m confident in the Lord that you will come to agree with me, and the one responsible for this confusion will suffer the consequences. (Verse 10)
Don’t believe the lie that I still preach circumcision. If that was true, why am I still persecuted by these people? And why would the message of the cross still be offensive to them? If they’re so obsessed with circumcision, why don’t they carry it even further and castrate themselves? (Verses 11-12) There’s the sarcasm and I can just see a faint smile on Paul’s face when he wrote this.
There’s one more issue here and we have to go back to Galatians 5:1 to see it. “Stand firm in the freedom that Christ has provided, and never again submit to a yoke of slavery.” Here, “freedom” (“liberty” in the KJV) is from eleutheria, freedom or independence. This word represents the distinct characteristic of the New Covenant (as contrasted with the Old Covenant), that being, freedom from legal restrictions and requirements.
The context of Paul’s use of this particular word is significant. The “freedom” Paul is talking about here is the freedom to pursue God absent the interference of others telling you that you must follow the traditional rituals, rules and activities of their particular group if you are to find God. This “freedom” emphasizes the independence of every believer in developing what is obviously portrayed in the Scriptures as a relationship that is led by the Spirit and is both personal and individual.
Anyone who pursues God and His purpose with sincerity and determination must be able to do so free from the interference of those religious men and institutions who would try to impose their doctrines, practices and programs upon them (all of which vary from group to group). And if anyone is thinking, “what about the verse that talks about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together”, don’t worry; we’ll get to that when we look at Hebrews 10.