The label “Galatia” refers to the first few churches Paul established in what we now call Central Turkey: Derbe, Lystra, Iconium and Pisidian Antioch, and any satellite churches those congregations may have established later. This is Paul’s earliest letter, likely written in around AD 48 shortly before that first council in Jerusalem (Acts 15, variously dated between 48-50). What we find in this epistle is very much like what he said at that meeting.
The problem was Judaizers. While the meaning of that term morphed a good bit over the following years, at this early stage in things, it was used to indicate a faction of converted Pharisees. They clearly understood that Jesus taught Moses. They probably understood His rejection of the Talmud. They also understood the necessity of faith that Israel had abandoned long ago, and were intent on restoring the true Old Testament religion. But they got hung up on the part about Jesus being the Messiah of Israel. They insisted that, to follow Christ, Gentiles had to come under the Covenant of Moses. They did not understand that the Law of Moses died on the Cross, and that Jesus had proclaimed a New Covenant that eclipsed it.
For them, it was not a question of continuity between the Old and New Covenants, but that they insisted the New was a continuation of the Old. This was a doctrine based on the residual racism of the Talmudic teaching, a spite for Gentiles. Gentiles could not go to Heaven as Gentiles. But this was false even under Moses. Under Moses, Israel was supposed to accept Gentiles who observed the Noahic Law, something Israel had long forgotten. So, the outcome of the Acts 15 council was that Gentile Christians could defer to Noah.
Paul and his companions had returned to Antioch in Syria after that first missionary journey. During his time there, teachers came up from Jerusalem demanding that the Gentile believers fully convert to Judaism. The controversy spread like wildfire. Paul wrote this stern warning to those churches: Don’t be suckered into this nonsense. After a brief introduction, Paul plunges right into it.
The gospel message of Christ that Paul first brought to those churches had not changed. This message took priority over any fresh word, even from angels. Anyone who came along insisting on some new requirements to following Christ was accursed. The Law of Moses didn’t do Israel much good; it was the faith behind the Law that mattered.
Paul was not trying to make peace with the Jews who crucified Jesus, and would some day try to kill him, too. Having gotten a PhD in Judaism and risen quite young to leadership serving the Sanhedrin, Paul knew more about it than the Judaizers roaming around. After God drove him through a conversion experience like no other, it wasn’t simply apostolic teaching that he parroted. He had spent time with the risen Christ to catch up with the Twelve. It turned out to be the same message they first proclaimed after Pentecost. Except, Paul knew from the start that he was called to minister to the Gentiles.
He eventually compared notes with Peter in private and confirmed it was the same message. Aside from a brief visit with Jesus’ brother James, Paul didn’t hang out with any of the other apostles. The only thing the Jerusalem church knew about him was that their former chief persecutor was now onboard with the gospel, and they were thrilled to hear that. At no time did Paul attempt to curry their favor or support. He had a mission and calling direct from God. The message he first brought to Galatia was what he learned from Christ Himself.
These Judaizing goons claiming to come from the church in Jerusalem were not official representatives, but zealots doing their own thing. The Galatian churches should run them off.
