REVISITING THE GALATIAN CHURCHES

ment about taking John Mark with them. Probably a deeper reason was their disagreement regarding the right and wisdom of letting Jewish and Gentile Christians freely associate together without imposing on either any ceremonial limitation. Moreover, Barnabas's interest lay in his homeland, Cyprus; Paul's in the unconquered territory beyond his native city, Tarsus. Paul's later references to Barnabas indicate that there was no permanent alienation (I Cor. 96, Col. 410). The separation of these two pioneer apostles to the Gentiles appears to have resulted in a tacit, or possibly definitely defined division of the Gentile field. Tradition says that Barnabas not only went to Cyprus but also to Egypt, which early became an important Christian centre. Egypt also had a great Jewish population and might well be regarded as belonging to the sphere of activity set aside for the Twelve. At least some such implied division of territory best explains why Paul with his world-wide outlook and tireless zeal never visited nor even alludes in his letters to the populous land of the Nile and the flourishing cities on the southern Mediter

ranean.

Starting from Antioch and taking Silas, who was an influential member of the Jerusalem church and likewise possessed Roman citizenship (Acts 1637) and was therefore a Hellenist, Paul set out northward on the great highway that led through Asia Minor to Rome. On the way he probably strengthened the Christian churches which he had established during the first thirteen years of his ministry in northern Syria and Cilicia. Unfortunately, Luke has not preserved the names of these churches. That there was one at Tarsus is reasonably certain. Thence, following the great Roman highway, they passed through the cities which Paul had visited together with Barnabas. Paul's circumcision of the half-Jewish youth Timothy, whom he wished to accompany him on his visit to the strongly Jewish churches at Iconium and Galatian Antioch, is not a repudiation of the principles for which he contended at Jerusalem but rather an illustration of his avowed purpose, with the Jews "to become like a Jew to win over Jews." Unfortunately Luke, instead of giving details regarding the visit to these churches, has simply introduced one of his general summaries (Acts, 164, 5). In keeping with his assumption that Paul had accepted the resolutions of James and the other authorities at Jerusalem, he states that Paul formally transmitted these to the different churches. What Paul actually did can best be learned from his own testimony in his letter to the Galatians.

The

III. The Occasion of Paul's Letter to the Galatians. interpreter of Paul's letter to the Galatians is at once confronted with a much-debated question. Did Paul write this letter to the churches in the Roman province of Galatia, which he and Barnabas had established during their first missionary campaign, or was it written to Christian churches farther north organized by Paul in the old province of Galatia during his second missionary campaign? Volumes have been written in defense of each of these positions and New Testament scholars are about equally divided. Fortunately, our appreciation of Paul's vigorous letter to the Galatians and of the superb spirit and personality which it reveals is not dependent upon the answer to these questions. The chief corner-stone of what is known as the "North Galatian theory" is Luke's statement in Acts 166, following his summary of Paul's work in Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, that "they crossed the Phrygian and Galatian region, the Holy Spirit having stopped them from preaching the word in Asia; when they got as far as Mysia they tried to enter Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus would not allow them, and so they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas." Many hold that the most natural interpretation of this statement is that, having passed through the Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium, which were in ancient Phrygia, they turned northward to the old province of Galatia and from thence westward to the seaport of Troas. It is difficult, however, to explain why Luke is absolutely silent regarding Paul's activity in this northern province, if it had been significant enough in its results to call forth the powerful letter to the Galatians. In view of Paul's avowed purpose, we naturally anticipate that, after leaving Iconium, he would go directly to Antioch in Pisidia, which also lay in the Roman province of Galatia—in fact, it is almost impossible to believe that he failed to visit this important scene of his earlier work. The absolute absence of any reference or suggestion, either in Acts or in Paul's own letters, that implies a period of successful missionary activity in the old province of Galatia leaves to the "North Galatian theory," to say the least, a very uncertain and indefinite basis. On the other hand, the churches founded by Paul and Barnabas in their first campaign were on the direct highway from Syria to Rome, and therefore most exposed to the influence of the Judaizers to which Paul frequently refers in his letter to the Galatians. It is also exceedingly probable that Paul the traveller and Roman citizen would use the term Galatia in its contemporary Roman rather than in its older local application. This conclusion is supported by his custom at other times. In any

THE OCCASION OF PAUL'S LETTER

case, the definitely known conditions and problems of the south Galatian cities furnish a thoroughly satisfactory explanation of the many detailed allusions contained in Paul's famous letter, so that there can be little doubt that the churches at Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe were in his mind as he wrote.

If Galatians was written to these churches, it must have been after Paul had revisited them at the beginning of his second missionary campaign. His inability to visit them again, to which he alludes at the beginning of his letter, suggests strongly that he was not in Antioch nor the East, but already actively engaged in his work either at Corinth or Ephesus. Apparently the Judaizers, to which he refers, followed close in his footsteps after leaving Antioch and had worked quietly and almost unknown to him while he was busy in the western field. At the same time the questions involved are the direct aftermath of the interview at Jerusalem and the reaction at Antioch to which Paul refers. It is probable, therefore, that the Epistle to the Galatians is one of the three earliest of Paul's letters and was probably written during the earlier part of his ministry at Corinth.

