Paul's Letter To The GalatiansA Humanities Essay That Teaches The Study of The Bible AsA Historical DocumentPAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS: When Paul attended the Jerusalem Conference in 48 or 49, a decision was made that gentiles would be allowed to become Christians without have a circumcision, and follow the JewishLaws). Paul, being the one that defended the gentile's right to beChristians, became the apostle to the gentiles. Why would Paul, a Jew,want to be an apostle to gentiles? According to him, Jesus appeared tohim in AD 32 or 36, and told him to preach the good news to thegentiles (Gal 1:16). Paul uses scripture to explain why gentiles should not be requiredto be circumcised, or obey Jewish Law; however, there are no directquotes in scripture that say this. One would wonder why Paul, someonewho grew-up in a "good" Jewish family, would not follow in thefootsteps of Jewish Christian Missionaries, and require Christianconverts to become Jews first. He certainly had to fight to have hisbelief accepted! In my opinion, Paul tried to follow the example ofthe original apostles (who knew Jesus) by "converting the multitudes."I think Paul understood human nature better than the other apostlespreaching circumcision to the gentiles. Perhaps he thought thatgentiles would accept Christianity more easily if it was natural totheir lifestyle --I'm sure that the thought of circumcision, and strictdietary laws scared gentiles from Christianity! It seems that the"Judaziers" preached a God that was hard to please. Paul's major problem confronted in his letter to the Galatians isthe preachings of the Judaziers. Apparently, men who preachcircumcision and the Law had been trying to "pervert" the Galatians,and change their beliefs away from Paul's preachings (Gal 1:7). Paulis so angered that the Galatians are so easily convinced (Gal 1:6),that he actually wishes the Judaziers to mutilate themselves (Gal5:12)! So, the letter to Galatian...
