The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (95 page)

¹⁰²
For the history and early translation of this significant find, see A. Deissmann,
Paul. A Study in Social and Religious History
, trans. W. E. Wilson (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1926), 261-79.

¹⁰³
See J. Knox,
Chapters in a Life of Paul
(Nashville: Abingdon, 1950), 81—83. For Knox's view of the testimony of Acts, see pp. 61—73.

¹⁰⁴
So also D. Moody, “A New Chronology for the Life and Letters of Paul,” in
Chronos, Kairos, Christos: Nativity and Chronological Studies Presented to Jack Finegan
, ed. J. Vardaman and E. M. Yamauchi (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 1989), 231-33.

¹⁰⁵
So also Moody, “New Chronology,” 233; and Finegan,
Biblical Chronology
, 397.

¹⁰⁶
Josephus,
Ant.
20.
182; Jewish War
2.271.

¹⁰⁷
Josephus,
Jewish War
2.252;
Ant.
20.160-72.

¹⁰⁸
For the possibility that numismatic evidence may confirm this date, see McRay,
Paul, 66;
and J. Finegan,
The Archaeology of the New Testament: The Mediterranean World of the Early Christian Apostles
(Boulder: Westview, 1981), 14, 36, 39. However, this evidence remains in question until photographs of the supposed micrographs are published.

¹⁰⁹
Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
2.22.2; 2.25.5; 3.2.30.1.

¹¹⁰
See Rom 15:24, 28;
1 Clement
5—6; Muratorian Fragment; and the Pastoral Epistles. Regarding Paul's possible missionary work in Spain, see esp. the discussion in Schnabel,
Early Christian Mission
, 1271—83.

¹¹¹
For a good discussion of the issues, see McRay,
Paul: His Life and Teaching
, 60—84.

¹¹²
The Chronicle of Eusebius as preserved by Jerome dates the deaths of both Peter and Paul to the fourteenth year of Nero's reign, which would be 68 (or 67 since 54 is Nero's first year and the 13th year could be 67). However, a clue in 1
Clement
, which states that Paul suffered “under the rulers” (plural), suggests that Paul's death was between September
66
and March 68. During this period, Nero was traveling in Greece, and Rome was ruled by Helius and Tigellinus, an imperial freedman and a captain of the Praetorian Guard. The plural in Clement is best explained as referring to these two temporary rulers. See Finegan,
Biblical Chronology
, 387.

CHAPTER 10

CORE KNOWLEDGE

Basic Knowledge:
Students should know the key facts of Galatians. With regard to history, students should be able to identify the letter's author, date, provenance, destination, and purpose. With regard to literature, they should be able to provide a basic outline of the book and identify core elements of the book's content found in the Unit-by-Unit discussion. With regard to theology, students should be able to identify the major theological themes in Galatians.

Intermediate Knowledge:
In addition to mastery of the core content identified in Basic Knowledge above, students should be able to present the arguments for historical, literary, and theological conclusions. With regard to history, students should be able to discuss the evidence for Pauline authorship, date, provenance, destination, and purpose. With regard to literature, they should be able to provide a detailed outline of the book. With regard to theology, students should be able to discuss the major theological themes in Galatians and the ways in which they uniquely contribute to the NT canon.

Advanced Knowledge:
In addition to mastery of the core content identified in Basic Knowledge and beyond the Intermediate Knowledge noted above, students should be able to argue for the literary integrity of Galatians. They should also be able to evaluate critically the North Galatian and the South Galatian theories of destination and to assess how each affects the dating of Galatians.

Map 10.1: Provenance and Destination of Galatian

INTRODUCTION

T
HE LETTER TO the Galatians is in all likelihood the first letter Paul wrote that is included in the NT. Since this Introduction follows a chronological approach with regard to Paul's letter, treating them in the order in which they were written rather than in canonical order, Galatians is the place to start. Although the letter is relatively short, it has exerted enormous influence on Christianity. The early church fathers wrote more commentaries on Galatians than on any other NT book.
¹
The letter was a favorite of the Protestant Reformer Martin Luther, who described it as dear to him as his own precious wife and called it “my own epistle, to which I have plighted my troth [i.e. pledged my truthfulness]; my Katie von Bora.”
²

As a tribute to the foundational nature of Galatians for understanding the Christian gospel, G. Duncan described the letter as the “magna carta of Evangelical Christianity.”
³
R. Longenecker elaborated: “Historically, Galatians has been foundational for many forms of Christian doctrine, proclamation, and practice. And it remains true today to say that how one understands the issues and teachings of Galatians determines in large measure what kind of theology is espoused, what kind of message is proclaimed, and what kind of lifestyle is practiced.”
⁴

Indeed, Galatians makes numerous and significant contributions to NT theology and ethics. The most important contribution of the letter is its exposition of the doctrine of justification. This short letter attacks all notions, both ancient and modern, that one's eternal destiny is dependent on one's personal actions, participation in rituals, or conformity to group norms. Instead, the letter liberates the believer from slavery to the law and expounds a higher righteousness that is prompted and empowered by the indwelling Spirit.
⁵
The letter also addresses the Spirit's transforming work in the believer and the nature of Christ's substitutionary atonement, and it also expresses an early but high Christology.

