The message tonight is called: “The Galatian Problem.”
I’m not sure that this is the most appropriate time to tackle this subject, but if we don’t do it now, I’m not sure that we’ll find a better time.
Actually, this message shouldn’t be “The Galatian PROBLEM,” but rather “The Galatian PROBLEMS.”
I’ve got a three point outline so that we can call this my “evening sermon,” even though you’ll see that it isn’t very homiletical.
The Galatian problems include:
The Galatian REGION, the Galatian TIME, and the Galatian DOCTRINE.
You may wonder what this has to do with Acts 15:1-2, but I assure you that we’ll come back here in a few minutes.
Take a moment to open to the maps which might be at the back of your Bibles.
Perga was the capitol of PAMPHYLIA on the Mediterranean coast in what is now the belly of Turkey.
Most maps put Antioch due north of Perga and in the region of PHRYGIA.
Iconium, Lystra and Derbe are variously placed southeast of Antioch in the region called LYCAONIA.
Archeologists have identified the sites of Perga, Antioch and Iconium, but they aren’t sure of Lystra and Derbe.
For that reason Lystra and Derbe are placed at different sites on different maps.
Because Acts 14 only mentions the regional names of Pamphylia, Phrygia and Lycaonia, I have identified the cities of the chapter only with those three regions – until this morning.
If you have a map in front of you, you’ll see that there is another name in that general area: GALATIA.
On some maps Galatia is printed in larger type, and on some others it is even in a different type-style.
So what is the problem? you ask.
It’s in that different type-style.
What relationship does Galatia have to Pamphylia, Phrygia and Lycaonia?
And where does Paul’s letter to the Galatians fit into the Book of Acts?
I’ll come back to the interesting history of the area in just a minute, but let me explain the maps as best I can:
Some of these names were of ancient origin and some were more recent.
Some of these names were used prior to the days of the Greek Empire, but they survived not only the Greeks but the Romans as well.
After trying to digest several articles including those of FF Bruce, William Ramsay in ISBE and the book “The Dictionary of Paul and his Letters,”
So in one sense Galatia was the entire central part of what is now Turkey.
However, there is another sense:
It was slightly to the north of Iconium, Lystra and Derbe
Most of you have from time to time simply called it “America.”
However it is a part of a much larger area called “North America,” which in turn is half of an even larger area which is sometimes called “the Americas.”
Do you know that there are some people who live in other parts of “the Americas” who get offended when Americans call THEIR country “America” as if it was the whole thing.
If you do know, do you care?
So what’s the problem with that?
The problem is this: To whom did Paul write the letter to the Galatians?
There are some who say that it was written to churches established on his SECOND missionary journey which included the smaller Galatia proper.
And there are others who say that letter was written to churches which included Lystra and Derbe.
Luke said that they were talking in the speech of the Lycaonians.
At first the missionaries didn’t realize what was going on.
Paul was a very smart and a very learned man; he even grew up just across the mountains from Lystra.
Paul was fluent in Greek and Hebrew, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that he knew Latin just as well.
But he didn’t understand what was being said about them.
But in Lystra was a language which was absolutely strange to his ears.
From where did that language come?
The name “Galatia” was introduced to the area in about 278 BC when a vicious and warlike people moved in from the north.
They had first been invited by the King of Bithynia on the south shore of the Black Sea to help him subdue some of his enemies.
But these mercenary soldiers and their families liked the area so well, that they refused to go home.
“Galatia” is the Greek and Roman equivalent for the “Gauls” of central Europe.
They were CELTS, and if I’m not mistaken they were related to the Vikings.
JULIUS CAESAR became famous fighting against the cousins of these people in Europe.
When they went into battle it was with songs and shrieks and yells and the clashing of their shields,
All of which were designed to terrify their enemies, just as their ancestors had been doing for centuries.
Nearly all the Greek and Latin historians called them barbarians who were constantly attacking and ransacking their neighbors.
And Pompey in turn rewarded them by recognizing the kingdom of Galatia and letting it gobble up Pisidia and Phyrigia.
But later when the king of the Galatians died in 25 BC, Emperor Augustus didn’t permit the kingdom to continue, but reorganized it as a Roman province, ruled by a Roman governor.
Turn to Galatians and let’s begin reading from 1:15 to 2:10.
There is by no means agreement about the events Paul describes here, but let me give you my opinion.
That was when Barnabas befriended him, but most of the church were fearful and unfriendly.
From there he went to his home town of Cilicia and then eventually joined Barnabas in Syria.
Paul said in Galatians that fourteen years passed prior to his second Christian visit to Jerusalem.
It is obvious that Paul’s letter must have been written after the Jerusalem council, but the problem is in how long after that council.
Some experts say that the Book of Galatians was written after Paul’s SECOND missionary journey, which included a period in old Galatia proper.
And these scholars also say that the Book of Galatians was written to include the churches in Lystra and Derbe.
It is still impossible to say exactly when the Epistle to the Galatians was written but it was probably between 50 and 60 AD.
It may have been the first of the Biblical epistles the Paul wrote.
That is the Galatian Time problem.
“And certain men which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”
The reference that they came “down from Jerusalem” points out once again the altitude of Jerusalem.
They are not to be compared with the Rocky Mountains, but relatively speaking they were high.
But as such they came with some of the typical Pharisaical baggage.
They believed that the world revolved around them and their theology.
They tolerated proselytes because they accepted all the rites and ceremonies of the Jews,
They felt that they couldn’t possibly be true converts.
But if you stop and think about it, putting yourself in their shoes, that kind of logic is reasonably logical.
Remember that other than Sadduceism, this was all that those Pharisees knew.
They rejected much of the liberalism of the Sadducees, and demanded that the Sadducees become Pharisees in order to be theologically correct.
So this was also a logical step for the new-comers from among the heathen.
But Paul had been taught directly by God about this ministry.
From the time of his conversion, he knew that the Lord was going to reach out to the Gentiles through him.
During those months in Sinai after his salvation, the Lord had been teaching and revealing new things to his heart.
And since the conversion of Sergius Paulus, more and more Gentiles and heathen were trusting Christ.
The Lord had been working miracles among them, and proving to Paul and others that He had other people which were not of the Israelite flock.
Paul had a theological advantage over these brethren from Jerusalem; these Judaizers.
Over the next few weeks we shall look at this doctrinal problem more extensively,
Suffice it to say at this point that the Galatian doctrinal problem was the attempt by some to force the Gentiles to become ceremonial Jews.
Paul would have none of it.
And the Council in Jerusalem vindicated the ministry and the theology of Paul.