137 - Letters to the Galatians - Understanding the Galatians: History, Culture, and Paul’s Urgent Message

Who were the Galatians and why was Paul writing them a letter? That's what we're going to talk about today. Hi, this is Jill from the North Woods talking about Bible topics one small step at a time. Well, in the Bible and small steps, we have hit the book of Galatians. And so I always try to do an episode to explain who they were, who this book was written to, why it's there, and understand a little bit of background behind it. This is a letter, again, that was written to a group of people. It probably was would have been read out loud and brought to home churches and people groups inside of this area. The people in this area have quite a history, and they were listening to people who were trying to tell them they had to become full-blown Jewish people doing everything, including circumcision, in order to become Christians. So let's just first talk about the Galatians themselves. Galatia was an area in the Roman province at this time, located in what we would consider to be today central Turkey, which at that time was named Asia Minor, Little Asia. And so by the time Paul arrived there, it was fully under Roman control. It was politically stable. It was organized by the Romans. They were very good organizers. And it was a major trade route. Galatia didn't get their name from the Romans themselves. It got it from the gallic people. Think about the celts, the Gauls. There's a whole series out there by the Discovery Channel about the barbarians. These are some of what barbarian tribes that were considered to be out there. Same groups of people that were in southern France, that were in England as the Celts, all sorts of places. And a Galatian just literally means people from Gaul, which is southern France. The story is interesting because, like I said, the Galatians were, were descended of these Celtic tribes that migrated out of Central Europe, particularly out of the Danube River. And they were ethnic, like Gauls of France, Celts in Britain, and tribal people that Rome both feared, mocked, but eventually used. In the late 4th century and 3rd century BC, the Celtic groups expanded aggressively across Europe. And they were very mobile, they were tribal, they were warriors, They were not looking to build empires and farmland. They were looking to disrupt and destroy empires, other empires. And so somewhere around 278 BC, this large Celtic warband group pushed south and east, sweeping through what we consider the Balkan Islands into Greece and attempted even to raid Delphi, which is where the Oracle of Delphi, if you're into Greek stuff, was at. They failed. But instead of going back to where they came from, they just kept moving and kept going. And so the Celts ended up being in Central Asia. They didn't force their way in at first. They were actually invited. After Alexander the Great's death, the empire fractured and competing rulers were fighting each other and they needed soldiers. And the Celtic warriors were, with their terrifying reputation of being just battle-hardened, were great to hire as mercenaries and then ferry over to Asia Minor to fight their fights. And so they fought, they raided, they also wanted land and money and tribute once they did this. Eventually, the chaos became too much and around 220-230 BC, there was an Aemgad Attalus I defeated, contained them and then permanently settled them in this particular area. And then the territory became known as Galatia, the land of the Gauls. They organized themselves, essentially the Celts, organized themselves into three separate groups. And they ruled these mixed populations, including in Phrygia and parts of Greece. And centuries later, they remained culturally Celtic. Jerome, who was one of the early church fathers, writing in the 4th century AD, noticed that they still spoke with a Celtic dialect, similar to what was spoken in Gaul. And so Paul writes to the Galatians. He's not really writing to Romans in Turkey. He is writing to descendants of displaced warriors that shaped this particular area. I think there's a part of their story, had to do with Carthage, too. So, I mean, very historical group. And the Celtic people were some of Rome's, I don't know, fiercest enemies. In 390 BC, the Gauls sacked Rome itself, humiliated Rome, and Rome never forgot it. Later, during the Gallic Wars, Rome crushed these tribes and crushed them in The Romans usually didn't eliminate people groups. What they tried to do is sort of absorb them. They tried to take former enemies and turn them into taxpaying citizens, auxiliary soldiers. And so eventually this group of people fought for the Roman Empire in various territories. So the Galatians even have a big history with Rome itself and became part of the Roman Empire, essentially as parts of them. So this matters when Paul starts talking about slavery and freedom and yokes. To them, this is not abstract because it was a part of their history and part of their lives. So it was, chances are that the church itself in Galatia was founded by Paul himself during one of his missionary journeys. And it is debated whether or not the Galatian letter was written to the churches in southern Galatia, which would have been, this secondary Antioch City, Iconium, Lystra, Derby, or northern Galatia, which would have been closer to the ethnic counts in the heartland of it. We don't really know. But that debate also affects the dating of this whole letter because the churches were predominantly Gentile. Paul reminds them that in their former lives, they had