CLICK HERE FOR INDEX TO THIS SERIES ON ST PAUL

We've had a slight glitch this week in that Ian has gone on holidays. Just before leaving he sent through two commentaries but, for some reason, the one due to be published this week was snaffled by our mail scanner and we've not been able to retrieve it yet. Ian is also uncontactable at the moment. Today therefore you're receiving the commentary that was due to be published next week. We're now into what Dr Elmer describes as "the most productive phase of Paul's mission as Apostle to the Gentiles". Perhaps the most interesting part of this commentary though is the discussion towards the end on what Dr Elmer describes as "one of Paul's greatest theological insights: Justification by Faith".

Fresh Missionary Fields

Having departed Antioch (c. 50 C.E.), Paul began what was to become the most productive phase of his mission as Apostle to the Gentiles. Acts and the biographical material we find in the letters of Paul both present a picture of Paul travelling extensively around the Aegean Basin, establishing churches amongst the major Gentile communities of Asia Minor and Greece. However, Paul's letters, all of which date from this final decade of his career, bear ample testimony to the fact that his departure from Antioch did not mean an escape from controversy and dispute. One need only think of the "dogs" and "mutilators of the flesh" at Philippi (3:2-11), the "false Apostles" at Corinth (2 Cor 11:2-29) and the "weak" Christians of Rome (Rom 14:1-15:16) — all of whom earn Paul's ire for their attempts to usurp his missions.

The first battle was fought out in the churches in Galatia. Paul's letter to the Galatians is a short and passionate document, which is perhaps the most polemical of all the Pauline correspondence. Although commentators differ about the exact details of the situation that occasioned Paul's letter to the churches in Galatia, all agree that Paul wrote to counter what he considered to be a significant crisis for his Galatian converts (Martyn, 1997: 117-126; Gunther, 1973: 1-5).

Return to Galatia and Beyond…

According to Acts and the biographical material in Paul's letters, it seems that having departed Antioch (c. 49/50 C.E.), following the Jerusalem Council and the disastrous conflict with Peter and the James' party, Paul travelled first to revisit the churches in Galatia (Acts 15:41-16:5). We have noted that Galatians 4:13 implies that Paul did make at least two visits to the region. In the following months, Paul went on to evangelize Philippi (Acts 16:11-40; cf. 1 Thess 2:2), Thessalonica (Acts 17:1-9), Athens (Acts 17:16-34; cf. 1 Thess 3:1), and Corinth (Acts 18:1-17; 1 Thess 1:1) (Alexander, 1993).

Acts 18:11 suggests, and there seems no justifiable reason to doubt, that Paul's missionary activity in and around Corinth lasted about eighteen months, from whence he travelled to Ephesus (Acts 19:1; cf. 1 Cor 16:8-9). Probably around the year 51, Paul left Corinth and went to Ephesus (Acts 19:1; cf. 1 Cor 16:8). Acts (18:18-23; 19:1) takes him there via a return trip to Jerusalem and Antioch. However, as we noted at the end of the previous chapter, a return to Judea and Syria following the divisive Jerusalem Council meeting and Paul's clash with Peter and the James party at Antioch seems unlikely.

Despite this fabrication, however, Luke is probably correct in placing Paul in Ephesus for a long period of time, perhaps some two and half years (Acts 19:8, 10). Paul tells us that his Ephesian sojourn was marked out not only by great opportunity for effective missionary work, but also by a great deal of opposition to that work (1 Cor 16:8-9). So it is entirely possible that Paul wrote Galatians either during his eighteen-month sojourn at Corinth, or early in his Ephesian ministry.

To date Galatians early in Paul's Aegean missions makes perfect sense if we assume that the expansion of the Law-free mission into Cyprus and southern Asia Minor under the aegis of the Antiochene community was one of the primary reasons for the Jerusalem Council in 48 C.E.

In this letter we find Paul vehemently defending his gospel and his right as an apostle to preach this gospel among the Gentiles (1:16; 2:8) against accusations to the contrary advanced by opponents who were advocating "a different gospel" (1:6-10). The content of the letter seems to imply that this other gospel entailed faithful adherence to the Mosaic Law (3:10), including circumcision (5:2-4; 6:12-13), as well as the observance of the Sabbath and the Jewish feast days (4:8-11).

As to the basis of the missionaries' warrant they appear to have resorted to two avenues of authority. First, they apparently appealed to Scripture, particularly the story of the Abrahamic covenant (3:6-29; 4:21-31), at which the institution of circumcision was imposed on God's chosen people (Gen 17:1-27). Accordingly, these missionaries have traditionally been considered "Judaisers"; that is, proponents of a traditional Jewish proselyte model of Christian mission, which required Gentile Christians to attach themselves to ethnic Israel (Martyn, 1997; Russell, 1990).

Second, the fact that Paul finds it necessary to detail his relationship with the apostolic authorities at Jerusalem (1:11-2:14) may imply that these missionaries also claimed a direct commission from the Jerusalem church, while casting doubts on Paul's own claims to apostolic authority. Thus, a significant aspect of their message must have been the record of the events surrounding Paul's early association with the Jerusalem Apostles, Peter, James and John, including the Council at Jerusalem (2:1-10) and possibly also the so-called "Incident at Antioch" (2:11-14). Why else would Paul need to provide his version of these events?

