In entering upon the study of Galatians let us first of all remember the circumstances which called out the Epistle. Galatia, in the first century, was a province of Asia Minor. It was inhabited by a race of aliens to that part of the world; Gauls, not Greeks, not Syrians. Three centuries before Christ a torrent of barbarians poured into Greece, and amongst them were Gauls who, when the wave receded, remained in what came to be called Galatia. They had the Gallic characteristics, enthusiasm, affectionateness, and fickleness (Gal. 1:6; 3:1; 4:9, 10).

In Galatia, as elsewhere in his beloved Asia, Paul labored, with the usual result that churches were planted. But to Galatia, as elsewhere among Paul’s coverts, went Judaizing teachers, mingling with the pure meal of truth the evil leaven of legality. Let me be understood; the law of God is neither evil nor leaven, but is holy, just and good. But the law is only good in use when that use is lawful: “knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners” (1 Tim. 1:8–11). All this will appear more explicitly in a moment. For the present let it suffice to notice that it was this evil work of the Judaizers which called out the Epistle to the Galatians.