Fr Adrian Graffy gave a retreat day at St Mark’s College, Saffron Walden on 7th October 2017. The title of his lectures was ‘Why was St Paul so angry with the Galatians?’ Five hundred years since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation in 1517 it was appropriate to take another look at Luther’s favourite epistle, which Martin Luther compared to his wife Catherine.
Fr Adrian suggested that Luther liked Galatians because it is passionate and straightforward. Instead of commending the Galatians at the beginning of the letter, as was his practice with other destinations, Paul says how amazed he is that they are turning away from his gospel, the real gospel, returning to the slavery of the law rather than staying with the freedom of the Spirit. One can understand that Martin Luther shared such sentiments in his trenchant criticism of the Church.
Fr Adrian considers in some detail the first two chapters of the letter, which give Paul’s own account of his coming to Christian faith, his early preaching, and what is most important to him, that justification comes not from the works of the law but from faith in Christ Jesus. Paul writes in 2:21: ‘I am determined not to set aside the grace of God, for, if justification comes from the law, Christ died in vain.’