AN OVERVIEW OF GALATIANS

Galatians is a rather concise document, so succinct that it can actually be read in about twenty minutes. Critics say that it lacks the artistic beauty of other New Testament books. It was not directly addressed to contemporary issues, but the principles are timeless. The extent of its influence is cannot be overstated.

It has been called the Magna Carta of Christian Liberty - the charter of Christian freedom. One commentator theorized that Christianity might have been absorbed into Judaism without Galatians.

Without doubt Galatians has impacted Christian thought to a significant degree. Merrill Tenney called it the "cornerstone of the Reformation." Luther was so passionate about Galatians that he said, "I have betrothed myself to it. It is my wife."

Unfortunately Galatians is often misunderstood. Some regard it as a license to live anyway they choose. The technical name for that philosophy is antinomianism. Others conclude that the letter's emphasis on grace reduced the need to take God's commands seriously. Legalists conclude that Galatians exists only to show the difference between the law of Christ and the law of Moses. In effect they end up believing that God abolished one law system and replace it with a streamlined version.

WHO WERE THE FIRST READERS?

Anytime we engage in a serious study of a portion of the Bible, it is a helpful exercise to ask, "To whom was the writing addressed?" In this case there is a simple answer to the question and one that's somewhat more complex. It was addressed to "the churches in Galatia." That's the simple answer.

The question becomes somewhat more complex, when we begin to understand that two different localities in the Middle East were designated as "Galatia." Bible scholars are divided as to which one Paul had in mind.

Galatia takes is name from an ancient people known as the Gauls, also called the Celts. There were Nordic people, who migrated into Southern Europe about 400 years before Christ.. About 60,000 of them settled into Asia Minor in an area, which is known as Turkey in contemporary times. Later, the Roman emperor, Pompeii, reorganized the Galatian territory. He created a large political subdivision, which he named Galatia, but the Gauls lived in a smaller territory, which was also known as Galatian. Living here in Northern Louisiana, we are familiar with two entities named "Bossier." Bossier Parish is a political division much like a county in other states, but within Bossier Parish is a smaller area known as Bossier City. If you say you are going to Bossier, you could mean somewhere in the parish or somewhat in the city. Galatia was that way.

The question arises, "to which one of these areas did Paul write" the letter we call "The Epistle to the Galatians?"

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