Galatians: An Introduction

I love the book of Galatians. It's compact, it's deep in its theology, and some people claim it is the catalyst for the Protestant reformation because it is the book that Martin Luther was studying deeply when he began to question how he was being asked to display his faith in the church. Galatians is certainly one of the first letters Paul wrote, and quite possible his very first letter. The theology in Galatians is new, fresh, and much less dogmatic than is found in later letters. It doesn't get the popularity of other letters - such as Romans and the whole "Roman's Road" approach to salvation. Inside Galatians, though, we see a glimpse into the developing spiritual mind of Paul.

Galatians may have been written as early as 48 AD, which if true easily dates this letter to within two decades of Jesus' crucifixion. It is written to the churches in Galatia, a province in what Rome called Anatolia and we know as the nation of Turkey. The Galatians were a Gentile population, which means this letter is at the heart of the Great Commission. Jesus' Jewish disciples have gone into the world. They have taught people who are different than them about Jesus and the relationship we can have with God through Him. This is a letter that brings context to how non-Jewish people can come to know the Jewish God.

Personally, I find Galatians to be the most powerful letter in the New Testament aside from the four Gospels, which directly tell the story of Jesus. Galatians is less like a theology book and more like a field manual. It does not present itself as a classroom textbook where theology is idealistic; Galatians is a book for real people dealing with real questions giving answers that cut straight to the heart of the issue. Don't get me wrong. I love Romans for the masterpiece it is and I love Philippians for the love it conveys. For me, though, Galatians captures the sensation of speaking necessary theology in the moment like no other book in the Bible can. Galatians has that feel of being asked to respond to a question out of the blue and having to give an answer you firmly believe but without having time to compose a response that would make a doctoral thesis evaluation committee proud. Galatians is nitty-gritty theology in a context incredibly significant to any Gentile.