Galatians is a popular book in the New Testament that everyone seems to have a different take on. Traditional Christianity uses verses from Galatians as justification for setting aside Biblical commandments. Messianic believers might tell you that it's just talking about oral or Jewish law. Others read through it and think it contradicts itself repeatedly, or just feel confused. What is Galatians about?
How can we make sense of this important part of Scripture? This post will tell you how to read and study Galatians, so that you can understand how it is relevant today!
-Galatians is not meant to be read on its own. I grew up thinking that Galatians was some sort of trump card, and even if the Bible said the opposite thing somewhere else it didn't matter because somehow Galatians was more relevant or important than the rest of Scripture. But it's not legitimate to use one Bible verse to write off other parts of God's word. The way we translate and teach Galatians needs to fit with the rest of Scripture, because the Living God did not create his word to be contradictory. All of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, is cohesive. It fits together and all of the passages make sense with all of the other passages. If there is something in the Bible that seems to be contrary to other verses, that should call our attention to examine that topic more thoroughly. If something in Scripture is confusing, that's because I don't understand it well enough - not because it really is confusing.
-Different types of law are talked about in Galatians. Did you know that most Bible translations just use the word "law" for different types of law? That's about as clear as walking into a bridal dress shop and saying that you like the white dress! Specifications matter, and in this case Galatians talks about both Biblical law, and Levitical law. We need to rightly discern which type of law it talks about when. Otherwise this book will seem like it's contradicting itself and other parts of the Bible.
-The Bible says that Paul's writings are hard to understand. Peter wrote that in 2 Peter 3:16 and warned that Paul's writings often end up distorted or twisted. Here is a warning from the Bible that we need to slow down and study this book. It's unrealistic to think that a quick, cursory reading of an English translation will lead us to to proper meaning of Galatians when Scripture warns us that it is difficult to understand. That doesn't mean we can't understand it, but this indicates that the true meaning of Galatians might be different than what we've been taught!
Related posts:
A Hebraic Perspective on Galatians
The Three Types of Laws in Scripture
Comparing the Melchizedek and Levitical Priesthoods
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