polytheism, idol worship, elemental spirit worship. Circumcision is not a part of their background, but suddenly they're being pressured to get circumcised. So Paul didn't just face cultural differences. It had to do with theological opposition, too. He also faced violence. In Lystra, he was nearly stoned to death. So when it comes down to it, Paul's life is written up in Galatia quite a bit. The scholars are basically sort of triangulate between Acts, Galatians, and early church chronology to try to figure out what are the anchor points for this particular letter itself. So some groups think that the original date of this letter of Galatians was written somewhere around 49 AD. That would be 16 years after the death of Christ-ish. And this goes then with the Southern Galatia theory, that this is an early writing and it was written to these early young churches. And that's why Galatians feel so raw. There was no Thanksgiving. There was little discussion of church structure. There was a heavy defense from Paul about his authority and him addressing a crisis that feels very immediate and not settled. That kind of fits with the early Paul letter. And it kind of makes sense. too, because if you're talking about basically Jewish Christians coming up into the area and telling them they had to get circumcised, I guess logic would say that the closer it is to Jerusalem, the easier it probably was for them to travel there. So there is some good value to that. So that means it also predates the Jerusalem consul that happened in Acts 15, which was where they were addressing this very issue about whether or not New Christians, Gentile Christians, had to get circumcised. So it kind of makes sense in that sense, too. Do we need to follow Jewish law? And that's where James, the brother of Jesus, decided, no, you do not have to be circumcised. So if the Galatians was written after that consul, a lot of scholars would say, well, why didn't Paul mention this consul's ruling? He never even talks about it. Paul does mention meeting with leaders in Jerusalem, and he frames it as a private confirmation of his gospel, but it wasn't talking really about that topic. And then it suggests that the Galatians maybe had—it was written just before that consul meeting and while this issue was still erupting, and then why Paul felt it was so important we address this issue. So that's kind of how it fits together. In Galatians 2, Paul describes his Jerusalem visit that he has about famine relief, and not really talking about this particular issue. So again, that sort of puts the time period before Acts 15 and somewhere between 48 and 49 AD. So it explains the intensity of the issue. It explains the lack of institutional appeal because they weren't quite structured yet. And it would make then Galatians Paul's earliest surviving letter. So that's kind of a big deal. Other people feel that Galatians was written in the mid-50s. And that was more support than Northern Galatia issue versus the Southern Galatia issue, because there's a development of justification of faith, which is very sophisticated at this point, a sophisticated use of Abraham, carefully framed law versus promises of the gospel. And so then they're saying, well, you know, it is very theologically sophisticated when it comes to faith through grace alone. So that sort of makes it sound like it's being written to a different group of people and probably in the mid-50s. So that places it near to that point. And then that means Galatians 2 is Acts 15, and that when he's talking about this visit, he is talking about the visit to the consul themselves. So then it would mean that the consul already met, already made this decision, even though he doesn't cite it specifically. He is arguing maybe something else in a different way. And honestly, if it was written to the ethnic Galatians in the north, Paul wouldn't have evangelized to them until later journeys. So that pushes the date out forward into the mid-50s. And that keeps Romans and Galatians closer together. It fits more together with Paul's theology. And it lines itself with Galatians 2 being the major public event of him going to Jerusalem. So in the end, does it really matter? The problem is the same. The opponents are the same. And the stakes in this argument are exactly the same. And what Paul is fighting for is that the gospel is sufficient. That grace is sufficient to save us and not our works. You do not have to become Jewish. You do not have to get circumcised. There's nothing wrong if you did, but you don't have to. And obedience flows from identity with Christ, not fear. And not what these people were threatening them, that they would have to be. would not be saved without doing these things. So the debate is interesting, but it doesn't change why it's written and the point of it at all. So the problem, so as you can tell so far, every time Paul is writing one of these letters, particularly, and there are more letters, but the ones that got into the Bible itself, there usually is an issue he's trying to address. And the issue he's trying to address in this particular case is likely Jewish Christians, although I was kind of thinking about this, Was it possibly Jewish people trying to bring Christians back into the faith? You know, it could have been that too. But anyway, they were preaching a modified gospel that, yes, you should have faith in Christ, but that's not the end of it. You have to have obedience to Jewish law, particularly getting circumcised, and you had to become Jews in order to become Christians. And the Galatians were buying it. He