The general circumstances in which Paul writes to the Galatian churches are quite clear from the letter itself. Eschewing his usual thanksgiving for his readers, Paul launches immediately into a strongly worded denunciation of “some people” who are “confusing” (ταράσσοντες, tarassontes) the Galatians and “trying to pervert the gospel of Christ” (1:7; cf. 1:6–10). Paul mentions these people again briefly in 4:17, where he accuses them of self-oriented zeal. But, in a kind of