In his letter to Galatia, Paul tells his readers that the primary reason for his attendance at the Jerusalem Council was to set before the Pillar Apostles the gospel he preached among the nations for fear that all his previous missionary efforts might be in vain (Gal 2:2). This statement could be read as a general overview of the situation, but it is more likely to have been of specific relevance to the recipients of the letter.

The Rival Missionaries…

The agitators at Galatia were claiming that their "gospel" represented more fully the position of James, Peter, John and the church at Jerusalem. Accordingly a significant aspect of their message must have been the record of the events surrounding the Council at Jerusalem. This fact suggests that the letter was penned sometime after the Council and that the decision of the Antiochene church to widen the reach of its Law-free mission into the southern regions of Asia Minor was one of the major factors contributing to the calling of the Council.

Paul draws the clear connection between the situation at Galatia and the issues raised at the Council when he says, regarding the False Brothers' demand for Titus' circumcision, that he and Barnabas "did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you" (2:5).

Titus was not simply an isolated case, but proved on the Council floor to be a test case for the whole Gentile mission previously undertaken in the southern reaches of the province of Galatia. In addition, we posit that Paul's claimed shock that the Galatians would desert him "so quickly" (1:6) might confirm that the letter was penned soon after Paul's second visit to the churches in Galatia, that is in the cities (Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe) of the southern regions of the Roman province, which were first evangelised by Paul and Barnabas on the so-called First Missionary Journey.

Acts indicates that Paul's second stay in Galatia must have been brief, and Galatians implies that Paul did not encounter any problems with Judaisers during his time in Galatia, regardless of whether Paul made one or two tours of Galatia. On the contrary, Paul emphasises that the Law-observant gospel was previously unknown to his converts.

Accordingly, Paul stresses that the manifestations of the Spirit the Galatians experienced were not the result of observing the Law (Gal 3:2). He pointedly asks his audience, "Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles amongst you because you observe the Law, or because you believe what you heard?" (3:5).

When Paul wrote Galatians, however, the Christian-Jewish mission was well established and was enjoying some success (1:6; 3:1; 4:21; 5:4, 7). Indeed, many of Paul's Gentile converts were already adopting some aspects of Law-observant Christian-Judaism (4:10-11). This implies that the missionaries at Galatia were late on the scene and their immediate achievements were the primary reason for Paul's writing to the Galatians.

Such rapid success could only be explained if the troublemakers were, as Paul appears to imply, claiming to be agents of the apostolic authorities at Jerusalem who, after the Council and the Antiochene dispute, had travelled to the churches of Galatia close on Paul's heels.

One of Paul's greatest theological insights: Justification by Faith…

Despite the obvious trials brought upon Paul by the arrival of these rival missionaries, his conflict with them apparently led to one of his greatest theological insights — the doctrine of justification by faith. In many ways this insight can be traced back to his original Damascus Road encounter with the risen Christ; however, the full import of that encounter seems to have only occurred to Paul amidst the skirmish with the Judaisers at Galatia.

Paul's letters are all examples of an intelligent man who was not satisfied to simply take the tenets of his faith at face value. He struggled with the traditions he had inherited, no less than I am sure that, after his conversion, he struggled with his former faith in Judaism.

It is remarkable that in the first chapter of Galatians, Paul does not speak of his Damascus road experience as a conversion but as a call. As we have noted in an earlier commentary in this series, Paul does not seem to interpret his Damascus Road experience as an invitation to adopt a new religion or a radically different faith. For him, his faith did not change. It was still the same God he had always served. His "change" was in the manner of that service, not his commitment. The Jerusalem apostles and their agents at Galatia, by contrast, did not even change this much following Pentecost, choosing to remain Law-observant Jews.

In the face of the onslaught of the Law-observant Judaisers, Paul rejected their demands for "service" of the Mosaic Law because intellectually he saw that the salvific consequences of the Christ-event stood in complete opposition to the works-righteousness of such service. One could not be both saved or justified by the cross and required to follow the Mosaic Law to merit a righteousness that was already won by Christ on the cross.

This was not an insight that Paul found by sacrificing his rationality, but through the exercise of his intellect, especially in the heat of his battle with the Judaisers at Galatia. It was his reflection on that real historical situation in time and space that led him to the doctrine of justification by faith, which would become the cornerstone of his theology from then on.

CLICK HERE FOR INDEX TO THIS SERIES ON ST PAUL

Bibliography and Further Reading:
For those who are looking for resources on Paul that are both reliable and readable, I can recommend the following:
L. C. A. Alexander (1993), "Chronology of Paul", in Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, ed. G. F. Hawthorne and R. P. Martin. Downers Grover: InterVarsity Press, 115-123.
J. J. Gunther (1973), St. Paul's Opponents and Their Background: A Study of Apocalyptic and Jewish Sectarian Teachings. NovTSup 35.Leiden: E. J. Brill.
J. L. Martyn (1997), Galatians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. AB 33A. New York: Doubleday, 1997.
W. Russell (1990), "Who Were Paul's Opponents in Galatia?", BSac 147: 329-350
Photo Credits:
The headline image of St Paul has been sourced from an icon which you will find at: www.airmaria.com. Clicking on the other images will take you to the original source.

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©2008 Ian Elmer

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