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Conversion on the Way to Damascus, Caravaggio, about 1600 to 1601

Conversion on the Way to Damascus, Caravaggio, about 1600 to 1601. Public domain.

New Testament · Book 48 of 66

Galatians

Galatians is Paul's letter to the churches of Galatia, who were turning to a different gospel. He argues that a person is justified by faith in Christ and calls believers to live by the Spirit in the freedom Christ gives.

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Conversion on the Way to Damascus, Caravaggio, about 1600 to 1601

Conversion on the Way to Damascus, Caravaggio, about 1600 to 1601. Public domain.

What is Galatians about?

Galatians is a letter Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia after teachers told their Gentile believers to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. He opens with no thanks, only alarm that they are turning to a different gospel. He shows that his gospel came by revelation from Christ and how he held to it in Jerusalem and at Antioch. He argues from Abraham that a person is justified by faith and not by works of the law. Then he gives the letter's reason: “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (5:1). He ends with the life of the Spirit and the new creation.

All 6 chapters

Every chapter of the book, in one grid. Each cell opens that chapter.

  • The gospel not from manChapters 1 and 2
  • Justified by faith, not by works of the lawChapters 3 and 4
  • The freedom of the SpiritChapters 5 and 6

The colour is the movement of the letter the chapter stands in, two chapters to each movement, and every cell opens that chapter's Study level.

1No other gospel2Cephas at Antioch3Abraham believed4Sons and heirs5Called to freedom6A new creation

Who wrote it, where, when, for whom, and why?

The letter names its writer in its first word, Paul, an apostle sent not from men (1:1), writing with all the brothers who are with him (1:2). He once persecuted the church and was zealous for the traditions of his fathers (1:13 to 14). He writes the close in his own hand, in large letters. Peter names Paul's letters beside the other Scriptures (2 Peter 3:15 to 16).

See what large letters I am using to write to you with my own hand!

Galatians 6:11, Berean Standard Bible.

The letter goes to the churches of Galatia (1:2). Acts tells of churches Paul and Barnabas founded at Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (Acts 13:14 to 14:23), and of later journeys through the region of Galatia and Phrygia (Acts 16:6, 18:23).

The text counts three years to Paul's first visit to Jerusalem (1:18) and fourteen years to the second (2:1), and it places the letter after Cephas came to Antioch (2:11). Paul first preached to the Galatians because of an illness (4:13), and he writes after other teachers had come among them.

The readers are mostly Gentiles, who once were slaves to beings that are not gods (4:8) and are now being pressed to be circumcised (5:2, 6:12). They had received the Spirit and seen God work miracles among them (3:2 to 5), and they had welcomed Paul as an angel of God (4:14).

Some people were troubling the churches and distorting the gospel of Christ. Paul writes to call them back to the gospel they first received, to show that the law cannot give the Spirit or the inheritance, and to keep them standing in their freedom (5:1).

I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—

Galatians 1:6, Berean Standard Bible.

Sources. Galatians 1:1 to 2, 1:6 to 7, 1:13 to 14, 1:18, 2:1, 2:11, 3:2 to 5, 4:8, 4:13 to 14, 5:1 to 2, 6:11 to 12; Acts 13:14 to 14:23, 16:6, 18:23; 2 Peter 3:15 to 16. Every verse is read in the Berean Standard Bible.

How is Galatians arranged, and what is it for?

The three movements the letter falls into, then what it teaches and what it was written to do.

  1. The gospel not from manChapters 1 and 2, 45 verses, the turn at 1:11 to 12

    Paul curses any other gospel and shows that his came by revelation, kept in Jerusalem and defended at Antioch.

  2. Justified by faith, not by works of the lawChapters 3 and 4, 60 verses, the turn at 3:6 to 7

    The Spirit received by faith, Abraham counted righteous, the law a guardian until Christ, and sons made heirs.

  3. The freedom of the SpiritChapters 5 and 6, 44 verses, the turn at 5:1

    Freedom kept against the yoke, the fruit of the Spirit against the flesh, and the new creation.

The theme

There is one gospel, and it sets people right with God by faith in Christ and not by works of the law. Paul proves it three ways: from his own call, which came from God and not from men; from Scripture, where Abraham believed and was counted righteous long before the law was given; and from the life of the Spirit, who produces in believers what the law could only command.

