Galatians1chapter 1

Whether "Galatia" means the southern cities Paul evangelized on his first journey — Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe — or ethnic Galatian territory further north has been argued for centuries. The southern view, which allows the earliest date, is the traditional reading and fits the churches Acts actually describes; the northern view has serious defenders. The choice affects the letter's date, not its argument.

Ancient letters normally opened with thanksgiving for the recipients. Paul skips it entirely and goes straight to astonishment that they are deserting so quickly. First hearers would have felt the missing paragraph like a slap.

The word he uses for their desertion was used of soldiers changing sides and of people turning to a different philosophy. "So quickly" suggests months, not years.

His account of his own past is a formal defence of independence: he did not receive the gospel from any man, he did not go up to Jerusalem to consult the apostles, and when he finally visited Peter three years later it was for a fortnight. Everything hangs on the claim that his message came by revelation, because his opponents evidently argued he was a second-hand messenger who had softened the terms.