Galatians: Paul's Correlation To The Book Of Acts

Wacaster’s book, which is (as the title suggests) centered on Paul’s epistle to the Galatians, is very obviously intended to the common-level, “average” audience. Wacaster does not delve into complex conversations of textual variants, manuscript discrepancies, and disputations of authorship, nor does he use vocabulary or phraseology that is above the understanding of most individuals. Rather, Wacaster is simple, straightforward, and effective in communicating his points on the wonderful book of Galatians. With many commentaries that are written at a graduate and scholarly level, a more basic approach is much appreciated and needed.

man. The gospel preached by Paul was being twisted by those false teachers. Paul proceeds to

Although it seems that Acts 15 and Galatians 2 record the same event, that is not the case. In the book of Acts, specifically Acts 15, Peter is in Jerusalem at the Jerusalem council. In Galatians 2, Paul speaks about his second journey to Jerusalem. The events that occurred in Galatians also relates to the events in Acts. The main question while analyzing both chapters is: Does it record the same event? There has been speculation that it is the same event told in both chapters, but it is evident that in Acts and Galatians, it tells the stories of different events. Both of these chapters detail similar happenings, but it is not the same event.

The South Galatian theory holds the strongest with the stance that it was one of the churches Paul began on his initial missionary journey. While there is no scripture to back up that the North had churches truly established according to Acts, the South had churches planted. One of the major reasons South Galatian is supported is because of the fact that it is on the journey Paul had to take to get to his home, Tarsus. The reason this theory is important is because of the cultural differences we see presented, as the Northern Galatians would tend towards heavy roman actions. Also the fact that they are under such extreme Jewish influences shows that they are very unlikely to live in the North vs. the South, because Jews were more prevalent in the Southern region. There are 2 very contrasting ideas as to when the epistle was written. One theory states that it was written in the early stages of Paul’s ministry and the other states it was probably one of the last letters that Paul ever wrote . There is no indicator at all as to when this book was written, but most scholars believe that it was written around 49 A.D., considering that during the letter Paul mentions the council.” Fortunately, the primary thrust of Paul’s argument is clear enough and does not revolve around our ability to identify the setting with precision2 .”

The final eight epistles of the New Testament canon exert an influence out of proportion to their length. They complement the thirteen Pauline Epistles by offering varying perspectives on the richness of Christian truth. Each of the five authors – James, Peter, John, Jude, and the author of Hebrews – made a distinctive contribution from his own point of view. Like the four harmonizing approaches to the life of Christ portrayed in the Gospels, these writers provide a sweeping portrait of the Christian life as a whole and how it should be lived out. Although Paul’s epistles are excellent, the New Testament revelation after Acts would be severely limited by one apostle’s perspective had the writing of these five men been neglected. The

Paul’s epistle to the people of Galatia addressed many groups, including Jews, Gentiles, and other missionaries, among others. Paul established a rebuttal against other missionaries who were using Abraham as a supporting argument to convert the Gentiles to Judaism by means of circumcision. In Galatians, Paul understood his Gentile Galatian audience primarily in Jewish terms as he made connections to them through major figures in Jewish history and the Jewish tradition of circumcision, uniting the two groups under a single Jewish terminology. Paul understood Gentile Galatians in a Jewish context by using Jewish historical figures and identifying these figures with the people of Galatia. An example of this is in Paul’s use of an allegory of the story of Hagar and Sarah (Galatians 4:21-5:1).

Thecla is captivated by Paul's message of salva¬tion by asceticism — along with many other

In Galatians 1-6 we start off by learning that Paul the apostle was sent through Jesus christ and God the father to the churches of Galatians. Paul returns to Jerusalem and seks help to tell the converts that they don’t need to follow every Jewish law. Then he calls the Galatians foolish, then tells them that Jesus was crucified and now everyone can live for God and not worry about anything. The Galatians begin to question and all Paul wants is for them to stop worrying about Jewish holidays and to start living the way God wants them too. Now we learn that the Galatians are free and if they go and get circumcised, they will be forced to obey Jewish law. Paul then gives them advice about everyone's imperfections and how they

The controversial figure of St Paul is credited with writing thirteen of the twenty-seven books in the New Testament; thus making him one of the most important figures of the Apostolic Age and in the development of the early Christian faith. Paul’s letters are some of the earliest Christian documents discovered dating to approximately 50 AD, whereas the scholarly consensus for the dating of the gospels is between 70 AD and 90 AD. Therefore, Paul’s thirteen letters reveal the earliest teachings about Jesus and the Christian faith; in particular Paul’s letter to the Romans expresses the fullest statement of how salvation in Christ is achieved (Wansbrough, 2011, P247). Thus, this essay will primarily focus on Romans and the extent it concurs with the Gospel according to Luke. In doing this, the essay will also analyse whether Paul’s letters rely on the narrative of Luke’s gospel. The overall message Paul preaches in his thirteen letters is we can be saved through Jesus’ actions, but only if we follow his teachings. However, the argument is can this message be fully understood by Christians without Luke’s gospel? Additionally, this paper will attempt to show how Paul’s preaching has altered or remained the same throughout time.

