Galatians has been called both the Magna Charta of Christian Liberty and the Christian Declaration of Independence. Out of its pages grew the Protestant Reformation for it was by study in Galatians that Luther’s heart was opened to the truth of justification by faith alone.

Even critical liberals acknowledge the Pauline authorship of this book. There is nothing within the book or the writings of the Church Fathers that would cause anyone to question its authenticity. The author called himself Paul twice (1:1; 5:2). The many historical references can be harmonized with the events of Acts and of the other Epistles: his Pharisaical Jewish heritage (1:13–14; cf. Acts 22:3), his persecution of the church (1:13; cf. Acts 7:58; 8:1–3), his dramatic conversion on the way to Damascus (1:15–17; cf. Acts 9:1–25), his visit to Jerusalem (1:18; cf. Acts 11:30), his identification with Titus and Barnabas (2:1; cf. Acts 13:1–2; 2 Cor. 8:16), his home church at Antioch (2:11; cf. Acts 13:1), his physical problems (4:15; 6:11; cf. 2 Cor. 12:7–10), and persecutions (6:12, 17; cf. 2 Cor. 11:23–27).

Marcion placed Galatians first in his list of Paul’s letters. These other Church Fathers regarded the book as canonical and as written by Paul: Polycarp, Justin Martyr, Origen, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Clement of Alexandria.

Barbarians, about the fourth century b.c., migrated from north of the Black Sea westward into Macedonia, Greece, and France. Some tribes broke away and moved into north central Asia Minor. Here they were called Galatai by the Greeks and Galla by the Romans; thus the territory came to be known as Galatia. The Romans looked upon them as allies, but when their leader Amyntas died, their region was annexed as a Roman province by Caesar Augustus in 25 b.c. He enlarged the province by adding part of Pontus to the northeast, part of Phrygia to the southwest, and most of Lycaonia to the south. The geographical limits were constantly changing, but in the New Testament era it was a large province bordered by other provinces as Asia (west), Cappadocia (east), Pamphylia and Cilicia (south), and Bithynia and Pontus (north). The southern and southwestern sections of the province were more densely populated because here the cities were connected by a network of Roman roads; thus southern Galatia became more important politically and economically. Within this region were the cities evangelized by Paul and Barnabas during their first missionary journey: Antioch in Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe.

The Galatians had adopted the mythological polytheism of the Greeks and the Romans. Just as the Cretans were known for their lying (Titus 1:12), so the Galatians were known nationally as an impulsive, changeable, and inconsistent people. This could be seen in their paradoxical desire to worship Paul at one moment and to stone him the next (Acts 14:11–19) and also in their quickness to receive the gospel and to abandon it (1:6).

Paul with Barnabas evangelized the southern section of the Roman province of Galatia during his first missionary journey (Acts 13:14–14:26). After reaching the mainland from Cyprus, they moved quickly from Perga in Pamphylia to Antioch in Pisidia, a mountainous region which provided a refuge for thieves and Roman political enemies (cf. 2 Cor. 11:26). Antioch, a city founded by Seleucus I Nicator (312–280 b.c.), was a center of commerce on the trade route between Ephesus to the west and the Cilician Gates to the east. On the Sabbath they went into the synagogue where Paul was given the opportunity to preach to the congregation composed of Jews and Gentile proselytes (Acts 13:16, 26). In his sermon he identified the messianic hope of the Old Testament with Jesus Christ in His death and resurrection and proclaimed that forgiveness of sins and justification could be received only through faith in Him, not through legal obedience (Acts 13:38–39). After the Jews, apparently offended at his message, stormed out of the synagogue, the Gentiles present extended an invitation to Paul to preach the same sermon on the next Sabbath (Acts 13:42). Even as the result of this first proclamation, many Jews and Gentiles ("religious proselytes") were converted (Acts 13:43). When "almost the whole city" showed up at the synagogue to hear Paul the next Sabbath, the Jews were filled with jealousy because Paul had reached more Gentiles in one week than they had in several years of endeavor. When they attacked Paul, he countered with a stirring ultimatum:

From this point on in his ministry, Paul followed the policy of preaching to the Jew first and then to the Gentiles after Jewish opposition began. The ministry among the Gentiles met with great success (Acts 13:49, 52) but Paul and Barnabas were forced to leave when "the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against" them (Acts 13:50–51).

