DISCUSS THE ARGUMENT THAT 'THIS LETTER IS A PLEA FOR THE RESPONSIBLE USE OF FREEDOM'

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Galatians

A)     DISCUSS THE ARGUMENT THAT ‘THIS LETTER IS A PLEA FOR THE RESPONSIBLE USE OF FREEDOM’  

It is undeniably clear that Paul had the Galatians’ freedom on his mind whilst writing this epistle, and as Paul was given the accolade the “Apostle of Christian freedom” such an epistle warrants attention in hope that we are enlightened to his treatment of the subject. Thus in order to comprehend whether we can align ourselves with the given assertion we ought to look at the context, recipients, gospel regarding freedom, and in particular chapter five which may be labelled the chapter of Christian freedom.

The context of Galatians reflects a group of Gentiles who Paul possibly evangelised on his missionary journeys thus saw Christ as Paul had portrayed Him. However Paul shows that a miscomprehension of the freedom which the gospel brings, and thus in Paul’s pastoral heart he sees a need to defend it to his utmost in the hope he may bring restoration. It may be that the Galatians saw the freedom as a motive for indulgence, they were free from the Law, so they saw it obliquely as freedom to sin, it may be that these were antinomialists. However J. Knox stresses Paul does not advocate such a stance; “He stands for freedom from the Law but he wants to make clear that he does not stand for moral license” Such scholarship reflects that the line of Paul’s argument may be similar to that of the given assertion that ‘this letter is a plea for the responsible use of freedom’ thus from the offset it is justifiable that to acclaim the validity of such a statement.

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From the beginning of Galatians 5, Paul exerts zealousness in order to put the message across which shows his fervent nature; “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. “(Gal 5v1) The ambiguities of such a verse are clear, it seems like an obvious verse to such an extent that we deliberate over what Paul is attempting to put across through it, however what it clear by its inclusion it Paul’s treatment towards the subject reflecting the attention it ought to draw.

However we can see with clarity that Paul sees the gospel his preaches as not ...

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