The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (97 page)

First, the conference in Gal 2:1—10 and the council in Acts 15:1—20 involve the same participants: Paul, Barnabas, Peter, and James. They address the same issue: the obligation of Christians to keep Jewish law. They lead to the same outcome: circumcision is not imposed on Gentile converts but the converts must remember the poor. E. De Witt Burton, an early proponent of the South Galatian theory, argued that this evidence was unequivocal: “The points of coincidence between this narrative [Galatians 2] and that of Acts, chap. 15, are so many and of such character as practically to establish the identity of the two events.”
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Advocates of a post-Jerusalem council date for Galatians also point out that there is no mention of any conference with the apostles during the famine relief visit described in Acts. Thus any equation of Gal 2:1—10 and Acts 11:30 is based on an argument from silence.

Equating the visits of Gal 2:1—10 and Acts 15:1—20 means that Paul does not mention the Acts 11:30 visit at all. But proponents of the hypothesis offer several possible explanations for this silence. First, Acts 11:30 says that Paul and Barnabas delivered the relief offering to the “elders,” which may not have included the apostles. Since Gal 2:1—10 concerns Paul's interaction with the apostles, the Acts 11:30 visit was irrelevant to the discussion. Second, many modern scholars doubt the historical reliability of Acts and particularly his description of several of Paul's Jerusalem visits.
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They argue that either the famine relief
visit never occurred or that the visit actually took place after the Jerusalem Council and that Luke transposed it. Paul's failure to mention the apostolic decrees does not require a date before the Jerusalem Council since Paul never appealed to the decrees in any of his letters.

Map 10.2: South Galatian Theory

Pre-Jerusalem Council Date
The visit in Gal 2:1-10 seems to correspond with Acts 11:28-30. Acts 11:28-30 describes a visit for the purpose of providing famine relief to the Christian Jews in Jerusalem and does not mention the apostle's discussion of Paul's Gentile mission. However, part of the purpose for the latter relief offering sent from the Gentile mission to the Jerusalem church seems to be to demonstrate the Gentiles' authentic confession of the gospel and to inspire the Jerusalem church's love for and acceptance of the Gentile converts (2 Cor 9:12-14). This may also have been a factor motivating this earlier relief offering. It would be natural for discussion of Paul's gospel and the Gentile mission to arise in such a context.

Equating the Gal 2:1-10 visit with the Jerusalem Council would mean that Paul failed to mention one of his visits to Jerusalem in his letter to the Galatians. Such an omission is highly improbable. Paul was demonstrating that his apostleship was of purely divine origin and not derived from the apostolic leaders in Jerusalem. For Paul's theological argument to be valid, all of his visits needed to be accounted for. Paul's insistence on his absolute integrity in reporting the Jerusalem visits demanded nothing less (Gal 1:20). Thus the
two visits of Paul to Jerusalem described in Galatians correspond to the first two visits described in Acts.

Paul's challenge to the Judaizers could have been strengthened by an appeal to the decree of the Jerusalem Council. No appeal was made presumably because the decree had not yet been given. Peter's hesitancy about table fellowship with Gentiles (Gal 2:12) would also fit better with a pre-Council date. Efforts to equate the Galatians 2 visit with the Jerusalem Council described in Acts 15 face serious difficulties. Most importantly, Galatians 2 describes a private conference, but the one in Acts 15 is public.

Paul referred to visiting Syria and Cilicia between his visits to Jerusalem. If the second visit is the Jerusalem Council, then Galatia should be added to Syria and Cilicia. But since Paul visited Syria and Cilicia before the famine relief visit and only after that visit began his first missionary journey, the specific mention of Syria and Cilicia supports the correspondence between Gal 2:1-10 and Acts 11:28-30 rather than Acts 15.

Galatians 4:13 refers to when Paul “first preached the gospel” (NIV) to the Galatians, possibly implying that Paul visited the Galatian churches twice before he penned his letter.
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Some scholars identify the second visit as the one described in Acts 16:6, requiring the letter to have been written after the beginning of Paul's second missionary journey and thus after the Jerusalem Council. However, the Greek adverb can mean “previously” (HCSB) rather than “on the former of two visits.” Usage in classical literature would require “former,” but in the NT era the sense “previously” was common.
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Even if one insists on the classical usage here, the second visit can be identified as the visit to South Galatian cities in Acts 14:21 and thus before the Council. Consequently, a pre-49 date for the letter may still be maintained.

Conclusion
The preponderance of evidence favors the equation of the famine relief visit in Acts 11:30 with the visit recounted in Gal 2:1—10. Although superficial similarities between Acts 15:1—20 and Gal 2:1—10 exist, close examination of the data suggests that the Gal 2:1—10 visit holds more in common with the famine relief visit of Acts 11:30. Hence Galatians was most likely written in approximately 48 or 49.

Table 10.1: Events Surrounding the Writing of Galatians

Occasion and Purpose

Assuming the South Galatian theory, Acts 13—14 combined with scattered references in Galatians charts Paul's church-starting work in the churches of South Galatia. Paul's initial evangelistic work among the Galatians was complicated by an illness that harmed his vision (Gal 4:13—16). Yet the Galatians gave Paul a warm reception, recognized that his message was of divine origin, and welcomed Paul as if he were an angel or even Christ himself. Many believed Paul's gospel, thereby demonstrating their divine appointment for eternal life (Acts 13:48; 14:4,21). The Galatians loved Paul so powerfully that they would have sacrificed their eyes to restore Paul's vision if that had been possible.

