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Galatians Chapter One.
Bad News About the Good News Galatians 1:1-10
The lad at my front door was trying to sell me a subscription to a weekly newspaper, and he was very persuasive. "It only costs a quarter a week," he said, "and the best thing about this newspaper is that it prints only the good news!"
In a world filled with trouble, it is becoming more and more difficult to find any "good news," so perhaps the newspaper was a bargain after all. To the person who has trusted Christ as Saviour, the real "Good News" is the Gospel: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures... He was buried, and... He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). It is the Good News that sinners can be forgiven and go to heaven because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. The Good News of salvation through faith in Christ is the most important message in the world.
This message had changed Paul's life and, through him, the lives of others. But now this message was being attacked, and Paul was out to defend the truth of the Gospel. Some false teachers had invaded the churches of Galatia—churches Paul had founded—and were teaching a different message from that which Paul had taught.
As you begin to read Paul's letter to the Galatian Christians, you can tell immediately that something is radically wrong, because he does not open his letter with his usual praise to God and prayer for the saints. He has no time! Paul is about to engage in a battle for the truth of the Gospel and the liberty of the Christian life. False teachers are spreading a false "gospel" which is a mixture of Law and grace, and Paul is not going to stand by and do nothing.
How does Paul approach the Galatian Christians in his attempt to teach them the truth about the Gospel? In these opening verses, the apostle takes three definite steps as he prepares to fight this battle.
He Explains His Authority (Gal. 1:1-5) Later on in his letter, Paul will deal with the Galatians on the basis of affection (Gal. 4:12-20); but at the outset he is careful to let them know the authority he has from the Lord. He has three sources of authority.
His ministry (vv. 1-2). "Paul, an apostle." In the early days of the church, God called special men to do special tasks. Among them were the apostles. The word means "one who is sent with a commission." While He was ministering on earth, Jesus had many disciples ("learners"), and from these He selected 12 Apostles (Mark 3:13-19). Later, one of the requirements for an apostle was that he have witnessed the Resurrection (Acts 1:21-22; 2:32; 3:15). Of course, Paul himself was neither a disciple nor an apostle during Christ's earthly ministry, but he had seen the risen Lord and been commissioned by Him (Acts 9:1-18; 1 Cor. 9:1).
Paul's miraculous conversion and call to apostleship created some problems. From the very beginning, he was apart from the original Apostles. His enemies said that he was not a true apostle for this reason. Paul is careful to point out that he had been made an apostle by Jesus Christ just as much as had the original Twelve. His apostleship was not from human selection and approval, but by divine appointment. Therefore, he had the authority to deal with the problems in the Galatian churches.
But in his ministry, Paul had a second basis for authority: he had founded the churches in Galatia. He was not writing to them as a stranger, but as the one who had brought them the message of life in the beginning! This letter reveals Paul's affection for these believers (see Gal. 4:12-19). Unfortunately, this affection was not being returned to him.
This matter of the founding of the Galatian churches has kept serious Bible students at work for many years. The problem stems from the meaning of the word Galatia. Several hundred years before the birth of Christ, some fierce tribes migrated from Gaul (modern France) into Asia Minor, and founded Galatia, which simply means "the country of the Gauls." When the Romans reorganized the ancient world, they made Galatia a part of a larger province that included several other areas, and they called the entire province Galatia. So, back in Paul's day, when a person talked about Galatia, you could not be sure whether he meant the smaller country of Galatia or the larger Roman province.
Bible students are divided over whether Paul wrote to churches in the country of Galatia or in the province of Galatia. The former view is called the "north Galatian theory" and the latter the "south Galatian theory." The matter is not finally settled, but the evidence seems to indicate that Paul wrote to churches in the southern part of the province of Galatia—Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe—churches he founded on his first missionary journey (Acts 13-14).
Paul always had a loving concern for his converts and a deep desire to see the churches he had founded glorify Christ (see Acts 15:36; 2 Cor. 11:28). He was not content to lead men and women to Christ and then abandon them. (For an example of his "after-care," read 1 Thes 2.)