The purpose

Paul wrote to stop Gentile churches from taking circumcision as the price of full belonging, because that step would make Christ of no value to them (5:2). He wants them to stand firm, to serve one another in love, and to boast in nothing but the cross of Christ (6:14).

The argument from Abraham, step by step

  1. 1. BelievedGalatians 3:6

    “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”

    Abraham is counted righteous by believing God.

  2. 2. PromisedGalatians 3:8

    “foretold the gospel to Abraham”

    The blessing of the nations was preached to him beforehand.

  3. 3. RedeemedGalatians 3:13

    “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”

    The curse on all who rely on the law is borne by Christ.

  4. 4. The seedGalatians 3:16

    “meaning One, who is Christ”

    The promise was spoken to one offspring, and he is Christ.

  5. 5. GuardedGalatians 3:24

    “the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ”

    The law came later and kept God's people until faith came.

  6. 6. HeirsGalatians 3:29

    “heirs according to the promise”

    All who belong to Christ are Abraham's seed and heirs.

  7. 7. ChildrenGalatians 4:28

    “like Isaac, are children of promise”

    The Galatians are Isaac's kind, born by promise.

Read from left to right, or from the top on the phone. Paul argues from the order of events: the promise was spoken to Abraham first, the law came 430 years later and could not cancel it (3:17), and it guarded God's people until Christ, the one seed, so that all who belong to Christ inherit the promise. The steps follow the letter as Martin Luther and John Wesley read it; how far the law still binds the believer is taken up under Where do readers disagree. Sources: Galatians 3:6, 3:8, 3:13, 3:16, 3:17, 3:24, 3:29 and 4:28 in the Berean Standard Bible.

The gospel not from man, Galatians 1 to 2

What chapters 1 and 2 say, and the pages they open on.

Paul greets the churches with no thanksgiving and says he is amazed they are deserting the One who called them for a different gospel. Anyone who preaches another, even an angel, is under a curse. His gospel came by revelation, so he tells his story: the persecutor called by grace, the years in Arabia and Damascus, fifteen days with Cephas, and the churches of Judea who glorified God. Fourteen years later the leaders in Jerusalem gave him the right hand of fellowship and did not compel Titus to be circumcised. When Cephas drew back from Gentile tables at Antioch, Paul opposed him to his face. The movement ends with the life Paul now lives by faith in the Son of God.

I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:12, Berean Standard Bible. Paul's claim that his gospel came from Christ and not from men governs everything he says of Jerusalem and Antioch.
  • Galatians 1the curse on another gospel, and Paul's call by revelationShow summary, 3 pages

    Paul is astonished that they are so soon removed from him that called them into the grace of Christ to another gospel. Which is not another. If any preach another gospel, let him be accursed. The gospel he preached is not after man; he received it by revelation of Jesus Christ. He rehearses his former life in Judaism, God's call through grace, and his early visits. Three years to Arabia, then to Jerusalem to see Peter. Calvin marks the chapter as the apostle's bulletproof origin story for a Christ-given gospel.

    On this chapter (3)

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  • Galatians 2the meeting in Jerusalem, Antioch, and crucified with ChristShow summary, 5 pages

    Fourteen years after, Paul went to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus, to communicate the gospel privately to those of reputation. Titus was not compelled to be circumcised. False brethren came in privily to spy out liberty. Paul withstood Peter to his face at Antioch when Peter withdrew from Gentile fellowship. If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Henry reads the chapter as the apostolic charter of Jew-Gentile oneness.

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Paul's visits to Jerusalem, beside Acts

The first visit, Galatians 1:18

“Only after three years did I go up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas”

What the text givesThree years, and a stay of fifteen days. Cephas, and James the Lord's brother (1:19).
Acts

The same visit, Acts 9:26: “When Saul arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples”

How certainAgreed by the readings this page names: both texts tell of Paul's first return to Jerusalem after Damascus.
The second visit, Galatians 2:1

“Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas”

What the text givesFourteen years, counted from the call or from the first visit. Barnabas and Titus; James, Cephas and John (2:9).
Acts

The famine visit, first reading, Acts 11:30: “sending their gifts to the elders with Barnabas and Saul”

The council, second reading, Acts 15:2: “Paul and Barnabas were appointed”

How certainDisputed: the two readings and their holders stand under Where do readers disagree.
Each row sets a visit Galatians tells beside the account in Acts. The first visit is read the same way by all; the second is read two ways, as the famine visit of Acts 11 or as the council of Acts 15, and the holders of each stand under Where do readers disagree. Sources: Galatians 1:18 to 19, 2:1 and 2:9; Acts 9:26, 11:30 and 15:2, all in the Berean Standard Bible.

