Description

Among the letters of Paul, Galatians burns like a firestorm of apostolic rebuke, persuasion and passion for the truth of the gospel. Paul directs his anger against those who would preach "another gospel." And he urgently warns the Christians at Galatia of spiritual bewitchment and its dire consequences.To battle these seductive enemies of truth, Paul deploys a powerful arsenal--both biblical-theological reasoning and a rhetoric of vivid, contrasting images that has seldom failed to impress readers from Paul's own day until now. Freedom in Christ is set against bondage to the law; justification by faith is opposed to works of the law; Jerusalem above outshines Jerusalem below; adopted children of God are contrasted with slaves of elemental spirits; and the quality of life in the Spirit finds no rival in the diminished life of the flesh. But the decisive difference between these pairs of opposites is the cross of Christ staked at the heart of Paul's charter of freedom.While some aspects of the letter to the Galatians stand out with bold clarity, other aspects are notorious for their interpretive difficulties. Leon Morris explores both the complex arguments and bold affirmations of Galatians. With seasoned insight and inspiring elegance, he lays bare the text's essential structure, logic and meaning. In Morris's introduction and commentary, Paul's great letter which through the centuries has continued to fuel the gospel faith speaks with force and clarity to present-day readers.