Introductory Notes

The Writer

Paul, a Roman name meaning “little,” always used by the apostle himself, cp. 2 Peter 3:15, was also called Saul, a Hebrew name meaning “asked for.” It is possible he bore both from childhood; at any rate, it was not unusual for one man to bear a Jewish and a Gentile name, cp. Simon Peter, Matthew 10:2; Jesus Justus, Colossians 4:11. In this case, however, the two are never so joined. The Hebrew name appears for the last, the Gentile name for the first time in Acts 13:9.

It is not possible to fix with certainty the dates of Paul’s birth, conversion, and death, but 1b.c., a.d. 32 and 67, respectively, may be taken as approximating closely to them. He would thus be slightly younger than the Lord Jesus, Who was born from four to eight years before the account called Anno Domini. Paul was born at Tarsus in Cilicia, Acts 21:39, and was probably executed at Rome. If these dates are even approximately correct, he must have been a little over fifty years old, and must have had about twenty years’ experience in missionary work, when he wrote his Epistle to the Galatians.See also comment on 1 Thessalonians.

Galatia and Galatians

These terms were used in two senses, one official, one popular. The Galatians proper originally belonged to migratory Celtic tribes which, early in the third centuryb.c., invaded Greece from the north. A considerable host of these separated from the main body and, about 280b.c., crossed over into what is now known as Asia Minor, in the center of which they established themselves. In the apostolic age, “Galatians” and “Galatia” were still popularly used for this people (with the substratum of native Phrygians whom they had subdued), and for that part of the country in which they had settled.

A hundred years after their settlement in Asia Minor, the Galatians themselves were conquered by the Romans, 189b.c., with Galatia ultimately becoming a Roman province. Its boundaries were defined in 25b.c., but were again and again enlarged, and ina.d. 41, were extended southward to include Derbe and the adjacent territory. Thus, the terms were used officially to designate far more than the original Galatian country and people, for the population of Derbe, Lystra, and Iconium were Lycaonians, and those of Pisidian Antioch were Phrygians.

The southern part of the Roman province was the more populous, it had long had colonies of Greeks and Jews; commerce and emigration were encouraged by the safety of the great Roman road which ran through the cities just named.

The Destination of the Epistle

The ambiguity of the words “Galatia” and “Galatians” makes it difficult to determine the destination of the epistle and the time of its writing. The matter is surprisingly complicated. An attempt may, however, be made here to give the more important of the reasons usually adduced for and against two conflicting theories. If the apostle used the term “Galatia” in its more popular sense, he must have intended the epistle for churches in some unnamed cities, perhaps Ancyra, Pessinus, and Tavium; this is the “North Galatian” theory. If,