Galatians 1:1-24

Christ has made us free

Galatians

Helen Pocock

About Paul’s letter to the Galatians

The writer

Paul wrote this letter. His name used to be Saul. He was called Saul until Acts 13:9, when he was first called Paul. He was a *Jewish leader. He used to oppose the Christians. But one day, he met Jesus in a special way. You can read how he became a Christian in Acts 9.

Paul knew about all the *Jewish laws. He used to obey all the *Jewish laws and traditions. But when Paul became a Christian, his life changed. Now he understood the real purpose of God’s law. God’s law shows people their *sins. So it shows people that they need to trust Jesus. Only Jesus can free us from the punishment for our *sins.

So Paul *preached this *good news first to *Jewish people. Later he *preached to the *Gentiles (Acts 13:42-48). Many people became Christians when they heard him. Especially, many *Gentiles became Christians.

The people who received this letter

Galatia was part of the country that we now call Turkey. Most of the people who lived in Galatia were *Gentiles. Paul had visited the region at least twice. He had *preached the *good news about Jesus and many people became Christians. The cities in Acts 14:21 are in Galatia. Paul visited the region again in Acts 18:23. Paul was weak when he first *preached there. But the people in Galatia were still excited to hear his message. And many people became Christians (4:13-16).

Why he wrote this letter

The *Gentile Christians in Galatia had believed the *good news about Jesus. But some *Jewish false teachers had visited them. The false teachers may have been ordinary *Jews. But they may have been *Jews who seemed to trust Jesus. However, those *Jews were jealous of Paul and they had spoken against him. They said that Paul was not an *apostle. And they said that the Christians had to obey the *Jewish laws. These laws controlled people. Some of the Christians in Galatia believed the false teachers. Paul was very worried about the Christians. So he wrote this letter to teach them the truth again. He reminded them about the true liberty that Jesus gives.

Chapter 1

Paul’s greeting to the Christians in Galatia

v1 I, Paul, am writing this letter. I am an *apostle. People did not make me an *apostle. A person has not sent me. But Jesus Christ appointed me as an *apostle. And God the Father, who raised Jesus from death, appointed me. v2 All the Christians who are here with me send their greetings. We are writing to the *churches in the region called Galatia.

v3 I pray that you will receive kindness and *peace from God our Father and the *Lord Jesus Christ. v4 Jesus chose to die because of our *sins. He did this in order to rescue us from this evil world. That is what God our Father decided to do. v5 And God always deserves honour and greatness. This is the truth.

Paul started all his letters in a similar way. In Paul’s days, it was the custom for a person to write his name at the beginning of a letter. He also mentioned the people to whom he was writing. Then there was a short greeting in the form of a prayer. Paul was not happy about the situation in Galatia. Perhaps these problems explain why Paul’s greeting was shorter than usual.