The book of Galatians

At a glance

Chapters

6

Author

Paul

Written

Around 48 to 55 AD, depending on the destination

Written for

Churches being told they must adopt Jewish law to belong

Themes

freedom, law and faith, inclusion, the Spirit

What it is about

Every other Pauline letter opens with thanks for its readers. Galatians opens by expressing astonishment that they are deserting the gospel, and it does not soften from there.

The issue is whether Gentile Christians must be circumcised and keep the law to be full members. Paul's answer is that requiring it makes the cross pointless, and he argues the case from Abraham, from the law's own function, and from his own confrontation with Peter in Antioch.

The last two chapters turn to what freedom actually looks like, and contain the list of the fruit of the Spirit — which is Paul's answer to the obvious objection that removing the law removes the brakes.

Where to start

Chapter 5, which contains both the argument about freedom and the fruit of the Spirit list.

The chapters worth knowing

• Galatians 2 — The confrontation with Peter at Antioch, recorded by the man who started it.
• Galatians 3 — The argument from Abraham, and the line about neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.
• Galatians 5 — Freedom, and the fruit of the Spirit listed as one fruit rather than nine.

What people get wrong about it

That freedom in Galatians means no obligations. Paul spends the last two chapters insisting the opposite — freedom is for serving one another, and the works of the flesh he lists are mostly social.

From this book

• Bible verses about self-controlTen passages on self-control from the World English Bible, each with a note on what it actually says — including the famous ones that do not mean what they are quoted to mean.

Questions