When Paul heard that false teachers had begun to capture his converts and lead them astray, he was greatly concerned—and rightly so. After all, teaching new Christians how to live for Christ is as much a part of Christ's commission as winning them (Matt. 28:19-20). Sad to say, many of the Galatian Christians had turned away from Paul, their "spiritual father" in the Lord, and were now following legalistic teachers who were mixing Old Testament Law with the Gospel of God's grace. (We call these false teachers "Judaizers" because they were trying to entice Christians back into the Jewish religious system.)
So, Paul had a ministry as an apostle, and specifically as the founder of the Galatian churches. As such, he had the authority to deal with the problems in the churches. But there was a second source of authority.
His message (vv. 3-4). From the very beginning, Paul clearly states the message of the Gospel, because it was this message that the Judaizers were changing. The Gospel centers in a Person—Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This Person paid a price—He gave Himself to die on the cross. (You will discover that the cross is important in the Galatian letter, see 2:19-21; 3:1, 13; 4:5; 5:11, 24; 6:12-14.) Christ paid the price that He might achieve a purpose—delivering sinners from bondage.
"Liberty in Christ" is the dominant theme of Galatians. (Check the word bondage in Gal 2:4; Gal 4:3, Gal 4:9, Gal 4:24-25; Gal 5:1.) The Judaizers wanted to lead the Christians out of the liberty of grace, into the bondage of Law. Paul knew that bondage was not a part of the message of the Gospel, for Christ had died to set men free.
Paul's ministry and message were sources of spiritual authority.
His motive (v. 5). "To whom be glory forever and ever!" The false teachers were not ministering for the glory of Christ, but for their own glory (see Gal. 6:12-14). Like false teachers today, the Judaizers were not busy winning lost people to Christ. Rather, they were stealing other men's converts and bragging about their statistics. But Paul's motive was pure and godly: he wanted to glorify Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 1 Cor. 10:31-33).
Paul has now explained his authority. He is ready for a second step as he begins this battle for the liberty of the Christian.
He Expresses His Anxiety (Gal. 1:6-7) "I am amazed that you are so quickly moving away!" This is the first reason for Paul's anxiety: the Galatians were deserting the grace of God. (The verb indicates they were in the process of deserting and had not fully turned away.)
Paul strikes while the iron is hot. God had called them in His grace, and saved them from their sins. Now they are moving from grace back into Law. They are abandoning liberty for legalism! And they are doing it so quickly, without consulting Paul, their "spiritual father," or giving time for the Holy Spirit to teach them. They have become infatuated with the religion of the Judaizers, just the way little children follow a stranger because he offers them candy.
"The grace of God" is a basic theme in this letter (Gal. 1:3, Gal. 1:6, Gal. 1:15; Gal. 2:9, Gal. 2:21; Gal. 5:4; Gal. 6:18). Grace is simply God's favor to undeserving sinners. The words "grace" and "gift" go together, because salvation is the gift of God through His grace (Eph. 2:8-10). The Galatian believers were not simply "changing religions" or "changing churches" but were actually abandoning the very grace of God! To make matters worse, they were deserting the very God of grace! God had called them and saved them; now they were deserting Him for human leaders who would bring them into bondage.
We must never forget that the Christian life is a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. A man does not become a Christian merely by agreeing to a set of doctrines; he becomes a Christian by submitting to Christ and trusting Him (Rom. 11:6). You cannot mix grace and works, because the one excludes the other. Salvation is the gift of God's grace, purchased for us by Jesus Christ on the cross. To turn from grace to Law is to desert the God who saved us.
But they were guilty of another sin that gave Paul great anxiety: they were perverting the Gospel of God. The Judaizers claimed to be preaching "the Gospel," but there cannot be two gospels, one centered in works and the other centered in grace. "They are not preaching another gospel," writes Paul, "but a different message—one so different from the true Gospel that it is no gospel at all." Like the cultists today, the Judaizers would say, "We believe in Jesus Christ--but we have something wonderful to add to what you already believe." As if any man could "add" something better to the grace of God!
The word translated "pervert" in Galatians 1:7 is used only three times in the New Testament (Acts 2:20; Gal. 1:7; James 4:9). It means "to turn about, to change into an opposite character." The word could be translated "to reverse." In other words, the Judaizers had reversed the Gospel—they had turned it around and taken it back into the Law! Later in this letter, Paul explains how the Law was preparation for the coming of Christ, but the Judaizers had a different interpretation. To them, the Law and the Gospel went together. "Except ye be circumcised after the manner [Law] of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1).