Doctrinally, the salvation-historical significance of Galatians cannot be overstated. In clarifying the nature of the gospel in teaching salvation as offered entirely by God's grace and as appropriated exclusively through faith, the letter clarified and fortified the true Christian message at a time when some even within the church sought to subvert the gospel. Thus A. Cole was correct in his assessment of Galatians as “a theological refutation of a heresy that, if accepted, would have destroyed the whole church.”
⁶
Galatians remains the fiercest and clearest dismissal of salvation through human effort from the pen of the apostle Paul. In recent years, however, the letter has been the focus of much debate as NT scholars and theologians have begun to question traditional understandings of justification by faith.
⁷

HISTORY

Author

Authenticity
The letter to the Galatians is regarded as an authentic letter of the apostle Paul by all but the most radical critics. Acceptance of Paul's authorship is so widespread that extended discussion of the issue is unnecessary. In the late eighteenth century, several Dutch scholars rejected Paul's authorship.
⁸
In the nineteenth century, B. Bauer denied the authenticity of the letter and influenced a number of other scholars to do so as well.
⁹
In the twentieth century, L. G. Rylands and F. R. McGuire rejected Pauline authorship of Galatians.
¹⁰
However, the arguments against Paul's authorship of Galatians have been deemed unpersuasive by a large majority of scholars.

The consensus of NT scholarship views the theories of the authorship of Galatians espoused by Bauer and McGuire as excessively skeptical. F. C. Baur categorized Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Romans as the “major letters” (German
Hauptbriefe)
, letters whose authorship was indisputable.
¹¹
Many critics are so convinced of Paul's authorship of Galatians that they use Galatians as the standard by which to test the authenticity of other letters.

The early church unanimously accepted Paul's authorship of the letter. Allusions to Galatians appear in the works of Clement of Rome (c. 96), Ignatius (c. 35—110), Polycarp (c. 69—155), and Justin Martyr (c. 100—165). Galatians was included in the ancient canonical lists and in the ancient versions. It was quoted directly and was explicitly ascribed to Paul by Irenaeus (c. 130-200), Clement of Alexandria (c. 150-215), Origen (c. 185-254), and Tertullian (c. 160—225).
¹²
The author identified himself as Paul in Gal 1:1 and appealed to his personal signature in Gal 6:11 as confirmation of the authenticity of the letter. Paul's authorship of the epistle may be accepted with great confidence. As R. Longenecker noted, “If Galatians is not by Paul, no NT letter is by him, for none has any better claim.”
¹³

Literary Integrity
More serious challenges have been raised against the integrity of the letter, and especially in the last two centuries a considerable number of scholars have questioned whether Galatians was originally written in the form in which the book has come down to us in the NT. In the last half of the twentieth century, J. C. O'Neill revived a theory from the nineteenth century which suggested that Paul wrote the majority of the letter, although it contains numerous glosses. Early scribes inserted some words and passages in the letter.
¹⁴

More recently, W. Walker has suggested that Gal 2:7b—8 is a non-Pauline interpolation.
¹⁵
Walker appealed to six factors in the text as evidence against Paul's authorship of these verses: (1) Paul did not elsewhere use the name “Peter”; (2) he did not elsewhere use the verb
energein
in the same syntactical construction that is used here; (3) he did not elsewhere distinguish between two legitimate gospels; (4) the presentation of Peter and Paul as the two great missionaries of the Christian movement seems to reflect a later stage of church history; (5) this discussion of apostleship does not ascribe apostleship to Paul; and (6) the verses sit awkwardly in their present context.

To date, no extensive response to Walker's article has appeared, but scholars previously observed some of the phenomena discussed by Walker and offered various explanations for it. E. Dinkler has suggested that Gal 2:7b—8 is non-Pauline though not an interpolation. The text is a quotation by Paul from a written decree from the apostolic conference
in Jerusalem.
¹⁶
Although most scholars have found some aspects of Dinkler's proposal unpersuasive, scholars such as O. Cullmann, H. D. Betz, and F. F. Bruce have argued that some allusion to an official document from the Jerusalem church is the best explanation for some of the unusual features of the Galatians text.
¹⁷

Still, reasonable explanations can be offered for the unusual features of Gal 2:7b—8 without adopting Dinkler's theory. Walker has exaggerated the uniqueness of the text. U. Wilckens has demonstrated that the text is permeated with terminology that is distinctively Pauline.
¹⁸
Although Walker correctly pointed out that Paul did not elsewhere use the verb
energein
with the bare dative, the verb is used 18 times by Paul and only by him in the NT except for a single saying of Jesus (Matt 14:2; Mark 6:14) and one usage in James (Jas 5:16). Moreover, the unique syntax of the verse is explicable given the special nuance of the construction.
¹⁹
The text does not refer to two distinct but legitimate gospels as Walker claimed. The phrases “gospel of the circumcision” and “gospel of the uncircumcision” are better translated as “gospel for the circumcision” and “gospel for the uncircumcision.”
²⁰
Many commentators have pointed out that Paul is not referring to two different gospels with distinct content but to the two different audiences or recipients for the gospel in the church's mission (cf. Rom 4:9-12).
²¹

B. Ehrman has argued that “the only real exception to the Pauline character of these verses is the name ‘Peter’ itself.”
²²
Paul may here use the Greek name
Peter
rather than the Aramaic name
Cephas
as he otherwise did because the meaning of the name (“rock”) is