Characters (7)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

  • Paul

    The apostle to the Gentiles, once a persecutor of the church.

  • Cephas

    Paul stays fifteen days with him, and later opposes him at Antioch.

  • James

    The Lord's brother, one of the three counted as pillars.

  • John

    The third pillar who gave the right hand of fellowship.

Show the next 3
  • Barnabas

    Paul's companion to Jerusalem, led astray at Antioch.

  • Titus

    A Greek who was not compelled to be circumcised.

  • The false brothers

    Men who came in to spy on the freedom believers have in Christ.

Places (6)

Where the chapters stand.

  • Galatia

    The churches the letter is sent to.

  • Jerusalem

    Where Paul meets Cephas, and later the pillars.

  • Arabia

    Where Paul went after his call, before Damascus.

  • Damascus

    The city Paul returned to from Arabia.

Show the next 2
  • Syria and Cilicia

    The regions of Paul's work after the first visit.

  • Antioch

    Where Paul opposed Cephas over the Gentile tables.

Themes (3)

What these chapters raise, each on its own page.

Where these chapters take up the Old Testament (0)each marked as the store marks it, with Acts and Romans beside it

The store marks no quotation of the Old Testament in these chapters.

Beside it in Acts and in Romans: Galatians 1:7 with Acts 15:24; Galatians 2:20 with Romans 6:4 to 6, the store's cross references with the most votes.

Justified by faith, not by works of the law, Galatians 3 to 4

What chapters 3 and 4 say, and the pages they open on.

Paul asks the foolish Galatians whether they received the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith. Abraham believed God and was counted righteous, so those who have faith are his sons. All who rely on the law are under its curse, and Christ redeemed them by becoming a curse on a tree. The promise came first and the law 430 years later, so the law cannot cancel it; it guarded God's people until Christ came. Now they are sons and heirs, and the Spirit in their hearts cries Abba, Father. Paul pleads with them as a mother in labour, and reads Hagar and Sarah as two covenants.

Understand, then, that those who have faith are sons of Abraham.
Galatians 3:7, Berean Standard Bible. Abraham's faith counted as righteousness is the ground of the whole argument of chapters 3 and 4.
  • Galatians 3the Spirit by faith, Abraham, the curse borne, the guardianShow summary, 5 pages

    O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. You are all one in Christ Jesus. There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female. JFB reads this as the central doctrinal argument of the letter.

    On this chapter (5)

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  • Galatians 4sons and heirs, Paul's illness, and the two covenantsShow summary, 5 pages

    When we were children, we were in bondage under the elements of the world; but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them under the law. You are no longer servants, but sons; and if sons, then heirs. Paul grieves their relapse into days, months, times, years. The allegory of Hagar and Sarah. The children of the promise are free. Calvin reads the chapter as sonship defended against the slavery of ritual works.

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Hagar and Sarah: the two columns Paul draws

  1. The mother
    The slave woman

    4:22“one by the slave woman”

    The free woman

    4:22“the other by the free woman”

  2. The birth
    The slave woman

    4:23“born according to the flesh”

    The free woman

    4:23“born through the promise”

  3. The covenant
    The slave woman

    4:24“from Mount Sinai and bears children into slavery”

    The free woman

    4:26“the Jerusalem above is free”

  4. The city
    The slave woman

    4:25“corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem”

    The free woman

    4:26“she is our mother”

  5. The children
    The slave woman

    4:29“the son born by the flesh persecuted the son born by the Spirit”

    The free woman

    4:28“like Isaac, are children of promise”

Explicit quotation

But what does the Scripture say? “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”

Galatians 4:30
The passage it quotes

and she said to Abraham, “Expel the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac!”

Genesis 21:10
Each row sets what Paul says of the slave woman beside what he says of the free woman in 4:21 to 31. Paul reads the two women as two covenants, Sinai and the Jerusalem above, and sets the Galatians with the free woman's children. Below, the words of 4:30 stand beside Sarah's words in Genesis, which Paul quotes. Sources: Galatians 4:22 to 30 and Genesis 21:10 in the Berean Standard Bible; the store's floor_quotations row for Galatians 4:30.