What was this "deserting and perverting" doing to the Galatian Christians? It was troubling them (Gal. 1:7). This verb "trouble" carries with it the idea of perplexity, confusion, and unrest. You get some idea of the force of this word when you see how it is used in other places. "Trouble" describes the feelings of the disciples in the ship during the storm (Matt. 14:26). It also describes the feelings of King Herod when he heard that a new King had been born (Matt. 2:3). No wonder Paul was anxious for his converts: they were going through great agitation because of the false doctrines that had been brought to the churches. Grace always leads to peace (see Gal. 1:3), but the believers had deserted grace and therefore had no peace in their hearts.
Keep in mind that God's grace involves something more than man's salvation. We not only are saved by grace, but we are to live by grace (1 Cor. 15:10). We stand in grace; it is the foundation for the Christian life (Rom. 5:1-2). Grace gives us the strength we need to be victorious soldiers (2 Tim. 2:1-4). Grace enables us to suffer without complaining, and even to use that suffering for God's glory (2 Cor. 12:1-10). When a Christian turns away from living by God's grace, he must depend on his own power. This leads to failure and disappointment This is what Paul means by "fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:4)—moving out of the sphere of grace into the sphere of Law, ceasing to depend on God's resources and depending on our own resources.
No wonder Paul was anxious. His friends in Christ were deserting the God of grace, perverting the grace of God, and reverting to living by the flesh and their own resources. They had begun their Christian lives in the Spirit, but now they were going to try to continue in the power of the flesh (Gal. 3:3).
Having explained his authority and expressed his anxiety, Paul now takes the third step.
He Exposes His Adversaries (Gal. 1:8-10) "Make love, not war!" may have been a popular slogan, but it is not always feasible. Doctors must make war against disease and death; sanitary engineers must war against filth and pollution; legislators must war against injustice and crime. And they all fight because of something they love!
"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil" (Ps. 97:10). "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good" (Rom. 12:9). Paul waged war against the false teachers because he loved the truth, and because he loved those whom he had led to Christ. Like a loving father who guards his daughter until she is married, Paul watched over his converts lest they be seduced into sin (2 Cor. 11:1-4).
The Judaizers are identified by the false gospel that they preached. The test of a man's ministry is not popularity (Matt. 24:11), or miraculous signs and wonders (Matt. 24:23-24), but his faithfulness to the Word of God (see Isa. 8:20; 1 Tim. 4; 1 John 4:1-6; and note that 2 John 5-11 warns us not to encourage those who bring false doctrine). Christ had committed the Gospel to Paul (1 Cor. 15:1-8), and he, in turn, had committed it to other faithful servants (1 Tim. 1:11; 1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:13; 2 Tim. 2:2). But the Judaizers had come along and substituted their false gospel for the true Gospel, and for this sin, Paul pronounced them accursed. The word he uses is anathema, which means "dedicated to destruction." (Read Acts 23:14 for a forceful illustration of the meaning of this word.) No matter who the preacher may be—an angel from heaven or even Paul himself—if he preaches any other gospel, he is accursed!
But there is a second characteristic of Paul's adversaries: the false motives that they practiced. His enemies accused Paul of being a compromiser and "adjusting" the Gospel to fit the Gentiles. Perhaps they twisted the meaning of Paul's statement, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). They said, "When Paul is with the Jews, he lives like a Jew; but when he is with the Gentiles, he lives like the Gentiles. He is a man-pleaser, and therefore you cannot trust him!"
But in reality, it was the false teacher who was the man-pleaser. "These men are paying you special attention, but not sincerely," Paul wrote (Gal. 4:17). "They want to shut you off from me, so that you may keep on paying them special attention" (WMS). Later, Paul also exposes the false teachers as the compromisers, going back to Old Testament practices so that they would not be persecuted by the Jewish people (Gal. 6:12-15). Paul was definitely not a man-pleaser. His ministry did not come from man (Gal. 1:1), nor did his message come from man (Gal. 1:12). Why, then, should he be afraid of men? Why should he seek to please men? His heart's desire was to please Christ.
