The Occasion for Writing to the Galatians⤒🔗

The Epistle to the Galatians is a passionate vindication, vigorous and uncompromising, both of the gospel of the grace of God and of Paul’s own authority as an apostle of Christ who had commissioned him to preach that gospel.¹ As the New Testament commentator, J. Eadie, points out, in their effort to dislodge the Galatians from the gospel proclaimed by Paul, the heretical teachers who were troubling the churches of Galatia sought to undermine Paul’s apostolic authority. If they could portray Paul as being inferior to the original apostles, both in rank and authority, more easily might his teaching be set aside in favor of their own Judaistic teaching.²

The rapid growth of the Gentile church under the ministry of Paul and Barnabas in Antioch (Acts 11:19-26), brought into focus a new question: If the Gentiles became believers in Jesus the Messiah, to what extent should they be required to observe the precepts of the Old Testament law? With the mission to the Gentiles, first at Syrian Antioch and soon to be throughout Asia Minor, the question became one of utmost importance: In addition to faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, must the Gentile converts submit to circumcision, adopt the Jewish customs, and adhere to the Old Testament law in all of its dimensions? Peter’s debate with the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, (following his visit to the home of Cornelius, where, upon hearing the gospel, many became believers, Acts 11:1­ 18), was an early sign that this question needed to be resolved.³

Soon, those who maintained that Gentile converts must adopt all the precepts of Judaism in order to be saved would begin to export their teaching to the regions where Gentile churches had been established. When Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch, they discovered that these Judaizing teachers had visited the church and insisted that, unless the Gentile believers were circumcised, they could not be saved (Acts 15:1). By the command of the Holy Spirit, Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem in order to bring this matter before the apostles and elders. As a result, the Jerusalem Council was convened. It would prove to be the first great council in church history, convened to decide upon a theological issue. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the Council determined that a Gentile need only to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in order to be saved, he need not adopt the Jewish lifestyle and take upon himself the yoke of the whole Old Testament law (see Acts 15). Thus it was that the gospel of salvation by grace was preserved and propagated as the one true biblical doctrine of salvation.

But the matter did not rest there. A zealous group of teachers known as Judaizers, (see below under, Who Were the Judaizers?), continued to propound their heretical teaching, namely, that it was necessary to circumcise the Gentile converts and charge them to keep the law of Moses in an effort to be saved (Acts 15:5). The Judaizers would follow Paul’s every step throughout his missionary journeys, seeking to dissuade his Gentile converts from the gospel and make them converts to their own form of salvation by works, (as opposed to salvation by grace). These men had reached the predominantly Gentile churches of the Roman province of Galatia, (where Paul had labored during his first missionary journey), and here they were making great inroads among the Galatian Christians.

In response to this emergency, the apostle writes his epistle, expressing his astonishment that these Galatian Christians were so quickly and so easily forsaking the One who called them (Gal. 1:6). Note: Paul charges that they were not merely forsaking a doctrine, but were forsaking their relationship with God. It is by means of the doctrine of the gospel of grace that God the Father calls us out of spiritual darkness into His divine light (1 Pet. 2:9) and into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:9).

The Galatians were turning to “a different gospel,” which in fact was no gospel at all (Gal. 1:6-7). These churches were being exposed to the heretical teaching presented by the Judaizers and were accepting it as a substitute for the true gospel that had been delivered to them by the Apostle Paul. But this teaching that they were so readily embracing was no gospel, it was no good news at all; on the contrary, it was a deadly counterfeit.