When they came to Iconium, they preached in the synagogue there; as a result, many Jews and Gentile proselytes believed in Christ. Again, the unbelieving Jews influenced the unbelieving Gentiles against the converts; in spite of this opposition, they stayed "a long time," preaching and performing miracles. Although the city was divided over their ministry, the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles plus their rulers determined to kill the apostles. When the latter learned of the plot, they fled to Lystra and Derbe (Acts 14:1–6).

These two cities were located in Lycaonia, a small landlocked province noted for its flat pasture land. The people there spoke a language composed of corrupt Greek mixed with Assyrian. Lystra was about eighteen miles southwest of Iconium; Derbe, a small town at the base of Mount Taurus, was sixteen miles east of Lystra.

At Lystra Paul healed a lame man, crippled through birth defects. When the pagans witnessed the miracle, they thought that the apostles were gods in the likeness of men (Barnabas as Jupiter and Paul as Mercury) and planned to offer animal sacrifices to them. Barnabas and Paul restrained the people from doing so through a brief sermon in which Paul admonished them to turn from their paganism to the living God of creation. Shortly after, Jews from Antioch and Iconium came to Lystra, stoned Paul, and dragged him out of the city. Paul, however, revived and went on to Derbe (Acts 14:6–20).

After preaching in Derbe, Paul and Barnabas retraced their steps through Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch teaching, comforting, and appointing leaders in the churches they had just started (Acts 14:21–23). They ended their journey by returning to Antioch (Acts 14:24–26).

To what churches of Galatia (1:2; 3:1) did Paul write? This moot question has bothered commentators for generations. Although the answer does not affect the message of the book, it does determine the time of its composition. Two major views have been proposed. The first is that Paul wrote to churches within the old territory of north Galatia, a region that he evangelized during his second journey and revisited during his third (Acts 16:6; 18:23). The proponents argue that Luke used territorial, not Roman provincial, titles to describe the regions encompassed by Paul’s itinerary (Acts 13:14; 14:6; 16:6; 18:23). However, it is difficult to determine the real meaning of Luke’s words. Literally, he said that Paul went through "the Phrygian-Galatic country" (16:6) and later through "the Galatic-Phrygian country" (18:23). This is a general designation and could refer to either the territory or province or both. The advocates add that since there is no mention of Paul’s physical infirmity during the first journey (Acts 13–14), why would Paul refer to it in the letter (4:13)? However, Luke does not mention it in his accounts of the second or third journeys either. Many of Paul’s persecutions and illnesses were not recorded by Luke or even by Paul himself (cf. 2 Cor. 11–12). They further suggest that Paul would have referred to his persecutions, including the stoning episode, if he had written to the south Galatian churches. But Paul did mention the marks (stigmata) that his body bore for his faith and testimony (6:17); also, it is conceivable that his eye problem (4:13–15) was caused or aggravated by the stoning incident.

