• Loosely defined plateau region of central Asia Minor, bounded on the east by Cappadocia, on the west by Asia, on the south by Pamphylia and Cilicia, and on the north by Bithynia and Pontus.
• Name derives from Celtic tribes driven out of Gaul (France), which settled the region in the third century A.D.
• Roads provided easy access to roving tribes and marching armies. Cities had no walls, and citizens did little to defend themselves because nearby mountains offered an easy escape.
• Conquered by Rome by 166 B.C. and given freedom on the condition that the Celts would assist Rome in conquering nearby regions, making Galatia politically, economically, and militarily significant to Rome in the New Testament era.
• Northern Galatia resisted Greek-Roman culture, keeping its own gods and Celtic language.
• Southern Galatia adopted emperor worship; Judaism also persisted there for centuries after Christ.
• Paul visited and established churches in the south (Acts 13:13—14:25), but we have no reliable record of visits or churches in the north.
Go to the Place Profiles Index.
Even Spiritual Giants Fall Short
Biblical accounts of people who struggled to live for God are intended to encourage us, but comparing ourselves to giants of the faith often does nothing but intimidate us. Paul, for example, was a brilliant scholar, a fervent evangelist, a compassionate pastor, a competent businessman, and a diplomatic statesman. When he urges us to follow his example as he follows Christ’s example (1 Cor. 11:1), his suggestion sounds more than a little unrealistic. But we should not overlook the fact that Paul grew in his faith with considerable difficulty. Note his acute awareness of his own failings over the years:
c. A.D. 55: “I am the least of the apostles” (1 Cor. 15:9).
c. A.D. 57: “I know that in me … nothing good dwells” (Rom. 7:18).
c. A.D. 60: “[I] am less than the least of all the saints” (Eph. 3:8).
c. A.D. 63: “Jesus came … to save sinners, of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:15).
Paul was perhaps more average than we might think. Look carefully at some of the highs and lows of his life (see his profile at Acts 13:9). Change a few particulars and his story could be anyone’s—all because Paul was as human as any of us. His breathtaking commitment did not develop overnight. He faced challenges that forced him to grow and change, and he experienced his fair share of pain and anxiety. If there is hope for him, then there is hope for us.
More: Similar to Paul, Johnny Cash once declared, “I’m the biggest sinner of them all.” See here for an article on his life. One essential factor in Paul’s growth was the painstaking guidance of a more mature Christian. See “Barnabas: A Model of Mentoring” at Acts 9:27 and see here for an article on the life of Barnabas.
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Paul sets up his message to the Galatians by recounting his dramatic meeting with Christ on the road to Damascus and his subsequent conversion (Acts 9:1–30). In those long hours he must have been under deep emotional strain. He learned that the reports that Jesus had risen were true. He realized he had dedicated his life to killing the Messiah’s followers. It was a life-altering experience for one “advanced in Judaism” and “exceedingly zealous for the traditions” of his fathers (Gal. 1:14).
That may be why God struck Paul with blindness for three days. He had a lot to sort out after meeting the risen Lord. He had to reverse the entire theological basis of his life.
Yet God intended to change more than Paul’s theology. He was determined to transform his extremist view of the world. At the heart of Paul’s intense hatred of the Christian movement might have been a belief that it would destroy Judaism by mixing it with foreign, Gentile elements (see “Stephen’s Trial and Murder” at Acts 6:12).
Imagine Paul’s shock when Ananias informed him that God had chosen him to take the message of Christ to none other than the Gentiles (9:15; 22:14, 15; 26:16–18). Such a task would have been unthinkable. Jews like Paul, who were wholly committed to living by all the laws and traditions of Judaism, had nothing to do with Gentiles (10:28). It took years for Paul to reevaluate his perspective and align it with God’s (9:26–30; 22:17–21).
Paul’s dramatic transformation challenges us to examine the prejudices that keep us from living out God’s love for the world. When we find racial and cultural biases where we live, work, or worship, do we challenge that thinking?—or keep silent?—or worse, go along with hatred or even promote it? Can God use us to take His name to people whom we consider outsiders?
