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 5:13-6:10, Flesh and Spirit, burdens and teachers
Called to freedom, the Galatians are to serve one another in love, which fulfills the law; Paul sets the works of the flesh against the fruit of the Spirit and urges them to restore the fallen gently, carry each other's burdens, share with their teachers and keep doing good.
Galatians 5:13-6:10, in every translation this tool compares.
They were called to freedom, Paul says, but not as an opening for the flesh; through love they should serve one another, since the whole law is fulfilled in loving one's neighbor as oneself, and if they bite and devour each other they will be consumed. Walk by the Spirit, he urges, and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh; he lists the works of the flesh, whose doers will not inherit God's kingdom, and the fruit of the Spirit, against which there is no law. They are to restore anyone caught in a sin gently, carry each other's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, share good things with those who teach them, and remember that people reap what they sow.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sages-and-philosophers\/","n":"Philosophers and their schools","s":"Stoics, Epicureans and other schools taught a whole way of life in lecture halls and marketplaces. A traveling teacher with a message about God would be heard, and judged, as one more philosopher.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/slavery\/","n":"Slavery and slave managers","s":"Slaves were everywhere in the Roman world, from field hands to stewards who ran whole estates and handled their master's money. A master away and slaves left in charge was a familiar story.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/following-a-teacher\/","n":"Following a teacher","s":"A disciple walked behind his teacher, lived with him, learned his ways and carried his reputation. Jesus chose his own, which only radical teachers did.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/sowing-and-harvest\/","n":"Sowing, harvest and threshing","s":"The farming year every hearer lived by: seed scattered on thin and thorny ground, weeds that look like wheat, the harvest rush, and grain winnowed in the wind while the chaff burned.","r":""}
Other Jewish teachers also summed up the law with Leviticus 19:18 (Keener and his notes). Carson, Moo and Morris see no second group of libertine opponents here: the warnings correct a misuse of Paul's own teaching on freedom. Jews spoke of walking in God's ways, and their moral rulings were called halakah, literally walking (Keener). The Dead Sea Scrolls traced every act to God's Spirit or the spirit of error (the cultural backgrounds notes). Philosophers taught that the wise needed no law, and Scripture promised a law written on the heart (Keener and his notes). Moralists used lists of vices and of virtues, and the two ways was a frequent image; Paul is sterner than pagan writers, who mostly warned against excess (Keener and his notes). Self-control was among the virtues philosophers stressed most (Keener and his notes). Carrying burdens was usually forced, on slaves or by soldiers impressing locals, so bearing them freely was an image of service (Keener and his notes). Many teachers charged fees, while early Christian teachers normally did not (Keener and his notes). Reaping what one sows was a common proverb (Keener and his notes).
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Galatians 5:13-14, 5:15, 5:16, 5:18, 5:19-21, 5:23, 6:2, 6:6 and 6:7
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Galatians 5:14, 5:15, 5:17, 5:18, 5:19-23, 5:23, 6:2, 6:6 and 6:7
- D. A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo and Leon Morris, An Introduction to the New Testament, ch. 10, Galatians, Occasion and Galatians in Recent Study
