In The Letter of Paul to the Galatians, Paul addresses the conflict of Gentile Christians’ unclear relationship towards Judaism by urging both Jewish and Gentile believers to reexamine the Mosaic Law. This letter by the apostle is a defense of his mission of converting the churches of Galatia towards Christianity. During the early Christian movement, there was controversy surrounding the degree to which Gentile Christians should adhere to Jewish law, with Paul moving them to disregard it and follow a different path towards Christianity. Paul describes in his gospel a way in which faith in Jesus Christ frees his followers from traditional laws, and urges the Galatians to heed him instead of his opposition among the Jewish church. Paul effectively persuades his audience to abandon unnecessary laws of Moses to achieve an understanding of the importance of faith in Christ through an appeal to ethos and logos, and through allegories that introduces a reinterpretation of scripture and a new interpretation of God’s role in Christianity.
Paul initially uses an appeal to ethos in his letter to build his credibility in order to make his audience acquiescent of his ideas. He first asserts that “the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin…but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Galatians 1.11-12). This gives his claims a divine authority and refutes those who may suggest that his gospel lacks legitimacy. He implies that his gospel originates from God and Jesus Christ, signifying to the audience that his words should be noted. Paul further builds his credibility by giving a background of his advancement in Judaism and his calling as an apostle for the Gentiles (Galatians 1.13-2...
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...of defense into a triumphant presentation of gospel in the Letter to the Galatians. The requirement of Galatians to follow the Law of Moses in order to convert to Christianity is proven invalid by Paul, who teaches that faith in Christ and living by the Spirit is essential to the religion—not following gratuitous rules of the flesh. Paul offers guidance for the audience on how to follow the gospel he teaches in contrast to the strict and changeable rules his opposition forces upon the Galatians. By using an appeal to ethos to build his credibility with the audience, an appeal to logos to explain the triviality of the traditional laws of Judaism, and allegories to provide the innovative interpretation of God as a father to his followers, Paul is able to successfully spread his gospel of faith in Christ and living by the Spirit to the Galatians and other audiences.
E: Because they will love their neighbor and because they know that if they know if they take too much from one person, then another person might do the same to them (Galatians 5:14-16). In my understanding of the Pauline letter to the Galatians, as Christians, we should not follow the Jewish law because Jesus has replaced the teachings. And, whoever wants to be in the right standing before God should measure themselves through the teachings of Jesus, and not the Jewish Law.
Paul’s response was concerning ecclesiastical and doctrinal controversies. These Jewish-Christians were teaching false doctrine to the Gentile members. They taught that to be saved one must be circumcised and observe the ritual requirements of the law. Paul believed a Gentile did not need to go through the ritual requirements of the law, Gentiles were welcomed into the church through baptism professing faith in Jesus the Christ. In Acts 15:24-29 the Apostles and elders of the church did call the Gentiles to live within the moral teachings of the law, most specifically to avoid idolatry and sexual sin and counseled them on kosher restrictions when eating with others who were Jewish so as not to offend and complicate ministry amongst the Jewish communities. The account in Acts actually attest to the controversies of Gentile reception in the church and what their obligation to the law would be. This is the problem Paul is trying to rectify in
After Reading Mark and Galatians, one might notice the overarching theme of ethical guidance presented in each of these books. If we analyze this, we can compare and contrast Mark’s view on ethics with Paul’s. We see many similarities when discussing faith and trust. Both Mark and Paul believe that one must believe and trust in the Lord for them to live a proper ethical life. However, we also see contrast between the two books when talking about forgiveness. In Mark, Jesus forgives many people and tells them that they are cleansed of their sins. In Galatians, Paul does more scolding than forgiving, telling the Galatians how they should be living their lives and what they are doing wrong. In fact, if we compare Mark to Galatians we can see many large similarities and key differences that can help us better understand the text as a whole.
At a bird’s eye view, the audience sees Paul’s letter as seemingly addressed to the Christians in Ephesus, where Paul “labored for well over two years.” Because the Ephesians as the addressee of the letters are absent from the early manuscripts, it suggests that “it is a letter generated not by the immediate circumstances of Paul or a specific community crisis, but by the desire to communicate the implications of his mission to a wider circle of Gentile churches.” Matera validates this by explaining that it was indeed “a circular letter to Gentile believers in Asia Minor” and that it “functions as a summary of Paul’s teaching for a new generation of Gentile believers.” Paul wanted to show his addressees how salvation is brought about by God’s divine
As we examine the mind of Paul, sophistication and solidity are the main elements found. Paul the apostle was a very intellectual scholar of the bible and a radical for the love of Jesus Christ. He empowered so many churches and groups of people through his teachings, preaching and letters. He was able shake foundations of existing churches, and led others into salvation through his knowledge of the Word of God and the movement of the Holy Spirit. As a radical for Christ, his motive for his righteous acts is genuine love for people. He had compassion for people because Jesus had compassion on him. When we look at Paul’s letter to the Galatians, his true motive is shown through his writings. He uses multiple types of speech or writing such as
“Paul wrote his letter to the church in Corinth during the winter A.D. 56-57” (“An Introduction To The Book Of Romans | Bible.org”) to the faithful Jews who had established this church. Paul wanted to meet them face-to-face and provided this letter as his introduction until he could travel there. Paul’s message begins by addressing human identity in which everyone is ungodly and unrighteous. He tells us that we all have sinned, rebelled and not followed God’s will. The sinful way of humanity keeps us a part for God, although He has clearly shown His marvelous wonder since creating the world and through his Son Jesus Christ.
