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The New Testament Cover Image
The New Testament, 4/e
Stephen Harris, California State University - Sacramento
Freedom from Law and Justification by Faith: Galatians and Romans

Outline


I. Key topics/themes

  1. Paul's attempt to define Christianity's relation to Judaism
  2. All humanity imitates Adam's disobedience and is thereby condemned
  3. Only God's grace in Christ can reconcile humanity to God
  4. Justification before God comes by faith, not by Torah obedience
  5. Jews' rejection of Christ is temporary and is part of God's plan

II. Introduction

  1. Two of Paul's most important letters
  2. Paul's distinctive vision of freedom from the Mosaic Torah and justification by faith in Christ
  3. Resulted in an influx of Gentile Christians into early Church

III. An angry letter to the "stupid" Galatians

  1. Written at same time as 2 Cor. 10-13
  2. Paul once again battling for his apostolic authority
  3. The recipients
    1. The northern Galatia theory
    2. The southern Galatia theory
  1. The identity of Paul's opponents
    1. Possibly Judaizers from Jerusalem
    2. More likely religious syncretists from Galatia
  1. Purpose and contents
    1. Paul hopes to prove he is a real apostle
    2. Paul hopes to demonstrate the validity of his version of the Christian Gospel
  1. Paul's freedom from institutional authority (1:1-2:14)
    1. Paul's Gospel of heavenly not earthly origin
    2. Paul's claims of independence from the Jerusalem apostles
  1. Justification by faith (2:15-3:29)
  1. Replacing law with faith
    1. Torah's penalties for sin paid by Jesus' voluntary death on the cross
    2. Paul's vicarious experience of Christ's crucifixion and new life
    3. Galatians' possession of the Spirit came only upon their belief
  1. The role of the Mosaic Torah in human salvation
    1. Torah a temporary device designed to indicate human sin
    2. Torah a guardian to guide and protect until faith in Christ comes
    3. Torah now obsolete and irrelevant
  1. The equality of all believers in Christ
  1. All believers as heirs of Abraham (4:1-31)
  2. The responsibilities of freedom (5:1-6:10)
    1. A problem with antinomianism in Galatia
    2. Lists of vices and virtues
    3. Role of the Spirit in producing ethical behavior

IV. Letter to the Romans

  1. Purpose, place, and time of composition
    1. Addressed to a church he did not found
    2. May be a circular letter
    3. Ch. 16 probably added later
    4. Paul's overture to the Romans for support for a missionary trip to Spain
    5. Paul's plans to take a collection of money to the Jerusalem church
  1. Organization
  2. Introduction (1:1-15)
    1. Jesus as Son of God
    2. Paul's plan to preach the gospel in Rome
  1. Exploration of the human predicament (1:16-3:31)
    1. Theme verse: 1:16: justification by faith the path to salvation for everyone
    2. The Gentiles' error: their willful rejection of knowledge of the one true God
    3. The Jews are equally guilty: their willful disobedience of the Law
  1. Abraham as the model of faith (4:1-25)
    1. Abraham believed God, and God declared Abraham "righteous" (Gen. 15)
    2. A distinctly different interpretation of Gen. 15 in James 2
  1. Faith in Christ ensuring deliverance from sin and death (5:1-7:25)
  1. Roles of Adam and Christ
    1. Sin entered the world through Adam
    2. Adam's disobedience as a "fall" from grace
    3. All later human sin linked to Adam's sin
    4. Doctrine of original sin?
    5. God's desire for salvation for everyone
  1. Paul refutes distortions of his teaching on freedom
  2. The Law's holiness and human perversity
    1. The Law's inability to justify the result of human sin
    2. Sin like an animate force within a person
  1. Renewed life in the Spirit (8:1-39)
    1. The Spirit's presence in a person as overcoming the domination of sin
    2. Personal redemption only one aspect of the coming renewal of the universe
    3. A doxology
  1. The causes and results of Israel's unbelief (9:1-11:36)
    1. God's promises intended only for a faithful remnant of Israel
    2. God's freedom to choose who will accept God
    3. A kind of predestination?
    4. Jewish rejection of Jesus made possible the evangelization of Gentiles
    5. Paul's confidence that "all Israel will be saved"
  1. Behavior in the church and in the world (12:1-15:13)
  1. Paul concludes with ethical admonitions
  2. Cooperation with governmental authority
    1. Government portrayed as divinelyordained institution
    2. Written before Paul's arrest and imprisonment by Rome
    3. Does not imply that believers should not resist illegal or immoral governments
  1. Rome as anti-Christ in later Christianity (Book of Revelation

V. Summary

  1. Galatians: Paul's passionate defense of his apostleship and justification by faith
  2. Romans: Paul's most systematic treatment of his teaching on justification by faith








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