Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Galatians 1:1-10, A letter with no thanksgiving, and a curse
Paul opens by insisting that his commission came from God and not from people, skips the thanksgiving his letters usually give, and pronounces a curse on anyone, even an angel, who preaches a different gospel.
Galatians 1:1-10, in every translation this tool compares.
Paul opens by insisting that his apostleship came from God the Father and Jesus Christ, not from any human source, and greets the Galatian churches in the name of the Christ who gave himself to free us from this evil age. Where his letters usually give thanks, he expresses shock that they are so quickly abandoning the gospel for a counterfeit that is no gospel. He twice calls down a curse on anyone, even an angel or Paul himself, who preaches something different, and asks whether he is trying to win human approval or God's.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/present-age-and-age-to-come\/","n":"This age and the age to come","s":"Jews divided history into the present age, under the rule of evil nations, and the age to come, when God would rule unchallenged. The sufferings expected before the change were called birth pangs.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/curse-and-blessing\/","n":"Curse and blessing","s":"God's covenant set blessings for keeping it against curses for breaking it, and Deuteronomy spelled both out. Curses were also a familiar part of ancient religion, magic and everyday life.","r":""}
No one seriously doubts that Paul wrote Galatians (Carson, Moo and Morris). Leaving out the usual thanksgiving marks it as a letter of blame, a convention "found only among the harshest of ancient letters" (Keener and his notes). Who the Galatians were is debated, and the answer moves the date. Galatia could mean the Celtic north around Ancyra, which Acts never mentions, or the whole Roman province, taking in Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe (Keener). Wright and Bird, the ESV Study Bible and Carson, Moo and Morris favor the south, and the Zondervan dictionary calls that the majority view, while Carson, Moo and Morris say many recent scholars hold the north. On dating, the ESV Study Bible and Carson, Moo and Morris put the letter about AD 48, before the Jerusalem council it never mentions; the dictionary answers that the Galatians already knew the decrees and dates it about 52, and Keener thinks the council probably already past, a view the cultural backgrounds notes also report. The rival teachers were almost certainly Jewish Christians from outside, and verse 10 answers the charge that Paul sought human approval (Carson, Moo and Morris).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Galatians, Type of Letter, Date and Situation, and on Galatians 1:6
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Introduction to Galatians, Date and Recipients, and note on Galatians 1:6
- ESV Study Bible, Introduction to Galatians, Date and Purpose, Occasion, and Background
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 17, Galatians, Contextual and Critical Matters
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 10, Galatians, Author, Destination, Date, Occasion and Galatians in Recent Study
- J. D. Douglas and Merrill C. Tenney, Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry Galatians, Letter to the
