Sunday: Paul’s Own Hand
Compare Paul’s closing remarks in Galatians 6:11-18 to the final remarks he makes in his other letters. In what way is the ending of Galatians similar to and different from them? (See the final remarks in Romans, 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 Thessalonians and 2 Thessalonians.)
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Paul’s closing remarks are not always uniform, but a number of common elements appear in them: (1) greetings to specific individuals, (2) a final exhortation, (3) a personal signature, and (4) a closing benediction. When these typical features are compared to Paul’s final remarks in Galatians, two significant differences appear.
First, unlike many of Paul’s letters, Galatians contains no personal greetings. Why? As with the absence of the traditional thanksgiving at the beginning of the letter, this is probably a further indication of the strained relationship between Paul and the Galatians. Paul is polite but formal.
Second, we must remember that it was Paul’s custom to dictate his letters to a scribe (Rom. 16:22). Then after finishing, Paul often would take the pen himself and write a few brief words with his own hand to end the letter (1 Cor. 16:21). In Galatians, however, Paul deviates from his practice. When he takes the pen from the scribe, Paul is still so concerned with the circumstances in Galatia that he ends up writing more instead. He simply cannot put the pen down until he pleads with the Galatians once more to turn from their foolish ways.
In Galatians 6:11 Paul stresses that he wrote the letter with large letters. We really don’t know why. Some have speculated that Paul was not referring to the size of the letters but to their misshaped form. They suggest that perhaps Paul’s hands were either so crippled from persecution or gnarled from tent making that he could not form his letters with precision. Others believe his comments provide further evidence of his poor eyesight. Though both views are possible, it seems far less speculative to conclude simply that Paul was intentionally writing with large letters in order to underscore and reemphasize his point, similar to the way we might emphasize an important word or concept by underlining it, putting it in italics, or writing it in CAPITAL LETTERS.
Whatever the reason, Paul certainly wanted the readers to heed his warning and admonitions.
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There are a quite a lot of theories as to why Paul spoke regarding his writing in large letters, but one thing I can add is possibly there were a few fake letters circulating and Paul wanted to give authenticity to this particular letter to the Galatians (Modern Day Turkey)
I think Paul wrote 14 books that are in the New Testament . Paul was well qualified to communicate by pen the majority of record as he wished and was able. The speculation regarding how some of the physical impairments occurred is left to imagination. When we consider the shipwrecks and other unusual events such as being chained in Rome for years, was more than the average person would endure. The Damascus experience was the beginning of his relationship with God that inspired all the books he wrote in the New Testament.
I tend to agree the bold letters are for emphasis just like we would raise our voices ( to our children) when we want to be very clear and lovingly stern.
But really it doesn't matter because his words has survived and are still blessing our hearts in 2017
I agree with Marcia. The large letters are for emphasis. Because as said unlike other letters, only to the Galatians that he has strained relationship but he's caring and he loves the Galatians. Adding more words by his hands is such enough proof that he really cares and even made an emphasis by writing it with big letters.
I agree to my fellow brethren and sistes' comments, i think Paul's intention was primarily emphasize his points to Galatians & to us as well. For example in Habbakuk 2:2 God instructs the prophet to write a visible vision that he runs may read it : here like Paul's case God intends that everyone may see the seriourness of the warnings He gives through His servants
We might also want to consider that in the ancient world, writing and reading were separate skills- good legible writing took lots of training and practice. Just because Paul could read doesn't mean he knew how to write well, so he could just be ill practiced at forming letters. Which doesn't stop him from making a point at the same time, of course.