THE CONFLICT WITH THE JUDAIZERS
1. APOLLOS
Before the arrival of Paul at Ephesus an important event had taken place in that city—the meeting of Aquila and Priscilla with Apollos. Apollos was a Jew of Alexandrian descent. He had already received instruction about Jesus—perhaps in his native city. Of all the great cities of the Roman Empire Alexandria alone was approximately as near to Jerusalem as was Syrian Antioch. The founding of the church at Alexandria is obscure, but undoubtedly it took place at a very early time. At a later period Alexandria was of the utmost importance as the center of Christian learning, as it had been already the center of the learning of the pagan world. Until instructed by Aquila and Priscilla, Apollos had known only the baptism of John the Baptist. Apparently one important thing that he had lacked was an acquaintance with the peculiar Christian manifestation of the Holy Spirit. He seems to have been trained in Greek rhetoric, whether the word translated "eloquent" in Acts 18:24 means "eloquent" or "learned." Apollos did not remain long in Ephesus, but went to Corinth, where, as can be learned from First Corinthians as well as from The Acts, his work was of great importance.
2. GALATIANS A POLEMIC
After studying first the Thessalonian epistles and then Galatians in succession the student should be able to form some conception of the variety among the epistles of Paul. Certainly there could be no sharper contrast. First and Second Thessalonians are simple, affectionate letters written to a youthful church; Galatians is one of the most passionate bits of polemic in the whole Bible. We ought to honor Paul for his anger. A lesser man might have taken a calmer view of the situation. After all, it might have been said, the observance of Jewish fasts and feasts was not a serious matter; even circumcision, though useless, could do no great harm. But Paul penetrated below the surface. He detected the great principles that were at stake. The Judaizers were disannulling the grace of God.
3. THE ADDRESS. GAL. 1:1-5
The addresses of the Pauline epistles are never merely formal. Paul does not wait for the beginning of the letter proper in order to say what he has in mind. Even the epistolary forms are suffused with the deepest religious feeling.
The opening of the present letter is anticipatory of what is to follow. Dividing the opening into three parts—the nominative (name and title of the writer), the dative (name of those to whom the letter is addressed), and the greeting—it will be observed that every one of these parts has its peculiarity as compared with the other Pauline epistles.
The peculiarity of the nominative is the remarkable addition beginning with "not from men," which is a summary of the first great division of the epistle, Paul's defense against the personal attack of his opponents. Since the Epistle to the Galatians is polemic from beginning to end, it is not surprising that the very first word after the bare name and title of the author is "not." Paul cannot mention his title "apostle"—in the addresses of First and Second Thessalonians he had not thought it necessary to mention it at all—without thinking of the way in which in Galatia it was misrepresented. "My apostleship," he says, "came not only from Christ, but directly from Christ."
The peculiarity of the dative is its brevity—not "beloved of God, called to be saints," or the like, but just the bare and formal "to the churches of Galatia." The situation was not one which called for pleasant words!
The greeting is the least varied part in the addresses of the Pauline epistles. The long addition to the greeting in Galatians is absolutely unique. It is a summary of the second and central main division of the epistle, Paul's defense of his gospel. "Christ has died to free you. The Judaizers in bringing you into bondage are making of none effect the grace of Christ, manifested on the cross." That is the very core of the letter. In all of the Pauline epistles there is scarcely a passage more characteristic of the man than the first five verses of Galatians. An ordinary writer would have been merely formal in the address. Not so Paul!
The exultant supernaturalism of the address should be noticed. This supernaturalism appears, in the first place, in the sphere of external history—"God the Father, who raised him from the dead." Pauline Christianity is based upon the miracle of the resurrection. Supernaturalism appears also, however, in the sphere of Christian experience—"who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us out of this present evil world." Christianity is no mere easy development of the old life, no mere improvement of the life, but a new life in a new world. In both spheres, supernaturalism is being denied in the modern Church. Pauline Christianity is very different from much that is called Christianity to-day.
