Meet the Apostle Paul—Part Eleven
The Apostle Paul was tested by his fellow official representatives of King Jesus by having to defend his beliefs at home. He passed the test.
Saul/Paul had met the risen King on the road to Damascus. In my opinion, he had reconfigured the entire Hebrew Bible through the lens of Jesus while sojourning at Mt. Sinai in Arabia. The Apostle then spent fifteen days in Jerusalem with Peter. He also met with James (all of this can be found in Acts 9 and Galatians 1:11-24). He then travelled home until Barnabas (that was his nickname) journeyed to Tarsus to fetch Paul and bring him to minister in Antioch (Acts 11:25).
At some point later, Paul and Barnabas are selected by the Holy Spirit to be missionary church planters (Acts 13). Here is where Paul’s letters come into play (or you can call them “Paul’s epistles” if you want to haughty like some doctoral students!).
Scholars debate the chronological order of Paul’s “epistles.” Most believe that either Galatians or 1-2 Thessalonians were the earliest “writings” of the Apostle.
I put “writings” in quotes because Paul probably did not actually put pen to parchment very often. He appears to have suffered from some type of eye ailment (see Gal 4:15; 6:11; 1 Cor 16:21; Col 4:18; 2 Thess 3:17; Philemon 19) (possibly macular degeneration). So, the Apostle frequently dictated his letters to someone else (known as an amanuensis or scribe or secretary).
The letter to the Galatians is written (or largely dictated) by an “angry Apostle”! At one point he even calls the members of these churches ἀνόητος[1], which the most respected Greek-English lexicon renders, “unintelligent, foolish, dull-witted.”[2] In other words, Paul calls them “idiots!” [3]
Paul is upset with the churches in the region of Galatia (and yes, it was a region, not a city) because they are apparently tempted to adopt many of the commands of the Mosaic Law. What’s wrong with that? Why would Saul/Paul, a Jewish rabbi, care?
After all, Paul will circumcise his adult mentee Timothy (Acts 16:3)[4] and the Apostle will take a Jewish vow and go to pray at the Temple (Acts 18:18; 21:17-26). So, if adult male followers of Jesus want to be circumcised[5] and eat a kosher diet, etc. then what is the big deal?
It is a big deal to Paul but the explanation requires us to wade into theology that might strike some of you as odd. For that, stay tuned until next time.
[1] Literally ἀνόητοί, plural…not that you care but I’ve had enough encounters with internet trolls to know to be as specific as possible!
[2] Frederick Danker, et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 84.
[3] I always hear Ren from Ren & Stimpy when I read it in Greek…Yes, I have no life.
[4] I will state for all adult males reading this…OUCH! After all, remember, no modern anesthetic existed, and it was performed with a flint knife! Aaaagh!
[5] Again…OUCH!