Historical Background

Paul’s letter to the Galatians is extremely important for understanding what was happening in the early days of the Christian church. As an historical record, it allows us to see the tensions that were generated by the inclusion of Gentiles not long after the excitement of the Day of Pentecost in Jerusalem. This was when many Jews of the dispersion were there from different parts of the Roman Empire to celebrate the Feast of Weeks. They returned to their homes where they were used to living in Gentile towns and meeting with Greeks or Romans, some of whom came to their local synagogue.

Antioch

Some of those who had accepted the gospel in Jerusalem had established a church at Antioch where they were joined by a number of Gentiles. It became quite a flourishing centre of Christianity and was the home church that had sent Paul and Barnabas out onto their first missionary journey (Acts 13:2). In Galatians 2:11-14, Paul relates an earlier visit of Peter to Antioch when Peter had accepted the Gentile believers and was eating with them in the church, but when some of the Jewish group in Jerusalem arrived advocating the circumcision of the Gentile believers, Peter and Barnabas had both withdrawn from fellowship with the Gentiles in the presence of the Judaizers. Paul strongly opposed the Judaizers on the grounds that Christians are justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law (Gal 2:16).

This gives us an insight into what was happening in the church, because Peter had already encountered Cornelius the Roman Centurion whose whole household had accepted the gospel and been baptised by Peter (Acts 10). That was an enormous step-change for him because the Romans were an army of occupation forcing the Jews to pay taxes to Rome and were greatly hated. Before this, for Peter even to enter the house of a Gentile would have been unthinkable, but the gospel was now breaking down all barriers.

Judaizers

Some of these Judaizers had evidently gone among the churches in Galatia where Gentile believers had accepted the teaching of Paul that by being baptised into Christ their sins were forgiven and they were brought into a right relationship with God. These Judaizers were distorting that teaching – leading to the confrontation between Peter and Paul.

Children of Abraham

Paul makes two major points. First of all, Gentile believers who accept Christ are children of Abraham according to the promise given to Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him. Secondly, Abraham was justified by faith some 430 years before the law was given! In the same way, Gentile believers are justified by faith, not by keeping the Law.

The Purpose of The Law

This raises the question about the purpose of the law. (By law, in this instance, Paul means the Torah, the whole teaching of Moses. In other places, Paul uses the term ‘the Law’ in a much wider context meaning the whole Jewish Scriptures including the prophets, but here he means the teaching given to Moses.) He says that its purpose was as an interim measure to give guidance to the people until the full revelation of truth came in Christ. The law was put in place to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith.

The law was put in place to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith.

Paul gives the illustration of a child who is the heir. This child owns the whole estate but he has no power, being under the stewardship of guardians – the law – until he comes of age.

In the same way we are sons of God. Gentiles, like the rest of the world, are enslaved by sin but they are set free by Christ. Jews are under the curse of the law, because no one can actually fulfil every jot and tittle of all the rules and regulations of the law. Christ has redeemed the Jews from the curse of the law by becoming a curse himself.

Sons of God

So, both Jew and Gentile are sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ. All who have been baptised in Christ are sons of God and are therefore brought together as being in one family. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal 3:28-29).

First Outcome Of Freedom

The gospel breaks down barriers. All those who are in Christ are of one family and should accept each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul brings this teaching in the context of table fellowship in the church at Antioch where Jew and Gentile ate together. For the Jew, this could only be as the result of being set free from the requirements of the law. There were three requirements of the law. One was circumcision. The second was observance of the Sabbath and festivals. The third was observing food regulations which also meant not eating with Gentiles.

The gospel set believers free from all these regulations, but they were not freed to serve themselves but to serve others.

The gospel set believers free from all these regulations, but they were not freed to serve themselves but to serve others. Freedom did not mean self-indulgence but serving one another in love. Paul spelt this out, “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in the single command: love your neighbour as yourself” (Gal 5:13-14).

Second Outcome

Paul illustrates the second outcome of freedom in Christ for believers by appealing to a little bit of the early history of Israel that was part of the nation’s folklore. It was the story of the two sons of Abraham, one born to him by Hagar who was a slave girl and the other by Sarah his wife. The whole story is told not as history, but as allegory, which would have appealed to the Greeks Paul was addressing. The major point that Paul was making was that by accepting circumcision they were binding themselves to the written words of the law from which Christ had set them free – they would lose that freedom. By binding themselves to the law they would actually alienate themselves from Christ. “You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ” (Gal 5:4).

Paul probably was thinking about the ‘new covenant’ that Jeremiah foresaw that God would establish with the people of Israel through which the essential truths of the law would be part of their mindset and written in their hearts (Jer 31:33). Through faith in Christ, this new covenant relationship with God was open to Gentiles enabling them to live by faith and not to be like slaves bound by law. He said, “The only thing that counts is faith exercising itself through love” (Gal 5:6).

This led Paul to describe living by the Spirit and avoiding the sins of our human nature but expressing, in our lives, the fruit of the Spirit – “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5: 22).

The Charismatic Movement

This is the summit of Paul’s call to live by faith and not to be shackled by law. To put this into the context of our own lives, many of us have seen the Charismatic Movement come and go. It swept through British churches of all denominations from the 1960s to the end of the century. It brought great freedom from the ‘religion of the book’ that had kept us bound to dead tradition invented by human beings with clergy wearing dog collars and long black cassocks – separating them from the rest of humanity – far removed from the ‘ecclesia’ or ‘community of believers’ described in the New Testament.

Sadly, the freedom of the Spirit was soon taken over by ambitious human beings craving for power.

Sadly, the freedom of the Spirit was soon taken over by ambitious human beings craving for power, inventing their own teachings, twisting Scripture, misusing prophecy and making a public spectacle of the precious gifts of the Holy Spirit. God forgive us! There could have been revival in the late 1980s and early 1990s which would have changed the course of history. Instead, we had the spectacles of spiritual wickedness in high places that many of us witnessed in dismay!

Today, something new is happening – a fresh encounter with the Spirit of God. It can be seen in a few churches in different parts of Britain and in countless small groups of believers – the faithful Bible believing remnant. Could this be a fresh opportunity to allow God to take control of His church and to use it to transform the nation at this time when the majority of people have no knowledge of God and we are drifting towards disaster?

There are undoubtedly signs of new life of the Spirit of God in some of the churches. But will we allow the Spirit of God to do the work of redemption required – first in the churches and among the Bible believing remnant – and then out into the nation?

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The above thoughts are expressed to encourage thinking on theological themes, and we intend sharing more in the coming weeks. Jesus also asked questions when he wanted to press home spiritual truths that he wanted his listeners to explore. The emphasis in the Western Church today upon the death of Christ rather than his resurrection is surely a fascinating subject which we are beginning to explore!

Please contribute comments on this article below, but if you would also like to contribute to a creative theological discussion on these challenging subjects, that will initially be directly by e-mail, but on a website that will not be open to the public, please send an email response with ‘Why Seek’ in the title to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to enter into further discussion on this issue with Dr Hill and others.