Identifying the authorship, recipients and dating of Paul's epistle to the Galatians.

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   If I were to write a letter which began with the greeting, "Dear Frenchmen," to whom do you think I would be writing? Would I be addressing the citizens or residents of the nation of France? Would this be a broad greeting to all peoples of French ethnicity or ancestry? Would I be addressing only ethnic French males? Or perhaps it would be written to all peoples who speak the French language, whether in Quebec, New Orleans, Sierra Leone, Madagascar, Polynesia, etc. By the way, the words "Francaise" and the Anglicized word "French" are etymologically derived from the Germanic word for "free-man"; a fact that has no doubt long galled the French in their intense desire for ethnic and national distinction.

   I employ this introduction to reveal one of the major issues of consideration concerning this letter ­ the identification of the recipients ­ which, in turn, reflects on its dating and the interpretation of its theological content. To whom was this letter written? Who were the original recipients, and what was the context that necessitated such correspondence?

   Internal evidence within the epistle adequately reveals that it was written to the "Galatians" (1:2; 3:1). But who were these Galatians, and where did they reside? These have long been issues of differing opinion by Biblical commentators.

   Some historical background is necessitated. The designation "Galatians" refers to "Gaul-peoples," or "the persons of Gaul." When we look back in history, we note that Celtic people had settled in the central part of the territory now known as France at least by the sixth or seventh century B.C. They came to be known as the Gauls (Latin: Galli), and the territory they inhabited was designated as Gaul (Latin: Gallia), although some referred to the region as Galatia.

   In the third century (approximately 280 B.C.) the Gauls invaded Rome and were ultimately repulsed in Greece. Apparently it was a contingent of these Gallic invaders who migrated in the middle of the third century B.C. into the north-central part of Asia Minor (aka Anatolia) south of the Black Sea, in what is now known as the nation of Turkey (cf. map of Galatia #1). Known as fiercely independent peoples, they conquered the indigenous peoples of that region and established their own independent kingdom. The Romans eventually defeated these Galatians, and in 64 B.C. the Galatian kingdom was recognized as a subsidiary client-kingdom under the jurisdiction of Rome, but allowed to maintain their own king. By 50 B.C. Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, had also captured the entire territory of Gaul in western Europe, which he referred to as Gallia Transalpina (Gaul across the Alps), noting in his Commentaries that the Galli or Celtae peoples inhabited the central portion of the territory, while the Belgae were in the north, and the Aquitani people resided in the south. When the king of the Galatian sub-kingdom in Asia Minor died in 25 B.C., the Romans used the occasion to change Galatia from an ethnically designated kingdom into a political province of the empire with borders that extended in a narrow band down towards the Mediterranean Sea (cf. map of Galatia #2). This province was called "Galatia," and was so designated during the first century A.D. when the New Testament literature was written. It is also worthy of note that a portion of the Galatian political province was removed and added to Cilicia in 137 A.D., while another portion was removed and added to Pisidia in the third century, leaving only the northern portion of what was roughly the original Galatian ethnic region identified as the Roman province of Galatia (cf. map of Galatia #3). The importance of this later provincial restructuring is apparent when we note that early Christian commentators of the second and third centuries A.D. tended to identify the recipients of Paul's letter to the Galatians as residents of the northern area which was the geographical area of the province so designated in their time. Based upon their early determinations, this became the prevailing understanding in Christian interpretation for many centuries.

   Now the reader can begin to see why Paul's addressing of this letter to the "Galatians" raises questions whether the recipients are to be regarded as primarily ethnically designated, or whether this was a political and provincial designation, which in the middle of the first century A.D. would have included southern regions and cities into which Paul is known to have visited and ministered on his first missionary journey (cf. Acts 13,14) with Barnabas (who is mentioned by name in 2:1,9,13 as an individual with whom the readers would have been acquainted).

   Recent Biblical scholarship in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries A.D. has overwhelmingly advocated that the original recipients of Paul's letter to the Galatians were citizens of such cities as Lystra, Iconium and Derbe where Paul had established churches on his first missionary journey. This has come to be known as the "south Galatian" interpretation, as contrasted with the "north Galatian" interpretation which had prevailed for so many centuries in Christian thought, based on the comments of early Christian writers. Evidence that bolsters the "south Galatian" view includes the fact that Paul had founded these churches (1:8,11; 4:19,20), and there is no explicit record, in Acts or elsewhere, of his founding any churches in the northern region. Also, the readers were apparently acquainted with Barnabas (2:1,9,13), who accompanied Paul only on the first missionary journey into the southern cities.