In positive support for the second view that Paul wrote to those churches founded on the first journey, many have pointed out that Acts contains territorial designations whereas Paul chose to use provincial titles. In First Corinthians, Paul alluded to the churches of Galatia (16:1); in that same context, he referred to other regions by their provincial names: Macedonia (16:5), Achaia (16:15), and Asia (16:19). Thus, he most likely used "Galatia" as a provincial title also. It is also more likely that Paul wrote to churches whose establishment is recorded in Acts (chs. 13–14) than to churches about which we have little information. Caution must be exercised here because little is known about the founding of the Colossian church either. Judaizers, the enemies of Paul, would have invaded the densely populated areas of southern Galatia where Jews and synagogues were located rather than the sparsely settled northern sections. The reference to Barnabas, especially his defection at Antioch (2:1, 9; cf. 2:13), would only have significance to the southern Galatians because Barnabas was with Paul during the first journey, but not during the next two. Since there is no reference to the historic decision made at the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15), a decision that would have provided Paul with a clinching argument, the book must have been written before that event occurred. In that case Paul could only have written to the south Galatian churches of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Although Peter was an unstable person at times, his defection at Antioch (2:11–14) would better fit into his life experiences before the council at Jerusalem than after. Finally, the several biographical references in the first two chapters correlate better with a south Galatian destination. The visit to Jerusalem in which he saw Peter and James (1:18–19; cf. Acts 9:26) occurred three years after his conversion (a.d. 32; cf. a.d. 35). The second visit to Jerusalem, which happened fourteen years after his conversion rather than after his first visit, probably was the famine visit rather than the trip to attend the council meeting (2:1; cf. Acts 11:30; a.d. 46). The council was a public, general meeting (Acts 15), whereas the visit of Paul, Barnabas, and Titus was private (2:2). The recognition of Paul’s apostleship and message by the Jerusalem apostles certainly would have taken place before the council meeting. In the intervening years between the two Jerusalem visits, Paul spent nine in Tarsus (a.d. 35–44) and labored for two more in Syrian Antioch (a.d. 44–46).

Most of the older commentators favored the north Galatian theory. If they are correct, then the Epistle had to be written during Paul’s third journey, probably from either Ephesus or Macedonia (a.d. 53–56).

Contemporary scholarship has embraced the south Galatian view. This would mean that the letter could have been written at any time after the completion of the first journey (a.d. 47–48). It has been dated from Corinth during the second journey (Zahn; a.d. 50–52), from Antioch just before the beginning of the third journey (Ramsey; a.d. 52), and from Macedonia or Greece during the third journey (Thiessen; a.d. 55–56). Most modern advocates of this theory place the writing of Galatians in Antioch just before the Jerusalem council (Gromacki, Tenney; a.d. 48–49). Consequently, after Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch after their first journey, Peter visited them and the church at Antioch. There he fellowshiped with the Gentile Christians, withdrew from them, and was reproved publicly by Paul. Judaizers meanwhile had invaded the south Galatian churches, teaching the necessity of circumcision to gain and to maintain salvation and denying Paul’s apostleship. When Paul received the report of this theological dilemma, he wrote Galatians prior to his attendance at the Jerusalem council.

The purposes naturally grew out of the theological predicament of the churches. In the first two chapters Paul attempted to vindicate his apostleship and message which were under attack through answers to these questions: where did he get his apostolic authority and message, and who accepted him as an apostle? Through constant autobiographical references he demonstrated that his apostolic office was given directly by Christ and that it was recognized by the Jerusalem apostles. In so doing he made Galatians the second most autobiographical of his Epistles, next to Second Corinthians.

In the next two chapters (3–4), he logically explained and defended the doctrine of justification by faith. It was basically a counterattack against the false teaching that circumcision and legal obedience were necessary in addition to faith to secure a complete salvation.

The final two chapters (5–6) contain instructions for practical Christian living. The early section describes the Spirit-controlled life (5:1–6:10), whereas the closing paragraphs deal with warnings against the Judaizers (6:11–18).

