Paul and the victims of his persecution: the opponents in Galatia

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Winter, 2002 by Richard B. Cook

This resounding summation does not obscure the unsettling aspects of the analogy, which Paul employs to direct a further threat against defenseless innocents, as Hagar and Ishmael are depicted. Gal 4:3: "For what does the written word say: `Cast out the slave woman and her son for the son of the slave shall not inherit with the son of the free woman.'" Curiously, Martyn (1997b: 201) identifies Paul's targets, not as Jews, but rather as "representatives" of a competing "Gentile mission." In fact, Martyn asserts (1997b: 82-83), unconvincingly in my view, that there were "no former Jews in the Galatian churches, so no Jews are addressed in the Galatian letter and no Jews are being spoken about in the letter." Taking Galatians 3:28 ("neither Jew nor Greek ...") as descriptive rather than aspirational, one winds up with a problematic reading of references to Abraham (Gal 3:6-18, 29, 4:22), Sarah, and Isaac (Gal 4:21-31) as other than Jews. Are Peter, James, Barnabas, and Paul himself then to be seen as "former Jews"? Paul's harsh instructions to his converts should be seen for what they are, a call to renew the persecution of his adversaries.

In the letter, Paul restates variously the principle of the believer's (and therefore his own) liberation from judgment. He offers, for example, the analogy to family relations, with God as father and Messiah Jesus as son, who shows the way of obedience to the believers, who are themselves, by virtue of the faithfulness of the Messiah-son, accorded adopted status (Gal 4:1-7). Because of the generous behavior of the natural child the adopted children are acknowledged as having the same status as the natural child. The taking in of the erstwhile orphaned children is accomplished by the natural child, who accepts and then transcends his own enslavement to cosmic forces. All the children, together, then, become children of God and are freed from the control of interim guardians and managers. The guardians and managers are specifically described as "rank upon rank of cosmic spirits" and as "the law" (Gal 4:3, 4).

Paul argues that God undertook the adoption, commissioned the guardians of the minor child (children) and in due time sent the natural son to liberate the minor children by assuming their lowly status. His point is, the arrival of the heir, the natural son, has made possible the entrance into their inheritance of those who formerly were enslaved to cosmic powers. These enslaving powers, including the law, are no longer controlling in the lives of the believers.

Despite his idiosyncratic approach to the covenantal history of the Jewish people, Paul would expect any Jewish readers of his letter to understand Torah as the displaced guardian (Gal 3:17-18). Likewise Paul would expect non-Jewish believers (a great majority, no doubt, in the churches in Anatolian Celtica) to understand they have been liberated from the plethora of cultic practices commonly observed in their communities (Gal 4:8-9).

Note that if "the law" is no longer binding upon the Celts, neither is Paul to be subjected to the law of the Jews. Paul thereby manages to include himself in the manifesto he articulates for the newly converted: "All are freed from the law--for we have been adopted" (Gal 4:5). "Because you are children, God sent the Spirit into our hearts" (Gal 4:6). Here, Paul implies what he states frequently elsewhere (Gal 2:15-21; 3:10-14, 18-19, 21-25): his past conduct should not cause him to be judged under the now defunct law of the custodial epoch.