Finally, this passage will serve to exhibit Paul's lofty view of the person of Christ. "Neither through man," says Paul, "but through Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ is here distinguished sharply from men and placed clearly on the side of God. What is more, even the Judaizers evidently accepted fundamentally the same view. Paul said, "Not by man, but by Jesus Christ"; the Judaizers said, "Not by Jesus Christ, but by man." But if so, then the Judaizers, no less than Paul, distinguished Jesus sharply from ordinary humanity. About other things there was debate, but about the person of Christ Paul appears in harmony even with his opponents. Evidently the original apostles had given the Judaizers on this point no slightest excuse for differing from Paul. The heavenly Christ of Paul was also the Christ of those who had walked and talked with Jesus of Nazareth. They had seen Jesus subject to all the petty limitations of human life. Yet they thought him divine! Could they have been deceived?
4. THE PURPOSE OF THE EPISTLE. GAL. 1:6-10
The thanksgiving for the Christian state of the readers, which appears in practically every other of the Pauline epistles, is here conspicuous by its absence. Here it would have been a mockery. The Galatians were on the point of giving up the gospel. There was just a chance of saving them. The letter was written in a desperate crisis. Pray God it might not be too late! No time here for words of thanks!
In vs. 6-10, Paul simply states the purpose of the letter in a few uncompromising words: "You are falling away from the gospel and I am writing to stop you."
5. PAUL'S DEFENSE OF HIS APOSTOLIC AUTHORITY. GAL. 1:11 to 2:21
After stating, Gal. 1:11,12, the thesis that is to be proved in this section, Paul defends his independent apostolic authority by three main arguments.
In the first place, vs. 13-24, he was already launched upon his work as apostle to the Gentiles before he had even come into any effective contact with the original apostles. Before his conversion, he had been an active persecutor. His conversion was wrought, not, like an ordinary conversion, through human agency, but by an immediate act of Christ. After his conversion it was three years before he saw any of the apostles. Then he saw only Peter (and James) and that not long enough to become, as his opponents said, a disciple of these leaders.
In the second place, Gal. 2:1-10, when he finally did hold a conference with the original apostles, they themselves, the very authorities to whom the Judaizers appealed, recognized that his authority was quite independent of theirs, and, like theirs, of directly divine origin.
In the third place, Gal. 2:11-21, so independent was his authority that on one occasion he could even rebuke the chief of the original apostles himself. What Paul said at that time to Peter happened to be exactly what he wanted to say, in the epistle, to the Galatians. This section, therefore, forms a transition to the second main division of the epistle. It has sometimes been thought surprising that Paul does not say how Peter took his rebuke. The conclusion has even been drawn that if Peter had acknowledged his error Paul would have been sure to say so. Such reasoning ignores the character of this section. In reporting the substance of what he said to Peter, Paul has laid bare the very depths of his own life. To return, after such a passage, to the incident at Antioch would have been pedantic and unnecessary. Long before the end of the second chapter Paul has forgotten all about Peter, all about Antioch, and all about the whole of his past history. He is thinking only of the grace of Christ, and how some men are trampling it under foot. O foolish Galatians, to desert so great a salvation!
6. PAUL'S DEFENSE OF HIS GOSPEL. GAL. 3:1 to 5:12
Salvation cannot be earned by human effort, but must be received simply as a free gift: Christ has died to save us from the curse of the law: to submit again to the yoke of bondage is disloyalty to him—that is the great thesis that Paul sets out to prove.
He proves it first by an argument from experience. Gal. 3:1-5. You received the Holy Spirit, in palpable manifestation, before you ever saw the Judaizers, before you ever thought of keeping the Mosaic law. You received the Spirit by faith alone. How then can you now think that the law is necessary? Surely there can be nothing higher than the Spirit.
In the second place, there is an argument from Scripture. Not those who depend upon the works of the law, but those who believe, have the benefit of the covenant made with Abraham. Vs. 6-22.
