Galatians has often been read from a rhetorical perspective, with an emphasis on justification by faith, Paul’s autobiographical experience, proofs of the gospel, and exhortations to the Galatians. However, it can be read as a ‘letter’ of which the main theme is the gospel–an umbrella term that covers many other topics, including faith, righteousness, freedom, and new creation. Paul writes Galatians not to argue for an individual justification by faith (understood from a forensic salvation perspective), but to make explicit his gospel that all can become children of God through faith. In Paul’s logic, what comes first is God’s promise, faith is a response to it through Christ, and the law can be fulfilled through faith. The gospel that Paul proclaimed to the Galatians is based on God, who called them in the grace of Christ (1:6). Kim challenges the traditional reading of Galatians, exploring different dimensions of the gospel: (1) God as the origin and root of the gospel; (2) Christ as the exemplifier of God’s gospel through faithfulness; (3) the followers of Jesus as the children of God who participate in Christ’s faithfulness and continue to proclaim the good news of God through Jesus.
A propos de l’auteur
Yung Suk Kim is professor of New Testament and early Christianity at Samuel De Witt Proctor School of Theology, Virginia Union University. Kim is the author of numerous books, including How to Read Paul: A Brief Introduction to His Theology, Writings, and World (2021); Christ’s Body in Corinth: The Politics of a Metaphor (2008); and Toward Decentering the New Testament (Cascade, 2018; co-authored with Mitzi J. Smith). He also edited 1–2 Corinthians: Texts @ Contexts (2013).