Problem: The expression “elemental things of the world” has confused commentators for years. Ben Witherington writes, “The meaning of this last phrase is certainly one of the most debated issues in all of Pauline studies.”[1] This is, no doubt, because the Greek term stoicheia “was capable of taking on a wide variety of specific meanings as it was used in different spheres of ideas.”[2] For instance, the author of Hebrews uses it of the basics of spirituality (Heb. 5:12), and in extrabiblical Greek, Plato used stoicheia of teaching children the “alphabet” or the “ABC’s.”

What does Paul mean by this difficult phrase in the context of Galatians 4?

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Problem: Paul says that 430 years passed between the time of Abraham to Moses. However, Abraham lived in roughly 2,000 BC, and Moses lived in roughly 1440 BC. This would mean that Paul’s chronology was off by over a hundred years.

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Problem: In Galatians 3:17, the apostle states that a period of 430 years elapsed between the time of God’s promises to Abraham (Gen.12:1–3), which was about 2000 b.c., and the giving of the law to Moses, which was around 1450 b.c. This would be a mistake of over 100 years.

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Problem: Paul quotes Genesis 22:18 in his letter to the Galatians. He writes, “God gave the promises to Abraham and his child. And notice that the Scripture doesn’t say ‘to his children,’ as if it meant many descendants. Rather, it says ‘to his child’—and that, of course, means Christ” (Gal. 3:16 NLT). Paul takes notice of the fact that Genesis 22:18 refers to the singular child (or “seed”) of Abraham, rather than the plural children. However, critics notice that “seed” in the Hebrew was a collective singular noun. That is, even though it is singular, it refers to the entirety of Abraham’s offspring—not a singular person.

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Problem: Paul declares that Christ was cursed of God, “having become a curse for us.” However, the Bible declares repeatedly that Christ was blessed of God (cf. Ps. 72:17), the one worthy to receive “glory and blessing” forever (Rev. 5:12).

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Problem: This passage is difficult to understand, because it is so tightly woven into the OT. Is Paul handling the OT properly?

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Problem: Many people in false religions teach that salvation and forgiveness of sins are obtained by faith and good works. Many appeal to Scripture to support this idea. But, when these verses are examined in context, they do not teach that works of any kind save us. In fact, the Bible clearly teaches that were saved without the works of the law.  This is because nobody can keep the Law perfectly. God requires holiness (1 Pet. 1:16), nothing less.

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Problem: Some scholars believe that Acts 15 and Galatians 2:1-10 are describing the same event from two different perspectives, because these two events have so much in common.[1] First, both passages describe an important event in Jerusalem. Second, both passages have the same people involved (e.g. Paul, Barnabas, Peter, James and Judaizers). Third, both passages seem to be dealing with the same subject (i.e. Gentile acceptance and participation in both salvation and fellowship). Fourth, both passages mention that circumcision is not necessary for salvation. And fifth, both passages refer to the internal struggles of Christian believers. Are these passages describing the same event?

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Problem: Paul writes about the other apostles in a bizarre way. It almost seems as though he is talking down to them. He writes, “To those who were of reputation…” (Gal. 2:2), “Those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me)…” (Gal. 2:6), and “Who were reputed to be pillars…” (Gal. 2:9) These descriptions almost seem sarcastic. Was Paul trashing the other apostles?

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