Characters (4)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

  • Abraham

    He believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.

  • Hagar

    The slave woman, who stands for the covenant from Sinai.

  • Sarah

    The free woman, whose son was born through the promise.

  • Isaac

    The son of promise, and the pattern of the believers.

Places (2)

Where the chapters stand.

  • Mount Sinai

    Where the covenant of the law was given, set in Arabia (4:25).

  • The Jerusalem above

    The free city Paul calls the mother of believers.

Themes (4)

What these chapters raise, each on its own page.

Where these chapters take up the Old Testament (9)each marked as the store marks it, with Acts and Romans beside it
  • Explicit quotationGenesis 15:6 at Galatians 3:6. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.
  • Explicit quotationGenesis 12:3 at Galatians 3:8. The same promise stands again at Genesis 18:18. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.
  • Explicit quotationDeuteronomy 27:26 at Galatians 3:10. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.
  • Explicit quotationHabakkuk 2:4 at Galatians 3:11. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.
  • Explicit quotationLeviticus 18:5 at Galatians 3:12. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.
  • Explicit quotationDeuteronomy 21:23 at Galatians 3:13. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.
  • Explicit quotationGenesis 12:7 at Galatians 3:16. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.
  • Explicit quotationIsaiah 54:1 at Galatians 4:27. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.
  • Explicit quotationGenesis 21:10 at Galatians 4:30. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.

Beside it in Acts and in Romans: Galatians 3:2 with Acts 15:8; Galatians 3:28 with Romans 3:29 to 30, the store's cross references with the most votes.

The freedom of the Spirit, Galatians 5 to 6

What chapters 5 and 6 say, and the pages they open on.

Christ has set his people free, so they must not take up a yoke of slavery again. If they are circumcised to be justified, Christ is of no value to them; what counts is faith expressed through love. Freedom is no opening for the flesh: the whole law is fulfilled in loving the neighbour. The flesh and the Spirit oppose each other, and Paul sets the acts of the flesh beside the fruit of the Spirit. Believers restore the fallen, carry one another's burdens, and reap what they sow. Paul closes in his own large letters, boasting only in the cross, and blesses all who walk by the rule of the new creation.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
Galatians 5:1, Berean Standard Bible. The command to stand firm in freedom turns the argument of chapters 1 to 4 into the life of chapters 5 and 6.
  • Galatians 5freedom kept, love, and the flesh against the SpiritShow summary, 4 pages

    Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free. If you are circumcised, Christ profits you nothing; you have fallen from grace. By love serve one another; all the law is fulfilled in one word. Love your neighbour as yourself. Walk in the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the lust of the flesh. The works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit named and contrasted. Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Wesley reads this as the Christian ethic's root and flower.

    On this chapter (4)

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  • Galatians 6burdens carried, sowing and reaping, the new creationShow summary, 2 pages

    Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. Whatever a man sows, he will also reap. Let us not be weary in well doing; in due season we shall reap. Paul writes the closing with his own hand: God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ Jesus, neither circumcision avails, but a new creature. Henry reads the chapter as the epistle's ethical coda, anchored to the cross.

    On this chapter (2)

    Read Galatians 6 verse by verse

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The acts of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit

The acts of the flesh (15)

Those who practise such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

5:19
sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery
5:20
idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, rage, rivalries, divisions, factions
5:21
envy, drunkenness, orgies
The fruit of the Spirit (9)

The life of those who belong to Christ Jesus and walk by the Spirit.

5:22
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness
5:23
gentleness, self-control
The two lists of 5:19 to 23, each word as the store's text prints it and each at its verse. Paul calls the flesh's many deeds acts, plural, and the Spirit's work one fruit, and he says that against such things there is no law. Sources: Galatians 5:19 to 23 in the Berean Standard Bible.

Characters (2)

Who the text names. A name with a page carries its door.

  • The agitators

    The teachers pressing circumcision, who do not keep the law themselves.

  • The Israel of God

    Those Paul blesses at the close; who they are is read two ways.

Places (1)

Where the chapters stand.

  • Galatia

    The churches still hear the close in Paul's own hand.

Themes (4)

What these chapters raise, each on its own page.

Where these chapters take up the Old Testament (1)each marked as the store marks it, with Acts and Romans beside it
  • Explicit quotationLeviticus 19:18 at Galatians 5:14. Marked a quotation in the store's table of quotations.