More: Like Paul, Bakht Singh Chabra was vehemently opposed to Christianity but later heard God’s voice, comprehended his need for atonement, and trusted in Christ to save him. See here for an article on the life of this man who once tore apart a Bible with his bare hands.
Go to the Focus Index.
Sometimes it feels like the best we can manage in a highly charged situation is to pretend our differences do not exist. But God gives us ways to do better than that. In an exchange with the apostles at Jerusalem, Paul demonstrated how we can honor one another when strong convictions are at stake.
Jewish followers of Christ found themselves in the uncomfortable process of discovering that their faith was influenced by an entrenched ethnic and cultural bias against Gentiles—a prejudice exposed by the ministry of Paul and others (Gal. 1:15; see also “Saul Becomes Paul” at Acts 13:9). Paul went to Jerusalem to discuss his work with leading Jewish believers. Note several elements of their meeting:
1. Paul voluntarily sought out opposing leaders (Gal. 2:1, 2).
2. He met with them privately to discuss a volatile situation (2:2).
3. He sought input from recognized leaders (2:2–9).
4. He evaluated his position and behavior in order to avoid working “in vain” (2:2).
5. He brought along evidence of his position—a Gentile named Titus—causing some to demand that Titus conform to the Jewish rite of circumcision (2:3–5).
6. Clarity did not require uniformity of practice (2:9).
7. The leaders reached agreement on another matter: serving the poor among both Jews and Gentiles (2:10).
Commitment to Christ demands that we respect each other even when we disagree. The Lord’s purposes will be achieved with or without us, but we are in control of how we treat each other—something that matters deeply to God.
Go to the Focus Index.
As he tells the story of his meeting with early leaders of the church, Paul reveals an attitude of generosity toward the poor. This was a constant theme of his life after he met Jesus. He pointed out that supporting the weak was a must-do for all Christians. See “I Have Not Coveted” at Acts 20:33–38.
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The fact that a group in the early church was known simply as “the circumcision” reflects severe controversy over this rite in the first century A.D. Originally mandated by God as a sign of His covenant relationship with Israel (see “Circumcision” at Gen. 17:9–14), circumcision became a mark of exclusivity not only among the Jews but also among early Jewish Christians.
The Jewish people took enormous pride in this surgical removal of a male child’s foreskin, making the ritual a badge of spiritual and national superiority. But their attitude fostered exclusivism rather than compassion to reach out to other nations as God intended. Gentiles were regarded as the “uncircumcision,” a term of disrespect implying that non-Jewish peoples were outside the circle of God’s love.
A crisis erupted at Antioch when a group of believers from Judea taught, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). These people, called Judaizers, were in effect insisting that a person from a non-Jewish background must first become a Jew before becoming a Christian.
A council of apostles and elders convened at Jerusalem to resolve the issue (Acts 15:6–29). Among those attending were Paul, Barnabas, Simon Peter, and James, the leader of the Jerusalem church. To insist on circumcision for the Gentiles, Peter argued, was a burdensome yoke (15:10), a position affirmed by the council.
Years later, the apostle Paul reinforced that decision, telling the Christians at Rome that Abraham, the “father of circumcision” (Rom. 4:12), was saved by faith rather than by circumcision (4:9–12).
Paul also spoke of the “circumcision of Christ” (Col. 2:11), a reference to Jesus’ atoning death, which “condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3) and nailed “the handwriting of requirements” to the cross (Col. 2:14). Paul declared that the new covenant of Christ’s blood makes forgiveness available to both Jew and Gentile and renders circumcision unnecessary. All that matters is a changed nature—a new creation that makes all believers one in Christ (Eph. 2:14–18).
More: For more on the new agreement between God and humankind accomplished through Christ’s work on the cross, see “The New Covenant” at 1 Cor. 11:25.
