Some breaking news in the world of biblical archaeology will forever change how we read the book of Galatians.
First, this find near the southern-coast of Turkey will forever solve the North v. South Galatians controversy in favor of the latter.
More importantly, though, we now seem to have a rare, definitive answer to the question, “What provoked Paul’s letter?”, an answer not dependent on mirror-reading the letter itself.
If substantiated, this might also be our most significant insight into the worship of the early church, how their present experiences were affecting their hymnody.
The find seems to be an early praise song. A translation is below. As I see it, we now know what happened in Galatia: when Timothy went to tell the Galatians how to participate in the collection for Jerusalem, he arrived at the worship gathering in time to hear this song being sung. The rest, of course, is history.
The Heart of Worship (music here)
When it’s been some days
And Paul has gone away
And the new guys come
Telling us that God
Wants all these Jewish works
That’ll keep us clean
We’ll bring much more than just faith
Because our faith in itself
Is not what You have desired
You’re not just looking within
You also want our foreskin–
We can be Abraham’s child!
We’re coming back to the heart of worship
And it’s all about Jews
It’s all about Jews for Jesus
We’re sorry Lord for uncircumcision
When it’s all about Jews
It’s all about Jews for Jesus (2x)