Beside it in Acts and in Romans: Galatians 5:1 with Acts 15:10; Galatians 6:2 with Romans 15:1, the store's cross references with the most votes.

Where do readers disagree?

One list: the readings with their holders, and what the evidence does not settle.

  • To whom was Galatians written, and when?

    • The churches of the south, early. Held by William M. Ramsay, A Historical Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1899), and by F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians (1982).
    • The churches of the north, later. Held by J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1865).

    What the evidence does not settle: Which region the name Galatia means in 1:2, and so the date; both readings read the same letter to the same kind of Gentile churches.

    The argument in full

    The churches of the south, early. Paul names Roman provinces, and the province of Galatia reached south to the cities Acts 13 and 14 say he evangelized; the letter can then be dated before the council, about AD 48 or 49.

    The churches of the north, later. The name Galatians in ordinary Greek means the Celtic people of the northern plateau, the address of 3:1 reads as a people's name, and Acts 16:6 and 18:23 name a region of Galatia; the letter then belongs to the middle 50s.

  • Which Jerusalem visit is 2:1 to 10?

    The Jerusalem council→
    • The famine visit of Acts 11:30. Held by William M. Ramsay, A Historical Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1899), and by F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians (1982).
    • The council of Acts 15. Held by J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1865).

    What the evidence does not settle: Whether Paul's silence about the council's letter means it had not yet been written; the Berean text of 2:2 says he went up in response to a revelation.

    The argument in full

    The famine visit of Acts 11:30. Galatians tells of a private meeting and never names the council's letter, which would have settled the question of circumcision had it already been written.

    The council of Acts 15. The same men, the same question and the same outcome stand in both accounts, and Paul tells it from his side to defend his standing.

  • Is "faith in Jesus Christ" in 2:16 faith in Christ or the faithfulness of Christ?

    Justification by faith→
    • The believer's faith in Christ. Held by John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on 2:16, and by James D. G. Dunn, Once More, Pistis Christou (1991).
    • Christ's own faithfulness. Held by Richard B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ (1983).

    What the evidence does not settle: What the Greek genitive means in this phrase; both readings hold that a person is justified in Christ and not by works of the law.

    The argument in full

    The believer's faith in Christ. The same verse says we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, so the phrase names the faith of those who believe.

    Christ's own faithfulness. The Greek phrase can name the faith Christ kept toward God in giving himself for us (2:20), which the believer's faith then answers.

  • What are "the works of the law"?

    The new perspective on Paul→
    • Any deed done to be counted righteous by the law. Held by Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians (1535), and by John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755), on 2:16.
    • The marks that set Israel apart from the nations. Held by James D. G. Dunn, The New Perspective on Paul (1983), and by N. T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said (1997).

    What the evidence does not settle: Whether Paul answers a search for merit, a wall between Jew and Gentile, or both; each reading holds that Gentiles are justified by faith without circumcision.

    The argument in full

    Any deed done to be counted righteous by the law. No one keeps the whole law (5:3), so a person who seeks to be justified by it, moral commands as well as ceremonial, stands under its curse (3:10).

    The marks that set Israel apart from the nations. Circumcision, food at the table and the calendar are what the letter argues over (2:12, 4:10, 5:2), so the phrase names the law as a fence around Israel.

    This site's tradition, Wesleyan-Pentecostal, reads the phrase with Luther and Wesley as reaching the whole law, and grants the newer reading its point that circumcision and the tables are the ground the letter fights on.

  • What was Paul's illness in 4:13 to 15?

    • A bodily sickness that kept him among them. Held by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871), on 4:13, and by Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832), on 4:13.
    • The weakness of blows and persecution. Held by Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Galatians (1107), on 4:13, and by Oecumenius in his Commentary on Galatians, on 4:13.
    • A lowly manner Paul took with beginners. Held by Jerome in his Commentary on Galatians, on 4:13 to 14.

    What the evidence does not settle: What the weakness was; the text says only that it was a trial to them and that they would have torn out their eyes for him (4:15).

    The argument in full

    A bodily sickness that kept him among them. The Greek reads because of a weakness of the flesh, so an illness stopped Paul in Galatia and became the occasion of his preaching there.

    The weakness of blows and persecution. Paul calls his sufferings for the gospel a weakness elsewhere, and he preached to them amid persecution and dangers.

    A lowly manner Paul took with beginners. Paul preached to them as to infants, in a humble and simple way, and that weakness was his own chosen way of teaching.