In the third place, by the use of various figures, Paul contrasts the former bondage with the present freedom. Gal. 3:23 to 4:7. The life under the law was a period of restraint like that of childhood, preliminary to faith in Christ. The law was intended to produce the consciousness of sin, in order that the resultant hopelessness might lead men to accept the Saviour. Vs. 23-25. But now all Christians alike, both Jews and Gentiles, are sons of God in Christ, and therefore heirs of the promise made to Abraham. Vs. 26-29. Being sons of God, with all the glorious freedom of sonship, with the Spirit crying, "Abba, Father," in the heart, how can we think of returning to the miserable bondage of an external and legalistic religion? Gal. 4:1-11.
In the fourth place, Paul turns away from argument to make a personal appeal. Vs. 12-20. What has become of your devotion to me? Surely I have not become your enemy just because I tell you the truth. The Judaizers are estranging you from me. Listen to me, my spiritual children, even though I can speak to you only through the cold medium of a letter!
In the fifth place, Paul, in his perplexity, bethinks himself of one more argument. It is an argument that would appeal especially to those who were impressed by the Judaizers' method of using the Old Testament, but it also has permanent validity. The fundamental principle, says Paul, for which I am arguing, the principle of grace, can be illustrated from the story of Ishmael and Isaac. Ishmael had every prospect of being the heir of Abraham. It seemed impossible for the aged Abraham to have another son. Nature was on Ishmael's side. But nature was overruled. So it is to-day. As far as nature is concerned, the Jews are the heirs of Abraham—they have all the outward marks of sonship. But God has willed otherwise. He has chosen to give the inheritance to the heirs according to promise. The principle of the divine choice, operative on a small scale in the acceptance of Isaac, is operative now on a large scale in the acceptance of the Gentile church.
Finally, Paul concludes the central section of the epistle by emphasizing the gravity of the crisis. Gal. 5:1-12. Do not be deceived. Circumcision as the Judaizers advocate it is no innocent thing; it means the acceptance of a law religion. You must choose either the law or grace; you cannot have both.
7. THE RESULTS OF PAUL'S GOSPEL. GAL. 5:13 to 6:10
In this third main division of the epistle Paul exhibits the practical working of faith. Paul's gospel is more powerful than the teaching of the Judaizers. Try to keep the law in your own strength and you will fail, for the flesh is too strong. But the Spirit is stronger than the flesh, and the Spirit is received by faith.
8. CONCLUSION. GAL. 6:11-18
This concluding section, if not the whole epistle, was written with Paul's own hand. V. 11. In his other letters Paul dictated everything but a brief closing salutation.
In the closing section, Paul lays the alternative once more before his readers. The Judaizers have worldly aims, they boast of worldly advantages; but the true Christian boasts of nothing but the cross. Christianity, as here portrayed, is not the gentle, easy-going doctrine that is being mistaken for it to-day. It is no light thing to say, "The world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world." But the result is a new creature!
In the Library.—Purves, "Christianity in the Apostolic Age," pp. 203-213. Davis, "Dictionary of the Bible": article on "Ephesus"; Purves, articles on "Galatia" and "Galatians, Epistle to the" (supplemented). Hastings, "Dictionary of the Bible": Ramsay, article on "Ephesus"; Dods, article on "Galatians, Epistle to the." Ramsay, "St. Paul the Traveller and the Roman Citizen," pp. 262-282; "Pictures of the Apostolic Church," pp. 247-269, 293-300. Lewin, "The Life and Epistles of St. Paul," chs. xii, xiii. Conybeare and Howson, "The Life and Epistles of St. Paul," chs. xii, xiii, xiv, xv and xvi. Stalker, "The Life of St. Paul," pp. 82-84, 108-118. Lumby, pp. 239-266. Cook, pp. 476-485. Plumptre, pp. 124-136. Rackham, pp. 331-370. M'Clymont, "The New Testament and Its Writers," pp. 70-76. Ellicott, "A New Testament Commentary for English Readers," vol. ii, pp. 419-468: Sanday, "The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians." "The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges": Perowne, "The Epistle to the Galatians." Zahn, "Introduction to the New Testament," vol. i, pp. 164-202. Lightfoot, "Saint Paul's Epistle to the Galatians." The two last-named works are intended primarily for those who have some knowledge of Greek, but can also be used by others.