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GALATIANS, EPISTLE TO THE

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 396 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GALATIANS, See also:EPISTLE TO THE , one of the books of the New Testament. This See also:early See also:Christian scripture is one of the books militant in the See also:world's literature. Its usefulness to See also:Luther in his propaganda was no See also:accident in its histcry; it originated in a controversy, and the varying views of the momentous struggle depicted in Gal. ii. and Acts xv. have naturally determined, from See also:time to time, the conception of the epistle's aim and date. Details of the See also:long See also:critical discussion of this problem cannot be given here. (See See also:PAUL.) It must suffice to say that to the See also:present writer the See also:identification of Gal. ii. 1-ro with Acts xi. 28 f. and not with Acts xv. appears quite untenable, while a See also:fair exegesis of Acts xvi. 1-6 implies a distinction between such towns as Lystra, Derbe and See also:Iconium on the one See also:hand and the Galatian xc'epa with See also:Phrygia upon the other.2 A further visit to the latter See also:country is mentioned, upon this view, in Acts xviii. 23. The Christians to whom the epistle was addressed were thus inhabitants, for the most See also:part (iv. 8) of See also:pagan See also:birth, belonging to the See also:northern See also:section of the See also:province, perhaps mainly in its See also:south-western See also:district adjoining See also:Bithynia and the province of See also:Asia. The scanty allusions to this See also:mission in Acts cannot be taken as any objection to the theory.

Nor is there any valid See also:

geographical difficulty. The country was quite accessible from See also:Antioch. Least of all does the See also:historical See also:evidence at our disposal justify the inference that the See also:civilization of See also:north See also:Galatia, during the 1st See also:century A.D., was Romano-Gallic rather than Hellenic; for, as the coins and See also:inscriptions indicate, the Anatolian culture which predominated throughout the province did not exclude the infusion either of See also:Greek religious conceptions or of the Greek See also:language. The degree of elementary Greek culture needful for the understanding of Galatians cannot be shown to have been See also:foreign to the in-habitants of north Galatia. So far as any trustworthy evidence is available, such Hellenic notions as are presupposed in this epistle might well have been intelligible to the Galatians of the northern provinces. Still less does the acquaintance with See also:Roman See also:jurisprudence in iii. 15-1V. 2 imply, as Halmel contends (Uber rom. Recht See also:im Galaterbrief, 1895), not merely that Paul must have acquired such knowledge in See also:Italy but that he wrote the epistle there. A popular acquaintance with the outstanding features of Roman See also:law was widely diffused by this time in Asia See also:Minor. The epistle can hardly have been written therefore until after the See also:period described in Acts xviii. 22, but the See also:terminus ad quem is more difficult to See also:fix.3 The See also:composition may be placed (cf. the present writer's Historical New Testament, pp.

124 f. for details) either during the earlier part of Paul's See also:

residence at See also:Ephesus (Acts xix. 1, ro, so most editors and scholars), or on his way from Ephesus to See also:Corinth, or at Corinth itself (so See also:Lightfoot, See also:Bleek, See also:Salmon). The epistle was not written until Paul had visited Thessalonica, 2 The historical and geographical facts concerning Galatia, which See also:lead other writers to support the south Galatian theory, are stated in the preceding See also:article on Galatia; and the question is still a See also:matter"of controversy, the See also:division of See also:opinion being to some extent dependent on whether it is approached from the point of view of the archaeologist or the Biblical critic. The ablest re-statements of the north Galatian theory, in the See also:light of See also:recent pleas for south Galatia as the destination of this epistle, may be found by the See also:English reader in P. W. Schmiedel's exhaustive article in Encycl. Biblica (1592–1616) and Prof. G. H. See also:Gilbert's Student's See also:Life of Paul (1902), pp. 260—272. Schmiedel's arguments are mainly directed against See also:Sir W.

M. See also:

Ramsay, but a recent Roman See also:Catholic See also:scholar, Dr A. Steinmann, takes a wider survey in a pamphlet on the north Galatian See also:side of the controversy (See also:Die A bfassungszeit See also:des Galaterbriefes, See also:Munster, i. W., 1906), carrying forward the points already urged by Sieffert and Zockler amongst others, and especially refuting his See also:fellow-churchman, Prof. See also:Valentine See also:Weber. The tendency among adherents of the south Galatian theory is to put the epistle as early as possible, making it contemporaneous with, if not See also:prior to, 1 See also:Thessalonians. So See also:Douglass See also:Round in The Date of St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians (1906). but the Galatian churches owed their origin to a mission of Paul sections in the epistle (i. 6-ii. 21). In the closing passage he drifts over from an See also:account of this interview with See also:Peter into a sort of See also:monologue upon the incompatibility of the See also:Mosaic law with the Christian See also:gospel (ii. 15-2I),' and this starts him afresh upon a trenchant expostulation and See also:appeal 12) regarding the alternatives of law and spirit.