IV. The Literary Structure and Contents of Galatians. Paul's letter to the Galatians falls naturally into four divisions, with an impassioned introduction found in 11-9. Chapters 110-221 contain Paul's masterful declaration of independence and authority. Rapidly and evidently under the pressure of great feeling, he marshals the important events in his own career and especially his relations to the "pillars" at Jerusalem, concluding the description with a statement of the terms agreed upon in his famous interview at Jerusalem and their later interpretation at Antioch. The second main division of the letter, 31–512, contains his defense of his gospel of freedom from the law and of justification by faith through Jesus Christ. In 513-610 he corrects the possible misinterpretations of his gospel of freedom by defining the moral responsibility of those that hold the Christian faith. The epilogue, 611-18, recapitulates in short, forcible sentences the chief points for which he was contending and concludes with the usual benediction. This epistle has been appropriately likened to one of the dashing mountain torrents, which in many of the fields of Paul's activity leap from the heights above, at first sweeping away all opposition, but in time gradually broadening out to water the plain below. As Sabatier has said, here "unfinished phrases, daring omissions, parentheses which leave us out of sight and out of breath, rabbinical subtleties, dashing paradoxes, vehement apostrophes pour on like surging

billows." Here Paul writes as he would doubtless have spoken could he have stood in the presence of the faltering and much-confused Christians of Galatia. It is Paul the militant who is here revealed, the man who quickly proved himself the master of every situation into which Providence led him.

He is fighting here not merely for the faith of the Galatian Christians but also for the fundamental principles of Christian liberty. It was the age-long issue between the authority of accepted tradition and ceremonialism and the authority of the Spirit of God in the heart and life of the individual. The principle was the same for which Jesus contended against the Pharisees, Luther against the Catholic Church, and modern Christianity against ecclesiastical and literalistic conservatism.

V. Paul's Interpretation of the Significance of the Jewish Law and of the Work of Jesus. It is evident that Paul's opponents made a strong and plausible appeal to the Galatian Christians. They had the whole weight of Jewish tradition back of them. Their charge that Paul was an iconoclast, who rejected as useless the greater part of the Jewish law, was valid. In comparison with the definite way of salvation presented by that law, Paul's gospel must have seemed to many minds somewhat vague. In supporting his position Paul reveals in this letter his marvellous skill in appealing to the intellects as well as to the hearts of men. His first appeal is to the inner spiritual experience of the Galatian Christians themselves. Was it the teachings of the Judaizers or Paul's gospel which had given them the consciousness of the presence of the divine Spirit in their hearts and lives? The phenomena of speaking with tongues and miracles had further attested the divine origin of his gospel. In Paul's mind this evidence of spiritual experience transcended all others. His next line of evidence was historical. Abraham, the forefather of his race knew nothing of the later law, but to him had been given the divine promises of which the work of Jesus was the fruition. These promises had been given not only to the descendants of Abraham, but to all, both Jew and Gentile, who shared his faith. What, after all, had the law accomplished? In answering this question, Paul evidently drew from his own personal experience. It developed, he declared, a consciousness of sin, which, on the one side, pointed only to death as its just penalty, but, on the other hand, in opening the minds of men to the need of divine forgiveness, it prepared the way for the fulfilment of God's promises and the accomplishment of the work of Jesus. Gen

PAUL'S VALUATION OF THE JEWISH LAW

tiles and Jews alike were subject to the laws of nature, which they believed to be controlled by elemental spirits. Hitherto men had been like immature children, under the tutelage of the law or of their imperfect religious beliefs; but now at last humanity was about to enter into its heritage. Through Jesus, whose central teaching had been the fatherhood of God and man's divine sonship, man had been delivered from its old bondage. "He was no longer a slave but a son and as son also God's heir." Therefore he assures the Galatian Christians that their inner spiritual experience, the consciousness, "of Christ formed within them," was the only and supreme evidence that they were the heirs of the promises given to Abraham and indeed the sons of God. To adopt the rite of circumcision and to go back to the observance of the Jewish ceremonial law would be to substitute form for the Spirit and to repudiate the divine heritage which had come to them through the work of Jesus.

VI. The Responsibilities of Spiritual Liberty. To Paul, faith and life in Christ had brought liberty. Christian liberty is one of his favorite themes; but Paul always guarded against its interpretation as license. He strongly asserts that freedom from the law does not mean liberty to follow one's wayward caprices. It means rather, constant loyalty to the guidance of the Spirit. Indeed, those who "belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and inclinations." Furthermore in Paul's vocabulary, liberty is a synonym for responsibility. Not only is the Christian to bear the fruits of the Spirit (which he defines) but also "to bear one another's burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ"-that higher spiritual law which has taken the place of the old Jewish law. The one supreme principle, he declares, in that new law is love: "For the entire law is summed up in one word, 'You must love your neighbor as yourself.'' Thus the epistle opens with powerful invective, which merges into impassioned argument and then in conclusion strikes Paul's ever-dominant note, that of love.

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§ CLIV. PAUL'S MISSIONARY WORK IN MACEDONIA Paul and his associates crossed the Phrygian and Galatian The country, but were prevented by the Holy Spirit from preach- o to ing the word in the province of Asia. When they reached Troas Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus 166-8) would not allow them, and so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.

(Acts