Transformation in love in Paul's letter to the Galatians

Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is known as a bitter defence of his “true” gospel of faith against opponents who wish to impose their “false” gospel of works on the faith community. This focus on the faith-works controversy has not been conducive to attempts to read it in terms of the notion of love...

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Main Author: Pieter G. R. de Villiers
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of the Free State 2014-06-01
Series:Acta Theologica
Online Access:https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/2651
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author Pieter G. R. de Villiers
author_facet Pieter G. R. de Villiers
author_sort Pieter G. R. de Villiers
collection DOAJ
description Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is known as a bitter defence of his “true” gospel of faith against opponents who wish to impose their “false” gospel of works on the faith community. This focus on the faith-works controversy has not been conducive to attempts to read it in terms of the notion of love. This article seeks to reconsider this position and to spell out the special role of love in the letter and its transformative nature. In a first section, the approach to the theme is explained. After a discussion of the polemical nature of the letter, the article analyses Paul’s presentation of divine love in the letter as the origin of God’s salvific and transformative action and of love as a divine characteristic, and how divine love marks the identity of the believing community. The significance of love in the ethos and ethics of the faith community is spelled out.
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spelling doaj-art-059dc96e3b4b49ce816eea31a86c3eea2025-02-11T09:57:16ZengUniversity of the Free StateActa Theologica1015-87582309-90892014-06-011910.38140/at.v0i19.2651Transformation in love in Paul's letter to the GalatiansPieter G. R. de Villiers0University of the Free State, South Africa Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is known as a bitter defence of his “true” gospel of faith against opponents who wish to impose their “false” gospel of works on the faith community. This focus on the faith-works controversy has not been conducive to attempts to read it in terms of the notion of love. This article seeks to reconsider this position and to spell out the special role of love in the letter and its transformative nature. In a first section, the approach to the theme is explained. After a discussion of the polemical nature of the letter, the article analyses Paul’s presentation of divine love in the letter as the origin of God’s salvific and transformative action and of love as a divine characteristic, and how divine love marks the identity of the believing community. The significance of love in the ethos and ethics of the faith community is spelled out. https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/2651
spellingShingle Pieter G. R. de Villiers
Transformation in love in Paul's letter to the Galatians
Acta Theologica
title Transformation in love in Paul's letter to the Galatians
title_full Transformation in love in Paul's letter to the Galatians
title_fullStr Transformation in love in Paul's letter to the Galatians
title_full_unstemmed Transformation in love in Paul's letter to the Galatians
title_short Transformation in love in Paul's letter to the Galatians
title_sort transformation in love in paul s letter to the galatians
url https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/at/article/view/2651
work_keys_str_mv AT pietergrdevilliers transformationinloveinpaulslettertothegalatians