Tuesday, July 18, 2023

Herman N. Ridderbos's Defense of the Southern Galatian Hypothesis

  

It is maintained that Gal. 4:13 is hard to harmonize with the account of Acts 13 and 14. Against this contention, two considerations are in order. First, that of all Paul’s experiences such as he sums up in 2 Cor. 11:24 ff., only a few are reported by Luke in the Acts. Hence any silence on Luke’s part about an illness which Paul had en route to South Galatia can hardly be taken as evidence that Gal. 4:13 is in conflict with the South Galatian theory.

 

Second, it is not necessary to hold that the “infirmity of the flesh” spoken of in Gal. 4:13 was necessarily an illness. As we see it, that infirmity may have been the physical suffering and exhaustion which accrued to Paul en route in the form of molestation at Antioch (Acts 13:50), and of stoning at Lystra (14:19). That last stoning was so severe that it was thought Paul had died as a consequence. Moreover, Acts 14:20 speaks of the loving care which the believers tendered Paul; and the same situation seems to have obtained at Derbe to which he escaped. Hence, all the conjectures about the significance of Paul’s “illness” are probably superfluous and Gal. 4:13 can best be explained in correspondence with the known facts of Acts 13 and 14. If this be true, the “infirmity of the flesh” is not an argument against but much more probably an argument for the South Galatian hypothesis.

 

(b) In the churches to which this letter is addressed, so it is argued, there were practically no Jews at all (5:2; 6:12). On the other hand, however, there were Jews in the churches at Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe; at Iconium there were quite a few (Acts 14:1), and perhaps also at Antioch (Acts 13:43). Concerning that, this must be said first of all: that it is hard to tell whether the number of Jews who at first believed, even though at some places what was a considerable number, could maintain themselves after what the enemies did to counteract Paul’s work in those very places (cf. Acts 13:45, 46; 14:2, 4). And next, this can be said: even though in this letter the readers are, in the main, thought of as Gentile-Christians, this need nowhere be taken so absolutely as to exclude the presence of a number of Jewish-Christians . . .

 

We conclude: a positive decision is not possible in this matter. The choice is not a simple one, especially because the authorities on the historical and archaeological particulars sometimes express differing opinions. As we see it, the evidence, on the basis of which the case must be made out, points to South rather than to North Galatia. Our letter is to be regarded, then, as a pastoral missive sent by Paul to the churches whose establishment is described for us in Acts 13 and 14—churches which Paul visited again after their founding (Acts 16). These churches were among the first that he formed. It is no wonder that in a special sense they retained his love and care, as these are revealed in the letter. That they were especially vulnerable to the Jewish danger, and therefore were easily affected by Judaizing influences, is evident from the account of their establishment, and has already been explained above. Further, everything points to a very cordial relationship between the apostle and the churches (cf. 4:12 ff). (Herman N. Ridderbos, The Epistle of Paul to the Churches of Galatia: The English Text with Introduction, Exposition and Notes [trans. Henry Zylstra; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1953], 29-31)