Who is galatians written to

That whole area of central and southwestern Turkey, we know from archeology, was a major center at this period of the Imperial cult. This new Roman religion worshipped the goddess Roma itself. It worshiped the Empire, the Emperor, and his family. New temples to the Emperor were springing up. Great games and festivities were organized, which would involve ritual adoration of, or allegiance to the Emperor, worshiping him as a god or whatever.

Now, interestingly, the Jews were exempt from this because the Romans had found, a century or so earlier, that the Jews are a pretty recalcitrant lot. The Jews were quite happy to do that. We will pray for you. So that, that was the deal. This claim is big trouble for the local Jewish communities who will then put pressure on the Jewish Christians.

Watch out! Who do those people think they are? Galatians 1—2 Paul writes to the Galatian Saints because they had strayed from the Lord and embraced false teachings. He defends his calling as an Apostle by recounting his initial opposition to the Church and his conversion.

He emphasizes that he received revelation directly from God and clarifies that his ministry to the Gentiles has been approved by the Apostles. He states that he once disagreed with Peter concerning the Gentile Saints. He teaches that people are not justified by the works of the law of Moses but by faith in Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3—4 Paul defends the gospel message. He teaches that Abraham was an example of a person who was justified by faith and not by the works of the law of Moses. Paul wrote the book a few months before his attendance at the Jerusalem Council in AD 49, a meeting where the apostles would take up this very topic Acts — For him, this was no minor issue, as he went so far as to call the Galatians deserters of Christ, people turning from the truth toward a gospel contrary to the one they had received from Paul Galatians —9.

Therefore, Paul began the letter to the Galatians by spending two chapters defending that very issue. Only in chapter 3 did he begin to get to the heart of their error; namely, that these Galatians sought to be justified by the Mosaic Law. In contrast, Paul presented his argument that justification comes to people by faith in Jesus Christ, not by their works under the Law. Part of the problem that confronted the Galatians came in one of the arguments made by the Judaizers.

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Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Bibliography Carson, D. Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, Keller, Timothy J. Galatians for You. Luther, Martin. Commentary on Galatians. Rate this:. Please share it! Like this: Like Loading Thanks for reading!

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