Scot McKnight said, "The modern western reader always collides with the cultural context of the Bible. This collision is routine experience for the one who wants not only to read the Bible well, but more importantly, who wants to make the message of the Bible relevant to our world. It will not do to think that we and the Bible inhabit the same cultural, intellectual, and social world. There are too many differences, too many years, too many miles, and too many social upheavals. To intrepret the Bible requires an ability to study two horizons - the ancient horizon and the modern horizon. Furthermore, it requires people who desire to bridge those contexts and make the ancient one speak forcibly to the modern one."
It is important as we start our journey through the letters of Paul not to interpret it from the modern horizon looking backwards, but from the ancient horizon looking forward. To fall into the former trap will lead us into misunderstanding and false teachings. So each time we pick up the Bible to read Paul we need to remember Paul's background, the spread of Christianity (from Jerusalem to Antioch to Asia Minor to Rome), the people he was writing to, and the influence of the Roman Empire.
After Paul's conversion in Damscus, he went to Jerusalem and was befriended by Barnabas. Paul began to preach and encountered opposition from the Jews. He was sent away and after passing through Arabia and Syria, he eventually went back to Tarsus and stayed there for many years. The early church went through a time of peace; the gospel spread and eventually a church grew in Antioch.
The apostles sent Barnabas to the church to guide its growth. Eventually Barnabas went to Tarsus to seek out Paul's help and brought him back to Antioch. During this time, Peter witnessed the Holy Spirit descending upon the Gentiles and the apostle James was killed by Herod. The church was managed from Jerusalem by the apostles, but specifically by John, Peter, and James (the brother of Jesus).
At this point, the church at Antioch sends out Paul and Barnabas on a missionary journey through Cyprus and Galatia. You can read their travels in Acts 13 and 14. At each stop, Paul preached the good news (gospel) of Jesus Christ. In order to understand what Paul is defending, we need to get a handle of what he was preaching. The gospel he preached can be found in Acts 13:16-41.
"Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses."
By the time they got back to Antioch, the Jerusalem council had sent out messengers from Jerusalem. These messengers (called Judaizers) began to add the Mosaic Law to the gospel of grace through faith in Jesus. These same messengers went from Antioch to the Galatian churches that Paul and Barnabas had started in Pisidian Antioch, Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium. When Paul received news of the churches in Galatia, he was surprised at what was happening - they were deserting the gospel!
May we listen to Paul's letter in the ancient horizon looking forward,
troy
