THE BOOK OF GALATIANS – CHAPTER 1:10-24 - MESSAGE 3 – PAUL RESORTS TO PERSONAL TESTIMONY
We are going to continue our meditation in this first chapter of Galatians. Last time we looked at reason why Galatians was written, looked at the people, and looked at the importance of the purity of the gospel. The gospel of grace – without works or adherence to the Law of any kind – is the free gospel of forgiveness of sins, and the acceptance of men and women in God’s presence because of the sacrificial work of Christ.
[A]. DO YOU PREACH TO PLEASE MEN AND COMPROMISE YOUR CALLING?
{{Galatians 1:10 “Am I now seeking the favour of men, or of God, or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”}}
The words in this statement are simple enough. They draw a contrast. Paul confirms that his mission is not to please men, but to be faithful to the message of Christ. His calling into service on the Damascus Road was direct and definite. There was no mistaking his calling and he would not deviate from it. No doubt they accused him of a cult following. To please men is not to be a bondslave of the Lord.
Man-pleasers or God-pleasers? How many stand in pupilts and don’t preach Christ, or faithfully uphold the true gospel because it might cause some to depart, or some might be offended, or the finances might be down, or popularity might suffer or people higher up might disapprove. Paul said “Woe unto me if I do not preach the gospel of Christ.” Many preachers say, “Woe unto me if I offend anyone in what I say.” We live in an age of compromise and political correctness. All around us the gospel is distorted because certain parts of it have been hacked away.
What do you think of accountability, you people who are ministers and pastors in churches? The Lord will hold us accountable for the messages we teach and preach. Have you been compromising the true message of the gospel? Are you lazy in its preparation? Do you stand in muddy waters and give a gospel less than the true gospel? If you at any time have lessened the message you preach because of possible reaction, then you have compromised the gospel of Christ.
Paul makes it clear – he who pleases men is NOT a servant of the Lord. Do not alter the message of the cross – {{Romans 9:32-33 “Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 1Corinthians 1:23 “but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness.”}}
Those who try to make people accept some code of behaviour, or to keep some aspect of the Mosaic Law, or add anything to the gospel of grace, have compromised the true gospel and will be held guilty by God.
[B]. THE GOSPEL PAUL PREACHES IS FROM GOD NOT MAN
{{Galatians 1:11 “I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man,”}}
The word here for “have you to know” is said to be one of special emphasis so that what follows is very important. Paul clearly states that his gospel does not come from man. When Paul has to return to the first principles he laid down earlier among the Galatians, then it shows how much they had slipped. Be very careful of some tantalising speaker with honey lips, not sent by God, but by the evil one.
This verse is an emphasis of what he had been saying in verse 10.
[C]. GOD CHOSE PAUL TO REVEAL THE GOSPEL
{{Galatians 1:12 “for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”}}
It is almost as if Paul is on the defensive here which is a shameful reflection on the Galatians. The gospel Paul preached is from direct revelation of God. Revelation is an unveiling. He was not passing anything on he had learnt from man. This is direct intervention of God alone and God was going to use Paul to declare most of the major doctrines of the Christian faith. These false teachers were denying his apostleship and Paul had to recount the gospel again to them.
In God’s will and purpose Peter introduced the gospel, used the keys of the kingdom, and maintained the flock, but it was Paul whom God used to develop the doctrinal basis on which our faith rests. This is crucial to belief. Some sort of faith without the doctrinal foundation is as bad as smoke blown around in the wind. It is transient and has no foundation. Too much of the “experience gospel” that proliferates today is flimsy and lacks doctrinal stability.
Peter could say about Paul’s writings that there are some things hard to understand. Peter was never chosen by the Lord to declare the great doctrines of the Church. Paul’s gospel is God-given, God-inspired and for the building up in the faith. Paul tells the Galatians that what they have been taught is right from God, and now, what is in opposition to that, must be false.
Too many think doctrine is unimportant but that is the devil’s lie because doctrine is what supports the skeleton of the Christian faith.
