Problem: Paul writes, “[God] chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him” (Eph. 1:4). Calvinistic interpreters argue that this passage teaches God’s unconditional election of believers. Is this the case?
Problem: Paul writes, “And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). This passage has puzzled interpreters of various stripes. Is Paul saying that the church is Israel (i.e. amillenialism)? Or is he saying that the church is distinct from ethnic Israel (i.e. premillenialism)? Paul never uses the term “Israel” to refer to the church. In fact, Johnson writes,
The normal usage of “Israel” in the NT as referring to the physical descendants of Jacob. Galatians 6:16 is no exception, as Peter Richardson observes: Strong confirmation of this position [i.e., that ‘Israel’ refers to the Jews in the NT] comes from the total absence of an identification of the church with Israel until a.d. 160; and also from the total absence, even then, of the term ‘Israel of God’ to characterize the church” (Israel in the Apostolic Church [Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1969], pp. 74–84).[1]
How do we handle this difficult passage?
Problem: Paul writes, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). New Age teachers claim that this passage supports the concept of karmic law. Is this the case?
Problem: In Galatians 6:2, Paul exhorts us to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” But only a few verses later he says “every man shall bear his own burden” (v. 5, kjv).
Problem: Do we bear one another’s burdens or not? Galatians 6:2, 5. In once sense we do. In another sense we don’t.
Galatians 6:2, “Bear one another’s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ.”
Galatians 6:5, “For each one shall bear his own load.”
Problem: Some interpreters argue that Christians with these sins will not be forgiven, and they will not go to heaven. After all, Paul wrote, “The deeds of the flesh are evident… those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21). Is this the case?
Problem: Paul says that believers can be severed from Christ. Does this mean that Christians can lose their salvation?
Problem: Is Paul’s citation of Isaiah 54 out of context, or does this help him build upon his argument?
How many children did Abraham have, one or two?Genesis 22:2, Hebrews 11:17, and Galatians 4:22 tell us different things. What about Ishmael and Isaac? Aren’t they both the children of Abraham?
Problem: Paul says that the Galatians treated him “as Jesus Christ himself” (Gal. 4:14). Should Christian leaders be viewed as Christ himself?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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).