Galatians

Galatians is the forty-eighth book of the Bible. It is traditionally attributed to Paul and is generally dated to either the late 40s or mid-50s AD, depending on which churches "Galatia" refers to. Paul wrote it in response to an urgent crisis. Teachers had come into the Galatian churches insisting that Gentile converts to Christianity had to be circumcised and follow the Jewish law.

The letter is among Paul's sharpest. He skips his usual opening prayer of thanks and goes straight into the issue: he is astonished the Galatians are abandoning the gospel he preached for a different message.

The opening chapters are autobiographical. Paul argues that his apostleship and his gospel come directly from God, not from the Jerusalem apostles. He describes his conversion, his early years, and a famous confrontation with Peter in Antioch over whether Jewish Christians should eat with Gentile Christians.

The middle chapters make the theological argument. Salvation comes through faith in Christ, not through observing the law. Abraham was justified by faith before the law was given. The law was a guardian, useful for a time but no longer needed. In Christ, "there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female."

The closing chapters describe what life by the Spirit looks like: the fruit of the Spirit, the law of love, mutual support. Paul ends in his own handwriting with a final appeal.