First Century Fragment from Lost Epistle of Paul to the Galatians Found

Dr Daniel Wallace has posted a new audio at his blog site, revealing a bit more about the first century fragments that have been found. Special thanks to Brill Publishing for releasing this first-ever look at the Lost Epistle from Paul to the Galatians.

This is only a fragment, but this is what we found, but we are greatly blessed by this new word from Scripture:

I am astonished that you are so quick to assume that the prima facie contradiction that seems to be being preached by the Judaizers is in fact an actual contradiction. You must have humility toward the Tradition of the Judaizers. The appearance of an actual contradiction, in fact, is due to your own ignorance or misunderstanding….

Before certain men came from James, I applauded Cephas for eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. But I took him aside like a brother, and said Brother, we ought never to assume as part of our theological methodology that a prima facie contradiction within the Tradition is an actual contradiction. Out of humility toward the Tradition, we instead assume as a working hypothesis that the appearance of a contradiction is due to our own ignorance or misunderstanding. So from a Catholic point of view, if we have at hand an explanation that integrates the apparently conflicting pieces of evidence, we already have a good reason to accept it rather than conclude that there is an actual contradiction… The other Jews joined him and Barnabas as being led into all truth. I said, “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that sometimes a person is not justified by the works of the law, but sometimes they are also saved by the works of the law, if they obey the voice of God in their consciences. In this way, in virtue of our “both/and” theology, all the many more may be saved …

Of course, these are merely fragments, but we are blessed to have discovered such a rich first-century resource. Dr. Michael J. Kruger has taken the position that, given that these fragments could not be admitted to the canon at this late date. “To state the obvious, the church cannot respond (positively or negatively) to a book of which it has no knowledge. Christ’s promise that his sheep will respond to his voice pertains only to the books that have had their voice actually heard by the sheep (John 10:27, pgs 94-95).