When Verdi produced his first opera in Florence, the composer stood by himself in the shadows and kept his eye on the face of one man in the audience—the great Rossini. It mattered not to Verdi whether the people in the hall were cheering him or jeering him; all he wanted was a smile of approval from the master musician. So it was with Paul. He knew what it was to suffer for the Gospel, but the approval or disapproval of men did not move him. "Therefore also we have as our ambition... to be pleasing to Him" (2 Cor. 5:9, nasb). Paul wanted the approval of Christ.
The servant of God is constantly tempted to compromise in order to attract and please men. When D.L. Moody was preaching in England, a worker came to him on the platform and told him that a very important nobleman had come into the hall. "May the meeting be a blessing to him!" was Moody's reply, and he preached just as before, without trying to impress anybody.
Paul was not a politician; he was an ambassador. His task was not to "play politics" but to proclaim a message. These Judaizers, on the other hand, were cowardly compromisers who mixed Law and grace, hoping to please both Jews and Gentiles, but never asking whether or not they were pleasing God.
We have noted three steps. Paul took toward engaging these false teachers in battle: he explained his authority, expressed his anxiety, and exposed his adversaries. But how is he going to attack his enemies? What approach will he use to convince the Galatian believers that all they need is faith in God's grace? A quick survey of the entire letter shows that Paul is a master defender of the Gospel. Take time to read the entire letter at one sitting, and, as you read, note the three approaches that Paul takes.
His first approach is personal (Gal. 1-2). He reviews his own personal experience with Jesus Christ and the message of the Gospel. He points out that he had received the Gospel independently, from the Lord and not from the 12 Apostles (Gal. 1:11-24), but that they had approved his message and his ministry (Gal. 2:1-10). Furthermore, Paul had even defended the Gospel when Peter, the leading apostle, had compromised his earlier stand (Gal. 2:11-21). The autobiographical section of the letter proves that Paul was not a "counterfeit apostle," but that his message and ministry were true to the faith.
Galatians 3 and 4 are doctrinal, and in them Paul presents several arguments to establish that sinners are saved by faith and grace, not by works and Law. First he appeals to their own experiences (Gal. 3:1-5). Then he goes back to the Old Testament Law in Galatians 3:6-14 to show that even Abraham and the prophets understood salvation as being by grace through faith. Having mentioned the Law, Paul now explains why the Law was given originally (Gal. 3:15-4:18). He then uses the story of Sarah and Hagar to illustrate the relationship between Law and grace (Gal. 4:19-31).
The final two chapters of the letter are practical in emphasis, as Paul turns from argument to application. The Judaizers accused Paul of promoting lawlessness because he preached the Gospel of the grace of God; so in this section, Paul explains the relationship between the grace of God and practical Christian living. He shows that living by grace means liberty, not bondage (Gal. 5:1-12); depending on the Spirit, not the flesh (Gal. 5:13-26); living for others, not for self (Gal. 6:1-10); and living for the glory of God, not for man's approval (Gal. 6:11-18). It is either one series of actions or the other—Law or grace—but it cannot be both.
Galatians 1:11-24
"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." So wrote Emerson, and many a thinker agrees with him.
The English art critic John Ruskin said, "I fear uniformity. You cannot manufacture great men any more than you can manufacture gold."
The German philosopher Schopenhauer wrote, "We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people."
Francis Asbury, first bishop of the Methodist Church in the United States, once prayed at a deacon ordination, "O Lord, grant that these brethren may never want to be like other people."
Of course, there is a wrong kind of individualism that destroys instead of fulfills; but in a society accustomed to interchanging parts, it is good to meet a man like Paul who dared to be himself in the will of God. But his freedom in Christ was a threat to those who found safety in conformity.
Paul's enemies pointed to his nonconformity as proof that his message and ministry were not really of God. "He claims to be an apostle," they argued, "but he does not stand in the apostolic tradition." It is this misrepresentation that Paul answers in this section of Galatians. His nonconformity was divinely deliberate. God had chosen to reveal Himself in a different way to Paul.
