Galatians - Introduction (1)

We have now finished Acts and are moving on to look at Paul's letter to the Galatians. This is one of my favourite books in the Bible, though I do have lots of favourites.

Where was the letter sent?

The answer might seem obvious, the Galatians. However, there is debate over whether it was sent to North or South Galatia. North Galatia was the region where “ethnic” Galatians lived. South Galatia was an administrative region in the Roman empire, and included several people groups (included Pisidians, Phrygians, Lycaonians, Jews and Greeks).

Acts tells of Paul’s missionary trip to south Galatia (Acts 14), but makes no mention of north Galatia.

Some of the arguments for the two alternatives are:

North

South

View of the early church.                               The term “Galatians”   would only be used of ethnic Galatians.                             The characteristics of the people is typical of Gauls.                             The circumstances alluded to in the letter do not match with those described in Acts 14 (which refers to south Galatia).                             Acts allows for unrecorded missionary trips.                             Paul assumes that the majority are Gentiles. South Galatia had a significant Jewish population, so North is more likely.                             The sorts of problems dealt with in Galatians are more likely to have arisen in the north. In the south they would have been an issue from the very beginning.

There is no direct evidence for a church in North Galatia.                             “Galatians” is   the most obvious common name for Paul to have used in addressing   the people of south Galatia.                             It is more likely that the Judaisers would have pursued Paul to the south, rather than the remote northern regions.                             Seems to fit the details given in Acts, e.g. Barnabas is known to them.                             Paul’s list of delegates who accompanied him to Jerusalem (Acts 20:4) includes two from south Galatia, but none from the north.                             Paul’s supposed trip to north Galatia is  unlikely.

For what it is worth, I think the south is more likely. The significance of the destination is in how relevant the information in Acts is to helping understand it. If the letter went to the south, then Acts is more relevant.

Galatians is probably the earliest of Paul’s letters, maybe before AD49. The most important factor is whether it was written before or after the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15). It seems likely that it was written before this, otherwise one wonders why Paul did not refer to the Council’s decision in Galatians.

More information can be found in commentaries on Galatians, such as the following book from which much of the above information comes.

R.A. Cole, Galatians, IVP,Leicester, 1983.