   What difference does it make whether the original recipients are accurately identified as from the north or the south? Not a lot! The content and message of this Galatian letter remains of value despite the specificity of its recipients. But there are some other issues which connect with the identification of the first readers. The first is the attempted reconstruction of the context of the situation that necessitated this correspondence, which is sketchy, at best. The second issue is the attempted dating of the writing of this letter. If the letter was written to the Christians in the southern cities of the first-century political province of Galatia not long after the first missionary journey, then it could have been written as early as 48 to 50 A.D., making it the earliest extant letter of the Apostle Paul. If the letter was written to Christians in the northern region of Galatia, then it could have been written as late as 56 to 58 A.D. Again, this does not greatly affect the value of the letter's content, but it does have some theological implications in the interpretation of the entire corpus of Pauline literature.

   If Galatians is the earliest of Paul's epistles, then it could and should serve as the rudimentary and germinal thought of Paul's nascent theology. These incipient and inaugural thoughts might be regarded as foundational to the interpretation of all the rest of Paul's writings. If Paul's striking conversion on the road to Damascus is dated in 34 or 35 A.D., then Paul obviously had sufficient time in fourteen to fifteen years to be taught of the Spirit and to develop a well-formed Christian theological understanding that was radically and diametrically different from his previous Judaic theological training. Here in this early Galatian epistle Paul makes a heated polemical defense of the gospel of God's grace in Jesus Christ, features of which must be brought to bear on the interpretation of theological and eschatological statements in the remainder of Paul's writings. It can safely be said that all Pauline interpretation must reference his initial and inceptual expression in the epistle to the Galatians, drafted as it was in an unmitigated and unattenuated, straightforward defense of the gospel.

   Mention has already been made to the "sketchy" information available about the contextual situation that prompted this letter. Paul had obviously planted these churches (1:8,11; 4:19,20), and the Christians in the churches had a great fondness and appreciation for Paul as their founding father (4:14,15). Sometime (the interval of time is unknown, but it would appear not to be an extended period - cf. 1:6) after Paul had departed from their cities, having left designated men in charge as teacher/leaders, some other teachers arrived with a modified belief-system that inculcated adherence to the Judaic law of the old covenant. It is difficult to reconstruct the precise identity of these interlopers, but it is obvious that they were advocating the necessity of religious observances (4:10), as well as male circumcision (5:2; 6:12), and attempting to seduce these new Christians into legalistic old covenant concepts (3:2; 4:21).

   Paul's reaction to this decimation of the gospel of grace by reversion to religious legalism is a passionate polemic of defense for what he considered to be of eternal consequence. Paul comes out "firing." He "pulls no punches." Here was a little guy (the name Paul means "little"), who may have earlier in his life suffered from a "banty-rooster complex" in his combativeness, but when he was incensed he could still be a forceful and ferocious freedom fighter. Those who dared to engage in dialectic forensics with Paul soon found that he could chew you up and spit you out in no time. He could have you anatomically mutilated (5:12) and spiritually damned (1:8,9) before you knew what hit you! Merrill C. Tenney notes that this epistle "crackles with indignation, though it is not the anger of personal pique but of spiritual principle."1 Paul was not about to stand by and allow the new Christian believers in Galatia to be duped, deceived and defiled by the religious accoutrements of the Judaizing false teachers. Without any comments of praise, commendation or thanksgiving, Paul faces the issue of the misrepresentation of the gospel with a forceful fervor that some have referred to as "explosive", "dynamite", and "warlike."

   The gospel that Paul had preached to the Galatians was the "good news" of God's grace in Jesus Christ. It was a liberating message that emphasized God's action in accord with His divine character, taking the initiative to do everything necessary on man's behalf to restore mankind to God's created functional intent. All of man's attempts to reach God, appease God, and perform in a manner pleasing to God ­ the essence of religion throughout the history of man ­ were now passé and unnecessary. There was no need for religious conformity to traditions, or for obedience to law-based rules and regulations such as "thou shalt..." and "thou shalt not..." God has done everything that needed doing in the "finished work" (cf. Jn. 19:30), and by the provision of His presence in receptive mankind by the person of Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit, God continues by His grace to enable and empower the Christian believer to manifest His character and minister to others. Such was the gospel of grace and liberty that Paul had preached to the Galatians, and such was the spiritual reality that formed the basis of their Christian community as a church.