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Redeemed by Grace
Martin Luther (1483–1546) was headed for a career in the law when a lightning bolt struck the ground near him and he screamed, “Help me, Saint Anne! I will become a monk!” The conscientious young man promptly entered a monastery, where he began his new ascetic lifestyle with enthusiasm. Yet despite his scrupulous piety—“If anyone could have earned heaven by the life of a monk, it was I,” he later commented—Luther experienced intense anxiety over the surety of his salvation. Turning to the Scriptures for answers, he embarked on a journey of discovery that ushered in the Protestant Reformation and forever changed the course of history.
Luther had always been intellectually gifted. He had been sent to study law at the University of Erfurt at age thirteen, where he secured both baccalaureate and master’s degrees in the shortest time allowed by university statutes. Later he earned a doctorate in theology from the University of Wittenberg and in 1512 accepted a teaching post there.
As he delivered lectures on the Book of Romans, Luther found himself deeply disturbed by what would later become known as the “Reformation text”—Romans 1:17: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” Luther writes, “I hated that word, ‘the righteousness of God’.… I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners.” Knowing that, as a sinner, he could never truly be righteous, Luther felt that he could never truly be saved. Luther did everything he could to make himself acceptable to God—but it would never be enough. As he agonized over this text, Luther gradually came to the realization that God’s righteousness is not something by which God punishes sinners. Rather, it is a gift: God declares sinners righteous because of His grace, extended to all through Christ and accepted by faith alone. Luther was blissful: “Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates.”
But this doctrine directly contradicted the current teachings of the church. When the Dominican friar John Tetzel arrived in Germany in 1517 to raise money to renovate St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Luther went on the offensive. Tetzel was engaging in a common practice of the day by selling indulgences, documents prepared by the church that supposedly released the dead from punishment in purgatory. Luther responded by composing his 95 Theses and nailing them to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg, registering his complaints against the sale of indulgences and other abuses of the church.
Luther originally intended to instigate reform within the Roman Catholic Church, but he soon found himself facing excommunication and questioning where the boundaries of the church’s authority lay. Luther argued that the Scriptures were the sole reliable guide in spiritual matters—not the church. Thus, all people should be able to read the Bible in their native language, without having to rely on the clergy to interpret God’s Word on their behalf. Furthermore, religious observances such as those promulgated by the church were powerless to save humanity. In his commentary on Paul’s letter to the Galatians, which Luther lovingly called “my epistle,” he provides one of his strongest explanations of justification by faith, arguing that salvation is received by grace alone, not through works. God is not a Judge who demands good deeds but a Redeemer who desires to reconcile us to Him.
When ordered by the church to recant his views, Luther replied, “Unless I can be instructed and convinced with evidence from the Holy Scriptures or with open, clear, and distinct grounds of reasoning … then I cannot and will not recant, because it is neither safe nor wise to act against conscience.” Then he added, “Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me! Amen.”
Over the next two decades, Luther’s life was a flurry of activity, and his legacy is too vast to be summarized. He married, wrote books and hymns, and translated Scripture. He made many mistakes and got into many arguments. But he never backed down from his faith in God’s redeeming grace.
Go to the Life Studies Index.
Paul had no tolerance for people who altered the gospel. In the Book of Galatians and elsewhere, he fiercely rebuked both those who corrupted the truth about Jesus, and their followers. Note his passion and directness:
• “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from [Christ] … to a different gospel” (Gal. 1:6).
• “Even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (1:8).
• “As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (1:9).
• “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you … ?” (3:1).
• “I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain” (4:11).
• “I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you” (4:20).
• “I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!” (5:12).
• “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!” (Phil. 3:2).
God calls Christians to be kind, humble, meek, and longsuffering; to bear with one another, forgive each other, and above all to love one another as they seek unity within congregations and the church at large (Col. 3:12–15). But they are also called to “stand fast” in the faith (1 Cor. 16:13) and in their liberty in Christ (Gal. 5:1), and to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3). That sometimes entails anger and conflict when the saving truth of the gospel is under attack.
Paul’s forceful defense of the faith obliges us to ask how we deal with challenges to truth. Many modern Christians let slide all kinds of compromises of biblical principles. But true commitment requires us to defend our faith against all who twist and misuse it.
