Galatians ca. 54 CE Big Bird: “One of these things is not like the other thing. One of these things just doesn’t belong”: Each of the following openings to Paul’s uncontested letters begins with a “From/To” heading and then follows with a more personal greeting. We’re omitting the “From/To” headings here and just looking at the personal greetings. 1 Thessalonians 1:2: We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers … 1 Corinthians 5: I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind … 2 Corinthians 1:4: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all consolation, who consoles us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to console those who are in any affliction with the consolation with which we ourselves are consoled by God … [A real tongue twister! Try “I am the son of a sheet slitter’s son; I slit sheets till the sheet slitter comes.”] Romans 1:8: First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the world … Philemon 4: When I remember you in my prayers, I always thank my God Philippians 1:3: I thank my God every time I remember you … Galatians 1:6: I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel …

What put Paul’s knickers in such a twist? The faith communities of Galatia were comprised of Celtic converts from paganism (Gal 4:8-9) who were now being enticed by other Christian missionaries to add the observances of the Jewish law, including the rite of circumcision, to the cross of Christ as a means of salvation. Gal 4:8-9Gal 4:8-9 These “Judaizing” Christians insisted on the necessity of following certain precepts of the Mosaic law along with faith in Christ. They were undermining Paul's authority also, asserting that he had not been trained by Jesus himself, that his gospel did not agree with that of the original and true apostles in Jerusalem, that he had kept from his converts in Galatia the necessity of accepting circumcision and other key obligations of the Jewish law, in order more easily to win them to Christ, and that his gospel was thus not the full and authentic one held by "those of repute" in Jerusalem (Gal 2:2). Gal 2:2Gal 2:2

Paul responds by defending his credentials as an apostle, by explaining his teaching on justification by faith, and by appealing to the Scriptures he and his opponents shared. Defending his credentials: Though Paul was not trained by Jesus, his teaching comes directly from the risen Jesus. “The gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:11b-12). He did not need the authority of any other apostles. “Paul an apostle—sent neither by human commission nor by human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead …” (1:1). “I did not confer with any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me” (1:16b-17). Nevertheless, he did seek out and secure the endorsement of the Jerusalem leadership. He still insists he didn’t need it, but he got it anyway (next slide).

Galatians 2:1-10 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up in response to a revelation. Then I laid before them (though only in a private meeting with the acknowledged leaders) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure that I was not running, or had not run, in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us— we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those leaders contributed nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do.

Explaining his teaching on justification by faith: We are “put right” (justified) not through obeying the Law but through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ (2:16). We are included in God’s covenant people, “the Israel of God” (6:16) solely by God’s gracious action in Christ for our sake. The cross, not the Law, is the basis of our relationship to God. The cross is interpreted not primarily as an atoning sacrifice for forgiveness of sins, but as a cataclysmic event that has broken the power of forces that held humanity captive, brought the old world to an end, and inaugurated a new creation. The indwelling Spirit, not the Law, sets us free to live in a community ordered by love. “Through the Spirit … in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love … for you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. For the whole Law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ … Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh” (5:5b-6, 13-14, 15). In the new community created by the Spirit, the markers that once separated Jews from Gentiles have been invalidated (“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” 3:28). God’s purpose is to create a single new people who are “one in Christ Jesus,” bound together in faith and love. Freedom in Christ is not the freedom of “autonomous” individuals. It is freedom for community (or communion) governed by love and animated by the shared Spirit.

Appealing to shared Scripture God’s prior covenant with Abraham was a promise to bless all families. A later covenant (i.e. the Law) cannot annul an earlier covenant (3:17). God’s covenant with Abraham was unconditional, unlike the Mosaic covenant. While Abraham was circumcised, what counted was God’s promise and Abraham’s faith (3:6-7)

Galatians 3:6-18 Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’ [Genesis 15:6], so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’ [Genesis 12:3, 18:18] For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed. For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.’ [Deuteronomy 27:26] Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’ [Habakkuk 2:4] But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, ‘Whoever does the works of the law will live by them.’ [Leviticus 18:5] Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’ [Deuteronomy 21:23]— in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Brothers and sisters, I give an example from daily life: once a person’s will has been ratified, no one adds to it or annuls it. Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring; it does not say, ‘And to offsprings’, as of many; but it says, ‘And to your offspring’, [Genesis 13:15, 17:8] that is, to one person, who is Christ. My point is this: the law, which came four hundred and thirty years later, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise. For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from the promise; but God granted it to Abraham through the promise.

Paul and the Rise of Allegorical Interpretation Paul also resorts to an allegorical (symbolic) interpretation of Genesis, which looks odd at best. “For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and the other by a free woman. One, the child of the slave, was born according to the flesh; the other, the child of the free woman, was born through the promise. Now this is an allegory: these women are two covenants. One woman, in fact, is Hagar, from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the other woman corresponds to the Jerusalem above; she is free, and she is our mother.” Galatians 4:22-26 Compare this with Genesis 16 & 21—Does Paul’s interpretation seem natural or forced?

In his early interpretations of Genesis, Augustine alluded to Paul’s example. “If no other way is available of reaching understanding of what is said that is religious and worthy of God, except by supposing that it has all been set before us in a figurative sense and in riddles, we have the authority of the apostles for doing this, seeing that they solved so many riddles in the books of the Old Testament in this manner” On Genesis: A Refutation of the Manichees, 2.3.

For example, here is Genesis 2:4b- 6: “In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up … a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground” Here is Augustine’s interpretation [with comments] in On Genesis, 2.7: The earth and the heavens=the whole visible creation [well, sure] Day=the whole of time [hmmm] Plant of the field=the invisible creation [huh?] The spring rising from the earth and watering the whole face of the ground=the flood of truth drenching the soul before sin [who knew?]