1Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord? 2If to others I am not an apostle, yet at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3My defense to those who examine me is this: 4Have we no right to eat and to drink? 5Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas? 6Or have only Barnabas and I no right to not work? 7What soldier ever serves at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard, and doesn’t eat of its fruit? Or who feeds a flock, and doesn’t drink from the flock’s milk?
8Do I speak these things according to the ways of men? Or doesn’t the law also say the same thing? 9For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.” Is it for the oxen that God cares, 10or does he say it assuredly for our sake? Yes, it was written for our sake, because he who plows ought to plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should partake of his hope. 11If we sowed to you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we reap your fleshly things? 12If others partake of this right over you, don’t we yet more?
Nevertheless we didn’t use this right, but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the Good News of Christ. 13Don’t you know that those who serve around sacred things eat from the things of the temple, and those who wait on the altar have their portion with the altar? 14Even so the Lord ordained that those who proclaim the Good News should live from the Good News.
15But I have used none of these things, and I don’t write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void. 16For if I preach the Good News, I have nothing to boast about, for necessity is laid on me; but woe is to me if I don’t preach the Good News. 17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward. But if not of my own will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. 18What then is my reward? That when I preach the Good News, I may present the Good News of Christ without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.
19For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more. 20To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law; 21to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law. 22To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some. 23Now I do this for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it. 24Don’t you know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, so that you may win. 25Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible. 26I therefore run like that, not aimlessly. I fight like that, not beating the air, 27but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.
Paul wrote this letter to “the churches of Galatia” (cf. Gal 3:1). In an ethno-geographical sense, “Galatia” referred to the regions of north-central Anatolia (modern Turkey) largely inhabited by Celts. Acts 18:23 mentions that Paul ministered in “the Galatian region and Phrygia,” and 16:6 contrasts “the Phrygian and Galatian region” with Asia. Many scholars have used these texts to argue that the epistle was written to converts in the northern, ethnic territories (the “North Galatian” theory). This view must fit a side-trip through “North Galatia” between the “Jerusalem Council” in A.D. 49 (Acts 15) and Paul’s arrival in Corinth around A.D. 50/51 (Acts 18). On the other hand, “Galatia” in a political sense referred to a large Roman province which included the south-central cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. Acts 13-14 describes the church planting of Paul and Barnabas in these specific towns.
Proponents of the “South Galatian” theory point out that the letter’s recipients seem to have been acquainted with Barnabas (Gal 2:1-13), who separated from Paul in Acts 15 (though see 1 Cor 9:6). Paul himself asserts that he first came to Galatia because of a physical infirmity (Gal 4:13), perhaps fitting a “southern” destination more than a “northern” one. Moreover, Paul himself consistently used the political designation of Galatia, rather than the ethnic area (Rom 15:26; 1 Cor 16:19; 2 Cor 1:1, 8:1, 9:2; Gal 1:21; cf. 1 Pet 1:1; 2 Tim 4:10). “North Galatian” supporters respond that “Galatia”/“Galatians” more naturally referred to the ethno-geographic area, and Acts often refers to similar regions (Phrygia, Pisidia, Pamphylia, and Mysia). Although Barnabas is discussed in Galatians 2, he is not explicitly associated with the founding of the churches.
“North Galatian” adherents often date the letter in the mid to late 50s, approaching the composition of Romans with its similar (yet more developed) themes. Some “South Galatian” theorists date the composition to the early 50s (cf. Gal 4:13 and Acts 16:1), but many favor a date as early as 47-49, just prior to the “Jerusalem Council.” Timothy, whom Paul encounters in Lystra in Acts 16:1, is not mentioned in the epistle. The northern view was the general consensus through the late nineteenth century, but the “South” view has justly gained considerable ground since then. Galatians does not cite the “Jerusalem Council” rejection of the necessity of circumcision, an omission suiting an early, “South” theory. On the other hand, Paul’s emphasis in Galatians was upon the divine origin of his message and commission. All views must decide which Acts material, if any, corresponds to the Jerusalem visit in Galatians 2:1-10 with its charge to remember the poor (cf. 1 Cor 16:1-4). In Acts 20:4, the entourage bearing the collection toward Jerusalem included representatives from southern Galatia, but none from the north.
On the whole, the arguments for the “North” and “South” hypotheses are fairly balanced, and dogmatism is unwarranted.