Paul's Letter to the Galatians
Galatians
is a fine example of "occasional literature," or literature written to address a
particular set of circumstances. When Paul wrote this letter, he was angry. We
can see this in the words that he chooses: "You foolish
Galatians! Who has bewitched you?"
This is the only Pauline
letter that does not begin with an offering of thanks for the congregation.
It seems that the main problem is that Paul's gospel has been challenged. Apparently, teachers other than Paul have come into the churches in Galatia and taught that Christians must adhere to the law; in particular, the law of circumcision was at issue. For Paul, such teaching is an affront the gospel that he proclaims. Thus he says,
Listen! I Paul am telling you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. Once again I testify to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obliged to obey the entire law. You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that counts is faith working through love (5.2-6).
Paul takes a very negative view of the law in Galatians, but in Romans he appears to understand the law more positively. Paul's understanding of the law is a topic that is much debated by scholars; there is no clear consensus on how he conceived of the relationship between the law and Christians. However, it may be that the problem, for Paul, is "covenantal nomism." James Dunn has explained "covenantal nomism" in the following way:
Fundamental to Judaism's sense of identity was the convection that God had made a special covenant with the patriarchs, the central feature of which was the choice of Israel to be God's peculiar people ..., and had given the law as an integral part of the covenant both to show Israel how to live within that covenant ... and to make it possible for them to do so (the system of atonement). Thus in the phrase "covenantal nomism," the former word emphasizes God's prevenient grace, and the latter cannot and should not be confused with legalism or with any idea of "earning" salvation" (Dunn, 126).
Put more simply, covenantal nomism is a term used to describe a kind of Jewish self-identity in which the covenant relationship between God and God's people begins with God's gracious election and is maintained by adherence to the law. In this view, the law isn't viewed as a burden or a way to earn righteousness. Rather, it's how one exemplifies and preserves one's place within the covenant community.
According to some scholars, Paul was arguing against a kind of covenantal nomism among Christians. "Paul is able to pose a different alternative from that usually posed by Judaism. Judaism asserted: within the law = within the covenant. Paul in contrast asserted: within Christ = within the covenant; with the law = outside Christ (5:4)" (Dunn, 137). Some Christians were saying that, in order to be a part of the community of people who are to be saved, one had to adhere to the law. For Paul, this idea is entirely wrongheaded. He states, "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the promise" (3.28). “The subject of Galatians is not whether or not humans, abstractly conceived, can by good deeds earn enough merit to be declared righteous at the judgment; it is the condition on which Gentiles enter the people of God” (Sanders, 18).
This account of Paul's understanding between the law and Christians can help to explain the nature of the dispute between Paul and Cephas. Apparently, Cephas (who is probably the same person as Peter) was at one time eating with gentiles, but he quit doing so after "certain people came from James" (2.12). Paul tells us that "after they came, he drew back and kept himself separate for fear of the circumcision faction. And the other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy" (2.12-13). Paul claimed that these people were "not acting consistently with the truth of the gospel" (2.14), which he believed he had received in a divine revelation (1.11-12).
Paul also sees this behavior as violating the spirit of the agreement that was made at the Apostolic Council. Acts 15 tells us that James decided, on behalf of the church, that gentiles should to have to undergo circumcision, and should "abstain only from things polluted by idols and from fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from blood" (15.19-20). Assuming that Gal. 2 and Acts 15 refer to the same meeting (and most scholars agree that they do), Paul has a somewhat different account. His understanding of the decision of the council was that "we [Paul and Barnabas] should go to the Gentiles and they [James, Cephas, and John] to the circumcised. They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do" (2.9-10). As Paul understands the council's decision, no stipulation was made regarding the necessity of gentile circumcision.
Sources:
Dunn, James D. G. "The Theology of Galatians: The Issue of Covenantal Nomism," in Pauline Theology, vol. 1, Jouette M. Bassler, ed. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991.
Sanders, E. P. Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1983.