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Galatians

  1. Lesson One
    Epistles (First Few Verses Of Each Pauline Epistle)
    25 Activities
  2. Lesson Two
    Overview of Galatians
    19 Activities
  3. Lesson Three
    Works-Righteousness as Slavery
    19 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  4. Lesson Four
    Faith, Life, and the Spirit
    13 Activities
    |
    1 Assessment
  5. Lesson Five
    Author and Audience
    17 Activities
    |
    2 Assessments
  6. Course Wrap-Up
    Course Completion
    1 Activity
    |
    1 Assessment

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Galatians Author and Audience In | Authorship: The Scroll and the Scribe
Lesson 5, Activity 4

In | Authorship: The Scroll and the Scribe

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In this deeply personal letter, Paul appears to be suggesting that he has written this letter in his own hand. 

As he has been talking back and forth between the “legalists” and the “libertines,” he now says to them together, in effect: 

You’ve all been focusing on the flesh in one way or another. Some of you have been boasting in the flesh, and others have been sowing to the flesh, but you’ve all lost the plot. My letters are large because my eyes are weak, and my flesh is giving out. But if you are attentive to the words I’m using, you’ll see I’m attempting to invite you into Christ’s death and resurrection life. Focus on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not on the weak and aging flesh that presents it to you now. This is how you will discern between true and false apostles.

We can see that Paul sees himself as the scribe of Jesus, both in his body which bears the marks of Jesus (Galatians 6:17), and in the words he’s writing, which are the words of Jesus. He is in this sense “both the scroll and the scribe” for the Galatians, putting his heart and body on the line in “the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed [in them]” (Galatians 4:19, NIV).