GALATIANS
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GALATIANS
kreisdes Galaterbriefes), has, however, recently (1908)
given Lightfoot his strong support, though it must be
admitted that he has done little more than emphasize
and expand the arguments of Chase. The great cory-
phsus of the riouth-Galatian theory is Prof. Sir W. Si.
Ramsay. The following is a brief summary of the
principal arguments on both sides.
(1) The fact that the Galatians were being changed so soon to another gospel is taken by Light- foot as evidence of the characteristic fickleness of the Gauls. Ramsay replies that tenacity in matters of religion has ever been characteristic of the Celts. Be- sides, it is precarious to argue from the political mobil- ity of the Gauls, in the time of Coesar, to the religious inconsistency of Galatians, whose ancestors left the West four hundred years before. The Galatians re- ceived St. Paul as an angel from heaven (Gal., iv, 14). Lightfoot sees in this enthusiastic reception proof of Celtic fickleness of character. In the same way it may be proved that the 5000 converted by St. Peter at Jerusalem, and, in fact, that nearly all the converts of St. Paul, were Celts. Acts (.xiii-xiv) gives sufficient indications of fickleness in South Galatia. To take but one instance: at Lystra the multitude could scarcely be restrained from sacrificing to St. Paul; shortly afterwards they stoned him and left him for dead.
(2) St. Paul warns the Galatians not to abuse their liberty from the obligations of the Law of Moses, by following the works of the flesh. He then gives a long catalogue of vices. From this Lightfoot selects two {ix4dai, Ku/xoi.) as evidently pointing to Celtic failings. Against this it may be urged that St. Paul, writing to the Romans (xiii, 13), exhorts them to avoid these two very vices. St. Paul, in giving such an enumeration here and elsewhere, evidently does not intend to paint the peculiar failings of any race, but simply to repro- bate the works of the flesh, of the carnal or lower man; " they who do such things shall not obtain the king- dom of God" (Gal., v, 21).
(3) Witchcraft is also mentioned in this list. The extravagant devotion of Deiotarus, says Lightfoot, " fully bears out the character ascribed to the parent race". But the Emperor Tiberius and many officials in the empire were ardent devotees of augury. Sor- cery is coupled by St. Paul with idolatry, and it was its habitual ally not only amongst the Gauls but throughout the pagan world.
(4) Lightfoot says that the Galatians were drawn to Jewish observances ; and he takes this as evidence of the innate Celtic propensity to external ceremonial, "appealing rather to the senses and passions than the heart and mind". This .so-called racial character- istic may be questioned, and it is a well-known fact that the whole of the aboriginal inhabitants of Asia Minor were given over heart and soul to gross pagan ceremonial. We do not gather from the Epistle that the Galatians were naturally attracted to Jewish ceremonies. They were only puzzled or rather dazed (iii, 1) by the specious arguments of the Judaizers, who endeavoured to persuade them that they were not as perfect Christians as if they adopted circumcision and the Law of Moses.
(5) On the South-Galatian theory it is supposed that the Epistle was written soon after St. Paul's second visit to Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, etc. (.\cts, xvi). Lightfoot makes use of a strong argument against this early date. He shows, by a detailed ex- amination, that the Epistle bears a close resemblance, both in argument and language, to parts of the Ep. to the Romans. This he thinks can be accounted for only on the supposition that both were written about the same time, and, therefore, several years later than the date required for the South-Galatian view. To this Rendall (Expositor's Greek Test., London, 1903, p. 144) replies that the coincidence is not due to any similaritv in the circumstances of the two communi-
"VI.— 22
ties. "Still less can the identity of language be fairly
urged to prove an approximation of the two epistles.
For these fundamental trviths formed without doubt
the staple of the Apostle's teaching throughout the
years of continuous transition from Jewish to Christian
doctrine, and his language in regard to them could not
fail to become in some measure stereotyped."
(6) The controversy has raged most fiercely round the two verses in Acts, xvi, 6, and xviii, 23, the only places where there is any reference to Galatia in Acts: (a) "And they went through the Phrygian and Gala- tian region" [tt;v ^pvyiav Kal ^a\aT^Krjv x"/"""] ; (b) " he departed, and went through tlie (ialatian region and Phrygia" [or " Phrygian "] [tV FaXariKiiv x^po-" "ai '^pv- tia.v\. Lightfoot held that Galatia Proper was meant in the first passage, and Galatia Proper and Phrygia in the second. Other supporters of the North-Galatian theory think that the countries of North Galatia and Phrj-gia are meant in both cases. Their opponents, relying on the expressions of contemporary writers, maintain that South Galatia was intended in both places. The former also interpret the second part of xvi, 6 (Gr. text) as meaning that the travellers went through Phrygia and Galatia after they had passed through South Galatia, because they were forbidden to preach in Asia. Ramsay, on the other hand, main- tains that after they had passed through the portion of Phrygia which had been added to the southern part of the province of Galatia (and which could be called indifferently Galatian or Phrygian) they passed to the north because they were forbidden to preach in Asia. He holds that the order of the verbs in the pas.sage is in the order of time, and he gives examples of similar use of the aorist participle (St. Paul The Traveller, London, 1900, pp. ix, 211, 212). The arguments on both sides are too technical to be given in a short article. The reader may be referred to the following: North-Galatian: Chase, " E.xpositor", Dec, 1S93, p. 401, May, 1894, p. .331; Steinmann, "Der Leserkreis des Galaterbriefes" (Miinster, 1908), p. 191. On the South-Galatian side: Ramsay, "Expositor", Jan., 1894, p. 42, Feb., p. 137, Apr., p. 288, "St. Paul The Traveller", etc.; Knowling, "Acts of the Apostles", Additional Note to ch. xviii (Expositor's Greek Test., London, 1900, p. 399); Gifford, "Expositor", July, 1894, p. 1.
(7) The Galatian churches were evidently important ones. On the North-Galatian theory, St. Luke dis- missed their conversion in a single sentence: "They went through the Phrj'gian and Galatian region" (Acts, xvi, 6). This is strange, as his plan throughout is to give an account of the establishment of Christian- ity by St. Paul in each new region. Lightfoot fully admits the force of this, but tries to evade it by ask- ing the question: "Can it be that the historian gladly drew a veil over the infancy of a church which swerved so soon and so widely from the purity of the Gospel?" But the subsequent failings of the Corinthians did not prevent St. Luke from giving an account of their con- version. Besides, the Galatians had not swerved so widely from the purity of the Gospel. The arguments of the Judaizers made some of them waver, but they had not accepted circumcision; and this Epistle con- firmed them in the Faith, so that a few years later St. Paul writes of them to the Corinthians (I Cor., xvi, 1): "Now concerning the collections that are made for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, so do ye also." It was long after the time that St. Paul could thus confidently command the Galatians that Acts was written.
(8) St. Paul makes no mention of this collection in our Epistle. According to the North-Galatian theory, the Epistle was written after the instructions were given for the collection; the omission is, therefore, inexplicable. On the South-Galatian theory it is quite natural, because the Epistle was written several years before the collection was made. In Acts, xx, 4,
