GALATIANS 1:11-17
THE LONG REACH OF GOD’S GRACE
Paul’s theme is that the Gospel he preached to man was not of human conception, nor was it a second-hand tale; no it came to him directly from God. Now that’s an astounding claim to make, a claim which demanded some kind of proof. Paul provides this proof by pointing to himself. He pointed to the radical change in his life as the authentication that he received the Gospel directly from God.
Has your life been so radically changed by Christ that when someone questions the truth of the Gospel you could point to what it did in your life? Could you point to the radical change the impact of Christ has had on your life as proof that God has touched your life? Please look with me now at the origins of the authentic Gospel and how it changed Paul’s life.
I. THE GOSPEL’S ORIGINS, 11-12.
Paul continues to demonstrate the Gospel he proclaims is the only one worthy of the name because it is the only one of divine origins. So here
in verse 11 Paul begins His defense of the source of the gospel. For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
I would have you know introduces a statement the Apostle would have us pay special attention. The subject he calls our attention to is the gospel he preached. [Was preached indicates that they heard it and are responsible for what they have heard.] The apostle defense of himself is a defense of the gospel and the defense of the gospel is a defense of himself.
This unchangeable permanent gospel he preached is not according to man or
did not originate with man. Paul’s gospel is not the product of human ingenuity, devising or input.
[Man-made religions emphasize human merit and the necessity of human works for salvation. Paul’s message did not.]
Second, the apostle declared that he did not receive the gospel from any human source in verse 12. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul takes us back into his personal history with neither did I receive it from man. The I is emphatic. In no matter whatsoever did the gospel reach Paul from any human source. The gospel was not pass on or down from someone else. Third, Paul affirmed that he did not receive the gospel by means of being someone’s pupil who instructed him in it.
How then did he receive it? Paul received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Paul declares that Jesus Christ Himself directly revealed the Gospel to him, [as He had the other apostles (Gal. 1:16; 1 Cor. 9:1; 15:8)].
This is the highest authority. How then could the Galatians question his authority and message? And how did they dare deviate from this divinely revealed truth? [Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy; The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-c1985, 591]
We don’t know how or when this revelation occurred. Yes, he had exposure to the gospel message before and after this direct revelation. His point is that the gospel is not his own or someone else’s speculations or ideas.
The gospel of Christ, God’s plan for humanity’s salvation, is no pipe dream concocted by mortal mind. It is God’s plan revealed at God’s time to be spread throughout God’s creation.
In 1998 a space probe landed on the surface of Mars. People gathered to rook at the first close-up pictures of the Martian planet’s surface. Those revelations and discoveries were collected, analyzed, scrutinized, and categorized until scientists finally could develop a host of conclusive, undeniable facts about the rocks of Mars.
We must study the undeniable truths of God’s and savor them with the same passion that scientists brought to their discoveries on Mars. Paul stated that the source of truth is God, the author of truth. Pray that the Holy Spirit will help you distinguish between claims of this world and eternal truths of God.
II. PAUL’S PAST LIFE, 13-14.
In support of his claim that his gospel was not of man Paul’s argument now turns to his former life in Judaism in verses 13 & 14. For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it;
Paul tells of his preconversion life as a Jewish rabbi (Acts 9; 22; 26). (He says they have heard of his former life probably by way of personal testimony when he was preaching the Gospel.) In his past he was a fanatic persecutor of the church. Standing before Herod Agrippa II, Paul summarized his frenzied oppression of Christians (Acts 26:9-11). When he was Saul of Tarsus he even consented to the murder of Stephen. Then he raise havoc for the early church by putting its leaders in prison. He was determined on destroying the church, breathing threats and slaughter (Acts 9:1) and wanted believers stopped or killed (Acts 22:4-5; 26:9-11). Paul thought Jesus a blasphemer and His gospel a lie. He championed his own faith, Judaism, and beyond all measure persecuted believers in his personal campaign to destroy the church of God or Christianity. [The word destroy or waste ( from ) is the word for utterly sacking a city. He lead a scorched earth policy against Christians.]
Verse14 indicates he was being rewarded by his leaders for his zeal against believers. and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions.
The word Judaism refers to nationality and religion. To be fully Jewish a person must be descended from Abraham. A faithful Jew adhered to the percepts of its religion.
Paul loved the Law and was zealous for the traditions (Mishnah and halaka) of his fathers and was on his way to becoming one of the most respected rabbis of his day. He no doubt spent much time studying the Law of Moses and the accompanying Rabbinical traditions so much so that he was the committed student of Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3).
Who thus could accuse Paul of not being acquainted with the teachings of Judaism when he knew them better than the Judaizers? [Walvoord, John; Zuck, Roy; The Bible Knowledge Commentary. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985, 591] The Jewness of His Jewish credentials were impeccable (Phil. 3:5-6).
III. PAUL’S PRESENT LIFE [OR, BUT WHEN GOD], 15-17.
Then something happened to change the life of Paul in the most radical of ways. He became what he despised and hated most. Saul of Tarsus became Paul the Apostle. In verse 15 we discover that God had a plan for Paul. But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased
Paul was living his own life, zealously pursuing the traditions of Judaism, but then God entered the picture with His own plan for Paul’s life. God had a prior claim on Paul’s life for from his mother’s womb God had designed him for a purpose. So when God’s purpose for Paul was accepted, he turned from his and his nations own purpose.