In Galatians 1:11-12, Paul states his theme: his message and ministry are of divine origin. He did not invent the Gospel, nor did he receive it from men; but he received the Gospel from Jesus Christ. Both his message and his apostolic ministry were divinely given. Therefore, anybody who added anything to Paul's Gospel was in danger of divine judgment, because that Gospel was given by Jesus Christ from heaven (1 Cor. 15:1-11).
The best way for Paul to prove his point is to reach into his past and remind the Galatian Christians of the way God had dealt with him. Paul states that his past life was already known to his readers (Gal. 1:13), but it was obvious that they did not fully understand what those experiences meant. So, Paul flashes on the screen three pictures from his past as evidence that his apostleship and his Gospel are truly of God.
The Persecutor (Gal. 1:13-14) Paul begins with his past conduct as an unconverted Jewish rabbi. (For a vivid account of these years from Paul's own lips, read Acts 22 and 26, as well as Acts 9.) In this historical flashback, Paul points out his relationship to the church (Gal. 1:13) and to the religion of the Jews (Gal. 1:14). He was persecuting the church and profiting and progressing in the Jewish religion. Everything was "going his way" and he was rapidly being recognized as a spiritual leader in Israel.
It is interesting to note the words that are used to describe Paul's activities when he was "Saul of Tarsus" persecuting the church. He "consented" to the murder of Stephen (see Acts 8:1), and then proceeded to "make havoc of the church" (see Acts 8:3) by breaking up families and putting believers in prison. The very atmosphere that he breathed was "threatening and slaughter" (Acts 9:1). So bent on destroying the church was Paul that he voted to kill the believers (Acts 22:4-5; 26:9-11). He mentions these facts in his letters (1 Cor. 15:9; Phil. 3:6; 1 Tim. 1:13), marveling that God could save such a sinner as he.
Paul actually thought that Jesus was an impostor and His message of salvation a lie. He was sure that God had spoken through Moses, but how could he be sure that God had spoken through Jesus of Nazareth? Steeped in Jewish tradition, young Saul of Tarsus championed his faith. His reputation as a zealous persecutor of "the sect of the Nazarenes" became known far and wide (see Acts 9:13-14). Everybody knew that this brilliant student of Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) was well on his way to becoming an influential leader of the Jewish faith. His personal religious life, his scholarship (Acts 26:24), and his zeal in opposing alien religious faiths, all combined to make him the most respected young rabbi of his day.
Then something happened: Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the church, became Paul the Apostle, the preacher of the Gospel. This change was not gradual; it happened suddenly and without warning (Acts 9:1-9). Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians; a few days later he was in Damascus preaching to the Jews that the Christians are right. How could the Judaizers explain this sudden transformation?
Was Saul's remarkable "about-face" caused by his own people, the Jews? Unthinkable! The Jews were encouraging Saul in his program of persecution, and his conversion was an embarrassment to them.
Was Saul's change caused by the Christians he was persecuting? Certainly the believers prayed for him, and no doubt the death of Stephen—and especially the glorious testimony he had given—affected Paul deeply (Acts 22:19-20). But the Christians ran from Paul (Acts 8:1, 4; 9:10-16), and, as far as we know, they had no idea that the young rabbi would ever become a Christian.
But if the amazing change in Paul was not caused by the Jews or the church, then who caused it? It had to come from God!
No matter how you look at it, the conversion of Paul was a spiritual miracle. It was humanly impossible for Rabbi Saul to become the Apostle Paul apart from the miracle of God's grace. And the same God who saved Paul also called him to be an apostle, and gave him the message of the Gospel. For the Judaizers to deny Paul's apostleship and Gospel was the same as denying his conversion! Certainly Paul was preaching the same message that he himself had believed—the truth that had changed him. But no mere human message could effect such a change. Paul's argument is conclusive: his past conduct as a persecutor of the church plus the dramatic change that he experienced prove that his message and ministry are from God.
The Believer (Gal. 1:15-16b, 24) Having discussed his past character and conduct, Paul now explains his conversion; for, after all, this was the crucial thing in his life. "What I preach to others, I have experienced myself," he is saying to his accusers. "This is the true Gospel. Any other Gospel is counterfeit." In these verses Paul explains the characteristics of bis conversion experience.
