Paul's letter to the Galatians Essay

Paul’s distinctive contribution to Christianity is his heresy- the doctrine of salvation by faith. A salvation available not just to the descendants of Abraham, but to the pagan, non-Jewish world as well. When he was writing to those in the Roman capital, Paul makes the declaration that proved to be the cornerstone of all his writings Romans 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live

Paul’s letter to the Philippians was written to the first church he established in Europe, the Roman province of Macedonia. The apostle wrote the letter to express his appreciation and affection to the people of Philippi while imprisoned in Rome. Paul’s affection to the people in Philippi is clear throughout the letter as he encouraged them to live out their faith in joy and unity (Towns, 201).

Paul was writing the letter to the churches of Thessalonica which is the capital of the Roman province of Macedonia. His purpose of writing was to praise them on their “faith and love” that Timothy had brought and to focus on the instruction on how to live their Christian lives. Paul was writing this letter while he was on his mission in Corinthian where he was farther south in the province of Achaia. He wants the letter to be read aloud “to all his brothers” which means all his believers in Thessalonica. In 1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 it is confirmed of the conclusion that the churches of Thessalonica was mostly composed of gentile

It was very likely that Paul wrote his letter to the Romans around 55-56 C.E. while he was on his third missionary journey. It is also believed that he was in the city of Corinth when he wrote it. Paul was writing to the church in Rome, which at the time the members were predominately Jewish. At the time there were approximately 50,000 Jews living in Rome. They either worked as slaves or had once worked as slaves, but gained their freedom. During this time, the Jews were given special protection from the Roman government, because they did not have to partake in pagan religious festivals or worship the Roman emperors. Unfortunately, in the late 40’s the emperor, Claudius, expelled a large number of the Jewish people because of a disturbance over a man named “Chrestus.” Therefore, the church in Rome likely became highly Gentile (Winn). In the event of these actions by the emperor the leadership of the Roman church became mostly Gentile.

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.

The book of Galatians was written for the simple reason to clear up the truth of the gospel. Shortly after Paul left the church of Galatia, an unknown person or ‘people’ came to the church and led them to believe otherwise. The church of Galatia, being brand new was thrown off by the idea that they were living an immoral life, and immediately changed what they were doing to fit what the people or persons taught this. The thought of having the

Through examining Romans, chapters 1-8, we see Paul covers a variety of theological and apologetic information for the Christ followers. In writing to the followers in the church in the city of Rome He makes it clear he wishes he could visit them (Romans 1:8-17) but is writing this letter to clear up the dissension between an identity crisis between the Jewish and Gentile members of the church as to whether they were to live by the law or by grace. Through this letter he writes many of the foundations of what it looks like to be a follow of Jesus and what that means for our battle with our nature and understanding our identity.

Paul wrote the book of Philippians as a letter to the church of Philippi. Paul uses this letter to thank the church for sending him financial aid while also trying to “bolster their enduring faith” (Neal, 88). Throughout this letter, Paul gives guidance to the church, however, in chapter 4 he focuses on encouraging “harmony”, “Christian joy and peace”, and “a sense of satisfaction” (Elwell & Yarbrough, 296-297). Each topic Paul discusses continues to be issues today and Paul’s words of wisdom remain true. In my own life, I have learned from Paul’s teaching to cast all my cares on God and try to lean on His, rather than my own, understanding.

To understand the meaning of Galatians 5: 16-18 we must understand the purpose of the letter. Galatians is an occasional letter (Duvall, Hayes 2008, 100) meant to address a congregation who is faced with the dilemma of Judaizers. The Judaizers were teaching that in order for a Gentile to be truly saved he must convert to Judaism; he must be circumcised. They preached salvation by works of the flesh, putting the Gentiles under the law (5: 9-15). But the flesh; circumcision or no circumcision, following the Judaic laws or not following the Judaic laws, makes no difference in salvation. Righteousness is found through faith and shown in love (5:6). Insistence that Gentiles convert to Judaism “distorts salvation by grace alone” and causes dissension in the body of Christ (Wilson 2013, Gal. 5:15). Paul argues that Christians should rely on the Holy Spirit for the power to overcome the flesh and walk in love and faith (5:16– 18). There is clearly a distinction between the fruit of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit (5:19-26). Paul

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

Before Paul became a Christian, he was a Roman citizen that persecuted Christians. Paul effortlessly transitioned from a Jew to a Christian by striking faith with God. In one of Paul’s letter’s he states he “went after Christians mercilessly, hunting them down and doing my best to get rid of them all. I was one of the most religious Jews of my own age in the whole country, and tried as hard as I possibly could to follow all the old, traditional rules of my religion” (Galatians 1:10-2, Bible); The letters Paul wrote toward the local Christian societies were included in the New Testament, Old Testament, and the Bible and were also meant to be compatible to all issues with believers of Christ. Paul also wrote to Christians in Rome to guide them with faith, which led to Paul to expand Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. Paul believed his duty on Earth was to spread the word of Christianity and to be on the pathway to

Paul addresses many issues throughout his letter concerning both people groups. For the Gentiles, “Paul directly addressed Gentiles using the second person in Rom 11:13, 31 in a rebuke of Gentile pride over their election by God.” And for the Jews, “Paul's rebuke of Jewish pride and hypocritical self-righteousness in Romans 2 frequently uses the second person and implies that Paul was directly addressing people of Jewish origin.” The early conformation of a church blended of Jews and Gentiles had the potential to be catastrophic for gospel as intense arguments between Jews and Gentiles could lead to many people missing the importance of the gospel. “These factors in the historical setting help explain why much of the letter to the Romans addresses issues of importance to the relationship between Jewish and Gentile

At the time Paul penned these letters, he finds himself as a prisoner. Most of the “books” that comprise the New Testament are actually letters. These letters are also known as epistles. These Epistles contain both conventional Christian teaching and specific instructions for the congregation to which they were addressed. Paul is writing his letters from a place of extraordinary suffering. Paul does not reflect the then-common background of suffering and sadness which most did in the early church. He does, however reflect one crucial difference: he

David Noel Freedman. New York: Doubleday, 1992). Luke was the author who may be responsible for connecting the stories written in Acts 15 and Galatians 2:1-10. It is possible that he could of have received, reported information at the same time; about the Jerusalem Council visit and the famine visit. During the twentieth century, hypothetical opinions about the two stories caused a stir up. There are numerous accounts of scholars who have argued if the two meetings were the same. The passage of Acts contains less credibility than the visit written in Galatians. Problems can be found in John Knox's three-visit hypothesis, when analyzing other scholars thoughts. The conclusion is set that details were left out in both passages, and it is possible that the story recorded in Galatians concerns the Jerusalem Council visit(Longenecker, Richard N. Galatians. Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, 1990). The connection between Acts 15 and Galatians 2 is overall to be a mistake made from the author Luke. The two passages are analyzed and broken down by scholars as they research a conclusion for this mystery. The major compliment that is included in both books is that Paul was on a mission to solve the problem referring to the Old Law with leaders and God's people. Luke gave

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