I’ve been thinking for a long time about tackling both Galatian and Ephesians, so today is the day 🙂 The first two or maybe three posts will give some background, before we actually get into the scripture.
Galatia was not just one city, but rather an area in what we now know as Turkey.
The cities to which Paul ministered in Galatia included Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. It is interesting to me that the people who lived in Galatia are the same people racially as the ancient inhabitants of Ireland, Wales, the Highlands of Scotland, France, and northern Spain.
Paul was writing from Rome, about A.D.68. He had labored there on two separate journeys (refer to the first map above) and had planned to go a third time, but the Holy Spirit led him elsewhere, and eventually to Europe. You can read about Paul in Galatia in Acts 13 and 14.
The letter to the Galatians was written to set them straight on the error taught by those who said they were from the church in Jerusalem, sent by James and the apostolic band there. In order to understand why the Galatians were so quickly lured into Judaism, we need to remember that they had all been idolators before Paul brought them the true gospel. They were initially filled with joy to have been introduced to the light and liberty of the gospel that brought them out of the bondage of idolatry. However, old habits die hard, and they fell hard for the judaizers who told them that unless they kept the law of Moses, observed the covenant of circumcision, and the different holy days of the Jewish economy and the appointed seasons, they could not be saved.
Satan is always working to undermine the faith of new believers. He will immediately introduce ideas that seem to be from God’s Word, and will easily lead new believers into serious error. In fact, there are many seasoned believers who have fallen for some “new” doctrine that is introduced by a charismatic personality who claims to have a newer, more enlightened understanding of God’s Word than anyone else has yet attained.
What is so interesting to me is that often, this “new” knowledge becomes far more important to Christians than their original understanding of the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ in its simplicity. In actuality, there is nothing new under the sun. Satan just recycles his deceptions under different titles, knowing how gullible we are and how easily attracted we are to the same old stuff if it’s wrapped in shiny new paper.
Human nature doesn’t change much over the centuries, does it?
Linda's Bible Study 
I was preparing for a bible study on Galatians .
I read that Gaul and Galatia are used as Latin and Greek terms for the same – Barbarians – or to put a nicer spin on it – Foreigner – none Greek / Roman.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Gaul/
What makes you think that the people of these different regions are ethnically the same ?
I’ve not studied this – but Turkish people – are very easy to tell apart from French people – are very different from Welsh people . Whilst there is a Celtic grouping in Scotland, Wales , Cornwall, Britany – they seem very different to me than Turkish people.
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You’ve asked me about something I wrote over five years ago–I had to go back and do my research all over again 🙂
Here is what I found, in several sites other than this one:
Celt | History, Institutions, & Religion | Britannicahttps://www.britannica.com › … › Peoples of Africa
Celt, a member of an early Indo-European people who from the 2nd … Isles and northern Spain to as far east as Transylvania, the Black Sea coasts, and … into the Roman Empire as Britons, Gauls, Boii, Galatians, and Celtiberians. … modern Celtic speakers of Ireland, Highland Scotland, the Isle of Man, Wales, and Brittany.
Missing: racially France,
The simple truth is that the ongoing migration of various people groups resulted in a wide variety of mixes among the various tribes and and civilizations. It’s a fascinating field of study, and I certainly do not have all the answers. Maybe in my next 20 years I’ll look into all that 🙂
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Thanks – I read a little further.
I found that some people have talked of Gaul , and Galatia interchangeably – or referred to Galatia as the Gaul of the east.
Some Roman writers also talked about Galatians as long haired Gauls.
Galatian was used as both an ethnic and political term.
There are also references of Gaul’s invading from France – and settling in Galatia about 260BC , keeping Gaulish ways – so again some confusion about the ethnicity of the people.
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Yes, all things that I also read. I try very hard to keep my posts short enough that readers won’t lose interest. Condensing so much information into one paragraph or sentence is quite a challenge 🙂
I think it would be next to impossible to find a “pure” race just about anywhere on earth today.
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