Reading Paul’s Letter
The Letter to the Galatians (1)

For the past several weeks, the second reading at Mass has been taken from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. Although this is one of the shorter writings in the New Testament—you can read it in about 20 minutes—it is one of the most important of Paul’s letters inasmuch as it presents his teaching on how we are saved: namely, we are saved by God’s grace rather than by the good works we do.

In the 16^th century, during the period of the Protestant Reformation, this letter played a important role in the fierce debates between Catholics and Protestants. For Martin Luther and other Protestant Reformers, Paul’s letter to the Galatians was the starting point for their doctrine of “justification by faith,” a teaching that was and remains central to Protestant theology and piety. Given the importance of this letter for understanding our faith as well as the origins of the Protestant Reformation, I will be dedicating my column this week and the following two weeks to a brief exposition of the letter’s main themes. As I do so, I encourage you to read this letter yourself. While parts of it are difficult to follow, the main argument is clear: We are saved by God’s grace. This week, I begin with some background information.

Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians in the mid-fifties of the first century, about twenty five years after the death of Jesus. The Galatians were Gentile Christians (non-Jewish) who lived in what is now called modern day Turkey. They became Christians when Paul preached the gospel to them on one of his many missionary journeys. After Paul left Galatia, however, other Christian missionaries, who were Jewish by birth, came to Galatia and criticized his preaching. They argued that in addition to believing in Christ, the Galatians must adopt a Jewish way of life by becoming circumcised and following all the precepts of the Law of Moses. In effect, they were saying that the Galatians had to do something in addition to believing in what God had done for them Christ in order to be saved.

Paul’s letter to the Galatians is a response to this crisis. Its central argument is this: We are saved by what God has done for us in Christ rather than by doing the works of the Law. This does not mean that there is no place in the Christian life for doing good works or for observing God’s Law. All to the contrary! But it is a firm reminder that the work of our salvation is first and foremost God’s work in Christ, and our response to this work is trusting faith in Christ, which ought to lead to a virtuous life in Christ.

During the Protestant Reformation, Protestants accused Catholics of trying to “earn” their salvation by their good works; and Catholics accused Protestants of saying that it does not matter what we do so long as we believe in Christ. In the heat of argument, both sides exaggerated the position of the other side. The truth is that we are saved/justified by God’s grace rather than by what we do, but what we do matters. In the weeks ahead, I will discuss (1) what it means to be saved by God’s grace and (2) why what we do still matters. In the meantime, read Galatians slowly and meditatively, two or three times. You will find a spiritual treasure in this letter that will help you understand your Catholic faith anew. Fr. Matera