Galatians

III. The Defense of the Gospel (3:1–5:12)

A. Rebuke and Reminder: Faith, Spirit, and Righteousness (3:1–6)

B. Argument: Abraham’s Children through Incorporation into Christ by Faith (3:7–4:7)

C. Appeal (4:8–31)

D. Exhortation and Warning: Faith, Spirit, and Righteousness (5:1–12)

The two paragraphs that compose this section (vv. 1–6, 7–12) form the rhetorical climax of Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Heiligenthal 1984: 45–46; I. Scott 2006: 252; Boyce 2000: 133–34). Some interpreters argue that these paragraphs introduce the last major section of the letter, a section that focuses on exhortation (e.g., Betz 1979: 254; G. Hansen 1989: 79–82). The many parallels between these verses and the passionate introductory rebuke of the Galatians in 1:6–10 (see esp. R. Longenecker 1990: 221–22) could support this reading of the structure. However, it seems better to view 5:1–12 as the hortatory conclusion to the great central section of the letter (R. Longenecker 1990: 222; Dunn 1993a: 261; Hays 2000: 306). Paul here returns to many of the same themes found in the opening paragraph of the section (3:1–6), so 3:1–6 and 5:1–12 bracket the argument in this part of the letter. Both sections make allusive reference to the agitators: compare “Who [τίς, tis] has bewitched you?” (3:1) with “Who [τίς] cut in on you?” (5:7). And as the former passage opens with a reference to the cross (3:1), so this one ends with such a reference (5:11). More significantly, both passages highlight the central importance of faith and the Spirit (3:2, 3, 5, 6; 5:5), in contrast to the law (3:2, 5; 5:2–4) and stress the complete sufficiency of faith (and the Spirit) as the means of righteousness (3:6; 5:5).

In the first paragraph of this section, Paul brings together the key theological themes of the letter [1] to issue a stark warning to the Galatians: they must choose between Christ, as Paul has presented him to them in his gospel, or the law, which the agitators are insisting the Galatians must observe. The issue is also clear: “justification” (v. 4) and “righteousness” (v. 5). The heat of Paul’s rhetoric here and elsewhere in Galatians is occasioned by the fact that the believers’ ultimate issue of eternal destiny is at stake. The matter involves not only how the Galatians are to live out their Christian identity (a “nomistic” vs. “Christic” lifestyle) but also whether that manner of living will eventuate in acceptance before God: “righteousness.” As he has so often done in Galatians, Paul lines up and contrasts two sets of entities: law (vv. 3, 4) and circumcision (vv. 2, 3) on the one side, and Christ (v. 4), grace (v. 4), faith (v. 5), and the Spirit (v. 5) on the other.

The second paragraph builds on the argument of the first. Here Paul issues a strongly worded warning about the false teachers and urges the Galatians in very personal terms to continue on the good gospel road that they had begun traveling. Galatians 5:1–12 therefore resembles, in its movement from theological summary to personal pleas and warnings, the sequence of argument in 4:1–20.