In no uncertain terms (Gal. 1:8-9), the Apostle Paul pronounces an anathema (a curse) upon anyone who would propagate any teaching that is contrary to the gospel of grace, (note 1 Cor. 15:1-4, where the Apostle Paul gives a succinct statement of the gospel). As M. Tenney expresses it, The Epistle to the Galatians is a protest against the corruption of the gospel of Christ. The essential truth of justification by faith rather than by works of the law had been obscured. [Indeed, the doctrine of justification by faith alone was being denied and supplanted.] When Paul learned that this heretical teaching had begun to penetrate the churches of Galatia, he wrote the impassioned remonstrance that is contained in this Epistle.⁴

Who Were the Judaizers?←⤒🔗

These men, who were bringing a heretical doctrine into the churches, are commonly identified by the name “Judaizers.” One commentator describes them in these terms: Paul’s opponents were conservative Jewish Christians who mandated that a Gentile must first obey the precepts of Judaism...prior to being accepted as a full member of the Christian church.⁵ Another commentator describes them as “Jewish Christians who wanted to combine the gospel of Christ with the observation of Jewish ceremonies.”⁶ However, these commentators are very much mistaken: anyone who adheres to the doctrines cherished and propagated by these men cannot be called Christian at all. Their teaching was, in fact, a denial of the very essence of the Christian faith, a denial of the doctrine of salvation by grace.

With regard to Gentile converts, the Judaizers insisted: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (Acts 15:1). At the Jerusalem Council, they expressed their belief concerning Gentile converts: “it is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). Note: Some translations render Acts 15:5 as follows, “But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.” Such a translation gives the sense that these Pharisees were true believers who adhered to a legalistic form of Christianity. But their teaching is, in fact, a complete denial of the Christian faith.

A more accurate translation of Acts 15:5 is, “But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who believed, saying, ‘It is needful to circumcise them, and to charge them to keep the Law of Moses.’” This translation gives the sense that these men were Pharisees who were voicing their (Pharisaical) belief that the Gentile converts must submit to circumcision and take upon themselves “the yoke of the Law.” This translation does justice to the fact that the demands these men were seeking to impose upon Gentile converts were totally contrary to the truth of the gospel, as the Apostle Paul adamantly asserts in his epistle to the Galatians (1:7; 2:1-10)the fact that the verb “believe” occurs in the Greek perfect tense (TTεTTιστεUKοτεs), which seems to be indicating that these men are giving voice to a belief they have persisted to maintain, even though they have come into association with the Christian church. In an effort to bring out the true identity of these men and the essence of what they believed, we might suggest the following as a possible rendering of Acts 15:5, “Then certain men of the sect of the Pharisees stood up, expressing their belief that 'it is necessary to circumcise them [i.e.; the Gentile converts] and charge them to keep the law of Moses.’”

The Judaizers were teaching that a person enters God’s covenant community by means of the sacrament of circumcision and thereupon must endeavor to merit and maintain God’s favor by means of his personal observance of the law. In essence, this heresy, (and all other heresies in one way or another), denied the all-sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christ to be our one and only source of salvation. Furthermore, it erroneously taught the capability of man to contribute to his salvation by the observance of religious rites and by means of his own personal moral endeavors.

Who were these men, and how was it that they were found within the Christian church, even taking part in the Jerusalem Council? Note that the Apostle Paul calls them “false brethren” (Gal. 2:4) and in the Book of Acts Luke identifies them as “certain men of the sect of the Pharisees” (Acts 15:5). So, the question becomes, “How did these Pharisees happen to be present at a council of the Christian church?”

One must bear in mind that the Pharisees were firm believers in the doctrine of the resurrection (Acts 23:8). Apparently, when the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, and His disciples presented their irrefutable witness to His resurrection, some of the Pharisees acknowledged Him to be the Messiah and associated themselves with His church. But when they entered the church, they did not understand the gospel; they continued to hold to their former religious beliefs. They did not place their faith completely in Christ alone; rather, they sought to fit Christ into their religious system. As noted, they believed in the necessity of circumcision and personal obedience as part of an effort to earn and maintain one’s own salvation. Apparently, these “false brethren” only viewed the Lord Jesus as an example to be followed, rather than what He is in fact: the Savior to be trusted.

In his Epistle to the Galatians, the Apostle Paul will refute this heretical teaching, by providing the churches with a true understanding of the significance and teaching of the Mosaic Law. He will seek to re-establish the churches in the doctrines of salvation by grace and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. He will also inform the churches that the purpose of our salvation is the living out of the new life of holiness unto God; a life entered into by faith in Christ and cultivated by reliance on the Holy Spirit.