God did it (vv. 15a, 16a). "It pleased God... to reveal His Son in me." Whenever Paul spoke or wrote about his conversion, it was always with emphasis on the fact that God did the work. "Salvation is of the Lord!" (Jonah 2:9)
God did it by grace (v. 15b). Paul's experience reminds us of young Jeremiah (Jer. 1:4-10) and also of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-17). Salvation is by God's grace, not man's efforts or character. Grace and called (Gal. 1:15b) go together, for whomever God chooses in His grace He calls through His Word (1 Thes. 1:4-5). The mysteries of God's sovereign will and man's responsibility to obey are not fully revealed to us. We do know that God is "not willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9), and that those who do trust Christ discover they have been "chosen... in Him before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4).
God did it through Christ (v. 16). In another letter Paul makes it clear that he had plenty to boast about when he was an unconverted man (Phil. 3). He had religion and self-righteousness, as well as reputation and recognition; but he did not have Christ! When on the Damascus Road, Paul saw his own self-righteous rags contrasted to the righteousness of Christ, he realized what he was missing. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ" (Phil. 3:7).
God revealed Christ to Paul, in Paul, and through Paul. The "Jews' religion" (Gal. 1:14) had been an experience of outward rituals and practices; but faith in Christ brought about an inward experience of reality with the Lord. This "inwardness" of Christ is a major truth with Paul (Gal. 2:20; 4:19).
God did it for the sake of others (v. 16). God chose Paul, not only to save him, but also to use him to win others. In the Bible, the doctrine of election is never taught with a view to producing pride or selfishness. Election involves responsibility. God chose Paul to preach among the Gentiles the same grace that he had experienced. This, in itself, was evidence that Paul's conversion was of God; for certainly a prejudiced Jewish rabbi would never decide of himself to minister to the despised Gentiles! (See Acts 9:15; 15:12; 22:21-22; Eph. 3:1, 8.)
God did it for His glory (v. 24). As a fanatical rabbi, Paul had all the glory a man could want; but what he was doing did not glorify God. Man was created to glorify God (Isa. 43:7) and man is saved to glorify God (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Bringing glory to God was ever a compelling motive in Paul's life and ministry (Rom. 11:36; 16:27; 1 Cor. 10:31; Eph. 1:6; 3:20-21; Phil. 4:20). The Judaizers were interested in their own glory (Gal. 6:11-18). That is why they were stealing Paul's converts and leading them astray. If Paul had been interested in glorifying himself, he could have remained a Jewish rabbi and perhaps become Gamaliel's successor. But it was the glory of God that motivated Paul, and this ought to motivate our lives as well.
When Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a young preacher, his father, the Rev. John Spurgeon, suggested that Charles go to college to gain prominence. It was arranged for him to meet Dr. Joseph Angus, the principal of Stepney College, London. They were to meet at Mr. Macmillan's home in Cambridge, and Spurgeon was there at the appointed hour. He waited for two hours, but the learned doctor never appeared. When Spurgeon finally inquired about the man, he discovered that Dr. Angus had been waiting in another room and, because of another appointment, had already departed. Disappointed, Spurgeon left for a preaching engagement. While he was walking along, he heard a voice clearly say to him, "Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not!" (see Jer. 45:5) From that moment, Spurgeon determined to do the will of God for the glory of God; and God blessed him in an exceptional way.
Paul has pictured himself as a persecutor, and has reviewed his character and conduct. He has also pictured himself as a believer, reviewing his conversion. He now presents a third picture.
The Preacher (Gal. 1:16-23) What were Paul's contacts with other believers after he was converted? This is a question vital to his defense. Paul had no personal contacts with the Apostles right after his conversion experience on the Damascus Road. "Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood" (Gal. 1:16). The logical thing for Paul to have done after his conversion was to introduce himself to the church at Jerusalem and profit from the spiritual instruction of those who had been "in Christ" before him. But this he did not do—and his decision was led of the Lord. For if he had gone to Jerusalem, his ministry might have been identified with that of the Apostles—all Jews—and this could have been a hindrance to his work among the Gentiles.
