Rereading Galatians from the Perspective of Paul's Gospel

A Literary and Theological Commentary

Yung Suk Kim

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781532691140
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Commentary

Galatians has often been read from a rhetorical perspective, with an emphasis on justification by faith, Paul's autobiographical experience, proofs of the gospel, and exhortations to the Galatians. However, it can be read as a "letter" of which the main theme is the gospel--an umbrella term that covers many other topics, including faith, righteousness, freedom, and new creation. Paul writes Galatians not to argue for an individual justification by faith (understood from a forensic salvation perspective), but to make explicit his gospel that all can become children of God through faith. In Paul's logic, what comes first is God's promise, faith is a response to it through Christ, and the law can be fulfilled through faith. The gospel that Paul proclaimed to the Galatians is based on God, who called them in the grace of Christ (1: 6). Kim challenges the traditional reading of Galatians, exploring different dimensions of the gospel: (1) God as the origin and root of the gospel; (2) Christ as the exemplifier of God's gospel through faithfulness; (3) the followers of Jesus as the children of God who participate in Christ's faithfulness and continue to proclaim the good news of God through Jesus.

Section I

1:1–10

The Letter’s Opening

Galatians 1:1–10 is the letter’s opening in which Paul emphasizes his independent apostleship, which is not based on any human commission or human authorities, but based on Jesus Christ and God. He then greets the Galatians, and introduces the topic of the letter, which is “the gospel.” This gospel has to do with Jesus’s work, as stated in Gal 1:4: “who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” This gospel is none other than “the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:7), which means the good news that Jesus proclaimed and the good news about him, namely his faithfulness and sacrifice for people. His work of the good news is “according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever” (Gal 1:4b–5). This relationship between God and Jesus is important to his gospel. God is the one who “raised him [Jesus] from the dead” (Gal 1:1) and “to whom be the glory forever” (Gal 1:5). Jesus is the one who worked according to the will of God. He was crucified because of that, but God raised him from the dead. In this letter opening, Paul raises the issue of confusion or misunderstanding about the gospel due to “a different gospel” (Gal 1:6–10). He is astonished because “there are some who are confusing the Galatians and perverting the gospel of Christ” (Gal 1:7). He confronts those who proclaim a gospel contrary to the one he proclaimed (Gal 1:8).

1:1–5 Greeting

1 Paul an apostle, who is not sent from human authority or commissioned through human agency, but sent through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all the fellow Christians who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4 who gave himself for our sins to set us free from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Each letter’s beginning is important because it reflects Paul’s concern and hints at the purpose of the writing. No two of his letter beginnings are the same. For example, in 1 Thess 1:1, he writes sender names without adding any modifiers to them: “Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy.” This is maybe because there is no need to add more since the Thessalonian church is doing well. But in Phlm 1:1, he begins with “Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus.” This is not only because he was imprisoned when he wrote Philemon but because he cares for Onesimus, a slave to Philemon. In Phil 1:1, Paul says: “Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus.” The term “slaves of Christ” means that they are devoted to the work of Christ. With this description of his work, Paul exhorts the Philippians to devote themselves to the same cause of the love of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 1:1, Paul begins with “Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.” Given a wide array of issues at Corinth, facing various types of troublemakers in the church, Paul emphasizes his work as an apostle of Christ Jesus and by the will of God. In Rom 1:1, he begins with “Paul, a slave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” This beginning is most elaborate, hinting at what he is going to say to the Roman Christians. His mission is about the good news of God for which he was set apart.17 He is an apostle who follows Jesus.

In Gal 1:1, Paul has a still different beginning: “Paul an apostle, who is not sent from human authority or commissioned through human agency, but sent through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” He vehemently defends his apostolic credentials and the truth of the gospel that he proclaimed to the Galatians. This defense implies that there is a challenge to his gospel. He says he is not sent by human commission (literally, “from people”) or by human authorities (literally, “by people”). Indeed, he was not sent by the Jerusalem church or Jerusalem apostles. Nevertheless, he argues he is also an apostle, “sent through Jesus Christ and God the Father.” His apostolic credentials are based on Jesus and God. It is not solely about Jesus or about God but about both Jesus and God. Jesus is the one who fulfilled God’s promise through faith (Gal 3:22). He is the Son of God who was faithful to God and revealed God’s love and justice at the risk of his life. All Jesus could do and has to do was to live according to the will of God, as implied in Gal 1:4: “[Jesus] who gave himself . . . according to the will of our God and Father.” Ultimately, God is the one to whom be the glory forever (Gal 1:5). In Paul’s theology, God sent his Son to the world and raised him from the dead. In other words, the ultimate source of the good news is God who sent Jesus his Son.18 In sum, Paul’s apostolic credentials are based on both God and Jesus. Paul’s theology affirms the priority of God’s grace before anything else. Jesus did his job faithfully according to the will of God. He gave his life to set his people free from the present evil age. Because of this, when they participate in his faithfulness, they may live a new life of freedom in the Spirit. Paul also believes that God loves all people and feels that his job as an apostle to the gentiles is to proclaim the gospel of God through Christ.

Consider and discuss: As we saw above, each of Paul’s letter beginnings is different. Especially, Gal 1:1 is unique in its formulation and tone. No other letter begins this way. What does this peculiar beginning have to do with the letter content? How does he achieve the goal of the letter, if any?

Paul mentions those with him, whom he includes along with himself as sending the letter, and recipients of the letter: the churches of Galatia. Even though he writes the letter in his name, it is sent from a group of Christians to which he belongs. His letter is not a private communication for a private audience. He writes to a group of Christians scattered throughout southern Galatia, that is within the Roman province of Galatia. “The churches of Galatia” implies that there are multiple, diverse congregations whose members are mainly uncircumcised gentile Christians. Though the location of these communities is debatable, the theory that places the churches in South Galatia (within a Roman province of Galatia) is more persuasive than that placing them in an area further north, populated with ethnic Gauls. The main supporting reason is twofold: (1) Major Roman cities in the province of Galatia such as Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe were the ones Paul visited on his first missionary journey (Acts 13–14);19 (2) this region has a large Jewish population with their synagogues and is close to Judea (cf. Acts 13:14; 14:1). These two factors may have contributed to high tensions between Jewish culture/reli...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Section I: 1:1–10
• Section II: 1:11–24
• Section III: 2:1–21
• Section IV: 3:1–29
• Section V: 4:1–31
• Section VI: 5:1—6:10
• Section VII: 6:11–18
• Bibliography