[D]. GOD SAVED WHAT MUST HAVE SEEMED UNSAVABLE
{{Galatians 1:13 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, Galatians 1:14 and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions,”}}
Ambition leads to a hardness and destruction of values and eventually to the eating way of the soul. It usually destroys in order to progress. Consider careers where promotions are paramount. What sort of behaviour results? There are jealousies, hatefulness, lying, character assassinations, manipulations, all soul destroying. Before conversion, Paul’s fixation on the destruction of the church would allow cruelty and deception, callousness and all other vices. The end justified the means. It is dangerous being in the world system for advancement. Many a man who set out in politics with his perception to help people, slowly through the bending of rules, and deals made, becomes a manipulator and a power wielding man-pleaser. It is slow but deadly. That is why a Christian must have his goals set on the Lord and allow the Holy Spirit to grow those Christian values in his and her life.
It was Saul who kept all the garments so the murderers of Stephen could have more freedom in throwing stones. Paul persecuted and murdered all the Christians he could find. What did the saints there expect? I have no doubt that many would have called on God for Saul to be taken away by God – “remove him” “judge the enemy”, etc., but the grace of God moved in a way I am sure none of them expected, and God saved him and added him to the Church he was destroying.
[E]. IT IS ALL ABOUT CHRIST AND GRACE, NOT ABOUT YOU
{{Galatians 1:15 “but when He who had set me apart, even from my mother’s womb, and called me through His grace, was pleased . . .”}}
In the foreknowledge of God, He had set Paul apart unto God’s good news (Romans 1 v 1). There was no reason to set Paul apart, other than God’s grace which is always triumphant. The Galatians were abandoning God’s grace and this was a travesty to Paul, and to God, who operated by grace. The message of the gospel is not so much the message of salvation but the message of Christ Himself. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Good News! Let us never concentrate on words, and the gospel fringes itself, at the expense of the centre who is Christ.
Maybe our gospel has become a bit too egocentric. There is so much concentration on the sins and lost condition of the person. Christ is the Good News. Romans 1 v 3 tells us that the good news concerns His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. It is Christ Himself. He is the living Saviour. Don’t preach man’s lost condition as the greatest concentration. Preach the risen Christ. Preach Him.
Of course egocentricity is an art form in some churches. It is all about ME and MY, ME and MYSELF. In some of the more modern hymns it is all about what I am doing – “Lord I am standing here . . . Lord, I am doing this and that . . . this and that…” Where is Christ in all of this?
Here the stark contrast appears. It is now grace. Saul had operated under Law. This was a revolution in his mind. Only God could change the entrenched hardness under the Law that could allow Paul to kill and mistreat the Christians. Grace is how God now deals with us through Jesus Christ. That is why Christians should be gentle and humble, not ambitious and callous and demanding and hard in nature. Understand the grace of God in the full sense, and you understand Christ.
[F]. KNOW CHRIST – KNOW HIM, NOT JUST KNOW ABOUT HIM!
{{Galatians 1:16 “to reveal His Son in me that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood,
Galatians 1:17 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.”}}
Paul is now moving to a personal testimony. What a shock it was for Paul to discover that his whole life was going in the wrong direction. Not only that but he had sent many Christians on to glory by ending their lives. He had seen the risen Lord. He had seen the Christ he persecuted. He had seen the Lord in glory. After that he could not eat or drink for three days. How those words of Ananias struck him, “Brother Saul”. Here was acceptance. The brotherhood of Christians was a fact dear to Paul. All one in one Body was precious to him.
Paul’s total desire was God infused. Paul had one purpose only as stated to the {{Philippians 3:10 “that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.”}}
This verse is speaking of authenticity. Authenticity gives accuracy and is the framework we need to hang our faith on. How do we really know? How do we know what we believe is reality and we are not just the products of evolution? Well there is an internal witness to the truth. This is a bit like the way the pagans can recognise God from Nature as in Romans 1.
{{John 20:29 Jesus said to him, (Thomas) “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”}} The matter of faith hangs on belief founded on events and testimony.
There is a branch of science called epistemology – the art or science of knowing. How do we know?
[[“Christian theism claims that finite consciousness can know nothing about anything except upon the presupposition of the absolute self-consciousness of God. The non-theistic position holds to the opposite of this.
We try then to show that non-theism has taken its position for granted instead of proving it. In the first place non-theism has done this with respect to the object of knowledge. It has assumed the existence of the objects of knowledge and the possibility of their having a meaning apart from God. Similarly it has taken for granted that error is a natural thing, so that it cannot be said that Scripture is necessary in order that the object of knowledge may appear for what it is.”]]
