GALATIANS: INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STRUCTURE

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Order and Emotion

The emotional tone of the Letter to the Galatians (see 5:12 for example) would certainly seem to be inconsistent with its careful composition and unifying structural elements. And this is exactly what the noted Bible scholar F. F. Bruce has expressed: “One may wonder, however, if in the excitement and urgency of the crisis with which he was suddenly confronted Paul would have been consciously careful to construct his letter according to the canons of the rhetorical schools.” “ It is difficult to trace a clear progression or sequence in its structure.”

In fact, there is ample evidence to show that there was no less care taken with the composition of this letter than any other of Paul's. One indicator is the phenomenon noted with other Pauline letters – key theological terms occurring a symbolically significant number of times in the text and in discrete sections within the text. Also is the most interesting verbal patterns in Galatians involving the contrasting words “Spirit” and “flesh.” Each occurs exactly 18 times in the text. In the seven cases in which the two words occur as pairs, the order alternates with each appearance:

Spirit...flesh 3:3

flesh...Spirit 4:29

Spirit...flesh 5:16

flesh...Spirit 5:17a

Spirit...flesh 5:17b

flesh (2x)...Spirit (2x) 6:8

Since other verbal patterns are present throughout this letter, the possibility must be kept in mind when interpreting Paul’s use of a particular word or word order that it may have been chosen mainly for literary, not theological, reasons. As an example, Guthrie allots one whole page of his commentary to  to discuss the possible theological or historical reasons in Galatians 2:8-9 for (a) Paul’s substitution of “Gentiles” for “uncircumcised,” (b) his use of “knowing” for “seeing” and (c) the reversal in the order “Cephas/James.”  All of these phenomena can, in fact, be alternatively explained by literary considerations.

Proposed Structures

Brevard Childs lists five divisions in the text that he says are “widely accepted”: 1:1-10; 1:11(12)-2:21; 3:1-5:12; 5:13-6:10; and 6:11-18. However, any random survey of modern commentaries and introductions to this epistle reveals a definite lack of consistency in this matter. The present proposal does not strike out in any drastically new directions in terms of major division points except perhaps with the concluding section. The epistle as a whole appears to take the form of a five-part chiasm, each of the main elements in turn comprising a five-part chiasm.

Figure 1: The Structure of Galatians

I. Introduction (1:1-5)

II. The Gospel Received (1:6-2:21)

A. Gospel Defined and Defended (1:6-12)

B. Ministry to Gentiles Glorified (1:13-24)

C. Ministry to Gentiles Confirmed (2:1-10)

B'. Ministry to Gentiles Challenged (2:11-14)

A'. Gospel Defined and Defended (2:15-21)

III. Abraham's Children (3:1-5:1)

A. Questions for the Galatians (3:1-5)

B. Old Testament Analogy (3:6-14)

C. The Promise (3:15-4:7)

A'. Questions for the Galatians (4:8-20)

B'. Old Testament Analogy (4:21-5:1)

II'. The Gospel Lived (5:2-6:15)

A. Circumcision (5:2-12)

B. Love Your Neighbor (5:13-15)

C. Walking in the Spirit (5:16-26)

B'. Do Good to All Men (6:1-10)

A'. Circumcision (6:11-15)

I'. Conclusion (6:16-18)

Sections I (1:1-5) and I' (6:16-18)

The terminus of the Introduction is effectively defined by the closing “Amen” in 1:5. In addition, this section is marked by its threefold reference to God’s fatherhood. Harrison also agrees with limiting the Conclusion to the last three verses of the book. He views it as an ABA structure (with a closing prayer, testimony and benediction) whose middle unit may be one way of Paul defining his apostolate claimed in the Introduction.

A. blessing (6:16)

B. personal comment (6:17)

A. blessing (6:18)

The similarities between the short introduction and conclusion to the epistle are fairly easy to pick out. Both contain the designations “Lord Jesus Christ” (with only one other, textually dubious, appearance in the epistle) and “brethren;” involve blessings on the recipients of grace and peace (given in chiastic order, with “mercy” included in the conclusion); and end with “Amen.” 

Sections II (1:6-2:21) and II' (5:2-6:15)

A very interesting verbal pattern weaves together these two sections, in which Paul's harshest condemnation of the Judaizers appears. This pattern is based on the Greek word for “something/someone,” which appears seven times in the text. Excluding the appearance in Gal. 6:1, where it modifies “fault,” the other contexts take the following form:

Section II

A. Those who trouble you (1:7)

B. Those apparently of importance (2:6)

A'. Those coming from James (2:12)

Section II'

C. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value (5:6)

B'. Those who think they are something (6:3)

C'. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value (6:15)

According to this pattern, just as the characters in 2:12 resemble those appearing in 1:7, the allusion in 6:3 may actually refer to the church leaders in 2:6.

Section III (3:1-5:1)

The opening of this major literary unit is marked by the Galatians being addressed by name (last mentioned in 1:11). The section concludes not with the traditional chapter ending but at Gal. 5:1, which serves as a summary for the whole theological argument that has preceded. As Guthrie notes, the rhetorical questions in Galatians almost all appear in Section III, which he calls the “central doctrinal portion” of the letter.

The name “Jesus” appears six times in this section, always accompanied by “Christ.” There is a pattern to these occurrences:

“Jesus Christ”–3x (3:1,14; 3:22) followed by “Christ Jesus”–3x (3:26,28; 4:14)

An overall inclusio (set of bookends) for the section is formed from the word pair “flesh / spirit:”

“Having begun with the Spirit,

are you now ending with the flesh?” (3:3)

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“he who was born according to the flesh

persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit” (4:29)

The Center of Galations:IIIC (3:15-4:7)

All ten instances of the key word “promise” appear in Section III, and the center unit C is unified by repetition of this word exactly seven times (since a different Greek word is purposely utilized in 3:19). In addition, an inclusio resulting from legal references to a “man's will” at 3:15 and “heir” at 4:7 marks the limits of this section. In this unit, Paul repeats the concept with which he began his epistle (see 1:4): “the central convictions that a new era in God's dealings with his creation has dawned and that in this new era God has established a new covenant with a newly constituted people.” (Thielman)

Although the exact center of emphasis within this key section of the book may be hard to pinpoint, there is much supporting opinion highlighting the great importance of the verses on either side of the division between chs. 3 and 4.

    a. Mikolaski treats Gal. 3:27-29 as “a climatic passage.”

    b. Paul Jewett calls Gal. 3:28 “the Magna Carta of humanity.”

    c. Coad treats Gal. 4:1-7 as a recapitulation of Paul’s exposition of the Gospel message.