What do you think it was that got under Paul's skin to make him write a letter like this? If you don't think he was stirred up, then you have been reading something else and NOT Galatians. For Paul, the reality of freedom was on the line with these believers. There had been some people who came in with an alternative message to Paul's. This gospel of theirs apparently sounded pretty good. But Paul was furious about it, and he claimed that it would invalidate the freedom they had been experiencing. The Galatians were about to buy into that lie by undergoing a token experience that would be their introduction into a whole new way of life. Because most of us today aren't affected by circumcision we overlook the slew of initiation rites that have become the same thing to us. Make no mistake about it , we have fallen for so many circumcisions that it makes what happened to the Galatians look like a picnic!

I penned this particular Shovelation shortly after having written Galatians '98. In fact, I used Galatians '98 as the basis upon which to write this letter. Like I've said, I'm not attempting to write new translations, which makes this even less of a translation than the first. Having said that, I believe this letter expresses more of the heart and soul of what Paul wrote than what most theologians will ever teach you despite all their years of Seminary and linguistic training. My Galatians-Shovelation follows the form and context of Paul's letter to the Galatians, but I wrote it as a letter from ME to those of you who have been struggling with sin and with a lack of life and freedom in Christ.