O foolish
Galatians! Who as bewitched you
that you should not
obey the truth,
before whose eyes
Jesus Christ
was clearly portrayed
among
you as crucified?
This only I want to
learn from you:
did you receive the
Spirit by
the works of the law,
or by the
hearing of faith?
Are you so
foolish? Having begun
in the Spirit, are
you now being
made perfect by the
flesh?
Galatians 3:1–3
To fully
understand why a person, in this case an apostle, Paul, write in some manner
and history will give us aid to our understanding. Paul wrote to the Galatians
and this letter has from all times of the Christian church accepted as
such. Galatians was not written to one
church, rather to a group of churches in Galatia. Who are the Galatians? They were Greeks. The Gauls, better known as Gallic people or Celts and lived in
the Celtica region of Gaul. The Gaul
region correspond to Belgium, France, Switzerland, and parts of the Netherlands
and Germany on the west bank of the Rhine river and included parts of Northern
Italy. The people called Gauls existed
from the Iron age to the Roman period.
Julius Caesar around the year 50 B.C. conquered the Gauls and the Gauls
were then assimilated into the Gallo–Roman Culture, this and the fact the
German tribes were also expanding. The Gauls were dominated by the druid
priestly class and the important unit for the Gauls was the tribe. Julius Ceasar divided the Gauls into several
units and one such division; which we will be examining, is those divided and
sent into the area called Galatia. The religion of the Gauls was a form on
animism and this religion ascribes human characteristic to lakes, and mountain
and other natural features. Also the
worship of animals and the most sacred animal was the boar, this can be found
on Gallic military standards, like the Roman eagle. The Gauls were a
polytheistic society, yet there was no absolute theology that could be related
to any evolving traditions of worship. The most intriguing religion was the
practice of the Druids and the Druids were important in Gallic society. In time those who were divided and moved
into the Galatian region developed their own language. The Gauls mingled with the Greeks and were
first called Gallo–Greeks, and then Galatians, a name from ancient Gaul. At the dispersion, first in 70 A.D. and
later in 135 A.D. many Jewish people settled in the Galatian region and parts
of Greece. The apostle Paul first
introduced the Gospel to them and many converted to Christianity. The history of the Galatians was introduced
so that you may understand that these people had a history of paganism and when
Paul departed from them they became tempted by Judaism which encouraged them to
return to sacred rites; i.e., circumcision, and the Torah. Paul writes to the Galatians from Ephesus, a
city that Paul visited on his first journey and his letter is to bring them
back in remembrance of that which was taught to them, a belief in the
truth. Due to there being false
teachers, false apostles, the Galatians were seduced and persuaded, especially
was there a persuasion that the apostle Paul was not an apostle for he was not
one of the Twelve apostles appointed by Jesus Christ. Therefore, Paul felt the need to refute the calumny and this by
true reasons and by the authority of the Holy Spirit to prove that he was
commissioned, not be men, nor through men, but by Jesus Christ who chose not
only the original apostle, the twelve, but him also.
The letter
of Galatians is extremely doctrinal, as the letter to the Romans, therefore it
is of utmost importance to us so that we are not persuaded by false
apostles. We are not so different from
the Galatians inasmuch as we have or may have come from a background steeped in
falsehood. We may have followed other
religions, or we may have life a life in darkness and corruption. We too, still have, a remnant of this in us
even after converting to Jesus Christ and there is a possibility, not a
probability, rather a strong possibility that we too could be persuaded, seduced
into thinking that what we now believe is wrong, at least in some way and
become involved in apostasy. There are
men who desire you often for monetary reasons, or by a showing of large
congregations, and make–up some religious rites that seem so true. Are they?
Will you be strong and examine even now what you believe. Will you pray for the guidance of the Holy
Spirit? Will you, if you find that you
are not associated with truth leave that behind even at the cost of friends,
and even family? Will you stand for the
truth. It is disturbing to me, and I
have done it, to hang on to what is familiar, or just tacitly continue in what
I know is wrong. God has not called us
to timidity. God has called us to
faithfulness. The book of Galatians
will give us solid ground, a strong foundation for our faith, our daily
lives. It is, not more important as a
letter that other books of the Bible, yet it does contain good solid doctrine
that we all need to either review or to show us the way to the truth.
As many as desire to make a good showing
In the
flesh, these would compel
You to be circumcised, only that they may not
Suffer persecution for the cross of
Christ.
For not even those who are circumcised keep the law,
But they
desire to have you circumcised
That they may boast in your flesh.
Galatians
6:12–13
Read God’s word daily you will be blessed
Richard L. Crumb
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