The Judaizers were probably Judean Jews who penetrated the just-established Gentile churches of Galatia, warning them: "Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (cf. Acts 15:1). They regarded the Gentile believers as "second class" spiritual citizens who needed to become Jewish in their approach to God. This proclamation would have appealed to the unsaved Galatian Jews who resisted and persecuted Paul (Acts 13:41, 45, 50–51; 14:1–5, 19). It is possible that these Judaizers accused Paul of preaching the necessity of circumcision to Jewish audiences, but not to Gentile crowds (cf. 5:11); thus they were saying that Paul was a coward and a spiritual compromiser. It is conceivable that some of the Galatians had succumbed to the influence of the Judaizers and that the former were even trying to convert their friends (6:13). To Paul, the situation was desperate. This is probably why he did not send his typical salutation of grace and peace, which would have included a prayer of thanksgiving for them. To impress the readers with his own urgent concern, Paul either wrote the entire letter himself or at least the closing section (6:11–18). In either case, he did not use an amanuensis or secretary in his normal fashion. The Galatians would have been emotionally moved when they saw the large letters of the Pauline script (6:11). The severe spiritual tone of the letter can also be seen in Paul’s condemnation of the false teachers (1:7, 9; 5:10, 12; 6:17).

It should also be observed that this is the only Epistle to be written by Paul to a group of churches. All others were sent to either individual churches or persons.

Introduction (1:1–5)

Conclusion (6:17–18)

Paul immediately denied any human origin for his apostleship. No group of apostles appointed him to that office ("of men"; cf. the choice of Matthias by apostolic vote; Acts 1:15–26). No individual laid hands on him and delegated to him apostolic authority ("by man"). Perhaps the Judaizers charged that Paul’s assumed apostleship came through the ministry of Ananias (Acts 9:10–18) or through Barnabas who introduced Paul to the Jerusalem apostles and later involved him in the work at Antioch (Acts 9:26–28; 11:25–26). Paul’s salvation and apostolic appointment were determined directly by Christ before his encounter with any of those men (Acts 9:1–9; cf. 9:15–16).

Paul then marveled at their spiritual gullibility in that they were so easily influenced by the Judaizers. These men troubled or confused the young converts with their impressive teaching of the law and perverted the real gospel in doing so. They actually preached another gospel (cf. 2 Cor. 11:4). Here Paul employed a Greek word game. They preached another (heteros: another of a different kind) gospel which was not really another (allos: another of the same kind). The difference between the message of Paul and that of the Judaizers was not in the presentation or emphasis,⁴ but in its essence. The false teaching that both faith and works are necessary to gain justification actually redefines the concept of faith as used by Paul. Paul then pronounced an anathema, a curse, upon any who would preach another gospel than that preached by Paul and received originally by the Galatians. The Judaizers charged that Paul was a religious salesman or man-pleaser in that he was afraid to preach the necessity of circumcision to adult, uncircumcised Gentiles; this Paul clearly denied (1:10).

Paul also denied any human origin for his message of justification by faith alone. He did not receive via letter the gospel content nor was he taught it by any apostle; rather, he received his commission and message in the same way as the other apostles. Christ revealed Himself to Paul as He did to the apostles during His forty days of postresurrection ministry. In support of this claim, he appealed to his preconversion life as a zealous, law-loving Pharisee. Paul wanted the Galatians to know that the Judaizers were no more zealous for the law in the present than he was in the past. In his zeal Paul persecuted Christians, and now the Judaizers were doing the same to him. It was the personal revelation of Christ and his subsequent conversion that caused Paul to preach Christ, not legal obedience, to the Gentiles. For three years after his conversion, Paul had no contact with the apostles in which to be ordained or taught by them. He later saw Peter and James, but only for fifteen days. For the next eleven years the churches of Judea rejoiced whenever they heard of Paul’s ministry through secondhand reports. They could do this because he preached the same faith which once he destroyed and which they embraced, a message of justification by faith without circumcision.

