Week 2 Day 1

welcome back to week two. Below is the only reading today. Tomorrow we will start with Galatians 1

There are thirteen books in the New Testament that bear the name of Paul as author: Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians Ephesians, Colossians, 1 & 2Thessalonians, Philemon,, 1 & 2 Timothy, and Titus. All of which are in letter form. In the days of Paul there was a long tradition of producing letters for public consumption. Paul’s letters were intended to be read aloud to his congregations. Primarily because the literacy rate was low back then and probably most of the people in his churches could not read, or read very little.
Since Paul’s letters were intended to be read aloud, he wisely utilized a number of traditional materials in his letters, like hymns and confessions of faith. These were memorable and easy to retain in an oral culture.

Paul’s letters followed the typical form of the Greek private letter. This consisted of three main parts: the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. Some would expand the parts to four, considering the thanksgiving as a separate entity.

Sending letters was not always easy back then. It often involved the use of a secretary to write down the communication. There was no postal service back then either. The Roman government had a system of couriers for official communications, but this was not available to the public. One usually had to depend on other means, such as channels of commerce or people who were traveling to a destination where one had friends or acquaintances. Some scholars believe that Paul’s usual practice was to use a secretary.

Paul has mentioned a cosender in the salutation in eight of his letters. In six of them he mentions Timothy alongside himself. Some have said that the cosender had some voice in the actual contents of the letters. Cosenders seem to have been primarily Paul’s coworkers who had worked closely with the congregations that he had addressed.

A question that has come up over the years is, how did his letters come to be put together and eventually find their way into the New Testament canon. There have been many theories, but the most popular one was from Edgar Goodspeed who suggested that the letters were assembled around 90 A.D. after the publication of Acts, which stimulated people’s interest in Paul. A disciple of Paul then set out to gather all the available letters of Paul. He then assembled the collection of epistles for publication and distribution to the churches.

The first letter we are going to look at in this E Study is Galatians. With regard to certain historical questions surrounding Galatians, there is very little doubt. Few scholars seriously question, for example, that Paul was the author. Again, the text makes it quite clear that certain individuals were creating spiritual rebellion in the Galatian community by preaching a false gospel that pressured the Gentile believers to observe Jewish ceremonies, particularly circumcision (1:7–9; 5:2–3, 7–12; 6:12–13). On the other hand, considerable debate exists regarding the date, the recipients, and the precise occasion for the writing of this important letter.

Many scholars today identify the recipients of this letter as the churches founded by Paul and Barnabas in Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (Acts 14:1–23). They were located in the southern part of the Roman province of Galatia, in the interior of Asia Minor (modern Turkey). The name of this province comes from a region to the north, where the race of Galatians (originally from Gaul) had settled, and a minority opinion holds that the churches in question were located in this area—an opinion that affects the dating of the letter. Appeal is made to Acts 16:6 in support of the view that Paul founded some churches there, but this text is at best ambiguous, and other evidence is not strong.

A more complicated but related question has to do with the dating of the letter. The basic point of the debate is whether Paul wrote Galatians before or after the so-called Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, which we just read about in Acts 15, is dated by most scholars in ad 49 (certainly no earlier than 48). Paul apparently refers to this council in Gal. 2:1–10, but many have argued that his description conflicts with the Acts narrative, especially since he fails to mention the decree reported in Acts 15:22–29.

Some scholars avoid the problem by arguing that Galatians was written before the council. (This argument assumes that the letter was written to churches in the southern part of the province. The view that the churches in question were located to the north prohibits this dating, since Paul did not evangelize the northern region until after the council.) According to this early dating, Gal. 2 does not conflict with Acts for the simple reason that at the time of writing this letter the council had not yet taken place. Paul’s comments, therefore, must refer to a different meeting (probably the one described in Acts 11:29–30). To other scholars this solution appears too easy, especially in view of the strong similarities between Acts 15 and Gal. 2. It is possible to argue that both passages refer to the same event and that the differences can be accounted for by recognizing the very different perspectives of the two authors. According to this view, Galatians must have been written after ad 49, and the preferred date is in the mid-fifties, while Paul was in Ephesus during his third missionary journey.

The controversy about the date of Galatians is not a mere scholarly game. Certain subtleties about the meaning of the letter—to say nothing about larger questions regarding the history of the early church—are indeed affected by one’s view of its relationship to the Jerusalem council. The present commentary assumes Galatians was written in the mid-fifties. Nevertheless, since it is not possible to achieve certainty on the question, it would be unwise to interpret the letter in a way that depends heavily on how it is dated. In particular, an effort must be made not to give key explanations that would be rendered invalid by the adoption of an alternate historical setting. Fortunately, the primary thrust of Paul’s argument is clear enough and does not revolve around our ability to identify the setting with precision.

Questions for discussion or reflection

Why do you think Paul’s letters were not dated?

What effect does it have that they are not dated, if any?

Communication was vital back then as it is today. Do you think the media and the diversification of communication today is positive or a negative? Why or why not?