Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Monday, July 15, 2013 Read – Galatians 1:1-10 Paul’s letter to the churches in Galatia is a very fiery letter. Paul is angry and his anger comes forth in bursts of frustration. The letter to the Galatians was most likely written to the people in the churches that Paul and Barnabas established on their first missionary venture (Acts 13-14) – Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe, Perga, Attalia, and most likely churches in other cities in that region of Asia Minor (Acts 13-14). These are the first churches that Paul established – they were his pride and joy – and now they seemed to be abandoning the gospel Paul had worked so hard to bring them. In the very first verse Paul is defensive. He says that his commission as an Apostle did not come from human authority – he was not and did not need to be sanctioned by the church in Jerusalem! – but directly from Jesus. While Paul never mentions the Damascus Road encounter in any of his letters it is clear that he believed he had experienced a direct encounter with Jesus. And Paul understood himself to be as much of an Apostle as anyone. He had been sent by Jesus! Paul would not have accepted Luke’s definition of what an Apostle is. Of course both Paul and Luke have different reasons for their claims and different definitions of what an Apostle is. Each is correct from their own point of view – and it would be well if we could understand that when it comes to the definition of what an Apostle is Paul and Luke were talking apples and oranges. Often it is valuable to realize that many of our disputes are really simply difference of definition. Paul’s fear is that the people of Galatia are abandoning the gospel for “another gospel” even though no other gospel really exists. We do not yet know what the “other gospel” is but we will soon find out. As we continue through Galatians we will learn that it is the requirement of circumcision in order to be saved that is troubling the Galatians – the issue dealt with in the Jerusalem conference. It seems that some did not want to abide by the decision of James and continued to teach that one cannot be a Christian without being circumcised. One of the important things about Paul’s letter to the Galatians is that he provides so much autobiographical and historical information in his writing. We have already noted that a good deal of the information does not square with the information provided in the book of Acts. From a historical point of view they are irreconcilable. Our focus in listening to Paul’s letter to Galatians will be to examine these differences and to see if there are some ways in which they might yet converge. We will not be able to bring full reconciliation but perhaps seeing these two different versions together we might gain a clearer perspective.