Faith dominates this section; faith in its historical career and as the vantage-ground of See also:

Christianity. The much-vaunted law is shown to be merely a provisional episodes culminating in the gospel (iii. 7-28) as a See also:message of filial confidence and freedom (iii. 29-iv. II). The genuine "sons of See also:Abraham" are not legalistic Jewish Christians but those who simply possess faith in Jesus See also:Christ. A passionate outburst then follows (iv. 12 f.), and, harping still on Abraham, the apostle essays, with fresh rabbinic See also:dialectic, to establish Christianity over legalism as the See also:free and final See also:religion for men, applying this to the moral situation of the Galatians themselves (v. 1-12). This conception of freedom then leads him to define the moral responsibilities of the faith (v. 13-vi. 10), in See also:order to prevent misconception and to enforce the claims of the gospel upon the individual and social life of the Galatians.

The See also:

epilogue (vi. 11-21) reiterates, in a handful of abrupt, emphatic sentences, the See also:main points of the epistle. The allusion in vi. 11 (b5sm 3r'gXiKOLS 47.P 'ypaµµaow eypa¢a Tp Eµ ii Xespr) is to the large bold See also:size 9 of the letters in Paul's See also:handwriting, but the See also:object and See also:scope of the reference are matters of dispute. It is "a sensational heading" (See also:Findlay), but it may either refer 10 to the whole epistle (so See also:Augustine, See also:Chrysostom, &c., followed by Zahn) or, as most hold (with See also:Jerome) to the postscript (vi. 11-18). Paul commonly dictated his letters. His use of the autograph here may have been to prevent any suspicion of a See also:forgery or to See also:mark the See also:personal emphasis of his message. In any See also:case it is assumed that the Galatians knew his handwriting. It is unlikely that he inserted this postscript from a feeling of ironical playfulness, to make the Galatians realize that, after the sternness of the early chapters, he was now treating them like See also:children, " playfully hinting that surely the large letters will See also:touch their See also:hearts " (so Deissmann, See also:Bible-Studies (1901), 346 f.). The earliest allusion to the epistlers is the See also:notice of itsinclusion in See also:Marcion's See also:canon, but almost verbal echoes of iii. 10-13 are to be heard in See also:Justin See also:Martyr's See also:Dial. xciv.-xcv.; it was certainly known to See also:Polycarp, and as the 2nd century advances the evidence of its popularity multiplies on all sides, from See also:Ptolemaeus and the See also:Ophites to See also:Irenaeus and the Muratorian canon (cf.

See also:

Gregory's Canon and See also:Text of N.T., 1907, pp. 201-203). It is no longer necessary for serious See also:criticism to refute the objections to its authenticity raised during the 19th century in certain quarters;', as See also:Macaulay said of the authenticity of See also:Caesar's commentaries, " to doubt on that subject is the See also:mere rage of See also:scepticism." ' Cf. T. H. See also:Green's See also:Works, iii. 186 f. Verses 15-17 are the indirect abstract of the speech's See also:argument, but in verses 18-21 the apostle, carried away by the thought and barrier of the moment as he dictates to his See also:amanuensis, forgets the See also:original situation. 8 Thus Paul reverses the See also:ordinary rabbinic See also:doctrine which taught (cf. Kiddushim, 30, b) that the law was given as the divine remedy for the evil yezer of See also:man. So far from being a remedy, he argues, it is an See also:aggravation. 0 According to See also:Plutarch, See also:Cato the See also:elder wrote histories for the use of his son, h3tg xeapi Kai µeyaXots ypaµgavav (cf.

See also:

Field's Notes on See also:Translation of the New Testament, p. 191). If the point of Gal. vi. 11 lies in the size of the letters, Paul cannot have contemplated copies of the epistle being made. He must have assumed that the autograph would reach all the See also:local churches (cf. 2 Thess. iii. 17, with E. A. See also:Abbott, 7ohannine See also:Grammar, pp. 530-532). 10 For typalka, the epistolary See also:aorist, at the See also:close of a See also:letter, cf. Xen.

Anab. i. 9. 25, Thuc. i. 129. 3, See also:

Ezra iv. 14 (LXX) and See also:Lucian, Dial. Meretr. x. 11 See also:Hermann Schulze's See also:attempt to bring out the filiation of the later N.T. literature to Galatians (Die Urspriinglichkeit des Galaterbriefes, See also:Leipzig, 1903) involves repeated exaggerations of the See also:literary evidence. 12 Cf. especially J. Gloe's Die jiingste Kritik des Galaterbriefes (Leipzig, 189o) and Baljon's reply to Steck and Loman (Exeg.-kritische verhandeling over den Brief See also:van P. aan de Gal., 1889). The English reader may consult Schmiedel's article (already referred to) and Dr R. J.

