What was the Galatian Problem
Galatians 1:6–7 “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (v. 6). Christianity has long recognized that even the unlearned can understand the basic gospel found in Scripture. Still, it is sometimes hard to interpret certain portions of the Bible because it was written so long ago in a culture foreign to many of us. But knowing the circumstances that prompted the writing of a particular biblical book lessens the difficulty we may have in understanding it. An awareness of Scripture’s historical context is indispensable for its proper interpretation. It is relatively easy to determine why Galatians was originally written. Galatians 1:6-7 informs us that the churches in Galatia were turning to a “different gospel” in the absence of Paul, and they needed correction (Gal. 1:6). They were abandoning the “grace of Christ,” which indicates a move to embrace something other than the gift of Jesus...