Who were the Galatians anyway? About the text: Page 1
Galatians is a letter which the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Galatia. The exact church to whom the letter is written, and the exact date it was written are not certain; but what is certain is that the church was experiencing a lot of conflicts between the Law of the Old Testament and faith in Jesus Christ.
Christianity began among Jewish people, so when Gentiles (non-Jews) began to convert to Christianity, the church in Galatia insisted that these gentiles abide by certain Old Testament rites (Jewish customs), such as circumcision. They were confused, as many are still today, about how we are saved. They were still depending on obeying all the rules to get them to heaven, instead of acknowledging that only faith in Jesus can save us. The Galatians did not understand that their works (the outward expression of their faith) would not save them.
The ‘Law’ of the Old Testament (basically summed up in the Ten Commandments, Exodus 20:1-17) gave a list of God’s requirements for man. Old Testament Jews manifested their faith in God by observing the Law. The purpose of the Law was to prepare the way for Christ; to prove to man that he could never fulfill the law by himself. God sent His Son Jesus Christ to fulfill the Law for us. It is only in Him, and through Him, that we are able to please God. Paul wrote this letter to the Galatians to free them from the Law. In Galatians 5:13 & 14 (The Message) Paul writes,
“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself.”
You see, if we will only walk in love (God’s kind of love), then we won’t have to worry about keeping up with rules and regulations or dos and don’ts; we will no longer have any desire to do the things of the flesh. In Galatians 5:16-18 (The Message) Paul further explains this phenomenon as he writes:
“My counsel is this: Live freely, animated and motivated by God’s Spirit. Then you won’t feed the compulsions of selfishness. For there is a root of sinful self-interest in us that is at odds with a free spirit, just as the free spirit is incompatible with selfishness. These two ways of life are antithetical, so that you cannot live at times one way and at other times another way according to how you feel on any given day. Why don’t you choose to be led by the Spirit and so escape the erratic compulsions of a law-dominated existence?”
We are still much like the Galatians. We want people to follow our rules (the ones we have set up as THE rules that will keep us in God’s good graces), even though God’s word is clear that Jesus is the only way to God’s grace!