Corpus-Paul

[Richard Fellows <rfellows AT shaw.ca>]

Thanks Mark and Dieter for your thoughts.

 

Placing Galatians during Paul's first visit to Macedonia or Achaia is a little problematic because it is hard to imagine a Galatian messenger making the long journey to the Aegean from Galatia, and it is doubtful that they would know Paul's whereabouts.

 

Concerning the placing of Galatians during Paul's Ephesian period, it is possible, I suppose, that there was communication between Paul and Galatia concerning the collection, but nowhere in the letter does Paul encourage his readers to give and nor does he thank them for their gift. But my main reservation about placing Galatians so late is that it makes it difficult to explain the confusion that had arisen in Galatia. Paul's readers had been thrown into confusion about his relationship to the Jerusalem apostles and about whether he actually preached circumcision. It is hard to imagine this sort of confusion arising at a time after Paul had stated his position clearly in Jerusalem (Gal 2:1-10 and Acts 15) and had gained a reputation for opposing circumcision (Acts 21:21). The confusion is explicable if the influencers were at work in Galatia at a time before Paul's gospel was well known (see Gal 1:22-23).

 

An advantage of an early date for Galatians is that it makes it easy to explain how Paul heard about the situation in Galatia. If the influencers/infiltrators are to be equated with those 'from James' and/or with the men from Judea (Acts 15:1) then they visited Antioch after visiting Galatia and Paul would have heard their report. In any event, they were probably Judeans or had some connection with the apostles so it is likely that they would have returned to Jerusalem after visiting Galatia, and they would have given a report to the apostles there. When Paul went to Jerusalem he would have heard that report from the apostles if not directly from the influencers. Or perhaps the Galatians themselves had sent an envoy to Jerusalem or Antioch. So, there is no difficulty explaining how Paul heard about the situation in Galatia.

 

But do we have evidence that Paul sent an envoy to Galatia at that early date (to carry the letter)? I believe that we do. I have argued before that Timothy was a native of Antioch and had travelled to south Galatia as Paul's envoy, and, of course, I believe that Timothy was Titus renamed. It has been suggested to me that he carried Galatians. Now, it seems to me that this scenario is supported by Gal 2:1-5. Firstly, Timothy is just the sort of person whom we might expect to go up to Jerusalem on a mission to resolve the circumcision question. Secondly, Paul says that the reason why he and the others did not allow Titus to be circumcised was 'that the truth of the gospel might continue with you'. These words are just what we would expect Paul to write if Titus was the one who was to deliver Galatians. Paul seems to be saying that he resisted the circumcision of Titus-Timothy so as not to send the wrong message to the Galatians, to whom T-T would be sent. While the Galatians were in their state of confusion it would not be wise to circumcise Timothy, but if the letter were successful then the 'truth of the gospel' would no longer be at stake in Galatia and then Paul could circumcise Timothy. It seems that Timothy's mission to Galatia was indeed successful, for they attested to him, and Paul chose him for the continuing work, and felt comfortable enough to circumcise him.

 

If Titus carried the letter, it would explain why he seems to have been known to the readers, at least by the time of reading. It would also explain how all the Jews in the region knew about Timothy's gentile status (Acts 16:3). If Titus-Timothy toured the region as Paul's envoy, he would become widely known, and everyone would know about his Greek status because it was written in the letter!

 

Richard.

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Mitternacht Dieter

To: Corpus-Paul

Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2005 9:03 AM

Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Paul's information about Galatia

As far as I am aware there is no way of knowing whether Paul got a verbal or a letter report from Galatia. According to 1 Cor 16:1 Paul was expecting a contribution from Galatia to his collection for Jerusalem. In Gal 2:10 the collection is hinted at. One guess is that Paul received the news from an envoy he had sent for the contribution. Another guess, based on 4.15-17, is that the envoy may not have received what he came for.

 

Continuing the guessing.... We can suspect that the visit of the envoy was rather brief, which would tie in with the idea that the information Paul got was not very detailed but rather general. This latter suggestion is based on the noteable lack in the letter of detail and precision when Paul addresses the problem he is reacting to. The lack of detail seems significant since Paul recounts quite a few details and also specific names in other matters, such as the Jerusalem meetings, the Antioch situation, his visit to Galatia and references to his own person.

 

Whether or not - and if yes how - the Jerusalem apostles were involved in the situation is a matter of debate, where I would suggest Yes, but not as initiators or collaborators of the initiators of the problem. Rather, it seems plausible to me (as Mark Nanos has suggested) that the problem was home made. I believe though that the Galatians may have sought advise from Jerusalem (especially Peter) on how to deal with the problem. The latter inference I base on the way I perceive the rhetorical function of the narratives in ch's 1-2.

 

Dieter