Teaching infuses understanding and knowledge. Spreading the message about Christ and the ability to lean, trust, and depend on Him is the message of gospel and the New Testament. “Paul evangelized as the commissioned representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. Evangelism was a task that had been specifically entrusted to him. Paul saw himself as Christ’s herald” (Packer, 1961, p. 42-43). The gospel is a real message about Christ who comes to save real sinners. It’s critically important that sinners come to an understanding that they are far apart from God and known as enemies to Him. “The gospel is a message about sin. It tells us how we have fallen short of God’s standard; how we have become guilty, filthy, and helpless in sin, and now stand under the wrath of God. It tells us that the reason why we sin continually is that we are sinners by nature, and that nothing we do, or try to do, for ourselves can put us right, or bring us back into God’s favor” (Packer, 1961, p.
Now the argument might come from some saying that it takes faith even to obey the law. This is a great point but of course Paul is ready to combat this theory as well. He uses Leviticus to verify that it is doing the law, and not trusting it in which God requires. “Ye shall therefore keep my statutes, and my judgements; which if a man do, he shall live in them: I am the Lord” (footnote). Paul’s squabble here is that, “law says, “Do and live!” but grace says, “Believe and live!” (footnote). The Judaizers attempted to entice the Galatians into a creed of lawful works; however, thankfully Paul truly cared for the Galatians. He cared so much that he wanted them to relish in a connection of love and life which is only given by faith in Jesus Christ…and he
St. Paul strove to make Christianity more accessible to people who were gentiles by challenging the idea that the Jews were God’s chosen people. The Council of Jerusalem is an epitome of this as St. Paul believed that the church “should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God” (Acts 15:19). He decreed that the observation of the Torah and circumcision, believed to be a sign of the Abrahamic Covenant, was not necessary to become a Christian. This allowed many gentiles to join the Christian movement as Paul had altered the customs to accommodate them. By doing this Christianity was able to spread more easily throughout Europe especially in the Roman Empire. This makes it evident that “Paul can be clearly seen as the most significant figure of the New
A survey of the evidence indicates that Paul writes (48-49 A.D) to the Christians in south Galatia—he mentions no churches or acquaintances in the north— after having established churches there but prior to the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). Both the letter and the council deal with Jewish Christians instructing gentle converts to observe the Mosaic Law (Judaizers). The gravity of the matter is evident in Paul’s opening as he dispenses the usual salutations to forcibly establish his apostleship, “not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the
From the Bible readings in Is. 28:14-30:11, Gal. 3:23-4:31, Ps. 62:1-12, & Pr. 23:19-21. In the passage in Galatians, Paul is addressing the sharp divisions that existed within the church there. It seems that because of culture background, the believers brought different opinions to their worship, prayer life, Bible study, and in life in general. It would be nice to think that as believers we have matured beyond these differences that can turn into prejudices. It is a fact that as believers, we have many differences. Some of these differences are very plain. But the love and power of Jesus Christ can overcome these differences when each person submits to God’s will and leadership. Paul reminds us that while we may have differences, including
The study object is Paul’s letters, and secondary material comprises texts historically close to Paul (e.g. texts from the N.T., Qumran, the LXX, and the Hebrew Bible). The debate on the meaning of σάρξ emerged as an important discussion within New Testament theology during the rise of Western individualism. The discussion was influenced by German idealism, and later also existentialism, as it tried to navigate between an assumed Platonic dualism and what was seen as a more orthodox Christian creation theology. The debate also took on political overtones in a time of growing antisemitism and later Nazism as Jewishness became a difficult issue also within biblical studies. Hence, the debate was charged with emotion and sometimes hidden, and possibly inadvertent, political agendas. The hypothesis that σάρξ in Paul functions as a resource in the construct of collective identity entails that Paul was highly critical to the meaning religious and national identity was given in his time, as he sought a cross-national solidarity in Christ. Paul’s letters, especially Romans and Galatians, try to make sense of the transformed meaning of religious and political identity as revealed in the Christ-event. The circumcision and dietary laws relate to the constructs of collective identity as metonymic signs, that is, they are given meaning by their sharing in the identity construct but they cannot replace that construct. When the meaning of the identity construct is transformed, also the meaning of the metonymic signs changes, and this is the subject matter of Paul in these
Paul was upset that the Galatians could be succumbed to other influences rather than the spirit. “I would like to learn just one thing from you; Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:2). Paul was telling the Galatians that they didn’t need a cultural identity (Jewish circumcision) to experience the spirit. “Those who want to impress people by the means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ. Not even those who are circumcised keep the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about our circumcision in the flesh” (Galatians 6:12-13). I think that Paul was trying to show them that just being circumcised wouldn’t bring them closer to
Paul summarizes all this preaching in seventeen stanzas by referring to the "Spirit" and the "Flesh." We are first introduced by Paul of these topics/words in his letter to the Galatians. Paul contrasts the two ways of living in a community in chapter five of Galatians. "Spirit" is the caring of others and builds interpersonal relationships within a community. The "Flesh" is a self centeredness and a natural way to live of only caring for oneself. The "works of the flesh" will break apart a community.
Paul’s writing continues to be the standard by which the modern day Christian church bases its beliefs. Through his travels Paul introduced and laid the groundwork for what was the most influential religious conversion in history. From his beginnings as a persecutor of Christians to his ultimate persecution as a Christian, Paul epitomized what the Christian faith is all about through those experiences.