Paul: Crisis in Galatia: A Study in Early Christian Theology (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, Series Number 35)

This is the second edition of a work which first appeared in 1979. The first edition gave an interpretation of Paul's Letters to the Galatians which proceeded along the following lines: firstly, Paul's opponents at Galatia were Jewish Christians who believed that Gentiles had to accept the Law in order to be saved; secondly, that Paul first revealed his noncircumcision gospel to James, Cephas and John at the Jerusalem Conference; thirdly, Paul's view of justification by faith was seen in terms of Christ keeping faith with Abraham's promise that all nations would be blessed; and fourthly, that Paul considered Torah as binding upon Jewish Christians, but not upon Gentiles. In his second edition, the author brings the discussion into line with his present thinking, and proposes a more nuanced view of the Galatian opponents. These, he feels, did not all share the same opinions, although they were Jewish Christians. The chief discrepancy in their views consisted in the fact that some believed all Gentiles would be saved at the present time if they kept the Law, while others thought the Gentiles would be saved, rather, at the dawn of the age to come.