Fourteen years after his conversion, Paul with Barnabas took Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile convert, to Jerusalem. There Paul explained the message that he preached to the Gentiles and presented Titus as Exhibit A of the results. The apostles recognized that Titus was genuinely saved and did not force him to be circumcised. This action clearly destroyed the charge of the Judaizers that Paul preached a watered-down message. Paul also resisted an attempt of false brethren who tried to impose legalism upon his message. The Judaizers charged that Paul was afraid to stand for his beliefs, and yet he stood adamantly in the very center of Jewish Christianity. The apostles also recognized that Paul’s apostleship was equal to theirs and that God had called Paul to a special ministry among the Gentiles just as Peter had been called to a unique ministry among the Jews. At no time did they question his apostleship or change his message.

Later Paul stood for his convictions in Antioch when he rebuked Peter publicly for failure to identify himself with believing Gentiles in the midst of Jewish Christians from Jerusalem. Since believing, uncircumcised Gentiles and believing, circumcised Jews share the same spiritual position in Christ, Peter by his actions denied that truth and manifested a false Jewish superiority. Even Barnabas and other Jewish believers followed Peter’s example. Paul’s rebuke was in the form of a theological argument which served as an appropriate conclusion to the autobiographical argument (chs. 1–2) and as a fitting introduction to the second major section of the Epistle (chs. 3–4). In it Paul demonstrated that no Jew or Gentile could be justified by the works of the law and that believers are under no present obligation to the Mosaic law, for they have a spiritual position in Christ. In fact, he concluded that Christ’s death was meaningless if men could somehow secure divine righteousness (any portion of it) through human effort, including that of circumcision or conformity to the law.

The address and the question "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you" begin the heart of Paul’s theological argument. He first appealed to their salvation experience. Since they received the Holy Spirit by faith without works and subsequently were persecuted for that belief, why did they think that their present experience had to be perfected through human effort?

Since the Judaizers prided themselves on being physical descendants of Abraham (cf. 2 Cor. 11:22), Paul pointed out that Abraham received divine righteousness by faith before he was circumcised and before the Mosaic law was given (Gen. 15:6; cf. Gen. 17:9–14, 23–24). The real children of Abraham are those who have been justified in the same way that he was. He further argued that the Abrahamic covenant promise (3:8) extended to the justification of Gentiles by faith alone.

The law curses rather than saves. To avoid the curse, one had to keep every commandment every moment of every day. Since no man could do this, man was automatically under the curse of the law and thus could not gain a justified position through the keeping of it. Even Habakkuk, who prophesied after the Mosaic law was given, announced that justification was by faith alone (3:11; cf. Hab. 2:4). Since man could not remove himself from the curse of the law by his own effort, Christ redeemed man from the curse by bearing that curse (guilt and penalty) on the cross. In this way the promise given to Abraham could also be given to Gentiles through the son of Abraham, Jesus Christ.

Paul then anticipated this objection: Granted that God justified Abraham by faith, but did not God give the law 430 years later, and was not this law intended to replace the faith principle as the basis for righteousness? Paul then argued that the Abrahamic covenant, once confirmed, could not be rendered inoperative by the addition of the law. Also, the covenant promise was given to both Abraham and his seed (singular), namely Christ; from the logic of time, Christ came after the law.

If the law cannot give the Spirit (3:1–5), cannot give righteousness (3:6–9), has no blessing but a curse (3:10–14), and cannot change the original covenant (3:15–18), then why did God give the law? It was added to give sin the character of transgression, to create within man a sense of sin and moral guilt, and to drive men to place their faith in Christ. Just as children were under tutors or schoolmasters (paidagogos: a child guide) until they reached adulthood or sonship, so believers were under the authority of the law until the advent of Christ who through His redemptive work elevated men into spiritual sonship (adoption means to put into the position of sons). Justification by faith makes possible these spiritual possessions: children of God, baptism into Christ, clothed with Christ, oneness in Christ, spiritual children of Abraham, redemption, adoption, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, and heirs of God through Christ.

