Bible Commentaries
Galatians

CONTENDING FOR THE FAITH

A Commentary On

THE BOOK OF GALATIANS

By BENNIE CRYER

Publisher Charles Allen Bailey

Editor

Executive Editor - Joe L. Norton, Ph.D.

Copyright © 1997
Contending for the Faith Publications
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All Rights Reserved

All scripture quotations,
unless otherwise indicated, are taken from
The King James Version, KJV

Introduction

The Author

Several centuries before Christ came, the nation of Israel divided into the southern and northern kingdoms. The tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and a part of the priestly tribe of Levi made up the southern kingdom. These three tribes, through God’s providence, survived the Babylonian captivity and eventually returned to Jerusalem and the surrounding areas. In fulfilling God’s role for them, these tribes presented to us three spiritual giants, one of whom is our Savior who came from the tribe of Judah. John the baptizer came from Levi, and the author of this epistle came from the little tribe of Benjamin (Philippians 3:5). Although he was reputed to have been born about 1 B.C. in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, he is not introduced scripturally until Acts 7:58 where he seems to be the leader of those who killed Stephen. He is first known by his Hebrew name, Saul. All we really know about him is recorded in Acts and in the fourteen New Testament epistles he authored. In Acts 23:6, he refers to himself as "a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee." Thus, he was brought up in the largest and strictest sect of the Jewish religion. He was well-educated, having been taught "at the feet of Gamaliel" (Acts 22:3), and he was born a Roman citizen (Acts 22:28-29). Because of this citizenship, he also had the Latin name Paul, used initially when he made his first preaching journey to the Gentiles (Acts 13:9).

Paul was a great persecutor of the Lord’s church before he was converted in 36 or 37 A.D. when he was about thirty-five years old. Events surrounding his conversion are recorded by Luke in Acts 9 and Acts 22. Paul may have been among the disputants from Cilicia contesting with Stephen whom they stoned to death. This occasion gave him an opportunity to hear the gospel and shows us the time when he was possibly beginning to have misgivings about his actions. The Lord may have been thinking about these feelings when He made the statement, "It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks" (Acts 26:14). The first two chapters of this epistle prove that he was an apostle of Christ, and they tell much about his work.

This great persecutor became the persecuted after his conversion, eventually leading to his death. Although just how and when he died is not recorded in the scriptures, tradition tells us that he was "beheaded at Rome, by Nero, in the great persecutions of the Christians by that emperor, A.D. 67-68" (Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary 495).

Purposes of this Epistle

Paul was the first to preach the gospel to the Galatians. Judaizers, however, had crept into the church and had brought a false doctrine about justification to these people, requiring the Gentile converts to submit to the Jewish rite of circumcision and to live as a Jew. This false teaching was so different from what Paul had taught that they had to discredit him in the minds of the Galatians. They did so, evidently, by telling them Paul was less than the original twelve apostles and had received his doctrines from them or some leading men in the church. They discredited both him as a messenger and his message. This letter was written to prove to them that his apostleship was from Christ and God and not from men. His message, divinely revealed, in fact, was the same message the other apostles preached. He, therefore, stood on equal footing with the twelve, even rebuking Peter on one occasion. He then revealed to them the gospel he had originally preached to them and taught them the practical applications of it. Once they had befriended Paul in a very special way, but now some of them had turned against him so much that they may have thought of him as an enemy (4:16). In the fifth chapter, divisions are mentioned as existing in their ranks. All of these problems are addressed in this epistle Paul wrote with his own hand. A careful study will reveal his chief purpose was not how to establish the correct relationship with God but how to maintain that relationship once it existed. The false teachers said it was by the law of Moses. Paul counters with the truth that it is through faith and obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Time of Writing

Dates like this one can be approximately set. It seems most have agreed this epistle was written about 57 A.D. during Paul’s third journey from Antioch. It was probably written from Ephesus after the time he wrote some of his earlier epistles. Acts 18:23 shows he had visited them earlier on that journey. Some think it was written from Corinth, and others that it may have been written from Rome. But Ephesus appears to be the more likely location.

WORKS CITED

Barnes, Albert. Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, Fifth Printing, 1970.

Clarke, Adam, LL.D., F.S.A. The New Testament of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, Vol. II. New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury Press, n.d.

Johnson, B.W. The People’s New Testament, Vol. II. St. Louis, MO: Christian Board of Publications, 1891.

McGarvey, John W. and Phillip Y. Pendleton. Standard Bible Commentary: Thessalonians, Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans. Cincinatti, Ohio: Standard Publishing Foundation, n.d.

Peloubet, F.N., D.D. Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary.

Philadelphia, PA: John C. Winston Company, Copyright 1947.

Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, n.d.

Thayer, Joseph Henry, D.D. A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. New York: American Book Company, 1889.

Vine, W.E., M.A., Merill F. Unger, Th.M., Th.D., Ph.D.,

William White, Jr., Th.M., Ph.D. Vine’s Expositor Dictionary of Biblical Words. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1985.