At this point we need to remind ourselves that the message of the Gospel came "to the Jew first" (Acts 3:26; Rom. 1:16). Our Lord's ministry was to the nation of Israel, and so was the ministry of the Apostles for the first few years (see Acts 1-7). The death of Stephen was a turning point. As the believers were scattered, they took the Good News with them to other places (Acts 8:4; Acts 11:19ff). Philip took the message to the Samaritans (Acts 8), and then God directed Peter to introduce it to the Gentiles (Acts 10). However, it remained for Paul to carry the Gospel to the Gentile masses (Acts 22:21-22; Eph. 3:1, 8), and for this reason God kept him separated from the predominantly Jewish ministry being conducted by the Apostles in Jerusalem.
Paul did not immediately go to Jerusalem. Where did he go? He reviews his contacts and shows that there was no opportunity for him to receive either his message or his apostolic calling from any of the leaders of the church. (Compare this section with Acts 9:10-31, and keep in mind that even the best biblical scholars are not agreed on the chronology of Paul's life. Fortunately, the details of history do not affect the understanding of what Paul has written: we can disagree on chronology and yet agree on theology!)
He went to Arabia (v. 17b). This was after his initial ministry in Damascus (Acts 9:19-20). Instead of "conferring with flesh and blood," Paul gave himself to study, prayer, and meditation, and met with the Lord alone. He may have spent the greater part of three years in Arabia (Gal. 1:18), and no doubt was involved in evangelism as well as personal spiritual growth. The Apostles had received three years of teaching from the Lord Jesus, and now Paul was going to have his own opportunity to be taught of the Lord.
He went back to Damascus (v. 17c). It would have been logical to visit Jerusalem at this point, but the Lord directed otherwise. Certainly it was a risky thing for Paul to go back to the city that knew he had become a Christian. The Jewish leaders who had looked to him as their champion against Christianity would definitely be after his blood. Apparently the "basket incident" of Acts 9:23-25 (see 2 Cor. 11:32-33) took place at this time. The return to Damascus and the danger it brought to Paul's life are further proof that the Jewish leaders considered Paul an enemy, and therefore that his experience with Christ was a valid one.
He finally visited Jerusalem (vv. 18-20). This was three years after his conversion, and his main purpose was to visit Peter. But Paul had a tough time getting into the church fellowship! (Acts 9:26-28) If his message and ministry had been from the Apostles, this would never have happened; but because Paul's experience had been with the Lord Jesus alone, the Apostles were suspicious of him. He stayed in Jerusalem only fifteen days, and he saw only Peter and James (the Lord's brother). Thus he received neither his message nor his apostleship from the Jerusalem church. There simply was not the time nor the opportunity. He had already received them both directly from Christ.
He returned home to Tarsus (vv. 21-23). Again, the record in Acts explains why: his life was in danger in Jerusalem, just as it had been in Damascus (Acts 9:28-30). As Paul went through Syria, he preached the Word, and when he arrived in Cilicia, his home province (Acts 21:39; 22:3), he began to evangelize (see Acts 15:23). Historians have concluded that he remained there perhaps seven years, until Barnabas recruited him for the work in Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). A few believers in Jerusalem knew Paul, but the believers in the churches of Judea did not know him, though they heard that he was now preaching the very faith he had once tried to destroy.
In the light of Paul's conduct, his conversion, and his contacts, how could anybody accuse him of borrowing or inventing either his message or his ministry? Certainly he did receive his Gospel by a revelation from Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must be careful what we do with this Gospel, for it is not the invention of men, but the very truth of God.
Some critical scholars have accused Paul of "corrupting the simple Gospel," but the evidence is against this accusation. The same Christ who taught on earth also taught through Paul from heaven. Paul did not invent his teaching; he "received" it (Rom. 1:5; 1 Cor. 11:23; 15:3). At the time of Paul's conversion, God said He would appear to him in the future (Acts 26:16), apparently for the purpose of revealing His truths to him. This means that the Christ of the four Gospels and the Christ of the epistles is the same Person; there is no conflict between Christ and Paul. When Paul wrote his letters to the churches, he put his own teaching on the same level with that of Jesus Christ (2 Thes. 3:3-15). The Apostle Peter even calls Paul's letters "Scripture" (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Modern-day "Judaizers," like their ancient counterparts, reject the authority of Paul and try to undermine the Gospel which he preached. In Paul's day, their message was "the Gospel plus Moses." In our day it is "the Gospel plus" any number of religious leaders, religious books, or religious organizations. "You cannot be saved unless..." is their message (Acts 15:1); and that "unless" usually includes joining their group and obeying their rules. If you dare to mention the Gospel of grace as preached by Jesus, Paul, and the other Apostles, they reply, "But God has given us a new revelation!"
