Galatians

The book of Galatians addresses one of the toughest issues the early communities of believers in Jesus faced: how to understand and relate to the requirements of Mosaic law, especially for gentile believers. Should gentile believers be required to be circumcised and to follow other aspects of Mosaic law? Some were teaching this very thing. Paul’s encounter with the risen Jesus, however, convinced him that the law should be interpreted differently—as leading to and finding fulfillment in Christ (Galatians 2:19–21). To require believers to follow the law when Christ had already made them right with God and won their freedom (5:1, 4–6) would be “a different gospel . . . no gospel at all” (1:6–7).

Monica La Rose