  • What are the "basic principles" of 4:3 and 4:9?

    • The feasts and seasons of the law. Held by Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Galatians (1107), on 4:3, and by John Chrysostom in his Homilies on Galatians, on 4:3.
    • The first lessons of the law of Moses. Held by Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832), on 4:3, and by Jerome in his Commentary on Galatians, on 4:3.
    • The powers of the world thought to rule human life. Held by Marius Victorinus in his Commentary on Galatians, on 4:3.

    What the evidence does not settle: Whether Paul means Jewish observance, the elements of pagan religion, or one bondage that holds both; the text says Jew and Gentile alike were enslaved under them before Christ came (4:3, 4:8).

    The argument in full

    The feasts and seasons of the law. The new moons and sabbaths follow the course of the moon and the sun, and 4:10 names the days, months, seasons and years the Galatians were keeping.

    The first lessons of the law of Moses. The word names the rudiments a child learns, which fits the heir under guardians of 4:1 to 2 and the law as a guardian of 3:24.

    The powers of the world thought to rule human life. The elements of the world were held to govern life through the stars, and 4:8 to 9 sets the principles beside beings that are not gods.

The Text and the Spade

The ordinary Greek letter, on papyrus

Greco-Roman, surviving in thousands of examples from Egypt3rd century BC to 3rd century AD

The parallel

A Greek letter ran to a fixed shape: sender, recipient, a greeting, a wish for health or a word of thanks about the reader, then the body, then closing greetings. Paul follows the form in every other letter he wrote, and he follows it here as far as the greeting and then stops. Instead of thanks the Galatians get 'I am amazed how quickly you are deserting the One who called you' (1:6).

Read honestly

A real and pointed contrast, and the readers would have felt it in the first seconds. The missing thanksgiving is the loudest thing on the page, and it tells us how Paul rated the emergency before he had made a single argument. He also breaks the form at the other end, taking the pen himself at 6:11 to write the closing paragraph in his own large hand.

The paidagogos in the Greek household

Greek, and Roman households following Greek practiceclassical period onward; the figure appears in Plato and Xenophon and on painted pottery

The parallel

A trusted household slave escorted a freeborn boy to and from his lessons, carried his tablets, corrected his manners, and had authority over him until he came of age. Paul calls the law exactly this at 3:24, 'the law became our guardian to lead us to Christ', and then says the arrangement ended when faith came (3:25).

Read honestly

A genuine institution rather than a metaphor Paul invented, and knowing it fixes the meaning. The guardian held a position of household trust for a fixed season, and his charge ended at the boy's coming of age. The image gives the law an honorable office with a term attached, which is what Paul needs after saying at 3:19 that it was added for a purpose.

Guardianship and inheritance in Greek and Roman law

Roman, with local Greek and provincial variationsthe practice attested across the early empire

The parallel

An heir who was still a minor held title to an estate while living under guardians and stewards with no more freedom than a servant, until a date fixed by his father or by law. Paul opens chapter 4 with that picture, saying that 'as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave' (4:1), and applies it to the position of Israel under the law before Christ came.

Read honestly

The picture is genuine and it is the ordinary experience of any propertied family in the province. Which body of law Paul has in mind is debated, since Roman practice, Greek practice, and local custom set the age differently and Roman law did not usually let a father name the date. Paul's phrase about 'the date set by his father' (4:2) fits the general situation without matching any one statute, and the theological point stands on the family arrangement rather than on a legal technicality.

The pages Galatians opens on

Studies110

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Sources for this page

The movements, the chapter entries, the figures and the Context are read off the text of Galatians. The store's table of quotations marks 10 quotations of the Old Testament in the letter, listed under each movement, and the lines to Acts and Romans are its cross references with the most votes. The works behind the readings under Where do readers disagree are John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians; Marius Victorinus, Commentary on Galatians; Jerome, Commentary on Galatians; Oecumenius, Commentary on Galatians; Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on Galatians (1107); Martin Luther, Commentary on Galatians (1535); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755); Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible (1832); J. B. Lightfoot, Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1865); Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); William M. Ramsay, A Historical Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1899); F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians (1982); James D. G. Dunn, The New Perspective on Paul (1983) and Once More, Pistis Christou (1991); Richard B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ (1983); N. T. Wright, What Saint Paul Really Said (1997). Every verse quoted on this page is the Berean Standard Bible, read from the store.

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