Paul clearly proclaimed the gospel of grace from the very beginning of his Galatian ministry. According to Acts 13:38—39, Paul offered the Jews and the Gentiles who worshipped God in the synagogue of Pisidian Antioch forgiveness of sins through Jesus: “Everyone who believes in Him is justified from everything, which you could not be justified from through the law of Moses.” Paul's work met with heavy opposition from the Jews of the area. Their opposition was initially motivated by jealousy over Paul's success and popularity with the people (Acts 13:45). But personal rivalry was quickly overwhelmed by religious disputes. The statement in Acts 14:3 that the Lord “testified to the message of His grace” through miraculous signs and wonders implies that the Jewish opposition had focused their campaign against Paul's teaching about grace. Thus the issue of salvation by grace versus the law of Moses permeated Paul's Galatian ministry and was the crux that divided Christian disciples from Galatian Jews.

Soon after Paul left the area, false teachers infiltrated the church preaching a different gospel—a gospel that insisted that keeping the law of Moses, in particular receiving circumcision, rather than faith in the gospel of grace alone was essential to salvation. The false teachers were probably Jews who considered themselves Christians, but Paul was emphatic that imposition of the law as a requirement for salvation was inconsistent with genuine Christianity (Gal 1:6—9). Scholars typically label these false teachers as “Judaizers” since they sought to impose Judaism on new Christian converts. The Judaizers proclaimed a message akin to the one expressed in Acts 15:1, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved.” The Judaizers may not have insisted that the Galatians keep the entire law. Circumcision was their main focus. But Paul warned that requiring circumcision for salvation ultimately made the entire OT law obligatory (Gal 5:3). Thus Paul often defended the gospel against the necessity of observing the law generally (Gal 1:16,21; 2:2,5,10; etc.).

Paul's proclamation of the gospel of grace had been so clear that insistence on circumcision and the observance of the law could not be made without rejection of Paul's apostleship. This led to the Judaizers' charge that Paul's apostleship was somehow inferior to the other apostles. These opponents twisted Scripture and claimed that their doctrines were imbued with true authority—the authority of the original apostles in the Jerusalem church. The members of the Galatian church defected from the true gospel and began to resent Paul and his teaching and to reject the apostle's authority.

Something to Think About: No Other Gospel

I
n the ancient world it was customary to open letters with some small talk
—
a wish for the recipient's well-being, or a reminder of good times from the past. Most of Paul's letters, correspondingly, open with a thanksgiving, or a prayer, for the recipients but not his letter to the Galatians. This is a measure of the apostle's exasperation. “I am amazed,” he jumped right into the heart of the matter, “that you are so quickly turning away from Him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel
—
not that there is another gospel!” (Gal 1:6—7)

In first-century Galatia, as in our day, there are those who would change the gospel of God's grace into a message of human effort. But, as Paul aptly noted, if our salvation depends on our own contribution or ability, this message is no longer “the gospel”
—
the good news
—
because we are sinners! If our salvation depends on something we do, we are doomed! This is why Paul said in Romans, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is
God's
power for salvation to everyone who believes…. For in it
God's
righteousness is revealed from faith to faith” (Rom 1:16—17, emphasis added).

The adherents of virtually all world religions, except for Christianity, seek to attain communion with God
—
or
Nirvana
or some other form of final state
—
through self-effort. Ultimately, these people are without hope. True hope comes not through what man may do but only through faith in what another man has already done
—
Jesus, the Lamb of God and the Savior of the world, who died on the cross for the sins of the world. This is the salvation that is both the power of God and the righteousness of God, and thus truly “good news.”

Paul wrote Galatians to defend the gospel of justification by faith alone against the false gospel of the Judaizers. In the process he had to defend his apostolic authority against the Judaizers' attack. Finally, since some readers might interpret Paul's defense of the gospel of grace as justification for immoral or unethical behavior, Paul wrote to defend the consistency of the Spirit-led life with the law's righteous demands.

LITERATURE

Literary Plan

Although some scholars have suggested that Galatians is an impassioned letter composed in the heat of controversy and thus lacking a clear and planned structure, recent research suggests that the letter was much more carefully composed.
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Like most letters
from the period, Galatians has an obvious introduction (1:1—9), body (1:10—6:10), and conclusion (6:11—18). Older commentators generally see the body of the letter as breaking down into three major parts: a historical section (1:10—2:21), a theological section (3:1-5:1), and an ethical section (5:2—6:10).
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The historical section demonstrates the divine origin of Paul's gospel—his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. The theological section defends the gospel of justification by faith apart from the works of the law. The ethical section describes the lifestyle prompted by the Spirit in those justified by faith.

Since H. D. Betz's groundbreaking application of rhetorical criticism to Galatians in his 1979 commentary, numerous scholars have sought to compare Paul's letters to the various categories of speeches and letters described by the ancient rhetoricians.
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According to the rhetoricians, speeches written for various purposes should contain specific elements in a specific arrangement. But after nearly 30 years of debate over whether Galatians should be classified as forensic (Betz), deliberative (Kennedy), or epideictic (Hester) rhetoric, scholars still seem far from any consensus on the matter.
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This suggests that the methods of rhetorical criticism are frustratingly subjective. Moreover, many scholars have protested against applying categories devised for public orations to personal letters.
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Still others have expressed grave doubt that rhetorical classifications of Paul's letters shed much light on their meaning.
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