Galatians is important for several reasons. First of all, it is among the earliest, if not the earliest, of all the writings in the New Testament. The letter gives us an insight into the problems that arose in the Christian churches of the first century after Jesus' physical death, and most important of all, it reveals one of the most essential elements in Paul's conception of Christianity. The letter has sometimes been called "Paul's declaration of independence," a designation that means freedom from bondage to laws of any kind, whether human laws or divine laws. On this particular point, Paul made a definite break not only with Judaism but with those Christians of Jewish descent who thought of the new religion in terms of obedience both to the Mosaic Law and the laws enunciated by Jesus.
These two competing conceptions of Christianity generally were held respectively by the Jewish and the Gentile elements in the membership of the Christian church. Those with a Jewish background held what may be called a legalistic conception of religion; the Gentile element under the leadership of Paul believed in a mystical conception. According to the latter view, salvation can never be achieved by trying to obey the requirements of the Law. Human nature is so constituted that a person necessarily follows the desires of the heart, and so long as these desires are contrary to the requirements of the Law, the result will be disobedience and a sense of guilt.
