Galatians 1:10-24

Galatians 1:10–24 KJV 1900

10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it: 14 And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, 16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. 19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. 20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. 21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; 22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ: 23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. 24 And they glorified God in me.

Introduction

The de-legitimization of Paul and his message is a problem that has to be addressed.

Think about the facts of the gospel with me for a moment.

All have sinned and fallen short of God’s standard of righteousness.

Our sin carries a price of death.

Our righteousness is as filthy rags and so we are left powerless to redeem ourselves.

God proved that He loved us by sending Jesus to die for us while we were still in our sins.

Whosoever will believe in Jesus and confess their sins will be forgiven and saved.

They will receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the righteousness of Jesus.

Nothing can change this.

They are forever redeemed.

The false teachers saw this as being too easy, too cheap.

They accused Paul and the other apostles of concocting this “free gift” gospel message just to appeal to the masses.

The gospel is an appealing offer.

The idea that someone who was innocent would willing take my punishment so that I could go free sounds too good to be true.

There must be a catch, or maybe it’s all made up.

The false teachers are attacking the gospel by claiming that Paul’s message was dreamt up by Paul and the other Apostles.

Paul answers this by claiming that his ministry has nothing to do with pleasing men.

As a servant of Christ, he has only one master that he seeks to please.

Spoiler alert: it’s not a bunch of fickle humans.

To prove that his message is not from man, Paul shares his testimony with the Galatians.

Vss 11-12 Tell us that Paul was not the recipient of a brainwashing campaign to rope him into towing the party line.

His gospel message, which the Galatians had gladly received not all that long ago, had not been given to him by other men.

No man taught him how to craft a cunning message to manipulate people into accepting the gospel.

This word “taught” paints a vivid classroom picture that we should all be familiar with.

It has to do with rote learning.

Basically just repeating something over and over until you can repeat what you’ve been fed whether you understand it or not.

Instead, Paul identifies Jesus, Himself, as the source of His message.

There are two ways that two separate groups might possess the same information.

Either group A told group B.

Groups A and B both have the same source.

Much to the chagrin of the Judaizers, Paul and the other Apostles were preaching the same message.

It’s not because Paul had been programmed to repeat the apostles’ doctrine.

It was because Paul got his message from the same place the apostles did, Jesus.

In fact, here in a moment, Paul will prove that there was no chance of intellectual cross-contamination by the apostles in Paul’s training.

First, however, Paul testifies to the means by which he became acquainted with the gospel.

The Galatians were familiar with Paul’s pre-Damascus Rd life.

As a sold-out adherent to the religion of the Jews, he had viewed the church of God in Jerusalem as a blasphemous and heretical cult.

Paul admits to losing himself and going overboard when it came to persecuting christians.

When it came to following the law of Moses and the traditions of the Rabbis, Paul outperformed all of the other men his age.

He was a self-assessed zealot in keeping all of the rules.

But then, God stepped in to accomplish His will in Paul’s life.

God had a plan for Paul from the time he was formed in his mother’s womb.

Though Paul seemed very far from God’s plan for his life, when the time was right, God extended His offer of grace and Paul responded with obedience.

The intentions of God's good pleasure are not conceived at the time of their execution but long before, so long in advance that he shapes and directs all things toward the good end he has in view. How the divine and the human factors are combined in attaining the good outcome is beyond mortal insight.

What exactly was God’s plan for Paul’s life?

To reveal His Son through Paul’s life.

For Paul to preach Jesus to the gentiles.

How did Paul know what to preach after his conversion and call?

He makes a point of telling the Galatians that he did not confer with a human authority.

So many people today try to validate themselves by attaching their reputation to someone else.

They think if they attach themselves to enough names, then people will take them more seriously.

Paul does the opposite.

He goes out into Arabia for a long time and then he returns to Damascus.

All in all it is 3 years before Paul returns to Jerusalem.

The Bible doesn’t tell us anything about what happened to Paul during that 3 years.

We know that when he comes back he immediately starts preaching.

We know that when he does make his way to Jersualem to meet Peter, it is not to be trained by Peter.

By the time Paul shows up to Jerusalem his doctrine is already fully formed.

What do I think Paul was doing in Arabia for 3 years?

Well, the other apostles got 3 years of training from Jesus.

Is it too much to think that maybe Paul received three years of training and discipleship from Jesus too?

Paul went to Jerusalem and did meet with 2 apostles.

Peter, but the visit was purely introductory.

It was not instructional.

James, the half brother of Jesus.

He is fairly adamant about this.

He appeals to God that he is telling the truth.

Verse 20 seems pretty direct but we have to remember the assault and false accusation that have been made about Paul.

Also, the hurt that must have resulted from the Galatians believing the things they had heard about him.

In order to further illustrate the purity of Paul’s gospel, he shares his next steps with them.

After leaving Jerusalem, Paul exited the region altogether.

He headed back to Cilicia which is where Tarsus was located.

Here he would stay for the next 8 years.

Does this sound like a man bent on amassing a following just for the sake of popularity?

Does this seem like the actions of a man that has just been initiated into the apostles’ scheme to take down Judaism?

Paul says that his face was not even known to the churches in Judea.

All they knew is that the persecutor had become a preacher.

They had heard about the change, and so they glorified God for the miracle He had done in Paul.