Bible: Letter of Paul to the Galatians

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Paul begins by asserting that the authority for his gospel of salvation through faith apart from Torah is not his own intellect but Jesus himself. Paul viewed this worldwide gospel both as implicit to Jesus' teachings, which he knew via oral tradition (cf. Matthew 28:19–20; Mark 7:24–30; Luke 7:1–10; John 10:16; Acts 1:8), and as explicitly endorsed by Jesus' appearing to him on the Damascus Road and commissioning him as apostle to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:1, 11–12, 16). Given this divine backing, Paul twice pronounces anathema (accursed to eternal damnation) anyone—whether the Judaizers or even an angel—who teaches a different gospel (1:8–9). Hence Paul denounces the Judaizers as false believers and spies who enslave Gentiles to powerless rituals (2:4–5). Paul insists that, after his commissioning, the only human authorities he consulted were those the Judaizers themselves recognized as leaders, namely, Cephas (Aramaic for “Peter”), Jesus' brother James, and John the son of Zebedee (1:18-19; 2:2, 9). These pillars of the Jerusalem church approved Paul's gospel in theory and in practice, sending Paul to preach in the Gentile city of Antioch and embracing the uncircumcised Titus as a bona fide Christian (2:3, 7–9).

Writing to his Gentile converts in the province of Galatia who had themselves been disturbed by the Judaizers, Paul proceeds to reassure his audience of their justification (2:21; 3:8). By justification Paul means that, for any person (regardless of gender, ethnicity, or social status) who places faith in Jesus, God reconciles that person both to himself and to the other members of the believing community (3:28). Paul's reassurance comes in two forms. First is his refusal to tolerate any action, even by the leaders of the Jerusalem church, that casts doubt on his converts' justification. Hence Paul recounts how he publicly rebuked Peter for refusing to eat with Gentile Christians at Antioch upon the arrival of the Judaizers, since Peter thereby behaved contrary to God's reconciliation of the Gentiles to Peter (2:11–14). Second is Paul's theological rationale for his doctrine of justification, rooted in the Hebrew Bible and Jesus' teaching. Paul points out that in the Abrahamic Covenant, God promised blessing for all the Gentiles through Abraham's offspring (3:8; cf. Genesis 12:3). This promise was made 430 years before the giving of Torah and thus neither depends for its validity upon Torah nor can be contravened by Torah (Galatians 3:15, 17). Employing Jesus' self-identification as Abraham's promised offspring, Paul argues that Abraham himself was justified by believing in God's promise, and thus implicitly in Jesus, long before he was circumcised (3:6, 16; cf. Genesis 15:6). Since Abraham was justified by faith in Jesus apart from Torah, Gentile believers in Jesus find salvation in the same manner and prove themselves spiritual children of Abraham (Galatians 3:9, 29).

Paul concludes by explaining the purpose of Torah. For Paul, God gave the Torah to his chosen people, the Israelites, not to accomplish their justification but to restrain their sinfulness until the advent of Jesus (3:19, 21). Prior to the spiritual regeneration facilitated by Jesus, God's people were spiritually immature and therefore needed the Torah as a pedagogue (disciplinarian and schoolmaster) to prevent them from sinning to the point of self-destruction. Just as Roman children would be supervised by a pedagogue for their own protection until adulthood, so the Israelites were supervised by Torah until they could reach spiritual maturity through faith in Jesus. Since Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians have alike found spiritual maturity, Paul insists that both parties are regenerated (namely, clothed with Jesus and in Jesus), therefore making their obedience to Torah unnecessary.