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Christianity brings liberation from the divisions and categories that have kept people apart since the world began. Because of Christ, three major social distinctions no longer matter:
• Ethnicity: “neither Jew nor Greek.”
• Socioeconomic status: “neither slave nor free.”
• Gender: “neither male nor female.”
These were all chasms within first-century culture that quickly carried over into the church. But as Paul told his readers, “You are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Faith in Jesus makes us children of God and brings us all into the same family. We are no longer divided by ethnicity, social status, or gender. We are now brothers and sisters in God’s family.
Baptism is a powerful symbol of that new unity (Gal. 3:27). In baptism a person affirms the lordship of Christ and his or her commitment to a new way of life. Paul might have been quoting a first-century baptismal creed when he urged us to “put on Christ” not simply in word but in deed.
In early Christian communities, this new unity brought shocking changes to how people related to each other. Suddenly, Gentiles and Jews could stand before God together. Both slaves and masters could pray or prophesy. Both women and men could enjoy full membership in the body of Christ, who “is all and in all” (Col. 3:11). The breaking down of traditional barriers was more than a future hope. The early church worked to make it a present reality. Today we can continue this work of breaking down barriers, demonstrating that the church is an embodiment of God’s kingdom and is far more than a human institution.
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Modern society tends to become polarized when groups perceive that their rights are being denied. The more intense the struggle to achieve those rights, the more that social conflict escalates. But Paul told the Galatians that before God, no one has any rights. Through sin we forfeited whatever rights we once had.
Paul made this point with the metaphor of a slave. In an empire heavily dependent on forced labor, it was an image the Galatians knew well (see “Slaves” at Rom. 6:16). Paul explained that all believers were once in bondage to the “elements of the world” (Gal. 4:3; Col. 2:8, 20). As slaves to sin, they had no rights. God owed them nothing. They belonged to sin and were forced into sin’s service. Emancipation from their plight had to come from a source other than their own power, ingenuity, or morality.
Such is the condition of all sinners. We are helpless and hopeless (John 3:19, 20; Rom. 3:23). But just as in the early days of creation God gave human beings life, resources, and responsibility (Gen. 1:26—2:4), so now He rescues us from sin and grants us all the privileges of adoption into His family (Gal. 4:4–7). We are completely undeserving, meaning our new life and new rights are truly a gift. And if we have received this treasure from God, then we should let others know that the Lord freely offers the same gift to them.
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The Two Covenants of Sarah and Hagar
Paul punctuated his warning about depending on the Law for salvation by using an Old Testament story about an outcast slave. Hagar was an Egyptian slave of Sarah, wife of the patriarch Abraham (Gen. 16:1–16; see also “Sarah and Her Daughters” at 1 Pet. 3:6).
God promised to give Abraham and Sarah a son. But after ten years of waiting, Sarah gave Hagar to her husband so he could father a child by her. Although her action was legal, God saw it as a lack of faith.
When Hagar became pregnant, she mocked her barren mistress, whose harsh response drove Hagar into the wilderness. A heavenly messenger revealed that Hagar would give birth to a son who would be the father of a great nation even though he was not the son promised to Abraham and Sarah.
Hagar returned to Abraham’s camp and bore Ishmael, who was accepted as Abraham’s son. When Ishmael was fourteen, Sarah gave birth to Isaac, the son God had promised. Ishmael later mocked Isaac, and at Sarah’s insistence, Hagar and her son were driven into the wilderness, where God again demonstrated His love for them.
Paul used Sarah and Hagar figuratively to represent two covenants. Hagar represented the covenant of the Law, which would mean a life of slavery for Christians, who belonged to the new covenant of Christ. This new covenant was represented by Sarah, a free woman through whom all the families of the earth had been blessed.
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Paul distinguished between a “Jerusalem which now is” and “the Jerusalem above.” The background to these terms was his fury over teachers who had come from Jerusalem to enforce a Jewish agenda on new Christians in Galatia. These teachers claimed that a person could not become a Christian unless he first became a Jew. The “Jerusalem which now is” referred to those teachers. They had enslaved Jerusalem, and Paul resented their coming to Galatia to subjugate new converts. He spoke of “the Jerusalem above” as a symbol of freedom from both legalism and sin—a sign of God’s rule and kingdom.