Knowling's The Testimony of St Paul to Christ (1905), 28 f. undertaken some time before he crossed from Asia to See also:

Europe. When he composed this letter, he had visited the churches twice. On the former of these visits (iv. 13 To 3rparepov), though broken down by illness (2 See also:Cor. xii. 7-9?) he had been enthusiastically welcomed, and the immediate result of his mission was an outburst of religious fervour (iii. 1-5, iv. 14 f.). The local Christians made a most promising start (v. 7). But they failed to maintain their ardour. On his second visit (iv.

13, i. 7, v. 21) the apostle found in many of them a disheartening slackness, due to discord and incipient legalism. His See also:

plain-speaking gave offence in some quarters (iv. 16), though it was not wholly ineffective. Otherwise, this second visit is See also:left in the See also:shadow' So far as it was accompanied by warnings, these were evidently See also:general rather than elicited by any definite and imminent peril to the churches. Not long afterwards, however, some judaizing opponents of the apostle (See also:note the contemptuous anonymity of the See also:rives in i. 7, as in See also:Col. ii. 4 f.), headed by one prominent and influential individual (v. to), made their See also:appearance among the Galatians, promulgating a " gospel " which meant fidelity to, not freedom from, the Law (i. 6-1o). Arguing from the Old Testament, they represented Paul's gospel as an imperfect creed which required to be supplemented by legal exactitude,, including See also:ritual observance (iv. so) and even See also:circumcision,3 while at the same time they sought to undermine his authority 4 by pointing out that it was derived from the apostles at See also:Jerusalem and therefore that his teaching must be open to the checks and tests of that orthodox See also:primitive See also:standard which they themselves claimed to embody. The See also:sole valid See also:charter to Messianic privileges was observance of the Mosaic law, which remained obligatory upon pagan converts (iii.

6-9, 16). When the See also:

news of this relapse reached Paul, matters had evidently not yet gone too far. Only a few had been circumcised. It was not too See also:late to See also:arrest the Galatians on their down-See also:ward See also:plane, and the apostle, unable or unwilling to re-visit them, despatched this epistle. How or when the See also:information came to him, we do not know. But the gravity of the situation renders it unlikely that he would delay for any length of time in See also:writing to counteract the intrigues of his opponents; to See also:judge from allusions like those in i. 6 (rax&ws and µerarLBeuOe—the See also:lapse still in progress), we may conclude that the See also:interval between the reception of the news and the composition of the letter must have been comparatively brief. After a See also:short introduction' (i. 1-5), instead of giving his usual word of See also:commendation, he plunges into a personal and historical vindications of his apostolic See also:independence, which, See also:developed negatively and positively, forms the first of the three main 1 It is not quite clear whether traces of the Judaistic agitation were already found by Paul on this visit (so especially See also:Holsten, See also:Lipsius, Sieffert, See also:Pfleiderer, See also:Weiss and See also:Weizsacker) or whether they are to be dated subsequent to his departure (so See also:Philippi, See also:Renan and See also:Hofmann, among others). The See also:tone of surprise which marks the opening of the epistle tells in favour of the latter theory. Paul seems to have been taken aback by the news of the Galatians' defection. 2 Apparently they were See also:clever enough to keep the Galatians in See also:ignorance that the entire law would require to be obeyed (v.

3). ' The critical dubiety about obIE in ii. 5 (cf. Zahn's excursus and Prof. See also:

Lake in Expositor, See also:March 1906, p. 236 f.) throws a slight doubt on the See also:interpretation of ii. 3, but it is clear that the See also:agitators had quoted Paul's practice as an authoritative See also:sanction of the rite. ' This depreciation is voiced in their catch-word oa Iosovvrss (" those of repute," ii. 6), while other echoes of their talk can be overheard in such phrases as " we are Abraham's See also:seed " (iii. 16), " sinners of Gentiles " (ii. 15) and " Jerusalem which is our See also:mother " (iv. 26), as well as in their charges against Paul of " seeking to please men " (i.

'o) and " See also:

preaching circumcision " (v. Is). ' Not only is the address " to the churches of Galatia " unusually See also:bare, but Paul associates no one with himself, either because he was on a See also:journey or because, as the attacked party, he desired to concentrate See also:attention upon his personal See also:commission. Yet the *ads of i. 8 indicates colleagues like See also:Silas and See also:Timothy. 0 Cf. See also:Hausrath's See also:History of the N.T. Times (iii. pp. 181-199), with the See also:fine remarks, on vi. 17, that " Paul stands before us like an See also:ancient general who bares his See also:breast before his mutinous legions, and shows them the scars of the wounds that proclaim him not unworthy to be called Imperator." Even the problems of its integrity are quite secondary. Marcion (cf. Tert.