The Jewish community rejected the lax attitude concerning Mosaic Law. The Galatians, who were brought up in an area of the world dominated by a polytheistic, law-based religion, sought comfort in the more disciplined Jewish approach. “Paul: Appealing or Appalling?” is the surprising title of the first chapter in a book about the differing opinions, written by Christian scholars, Marcus J. Borg and John Dominic Crossan. Their account of Paul’s controversial stance on a variety of “major issues” like gender roles and slavery helps to understand the historical significance of Paul’s evangelism. Jews were easier to reach than Gentiles, because of their sacred education, therefore the issue of circumcision was definitely an issue among the first converts to Christianity. The question on everyone’s mind was, “Do you have to be a Jew to be a Christian?” Judeans were taught that salvation would only come to those circumcised according to the custom. Once in Jerusalem, Paul went to the elders to announce God’s grace in the lives of the Gentiles. They rejoiced in his message, but took notice of his advice against Jewish law,

Within the first three chapters Paul shows the futility of false wisdom and human competitiveness and of attempts to demonstrate Christian freedom by violating the sexual conventions honored even by unbelievers. Other reference stating how too much emphasis was placed on the human reason can distract the simple message that Christ died for people’s sins so that they could be

It seems strange that so little is known biographically about one of the most important figures in Christian history, but this only serves to add to the mystery and grandeur surrounding the Apostle Paul of Tarsus. Much, however, is known of the time after his conversion to Christ and what he did to contribute to Christianity in this period, and it is this that leaves a greater legacy than the simple facts of his life. The contributions that he made towards the cause of Christ and the spreading and formation of Christianity are what he is perennially remembered for.

Holy living is one of the more difficult aspects of the Christian life, and in chapter five in his epistle to the church in Galatia, Paul exhorts this living. This exhortation is especially seen in verses 16-18, when Paul contrasts a life in walking in the Spirit as opposed to the flesh. The difficulty for a Christian, Paul points out, is that there will always be a struggle between the desires of the flesh and fruits of the spirit. He sets up this exhortation in v.16-18 with a statement in v.13, he says “For you were called to freedom….do not use your freedom for an opportunity for the flesh, but through love.” This is message that would have contrasted a false teaching of works of the flesh at that time in Galatia, and this message would have been a correction of that teaching.

This argument does not, however, decisively remove the possible use of ‘conversion’ for Paul, as Stendahl’s view that conversion must mean abandonment of a previous religious system is certainly not a necessary condition. In addition to this, to remove the language of ‘conversion’ from Paul’s experience is to remove its decisiveness; its absolute alteration of Paul’s thinking and being that can be seen in Gal 1:12-14. In these passages we see Paul speak of the risen Christ, who gave him his teaching and drew him away from his life in the Law, and as a Pharisee, in which he excelled (Gal 1:14) and which had led him to persecute the Church (Gal 1:13). When this Christocentric language is placed against his former understanding, which had caused him to persecute the Church, one cannot simply speak of a ‘call’, but rather must move to language of radical turning, of ‘conversion’. As this shows, while Stendahl’s argument that Paul should not be considered a ‘convert’ is not strong enough to warrant abandonment of the term, his exposition of Paul as ‘called’ should not be ignored, as, from a missional point of view, he certainly was. This leads us to the conception of Paul’s experience as encapsulating both ‘call’ and a ‘conversion’ dynamic, more fully expressing the reports he and others gave of this time.

Is thought that the recipient of the letter were people from a province in central Asia Minor and Paul preached them during his first mission. The authors of the letter to the Galatians was Paul and Jesus Spirit. One of the main purpose of the letter or theme was to address the relationship from the Gentile Christians towards Judaism. The main points of the letter are to be truthful to God and commit to Him, in order to gain the Kingdom of heaven. In verse Gal 1:7 Paul clarifies that there is no other Gospel than the one that Jesus proclaimed. Paul explains that there is people that try to confuse Christians and pervert the gospel of Christ but he is warning us not to fall into that. It repeats over and over to not follow the law of the world but the teachings of Jesus Christ. We all are the church. The ones who believe on God are the church. To be the church in this letter means to believe in Jesus Christ and only worship God because He gave us freedom from sin and He is the only one that can lead us to the Kingdom of God. It also means to live by the fruit of the Spirit which is in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal 5:22-23). It means to die to the sin, to reject the sin of, fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing (Gal 5:19-21), and anything that looks like