Job 7:17 - Meaning and Application

This letter from Paul was not written to a single city church, as some of his letters were, but to the churches of a whole region, Galatia. It is very likely that these Galatians were first brought to faith in Christ through Paul’s own ministry. Even if he was not the one who first planted those churches, he had clearly helped strengthen them, as Acts 18:23 shows, where he went through Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

When Paul was with them, they held him and his ministry in the highest respect and affection. But after he left, some Judaizing teachers, men who tried to bind Christians to the Jewish law, slipped in among them. By their clever talk and influence, they soon lowered the Galatians’ opinion of Paul and of his message. Their main aim was to turn the believers away from the truth as it is in Jesus, especially the great doctrine of justification, which means being counted righteous before God. They wrongly taught that faith in Christ had to be joined with keeping the law of Moses in order to be right with God.

To make this easier for them to do, they also worked hard to weaken Paul’s reputation and lift themselves up by tearing him down. They made him seem less important than he really was, even if he were to be accepted as an apostle at all. They likely claimed to follow Peter, James, and John, and tried to make the Galatians think those men were far more worthy of attention. Sadly, they succeeded too well in both ways.

This is what led Paul to write this letter. He was deeply troubled that the Galatians had so quickly turned away from the faith of the gospel. He defends his own calling and authority as an apostle against the attacks of his enemies, showing that both his message and his commission came from God. He also proves that he was in no way inferior to the chief apostles, even the very highest among them (2 Corinthians 11:5).

After that, Paul strongly upholds the gospel truth that people are made right with God by faith, apart from works of the law. He also answers likely objections and difficulties about that teaching. Once he has firmly established this important truth, he urges the Galatians to stand firm in the freedom Christ has given them. He warns them not to abuse that freedom, gives them several very useful instructions, and then ends by describing the false teachers who had misled them. He also sets before them, by contrast, his own spirit and conduct.

In all of this, Paul’s main purpose was to bring back those who had gone astray, to steady those who were wavering, and to strengthen those who had kept true.