Adv. Marc. 2-4) removed what he judged to be some interpolations, but van Manen's attempt to prove that Marcion's text is more original than the canonical (Theolog. Tijdschrift, 1887, 400 f. 451 f.) has won no support (cf. C. Clemen's refutation in Die Einheitlichkeit der paulin. Briefe, 1894, pp. 100 f. and Zahn's Geschichte d. N.T. See also:

lichen Kanons, ii. 409 f.), and little or no See also:weight attaches to the attempts made (e.g. by J. A.

See also:

Cramer) to disentangle a Pauline See also:nucleus from later accretions. Even D. Volter, who applies this method to the other Pauline epistles, admits that Galatians,whether See also:authentic or not, is substantially a literary unity (See also:Paulus and See also:seine Briefe, 1905, pp. 229-285). The frequent roughnesses of the traditional text suggest, however,that here and there marginal glosses may have crept in. Thus iv. 25a (re yap lwa opos Errly iv T17 'Apa/3i¢) probably represents the explanatory and prosaic See also:gloss of a later editor, as many scholars have seen from See also:Bentley (Opuscula philologica, 1781, pp. 533 f.) to H. A. Schott, J. A. Cramer, J.

M. S. Baljon and C. Holsten. The general See also:

style of the epistle is vigorous and unpremeditated, " one continuous See also:rush, a veritable torrent of genuine and inimitable Paulinism, like a See also:mountain stream in full See also:flood, such as may often have been seen by his Galatians " (J. See also:Macgregor). But there is a certain rhythmical See also:balance, especially in the first See also:chapter (cf. J. Weiss, Beitrage zur paulin. Rhetorik, 1897, 8 f.); here as elsewhere the rush and flow of feeling carry with them some care for rhetorical See also:form, in the shape of antitheses, such as a See also:pupil of the See also:schools might more or less unconsciously retain.' All through, the letter shows the breaks and pauses of a mind in See also:direct contact with some personal crisis. Hurried, unconnected sentences, rather than sustained argument, are its most characteristic features.2 The trenchant remonstrances and fiery outbursts make it indeed " read like a dithyramb from beginning to end." 'Compare the See also:minute See also:analysis of the whole epistle in F. See also:Blass, Die Rhythmen der asianischen and romischen Kunstprosa (1905), pp.

43-53, 204-216, where, however, this feature is exaggerated into unreality. The comic trimeter in Philipp. iii. 1 (Epos LEI' See also:

OVK 6KVI7pbv, billy 5' au4,axk) may well be, like that in 1 Cor. xv. 33, a See also:reminiscence of See also:Menander. I This affects even the vocabulary which has also " einen gewissen vulgaren See also:Zug " (Nageli, Der Wortschatz des Apostels Paulus, 1905, PP. 78-79).is admirably expounded from different standpoints by C. See also:Holster, (Das Evangelium Paulus, Tell I., i., 1880), A. B. See also:Bruce (St Paul's Conception of Christianity, 1894, pp. 49-70) and Prof. G. G.

Findlay (Expositor's Bible). Or, the historical aspects, Zimmer (Galat. and Apostelgeschichte, 1882) and M. See also:

Thomas (Melanges d'histoire et de lift. religieuse, See also:Paris, 1899, pp. 1-195) are excellent; E. H. Askwith's See also:essay (Epistle to the Galatians, its Destination and Date, 1899) See also:advocates ingeniously the south Galatian theory, and W. S. See also:Wood (Studies in St Paul's Epistle to the Galatians, 1887) criticizes Lightfoot. General studies of the epistle will be found in all See also:biographies of Paul and histories of the apostolic See also:age, as well as in works like See also:Sabatier's The Apostle Paul (pp. 187 f.), B. W. See also:Bacon's See also:Story of St Paul (pp.

116 f.), Dr R. D. See also:

Shaw's The Pauline Epistles (2nd ed., pp. 6o f.), R. Mariano, Il Cristianesimo See also:nei primi secoli (1902), i. pp. 111 f.. and Volkmar's Paulus vom Damaskus bis zum Galaterbrief (1887), to which may be added a See also:series of papers by See also:Haupt in Deutsche Evang.-Bldtter (1904), 1-16, 89-108, 161-183, 238-259, and an earlier set by See also:Hilgenfeld in the Zeitschrift fiir wiss. Theologie (" Zur Vorgeschichte des Gal." 186o, pp. 206 f., 1866, pp. 301 f.,1884, pp. 303 f.). Other monographs and essays have been noted in the course of this article. See further under PAUL.

(J.

End of Article: GALATIANS, EPISTLE TO THE

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