   So when Paul was informed that foreign infiltrators had influenced the young Galatian Christians to revert to the performance of religious legalism, he was so incensed that he was compelled to write and set things straight. In this confrontational letter he delineates the dichotomous difference between the gospel of Jesus Christ that he had introduced them to, and the religious trappings of behavioral bondage that these subversive intruders were trying to impose upon them. The epistle is necessarily theological as Paul defends the ontological essence of Christianity in Jesus Christ, but whereas the epistle to the Romans explains Christian theology in logical sequence, Galatians defends Christian theology in the polemic "heat of the battle."

   An underlying sub-theme of the epistle might be entitled, "The Gospel versus Religion." Though Paul does not use the word "religion" in the text of the letter, it is obvious that the performance-based "works" that the new Galatian Christians are being asked to add to the pure and simple gospel of grace in Jesus Christ is indeed the essence of all religion. This comprehensive theme thus becomes the lens through which the various details of the letter must be interpreted.

   The effect of this letter when it arrived in the churches of Galatia in the middle of the first century A.D. was, no doubt, explosive. Just think of the controversy it must have provoked, and the reactions of the itinerant false-teachers who were probably present when it arrived! We do not know the effectual outcome of the impact that this letter had upon the Galatian churches, but we can document some of the effects that the statements of this letter have had on others in church history. Particularly in the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation, the message of the epistle to the Galatians served as the defense of the gospel against the religionism of Roman Catholicism. Martin Luther regarded this as his favorite book of the New Testament, and once wrote, "I have betrothed myself to it; it is my wife!"2 Frederick Godet later explained that "this epistle was Luther's pebble from the brook, with which, like another (David), he went forth to meet the papal giant and smote him in the forehead."3 This epistle to the Galatians can rightfully be said to have inspired the Protestant Reformation, but it should serve in every age to inspire reformation and restoration that sets Christians free from religious legalism, behaviorism, moralism, traditionalism, formalism, fundamentalism, denominationalism, etc., in order that they might appreciate the freedom of God's grace in Jesus Christ. Let it be noted, though, that since this epistle inevitably challenges the status-quo of static religion, it is almost impossible to exegete and expound this portion of Scripture accurately without raising the ire of those who have a vested interest in such religion.

   The abiding value of Paul's correspondence with the Galatians is that it perpetually reveals the propensity of mankind to revert to performance-based acceptance before God in religion, rather than accepting the ontological dynamic of God's grace in Jesus Christ to manifest divine character to the glory of God. Whenever a Christian begins to think that the performance standards of what they "do" or "don't do" is the basis of or the quality of their Christian life or their "spirituality," then they have lapsed into "Galatian thinking." "If only I didn't smoke, drink, swear, or fall into my besetting sin; If only I prayed more, read my Bible more, witnessed more, was more regular in church attendance, got along better with my spouse, or was a better parent..., then I would be a better Christian and would be more blessed by God." No! That is "Galatian thinking, that evaluates Christian life by achievement, merit, and reward, rather than by constant receptive trust in the grace-working of God in Christ. Such "Galatianism" is so pervasive and prevalent in the churches today as the religious legalists have duped Christians with the didactic declarations of "how-to" Christianity in prescribed procedures, formulas, techniques and duties which allegedly determine the distinguishing marks of a true disciple. Like Paul, we must reject such as a false-gospel, and clearly explain that the only distinguishing mark of a genuine Christian is the manifestation of the life and activity of Jesus Christ in his or her life by the dynamic of God's grace.

I.    Paul defends the gospel revealed to him. (Chapters 1 and 2)
II.   Paul documents that this revealed gospel was God's intent from the beginning (Chapters 3&4)
III.  Paul demonstrates the behavioral implications of this revealed gospel. (Chapters 5 and 6)

1.    Tenney, Merrill C., Galatians: The Carter of Christian Liberty. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co.,   1971.
2.    Luther, Martin, A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians. New York: Robert Carter & Brothers.   1860.
3.    Godet, Frederick, source unknown.