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GALATIANS
James Montgomery Boice
Introduction to Galatians
Not many books have made such a lasting impression on men's minds as
the Epistle of Paul to the Galatians, nor have many done so much to shape the
history of the Western world. Galatians has been called the "Magna Carta of
Christian liberty," and this is quite correct. For it rightly maintains that only
through the grace of God in Jesus Christ is a person enabled to escape the curse
of his sin and of the law and to live a new life, not in bondage or license, but in a
genuine freedom of mind and spirit through the power of God. Because of this
powerful truth, Galatians was the cornerstone of the Protestant Reformation.
Luther especially loved it. He called it his Catherine von Bora, for, he said, "I am
wedded to it." In Luther's hands the book became a mighty weapon in the
Reformation arsenal.
Paul regarded the thesis of Galatians—salvation by the grace of God
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ—as the indispensible foundation of
Christian life and conduct, while Luther, by rediscovering and teaching it,
restored to the church its spiritual heart and freedom. The thesis of Galatians is
no less important for our time than it was in Paul's day and in Luther's day.
5. Authorship
Of the traditional Pauline books few have been so unquestioningly accepted
as genuine as the Book of Galatians. Paul, as author, is mentioned by name not
only at the beginning (1:1) but also toward the end of the letter (5:2), and the
whole from beginning to end breathes such an intensely personal and
unconsciously autobiographical note that only a genuine historical situation
involving the true founder of the Gentile mission within the Church accounts for it.
Thus, even at the height of the highly critical period of NT scholarship in
Germany in the nineteenth century, the Tubingen school and others consistently
maintained the Pauline authorship of Galatians along with 1 and 2 Corinthians
and Romans. The only noticeable exceptions are Bauer and the so-called "Dutch
school" of the late nineteenth century, headed by Loman, Pierson, Naber, Van
Manen, and the Swiss scholar Steck. But their views are now generally
discredited.
Quotations from Galatians or apparent allusions to it occur in 1 Peter, The
Epistle of Barnabas, 1 Clement, the Epistle of Polycarp to the Philippians, Justin
Martyr Irenaeus Clement of Alexandria, and Origen. The book is listed as Pauline
in the Marcionite and Muratorian canons. A full listing of early allusions to
Galatians may be found in Lightfoot (pp. 58-62).
6. Bibliography
The following is a select bibliography of commentaries or works on Galatians
available to the English reader. References to other works as well as to the
abundant periodical literature will be found throughout the commentary.