Week One

What’s new about Paul?

This is likely the oldest of Paul’s letters and therefore one of the first parts of the New Testament to be written down. This is a raw, passionate Paul, going straight for the jugular! He is deeply concerned about the churches in Galatia and wants to immediately grab his listeners' attention. We often forget that for the majority of the Bible’s history the majority of people have listened to it and not read it. This is especially true for the original audience, such as the Galatians here. This letter with all its bombast would have been read aloud to an assembled group. Have we got too comfortable with simply reading the Bible and not hearing the words enacted, springing to life? What’s new in Galatians, in Paul, when we take time to hear the words, in translation, but still leaping from the page?

Seeds to sow: During this week, read the whole letter to the Galatians out loud. What do you notice after reading through the whole thing?

Read Galatians 1: 1-10

Thaumazō!

What, no thanksgiving!? In all Paul's other letters he moves from greetings to giving thanks, but not here, he perhaps shocks his audience by launching straight into a rebuke!

The bombastic sounding Thaumazō is Greek for ‘I am astonished!’ We’re only 25 seconds in and it’s time to hold on to your hats!

What is your reaction to the word Thaumazō, what does it make you think of? And how do you think it would have felt hearing it as a Galatian in the first century?

Read Galatians 1: 11-2:10

Not of human origin.

Paul is keen to stress his independence and claims only Jesus as his authority. What’s striking here is what Paul is not doing. He is not playing a local power game, claiming the backing of powerful figures. The ancient world, much like our contemporary world, often rotated on trust and reputation, status and credentials. Whose faction are you in? Who’s backing you? Follow the money. But here at the outset of this letter Paul chooses to go it alone. What’s ever-new about this?

In chapter 2, Paul explains that while he was vulnerable enough to check in with apostles to make sure he was on the right path, he did so as his own man, unafraid to challenge their hypocrisy. At the heart of Paul’s letter is the desire that the Galatians leap straight into relationship with Christ and not set up other mediators or unnecessary practices to get in the way of that life changing relationship. Paul is saying here: it’s all about Jesus.

What is new and fresh or evergreen and timeless to you in these ancient words?

Read Galatians 2: 11-14

How come!?

Paul’s warning about peer pressure, politics and hypocrisy has a timeless ring.

Paul confronts the cognitive dissonance of one of the heroes of the early faith — to his face. (Better keep hanging on to those hats Galatians!)

How would have Cephas/Peter felt to have been confronted like this do you think?