Study 2024-2025: Galatians

The Book of Galatians 

Overview
- Author:    Apostle Paul
- What: Apostle Paul’s letter to the church of Galatia (to set them straight, in the same manner he did with the church of Corinth).
-When: 48 AD
-Where: Antioch
-Why: People don’t have to do Jewish things to be Christian even though Christianity’s basic origin is Judaism. Jesus fulfilled the Law, as He stated He would in Matthew 5:17 so that we do not have to do the things concerning the Law.

Jesus Deity Claims/ Jesus OT ← → NT:
Since Jesus was not directly speaking to anyone in conversation in the book of Galatians, this section will remain as so.

The Trinity Shown:
1:1-5 = unity of Father and Son
1:12 = Jesus gives revelation to Paul (attribute of God)
1:15-16 = unity of Father and Son
2:20 = Son of God
3:14  = Jesus and Holy Spirit… also Paul addresses Jesus as the Redeemer, an OT title for God
4:4-7 = Father sent His Son
4:29  = Holy Spirit worked through Mary to provide Jesus
5:1 =  Paul addresses Jesus as the Savior, an OT title for God

Key Events:
1:6-10, 1:17, 1:19, 2:7-8, 2:15-16, 2:20-21, 3:7-8, 3:11, 4:11, 5:13-26, 6:8

Major (not all) Prophecies Fulfilled of the Messiah(Jesus):
1:4 = Isaiah 53:6
3:8 = Genesis 12:3
3:10-13 = Deuteronomy 21:23
3:16 = Genesis 12:7, 22:18
3:28 = Isaiah 49:6
4:4-5 = Genesis 49:10, Numbers 24:17

Culture/Time:
1:6-10 = The issue Paul is addressing here is that people in or outside of the church are able to influence the church in believing in a different gospel, which Paul says is no gospel at all. Paul also states that it does not matter from who this alternative gospel is from, whether it is him or an angel from heaven, if a different gospel is preached: 1.)  it is not the real gospel and 2.) let the deliverer of that false gospel be under God’s curse.
1:17 = Paul goes to Arabia, which this point and the point above will be addressed in Relevant History and Science section.
1:19 = Paul states that Jesus had a brother named James. This is the same half-brother of Jesus that writes the book of James (since Mary was still a virgin when she conceived and gave birth to Jesus, this James was then conceived after Jesus’s birth, as Matthew 1:25 states Joseph did not consummate the marriage between him and Mary until after Jesus’s birth, other translations state that Joseph did not know Mary until after Jesus’s birth. The word, “know” in that context can be used in terms of Joseph knowing Mary sexually).
3:1-3 = See Relevant History and Science


Relevant History + Science:
1:6-10, 1:17, 3:1-3 = Galatia no longer exists today, however Galatia during this time frame (48 AD) is located in modern day Turkey. Today, Turkey is a majority-Muslim country. The shocking part is that Paul addresses what he addresses in Galatians 1:6-10 and 3:1-3, to summarize: if anyone preaches a different gospel, let them be under God’s curse, and Paul asks the Galatians who bewitched them because they believe that Jesus possibly wasn’t crucified (Paul states Jesus was clearly portrayed as crucified). In 570 AD, Islam’s Mohammed (the “prophet”) was born and he claimed to receive revelations from god (Allah)) (this is not the God of the Bible). Mohammed said that Allah made it look like Jesus was crucified and that Jesus was not actually crucified (Quran 4:157). So the very thing that Paul warned the Galatians of in 48 AD, modern day Turkey has accepted the ideas that Paul clearly stated were false.

Notes

• The above is also relevant to the books of 1, 2, and 3 John, since these letters were sent out from Ephesus, to the churches of Ephesus, which is modern-day Turkey. John also warns in his letters that the one who denies the FATHER AND THE SON, that one is the antichrist.