Paul then demonstrated that the standards of Mosaic legalism were no different in principle than the obligations within the pagan idolatrous system from which they had been saved. Such regulations enslaved them in the past, and Paul saw the teaching of the Judaizers as a new slave master. He feared that his evangelistic effort in Galatia had become fruitless. He wanted the Galatians to renew their confidence and love toward him, to remember how they treated him as an angel or as Christ in spite of his physical infirmity, and to recall their willingness to impart their own eyesight to him. Paul appealed to them to change their attitudes toward him and to see the Judaizers as their real spiritual enemies.

In an allegory based upon a genuine historical event, Paul cleverly demonstrated that it was impossible to receive the promise of righteousness through both faith and works. Note these contrasts:

God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many nations. Both he and Sarah believed that promise, but when no son came, Abraham fathered Ishmael through Hagar. However, Ishmael did not receive the promise. Later Isaac was conceived out of the deadness of Sarah’s womb. Just as Ishmael persecuted Isaac so the Judaizers were persecuting Paul. Paul also concluded that it was impossible to be born of two mothers at the same time; thus a man cannot be justified by both faith and works.

The last two chapters contain a practical appeal based upon the theological argument ("therefore" connects the two sections). He charged the Galatians to stand in the liberty from the law that Christ provided and not to get involved with the law either as a means of justification or sanctification. He admonished that if any believed that his initial faith was not sufficient but that he also had to be circumcised to gain justification, then Christ’s death would no longer have any value for him (5:2, 4). To fall from grace did not mean to lose one’s salvation, but rather to fall from God’s standard of gaining salvation (grace) to the human standard (works). He explained that in Christ there is an equality of spiritual position between the circumcised Jew and the uncircumcised Gentile. He then warned them against the Judaizers who actually hindered the Galatians’ obedience and expressed confidence that the believers would not be convinced by the false teachers. He equated the apostates with leaven and desired that God would judge them physically (5:10, 12). Some Judaizers even claimed that Paul preached the necessity of circumcision to Jewish audiences; Paul denied this by asking why he was persecuted by the Judaizers if this were so.

Not to be misunderstood, Paul explained that freedom from the Mosaic laws did not mean freedom from God’s moral laws, or lawlessness. Liberty should not be construed as license to do as one pleases; rather one has become free to love one another. This essence of the Mosaic law is binding upon all believers.

Just as human effort could not gain justification, neither can it achieve sanctification. Within every believer is the conflict between the flesh (sin nature) and the Holy Spirit (new nature). When the Christian is walking and is being led by the Spirit, then the ninefold fruit (singular) of the Spirit will be grown or developed through the man’s personality. If the believer is not yielded to the Spirit, he will manifest the works of the flesh, the very sins that mark the habitual life-style of the unbeliever.

Paul then outlined basic qualities of a genuine spiritual person. Such a person will attempt to restore his sinning brother in a spirit of humility and self-protection (6:1). He will bear the prayer burdens of others (6:2). He will not have a high opinion of himself (6:3). He will examine the quality of his own Christian service, rejoicing in the satisfaction that it was done for God’s glory, not for human recognition (6:4). He knows that he will bear the responsibility for his own spiritual tasks (6:5). He will support financially the ministry of his spiritual teachers (6:6). He is aware of the principle of sowing and reaping as it applies both to giving and to living. He does not grow weary in Christian service, knowing that results will follow faithfulness. He will do good to all men, unsaved and saved, especially the latter.

Paul ended his book with a final warning against the Judaizers. In his concern Paul penned at least this conclusion with large-size letters, so written because of his poor eyesight. He charged that the Judaizers who claimed that Paul was afraid to preach the whole gospel including the necessity of circumcision were themselves afraid to preach justification by faith only because they knew that they would be persecuted by their own Jewish friends. He further stated that even the Judaizers could not keep the regulations they were trying to impose upon the Galatians. They gloried in their converts’ willingness to submit themselves to the former, but Paul gloried only in the cross. Paul again stated that spiritual position was the real issue before God, not circumcision. He again appealed to the scars of his persecutions as evidence that he stood for his apostleship and message.