the book of galatians

8/18/2019 The Book of Galatians

1/14

The Book of Galatians

An Introduction


2/14

Introduction

• A revolutionary document

• A Magna Charta of Christian Faith, OrCharter of Christian Freedom

• Luther !ut it to his li!s as a trum!et

to "lo# the reveille of the$eformation%& ' G% Findlay

• The (!istle to the Galatians is mye!istle) I have "etrothed myself to it)it is my #ife%&


3/14

Ma! of Galatia


4/14

Galatia –guh-lay’shuh

• *+ a "road territory in north centralAsia minor

• *- a $oman !rovince covering asmaller region in southern !art ofthat territory, "ut some additionalareal as #ell%


5/14

.istory• The name #as derived from the !eo!le called Keltoi, that is, the

Celtic tribes from ancient Gallia or Gaul *roughly modern Franceand Belgium%

• They are also known as the Gauls and Celts1. The Hellenes calledthem the Keltai2, and the Romans called them the Gallia3. They

were the Celtic invaders from the northern uro!e and the lasturo!ean !eo!le mi"ratin" to #sia $inor. They attacked the Greek!eninsula and at most 2%,&&& to 3&,&&& of them, mostly soldiers,crossed' to #sia $inor in three (i" "rou!s and were hired (y thekin" )ikomedes of *ithynia as mercenaries to fi"ht a"ainst the

+eleucids around 2-2 *C.

• 480 BCE, much of the interior of Europe had fallen under the sway ofthe mighty Celtic warriors. The Celts are known to be among ancienthistory’s most formidable and robust warriors, who at the height of

their power een challenged !ome itself.


6/14

Map of Europe at the height of Celtic power. Roman conquests,Germanic expansion and Celtic inghting led to the demise ofthe Celts. A number of Celtic raiders arried into Anatolia, withnumbers of Galatian Celts settling in the region of modern!da" An#ara, capital of the $ur#ish Republic. $he Celtic legac"endures in %ales, &cotland, 'reland and northern (rance)*rittan"+.


7/14

Anatolia


8/14

• After having invaded Macedonia andGreece a"out 280 B.C% they crossed

into Asia Minor on the invitation ofNikomedes I, King of Bithynia, toaid him in a civil #ar% After ravaging

far and #ide, they #ere /nallycon/ned to the noth-!ental "atof #sia $ino, #here they settled as

!on%ueos and gave their name tothe territory% Their chief city centers#ere #n!ya, &essinus, and'a(ium.


9/14

• In )8* B.C. the Galatians #eresu"0ugated "y $ome and continue as a

su"0ect kingdom under their o#n chiefs,and after 12 B%C% under kings%

• On the death of 3ing Amyntas in 2+B.C., the Galatian kingdom #asconverted into a $oman !rovince calledGalatia% The !rovince included not only

some of the area inha"ited "y theGalatians "ut also !arts of 4hrygia,4isidia, Lycaonia, and Isauria%


10/14

Chaa!teisti!s Cultue

• Galatians were open to accept and absorb otherpeople. They are (elieved to adapt most of the culturalelements of the indi"enous !eo!le, the /hry"ians, aswell as Greeks, worshiping the same gods, such as

Cybele and Zeus and usin" the same ty!e of !ottery,etc. #lso they !ossi(ly (rou"ht down some of their ownCeltic traditions to their new homeland, Asia Minor. TheCeltic lan"ua"e had (een s!oken in the Galatian lands(etween the first century *C and the mid si0th century

# as a unifyin" and identifyin" characteristic in Galatia,alon" with more common Greek language, which wasused as a written lan"ua"e. However, the e0act natureof their relationshi!s with the /hry"ians and other!eo!le is difficult to assess due to the im!act of the

Hellenistic culture and domination of the Romans.


11/14

Ancient history5s most formida"leand ro"ust #arriors,


12/14

Galatia ' a dou"leconnotation

• *+ Geogra!hically, to designate theterritory inha"ited "y the Galatians)

• *- 4olitically, to denote the entire$oman !rovince% The cities ofAntioach, Iconium, Lystra, and 6er"e,

evangeli7ed "y 4aul on his /rstmissionary 0ourney, #ere in the!rovince of Galatia 8


13/14

o /ies of Galatians&etaining to he #ddessee

• North Galatian view• The North Galatian view holds that the epistle was written very soon

after Paul's second visit to Galatia ( Acts 18:2!" #n this view$ the visit

to %erusale&$ &entioned in Galatians 2:11$ is identical with that of

Acts 1)$ which is spo*en of as a thin+ of the past" ,onse-uently$ the

epistle see&s to have .een written after the ,ouncil of %erusale&"The si&ilarity .etween this epistle and the epistle to the /o&ans

has led to the conclusion that they were .oth written at rou+hly the

sa&e ti&e$ durin+ Paul's stay in 0acedonia in rou+hly 56–57"8 This

third date ta*es the word 3-uic*ly3 in Gal" 1:4 literally"5

%ohn P" 0eier su++ests that Galatians was 3written in the middle

or late 50s, only a few years after the Antiochian incident he

narrates3"1 6&inent 7i.lical scholar el&ut 9oester also

su.scri.es to the 3North Galatian ypothesis3" 9oester points out

that the cities of Galatia in the north consist of An*yra$ Pessinus$

and Gordiu& (of the Gordian 9not fa&e of Aleander the Great!"11

http://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Acts&verse=18:23&src=9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalemhttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2:1%E2%80%9310&version=9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jerusalemhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_(Roman_province)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Galatians#cite_note-8https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Galatians#cite_note-9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Meierhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Galatians#cite_note-10https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Koesterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Galatians#cite_note-11https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Galatians#cite_note-11https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Koesterhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Galatians#cite_note-10https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Meierhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Galatians#cite_note-9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistle_to_the_Galatians#cite_note-8https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macedonia_(Roman_province)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Council_of_Jerusalemhttp://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+2:1%E2%80%9310&version=9https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalemhttp://tools.wmflabs.org/bibleversefinder/?book=Acts&verse=18:23&src=9


14/14

• South Galatian view

• The ;outh Galatian view holds that Paul wrote

Galatians .efore or shortly after the

the book of galatians

Documents