Galatians background

Galatians

Author: Paul
[See Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius; Book 3, Chapter 25, Verse 2.]

Date: 56 or 57 A.D. (1)

Language: Greek

Place: Probably writing from Corinth (J.B. Phillips)

Purpose: Some people convinced some Galatian Christians they had to still obey the Mosaic Law.
"Paul warns the Galatians that although they are free, as Christians, from the Law, yet their lives must exhibit the fruits of the inner law of love implanted by God's Spirit." (2)

What kind of book?: Letter re: a specific occasion

Reflection: The Israelites were in a covenant with God, what is now termed the "Old Covenant." I like to refer to this as the "Leading Covenant!" Jesus offered the "New Covenant," which is available for Jewish folks and everyone else also. For a person in the New Covenant, we do not have to follow sacrificial laws of the "Mosaic Law," which were fulfilled by Jesus.  Nor do we need to follow the civil laws of the Mosaic Law, which were only for Jewish people since the Old Covenant was only between God and the Israelites.  And even Jewish people who receive the Messiah do not need to follow them, since they were specific to pre-Messiah Israelite era.  For example, Christ made possible a priesthood of all believers.  We still must follow the moral laws, as is obvious because Jesus even furthered them. Yet there is only one way to be able to obey the commandments of Christ as given in the Sermon on the Mount and in other places in Scripture, and that is to be enabled by the Holy Spirit Himself.  The Spirit of Christ is the One who can enable a person to live by the true love of God.
Hunter Irvine
(1) J.B. Phillips, Letters to Young Churches (New York: The Macmillian Company, 1947), 89.
(2) Ibid.