Introduction to Galatians

Galatians! What a fabulous book! What a fascinating read! Galatians is arguably the most important book in church history and quite possibly the first New Testament book that was written. If we give it the early date, assuming that Paul was writing to the churches he started on his first missionary journey in Acts 13 and 14, and that it was written before the council in Jerusalem which takes place in Acts 15 as seems likely, that puts the date of its writing around 48 AD, less than twenty years after the death and resurrection of Christ.

Galatians is an epistle, in other words an open letter that was intended for public reading. The Epistle to the Galatians is a polemic--an argument. It was written to combat an early false teaching that was being promulgated by certain Jewish converts to Christ and it contends earnestly for the gospel as delivered by Christ. It is a passionate letter written by a passionate hand. In fact, it may be the only of Paul's letters written by his own hand.

Less than twenty years after Christ and in the midst of its early expansion the Church experienced its first controversy. Knowing the history of events after Christ ascended to heaven and having an idea of the history and culture of the Jewish people from the intertestamental period into the first century helps give a clear understanding of how this controversy took place and what was at stake in it. In this Bible study I endeavor to set the table for us to get a deeper understanding of this book. We are about to go on a journey verse by verse through Galatians and I hope you will join us as we do. This opening lesson went a little longer than I expected, but we hope to take smaller bites as we proceed. I hope that you will take the time to click and listen. God bless you.


Click here:  Introduction to Galatians


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