The Nature of Salvation History in Galatians

Abstract

According to some scholars, Paul's development of an “apocalyptic” theology in Galatians results in a denial of salvation history. Contrary to these claims, this article contends that Paul develops a salvation-historical argument in Galatians 3:15–4:7. Paul, however, does not present God's acts as a linear history of positive redemptive acts. Rather, in light of God's act in Christ, Paul develops a different understanding of salvation history in which the period of the Torah is identified as a period of Unheil. The nature of salvation history in Galatians, therefore, has a strong element of discontinuity.