Paul had written the two Letters to Thessalonika during his 18 months stay at Corinth, on his second missionary trip, probably in 51 A.D. Then he soon went back to Antioch, which had been his base of operations.

After some time at Antioch, Paul set out on his third expedition, which was in 54-57 A.D. (See Acts 18:23-21:17). He first went overland through north Galatia and Phrygia, and came to Ephesus, which was his center for about three years. It was probably there that Paul wrote to the Galatians in about 54 A.D.

This is true on the theory -- most likely true -- that Paul wrote to north Galatia, to communities he founded in the interior on his second journey (Acts 16:6) and visited on his third journey (Acts 18:23). However, as we said in the introduction to the Letters to Thessalonika, it is possible Paul wrote to south Galatia, communities he founded on his first expedition (Acts 13:13-14:28). Then the Letter to Galatia might have been as early as 48 A.D., and then would have been the very first part of the New Testament to be written.

Paul had already attended a meeting of the Apostles in Jerusalem, probably in 49 A.D. which decided that the gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia need not be circumcised and keep the law of Moses. This question had become acute since Paul had made so many gentile converts. Just as a means to appease those who wanted to impose the Mosaic law, the council did call on the gentile converts to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, and from strangled animals. These were just a few points of the Mosaic law, rather small. It also called for what general morality requires, that they abstain from loose sex.

But the Judaizers -- those who had wanted to impose the whole Mosaic law -- did not give up easily. They still tried to impose the law on even gentile converts. They seem to have caused much trouble in Galatia on this score. Hence this is the chief reason why Paul wrote to Galatia. In it he stresses heavily his teaching that justification (getting right with God) comes not by keeping the law, but by faith (let us recall from the glossary the sense in which Paul uses the word faith). Paul will return to the same theme in Romans. Luther claimed he had made a great discovery, justification by faith, in Galatians. It was really a great mistake, for, as is explained in the glossary, Paul did not mean by faith what Luther thought he meant. More on this in the Supplement, below, on Luther.

Since the Judaizers said in effect that Christ alone is not enough -- one must also add the law -- Paul naturally reacted by saying: We are free from the law. This caused great confusion. 2 Peter 3:15-16 said that in Paul's letters there are many things hard to understand. He was very right! As we shall see, Paul really meant that keeping the law does not earn salvation, though violating it would earn punishment (cf. 1 Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:16-21; Eph 5:5).

Some have said Paul did not understand Judaism -- a ridiculous claim, for Paul was a Jew, trained by the great teacher Gamaliel in Jerusalem, and was a zealous Pharisee. Some want to say we get into the covenant community, the Church, without earning it (justification by faith) but that to stay in, one must observe the covenant law. Paul has no such distinction. We get justification (which brings entry into the people of God) by faith, without earning it. Reaching final salvation is equally, in the basic sense, without earning it -- hence Paul often speaks of us as "inheriting the kingdom." When we inherit from our parents, we do not say we have earned it -- though we could have earned to lose it (cf. again 1 Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:5). In that sense, we cannot get by with violating the law, even though keeping it does not earn salvation. There is a secondary sense in which we merit heaven: the fact that we have become (without earning it) sons of God, gives us a claim to inherit. A claim can be called a merit.¹

A student some time ago summed up this matter of salvation neatly: You can't earn it, but you can blow it.

A lesser, but important reason for his writing was to answer the claims of some there that he was not a real apostle, just a second-stringer, not sent out by Christ Himself.

Everyone today agrees that Galatians is really by St. Paul.