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To live “under the law” means to submit to the crushing expectation of fulfilling God’s moral standards through mere human ability. We are doomed to misery if we try to live up to those demands because sooner or later we will fail (Rom. 7:7–24). Instead of experiencing the freedom of a clean conscience, we feel enslaved to legalism and guilt.
God’s moral standards are not the problem; it is our sinful nature that keeps us from obeying. But God lives in us through the Holy Spirit, enabling us to carry out His holy standards, summed up in the Ten Commandments. Walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) makes us able to obey the His commands (“the law”). We experience powerful new freedoms to be the person God means for us to be.
Original Commandment | New Freedoms |
1. “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3). | God is our Helper. If we hold to Him, we discover freedom from anxiety about our future, our relationships, our well-being, and our happiness. |
2. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image” (Ex. 20:4). | God is our Teacher. If we hold to Him, we learn truth and avoid being fooled by falsehood. |
3. “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain” (Ex. 20:7). | God is our Friend. If we hold to Him, our prayers are not ineffective. We do not try to force Him to help us, and we learn not to selfishly invoke His name. |
4. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8). | God is our Master. If we hold to Him, we find fulfillment. We do not work ourselves to death. |
5. “Honor your father and your mother” (Ex. 20:12). | God is our Father. If we hold to Him, we experience His love. We let go of our disappointments in human relationships. |
6. “You shall not murder” (Ex. 20:13). | God is our Protector. If we hold to Him, we find freedom from competing with our neighbors and instead act with love. |
7. “You shall not commit adultery” (Ex. 20:14). | God is the Author of true happiness. If we hold to Him, we find freedom to pursue true love rather than the distortions of love promoted by the world. |
8. “You shall not steal” (Ex. 20:15). | God is our Provider. If we hold to Him, we learn to give instead of take. We find freedom from worry about our material well-being and instead work honestly with the abilities He has given us. |
9. “You shall not bear false witness” (Ex. 20:16). | God is Truth. If we hold to Him, we learn to speak truth and create trust. |
10. “You shall not covet” (Ex. 20:17). | God is the Giver of every good gift. If we hold to Him, we discover freedom from greed and instead live with generosity, compassion, and self-respect. |
More: Jesus said that God’s commandments can be summed up in two basic principles. See “Love God, Love People” at Deut. 5:6–21. God’s commands should guide our workplace attitudes and behaviors. See “Ten Practical Commandments” at James 2:8–13.
Go to the Focus Index.
New Creatures with New Character
When we trust in Christ, we are in Christ. And when we are in Christ, we are new creatures. The old habits and character traits that marked life before Christ pass away. God is in the process of making us entirely new (2 Cor. 5:17). Paul offers several descriptions of what we look like as new creatures with new character:
Love …
• suffers long
• is kind
• does not envy
• does not parade itself
• is not puffed up
• does not behave rudely
• does not seek its own
• is not provoked
• thinks no evil
• does not rejoice in iniquity
• rejoices in the truth
• bears all things
• believes all things
• hopes all things
• endures all things
“Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).
The fruit of the spirit is …
• love
• joy
• peace
• longsuffering
• kindness
• goodness
• faithfulness
• gentleness
• self-control
“Against such there is no law.… If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit” (Gal. 5:23, 25).
Meditate on whatever things are …
• true
• noble
• just
• pure
• lovely
• of good report
• of any virtue
• praiseworthy
“The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:9).
Put on these things …
• tender mercies
• kindness
• humility
• meekness
• longsuffering
• Bear with one another.
• Forgive one another.
• Above all, put on love.
• Let the peace of God rule in your hearts.
• Be thankful.
• Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly.
• Teach and admonish one another.
• Sing with grace in your hearts.
“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3:17).
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Paul warns us to be on alert when we correct others who have fallen into sin. We must pay attention to our own susceptibility to temptation even as we work to help others overcome their temptations. See “Escaping Temptation” at 1 Corinthians 10:12, 13.
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