Paul does not state in that verse of assurance, that he might know the facts of the testimony – that I might know all the facts – that I might know that – BUT that I might know HIM. Our knowing, and then our facts and assurances, are based on HIM. Paul did not learn facts or about the Lord from the apostles – HE LEARNT HIM!
Paul went to Arabia, a large and more isolated place. Mt Sinai is in Arabia. Elijah went to the wilderness of Arabia to run from Jezebel and was alone with God. Saul of Tarsus went to be alone with God. Moses was 40 years in Arabia with God. Every true servant must have time alone with God studying His word and reflecting on God. Wait in the Lord’s presence. Have your own Arabia.
Paul did not go to Jerusalem to reveal himself to the apostles. Instead he went off to Arabia. Quote from Willis – [[“We know nothing of this visit to Arabia but we can well understand it. It is just what we would have expected. I do not doubt he took with him his Old Testament scrolls, and that there alone with God, the Holy Spirit made the OT shine with a new light and glory as He showed him Jesus on every page. Who taught Saul about Hagar and the Law and faith and to see Christ in the book of Deuteronomy? The Holy Spirit taught him these things in Arabia.”]]
[G]. TRULY WHAT A MEETING – PETER AND PAUL AND JAMES
{{Galatians 1:18 “Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days,
Galatians 1:19 but I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.”}}
Paul was not taught these things by the apostles, but after God had instructed him, he went to Jerusalem. What a great meeting that would have been. It was here Paul would have had a first hand account of the Lord’s miracles and all that He did on earth and His crucifixion. Peter would have filled him in on so many things. Would you not have wished to have been there?
Then James also would have shared his experience. Who was this James? He was the Lord’s half brother, not the disciple James, the brother of John. It was he who chaired the Council in Jerusalem (Acts 15) and wrote the epistle.
{{Matthew 12:46-47 “While He was still speaking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside seeking to speak to Him, and someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.”
Matthew 13:54-56 “Coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? “And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”}}
In spite of all that Peter told to Paul, - and for 15 days he would have shared nearly everything - we have to note that not even once in all his letters did Paul make any reference to anything the Lord did on earth. He did not say, for example, “I received from Peter this or that,” or any other reference. Paul did say, however, “I received from the Lord . . .,” 1 Corinthians 11. You see Paul was not going to use anything or verify anything that he did not directly receive from the Lord. He did not consult with flesh and blood. He got nothing from man.
Hence, we come back to this matter of authenticity we spoke about previously. What was authentic to Paul was the one-on-one with the Lord, not man. This verse was Paul’s standard – {{Galatians 1:12 “for I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”}}
It was while he was in Jerusalem at an earlier time that the events in Acts 9 took place. Let us look at those – {{Acts 9:22-30 “But Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus by proving that this Jesus is the Christ. When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him, but their plot became known to Saul and they were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death, but his disciples took him by night, and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket. When he had come to Jerusalem, he was trying to associate with the disciples and they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple, but Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus, and he was with them moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking out boldly in the name of the Lord. He was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews but they were attempting to put him to death, but when the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.”}}
[H]. THE APOSTLE IN SYRIA AND CILICIA
{{Galatians 1:20 “(Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.)
Galatians 1:21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia,”}}
So important is all this that Paul said to the Galatians he is not lying. Why did God allow Paul to suffer beatings, persecution, stonings and hardships over the decades. Because he believed a lie? No, a man who was pretending would have run away at the first sign of trouble. Not Paul, because he knew the personal call of the Lord and the truth of it all. He was not going to be disobedient to the heavenly vision. God allowed Paul to endure all that so that we might know the truth of what we believe. The Galatians needed to be ashamed of themselves.
Tarsus is in Cilicia and in these two verses Paul is recounting his movements as God led him.
[I]. PAUL’S TESTIMONY SPREAD AMONG THE CHRISTIANS OF JUDEA
{{Galatians 1:22 “and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ,
Galatians 1:23 but only they kept (on) hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching (keeps on preaching) the faith which he once tried to destroy (kept on trying to destroy),”
Galatians 1:24 and they were glorifying (kept on glorifying) God because of me.”}}
The Greek tenses are important in this section. All is continuous.
That is the mark of a man, the mark of a Christian man. He who lived in sin now lives for the glory of God. The world must see and acknowledge. A new creation in Christ, is what Paul was. I hope all this was a reprimand to the Galatian Christians.
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
