Sunday, February 20, 2011

Galatians 3:1-4:31

Briefly, this entire section, which some scholars would extend to 5:1 and others to 5:12, is the portion of this letter that deals with doctrine. What Paul is doing is offering counter arguments to the arguments that his opponents have presented. Frank J. Matera summarizes this section by saying that they already enjoy the gifts of the Spirit in 3:1-6, they are already children of Abraham in 3:7-29, he rebukes them for returning to their religious infancy in 4:1-11, he makes a personal appeal in 4:12-20, and he appeals to the Hagar and Sarah analogy in 4:21-31. My studies suggest at least seven arguments, and each post will, I hope, help us understand better the argument of the opponents of Paul, as well as the argument Paul is presenting. 

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