The difference is as dramatic as night turning into day. When a man is proceeding energetically, determinately, and successfully in one direction and suddenly reverses proceeds full speed ahead in the diametrically opposite direction, something life changing has occurred. When a thinking man suddenly reverses all his values so that his life turns up-side down, the major even of his life has taken place. God laid his claim on Paul’s life and the ferocious persecutor turns into the empowered faithful propagator.
This was no freak or accidental event. It was part of the eternal plan of God. The plan was in place before Paul was born, and God brought it into being.
God has a plan for every man. Man can join it or continue in blindness to frustrate himself by ignoring it or rejecting it. God has purpose in His design for every individual. Man needs the courage to surrender to God and unite with him to accomplish God’s plan, even when it may radically reverse man’s own plan for himself.
The purpose of Paul’s conversion and his commission are found in verse 16. to reveal His Son in me so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,
What brought about Paul’s total alteration was the Son of God. Paul had religion and self-righteousness as well as reputation and recognition, but he did not have Jesus. When he saw Jesus, he chucked the former life to follow Jesus into a new life.
What God purposed to do was to change Paul into Christ-likeness and reveal His Son through Paul. By God’s grace the revelation of the Son of God on the Road to Damascus transformed Paul’s life and by God grace he was to reveal that same Son, with greater and greater clarity. God did this by revealing His Son in ever greater ways into the depths of his soul through the most intimate personal relationship with him. Then Paul lived out that relationship before men.
God chose Paul not only to save him but also to use him to win others. The purpose clause of verse 16 is so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles. God called Paul to preach among the gentiles the same gospel of grace he had experienced. This radical transformation is certain evidence that Paul’s conversion was of God. There was no way under heaven that a prejudice, legalistic, fanatical Jewish rabbi would ever decide to minister for the church he once despised and persecuted to death, much less do it for the gentiles.
The second half of verse 16 and verse 17 continues with Paul’s initial Christian experience. I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to Damascus.
God was separating Paul for a ministry to the Gentiles, so he was not sent to Jerusalem, the Jewish Christian headquarters where the apostles were ministering, but to the desert of Arabia for an extended period of time. There Paul apparently gave himself over completely to the study of the Word, prayer, and meditation with the Lord alone.
Though Paul grasped the gospel at Jesus’ revelation on the Damascus road, the fuller implications of the experience became clearer to him over time. Alone (not consulting with flesh and blood) in Arabia he explored what his calling and commissioning meant for his own life, his future ministry and under divine guidance he formulated his theology. Surely he was involved in evangelism and discipleship as opportunities presented himself, but the Holy Spirit was his only teacher. The point of Paul’s declaration is clear. He formed his theology not by consulting with others, but independently as he sought God’s guidance.
After this time of solidification in the faith, he still did not present himself in Jerusalem but returned to Damascus. [Damascus, Syria was a large and thriving commercial center near the Lebanon mountains range. It had a large Arab and Jewish population and a strong Hellenistic influence. It was in Damascus that Paul’s conversion, call, and commission occurred]
There his life was in constant danger as he championed Christianity in the face of the obstinate Judaism he once promoted. He stirred up the city and the Jews to such a degree that he had to be let down the city wall in a basket to escape certain death (Acts 9:23-25; 2 Cor. 11:32f). He was ready to die for the Gospel he once persecuted to the death.
[In 1991, two operations restored Shirl Jennings’ sight after 40 years of blindness. His family and friends reacted with absolute euphoria, but the next day Shirl’s fiancee recorded in her diary that he was "trying to adjust to being sighted. . . . Not able to trust vision yet. . . . Like [a] baby just learning to see, everything new, exciting, scary, unsure of what seeing means."
Although Shirl knew people and objects through his other senses, he could not recognize them by sight. People expected him to be fully adjusted immediately, but he was trying to figure out what everything was.
Isn’t it much the same for us when we receive God’s gift of salvation?
After Paul was blinded on the road to Damascus, the restoration of his physical sight became a powerful metaphor for the new spiritual sight he received from the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 9:3-17). We don’t know much about Paul’s 3 years in Arabia following his conversion (Gal. 1:15-18), except that it must have been a period of profound relearning about life and God.
It takes time to grow in our relationship with Christ, and to see with the new spiritual eyes He has given us. So let’s be patient with each other, and especially with every new Christian we meet along our journey of joyful discovery. Conversion is a step of faith; maturity is a journey of faith. ]
MORE ABOUT JESUS let me learn,
More of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be,
Showing the things of Christ to me. -Hewitt
CONCLUSION
God knows each one of us intimately and has prepared each of us for a task. Just like Paul we should know ourselves chosen; not for honor but for service, not for ease but for spiritual battles. Into the hardest most necessary campaigns the general sends His best soldiers.
Where is God sending you? Paul knew he had been saved to serve those he formerly despised. God sent him forth to preach the eternal Gospel of grace through faith in Jesus. To whom is God sending you forth to share His Gospel of grace?
