Gala'tians, The Epistle to The. The Epistle to the Galatians was written by the apostle St. Paul, not long after his journey through Galatia and Phrygia, Acts 18:23, and probably, in the early portion of his two-and-a-half-years stay at Ephesus, which terminated with the Pentecost of A.D. 57 or 58.

The Epistle appears to have been called forth, by the machinations of Judaizing teachers, who, shortly before the date of its composition, had endeavored to seduce the churches of this province into a recognition of circumcision, Galatians 5:2; Galatians 5:11-12; Galatians 6:12, seq., and had openly sought to depreciate the apostolic claims of St. Paul. Compare Galatians 1:1; Galatians 1:11.

"Since the days of Luther, the Epistle to the Galatians has always been held in high esteem as the gospel's banner of freedom. To it and the Epistle to the Romans, we owe most directly the springing up and development of the ideas and energies of the Reformation." - Meyer.