doesn't say that they rejected Christ, but they sort of added Christ. You know, so he's now added to the Jewish mix, which is why he's so alarmed about all of this. Galatians is the only letter that jumps directly into, I have a problem with you, instead of grace and thanksgiving and, you know, that he normally does with most letters. He is astonished, he says, that they are abandoning the gospel so quickly. It is so rapidly that the Galatians were on the right track and now have just abandoned. So again, if we think about, I guess, you know, the temperament of the Gallic people, emotional and intense and eloquent, easily impressed, quick to persuade, and easily turned. So they loved visible expressions of loyalty. They were drawn to authority, and they often had external observances over internal transformation. They were interested in doing the right thing and not thinking about the heart thing. So this letter reflects this kind of pattern that Paul is talking about. He said that, you know, Paul received them eagerly. They experienced healing. They saw the power of God and then they pivoted away very quickly. And then suddenly the law became a part of their lives. They fell for rules, rituals, and then grace. Grace was risky. Are we just going to trust that God is going to forgive us? Don't we have to do a bunch of things first? This is not an argument we are lacking in today's movement, too. We see that as well. So Galatians is sharply pointed. And in some cases, like when we just got done with 2 Corinthians, Paul was really annoyed with the Corinthians. But for the Galatians, he's scared for them. He's terrified that they are turning away that they're submitting to this new form of bondage and that people that constantly are getting conquered by different empires are now getting conquered by different ideas. And they just keep doing it. So they remove their sonship, their relationship, their freedom with God and with Christ, and instead are going for performance and reassurance and structure. Paul knows about them. He knows their history. He knows their temperament. And he knows how fast they move. And that's why Galatians isn't a calm correction, but he is having a very abrupt intervention for them. And in this particular case, you know, this letter isn't written to skeptics. These are earnest believers who wanted to do the right thing, who believed in Jesus Christ. They just wanted structure and getting it right, and they feared getting it wrong. And I think we do too, right? We always want to know. I say it myself all the time. I say, you know, I would like it if God just wrote down this rule book and said, these are the things you should do. These are the things you shouldn't do. So it would just be more clear. But that's not the point. The point is God wants our heart. He wants our mind. He wants to build us into something. And if we get a rule book, it's just going to be like, I don't obey the 55 mile per hour speed limit because I love speed limits. I do it because I'm scared of getting a ticket. That's not love. That's not a love of orderliness and godliness. You know, you can see that. That is me following a rule. I'm really good at following rules. And that's what they were looking for. They were trying to put Christ in a rule box. And that is not how you do that. Christ is about love and forgiveness and mercy. We do have rules. We have ways that we should follow. But turning Christ into something that's manageable, measurable, you know, the smart goals, right? Instead, of the heart goals. Hey, I just made something else. They were looking for the smart goals instead of the heart goals. So this is where this letter is coming from, and that's what we're going to start up next. It's a very short letter. But like I said, it's a group of people who once fought against Rome, then fought for Rome, and now live inside of Rome. And he is pleading for them to live, not as if Christ was another empire with another system of rules for them, another master for them to submit to. He is looking for sons and daughters. God is looking for sons and daughters and for people to follow Him. And they were looking for another leader. And this is unsettling. It was unsettling to Paul. And you can see in the modern world, there's hints of that as well. So again, we're going to start off Galatians 1 coming up. This podcast is going to get released early so that you can listen to it before you start listening to Galatians. And it's an important step in understanding. But like I said, Paul knows his people and he writes to them very specifically to what problem they're having. And he is a good father to them, trying to shepherd them to, boy, I guess what I find interesting about all these letters, the most interesting thing, is you'd sort of think that these churches as they age in sort of a, you know, they get, you know, from being 10 years out and 20 years out and 30 years out, they would sort of go into a same pattern. They are being hit with different groups of people addressing them, different groups of people trying to drag them away in the wrong direction, and different problems that they're confronting because of where they live. Corinth had all the money, all the wealth, and all these temples that were going on, and Athens was a different place. Rome was a different place. Now Galatia, another different set of problems. I hope that helps you understand the book of Galatians a little bit better, and that you join us. For us, there's me. I hope you join me for the book of Galatians in the Bible in small steps. Thanks so much. Have a great day.