I think of yesterday’s first reading, 1:6-12, as the opening of the Body of the letter. The omission of the Thanksgiving strikes me even now as a little shocking because even in situations that seem to have run out of control in other cities (think Corinth) Paul manages more than a perfunctory Thanksgiving. The lack of a Thanksgiving indicates that Paul either feels that there is truly nothing in Galatia for him to give thanks – and would that not be a little shocking? – or that Paul wants to shock the Galatian Christians to life because they are in danger of losing the Gospel. Paul, in fact, accuses the Galatians of “forsaking” the Gospel and turning to another Gospel. He quickly states, though, that there is no other Gospel, but that “some” want to pervert the Gospel(1:6-9). Who these people are that wish to preach some other Gospel has always been an open question. It seems that they must be Christians who still maintain the necessity of following the Law of Moses (which will become clearer as we continue to read this letter). This raises a question we should discuss over the next few days: do Christians not still follow God’s law? How could God’s law not be relevant? At this point, however, Paul simply argues that those who teach anything beyond the Gospel brought by Paul are “accursed (1:8, 9),” which is strong language, the language of ancient polemic. Paul then asks, rhetorically, if he in saying this is only attempting to curry favor or “please people” (1:10). This is clearly a claim made against him. Most likely, his opponents in Galatia have argued that Paul’s Gospel is a watery gruel, designed to make people happy by removing the need to follow the laws of circumcision or kosher, for example, but not aimed to please God or meet true human need. Paul’s reply: his Gospel is not his, it is from God (1:11-12) and what he preaches, he preaches due to a revelation from Jesus Christ, a clear reference to his Damascus Road experience. Paul uses this event to segue to his background in Judaism, when he still was a persecutor of the Church and not its proponent (1:13-24,the first reading for October 7). Paul, persecutor of the Church, was called by revelation to proclaim the Gospel to the Gentiles; this call, and the Gospel, were not given by human authorities (1:15-19), not even Peter, whom Paul often calls by his Aramaic name, Cephas. What is most important to Paul’s argument is his divine revelatory call, but Paul is also letting the Galatians know that as a former Pharisee, “zealous for my ancestral traditions,” Paul knows the law and what it means to follow the law with love and dedication. Yet, somehow, God’s gracious call, literally, turned Paul to Christ and away from his former life in Judaism. Why should this be the case? John W. Martens

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.