Galatians Sparknotes

While there is controversy about the authorship of Galatians due to the style and context of the book, it is evident that the author is Paul according to most historians. James Boice notes in his commentary, “Paul, as the author, is mentioned by name not only at the beginning (1:1) but also toward the end of the letter in verse (5:2).” The first people who first became known as the Galatians were known as Celts from the barbarian tribal stock, also known as the Gauls. There are difficulties in finding out when Galatians was written, where it was written, and to whom it was exactly written to. There are debates as to whether this letter was sent to the ethnic Galatians who invaded and occupied central Asia Minor (North Galatian theory), or to the racially mixed inhabitants of the Roman province of Galatia (South Galatian theory). Even though there is not much evidence as to which side is correct or incorrect, historians lean more towards agreeing with the South Galatian theory because they find it hard to believe that Paul would write a letter addressed to a group of people he spent little to no time with. The audience of the letter: The Galatians were easily misled and fickle in their own ways, but at the same time they were eager to …show more content…
Themes such as rectification and freedom are prevalent throughout the letter of Galatians. Throughout the letter, Paul proclaims that we are adopted as God’s children as an outcome of Christ’s death. He shows us that human beings are being “rectified” through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Rectification can be described as “the man who trusts God becomes all that God has required a man to be, and all that he could never be himself.” Paul focuses his attention on the cross by realizing that it is not only an atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins, but it is a catastrophic event that has broken down the powers that hold people