Paul has the answer for them: "If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed!" (Gal. 1:9) When a sinner trusts Christ and is born again (John 3:1-18), he is "born free." He has been redeemed—purchased by Christ and set free. He is no longer in bondage to sin or Satan, nor should he be in bondage to human religious systems (Gal. 4:1-11; 5:1). "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
Galatians Chapter One.
Bad News About the Good News Galatians 1:1-10
The lad at my front door was trying to sell me a subscription to a weekly newspaper, and he was very persuasive. "It only costs a quarter a week," he said, "and the best thing about this newspaper is that it prints only the good news!"
In a world filled with trouble, it is becoming more and more difficult to find any "good news," so perhaps the newspaper was a bargain after all. To the person who has trusted Christ as Saviour, the real "Good News" is the Gospel: "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures... He was buried, and... He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures" (1 Cor. 15:3-4). It is the Good News that sinners can be forgiven and go to heaven because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross. The Good News of salvation through faith in Christ is the most important message in the world.
This message had changed Paul's life and, through him, the lives of others. But now this message was being attacked, and Paul was out to defend the truth of the Gospel. Some false teachers had invaded the churches of Galatia—churches Paul had founded—and were teaching a different message from that which Paul had taught.
As you begin to read Paul's letter to the Galatian Christians, you can tell immediately that something is radically wrong, because he does not open his letter with his usual praise to God and prayer for the saints. He has no time! Paul is about to engage in a battle for the truth of the Gospel and the liberty of the Christian life. False teachers are spreading a false "gospel" which is a mixture of Law and grace, and Paul is not going to stand by and do nothing.
How does Paul approach the Galatian Christians in his attempt to teach them the truth about the Gospel? In these opening verses, the apostle takes three definite steps as he prepares to fight this battle.
He Explains His Authority (Gal. 1:1-5) Later on in his letter, Paul will deal with the Galatians on the basis of affection (Gal. 4:12-20); but at the outset he is careful to let them know the authority he has from the Lord. He has three sources of authority.
His ministry (vv. 1-2). "Paul, an apostle." In the early days of the church, God called special men to do special tasks. Among them were the apostles. The word means "one who is sent with a commission." While He was ministering on earth, Jesus had many disciples ("learners"), and from these He selected 12 Apostles (Mark 3:13-19). Later, one of the requirements for an apostle was that he have witnessed the Resurrection (Acts 1:21-22; 2:32; 3:15). Of course, Paul himself was neither a disciple nor an apostle during Christ's earthly ministry, but he had seen the risen Lord and been commissioned by Him (Acts 9:1-18; 1 Cor. 9:1).
Paul's miraculous conversion and call to apostleship created some problems. From the very beginning, he was apart from the original Apostles. His enemies said that he was not a true apostle for this reason. Paul is careful to point out that he had been made an apostle by Jesus Christ just as much as had the original Twelve. His apostleship was not from human selection and approval, but by divine appointment. Therefore, he had the authority to deal with the problems in the Galatian churches.
But in his ministry, Paul had a second basis for authority: he had founded the churches in Galatia. He was not writing to them as a stranger, but as the one who had brought them the message of life in the beginning! This letter reveals Paul's affection for these believers (see Gal. 4:12-19). Unfortunately, this affection was not being returned to him.
This matter of the founding of the Galatian churches has kept serious Bible students at work for many years. The problem stems from the meaning of the word Galatia. Several hundred years before the birth of Christ, some fierce tribes migrated from Gaul (modern France) into Asia Minor, and founded Galatia, which simply means "the country of the Gauls." When the Romans reorganized the ancient world, they made Galatia a part of a larger province that included several other areas, and they called the entire province Galatia. So, back in Paul's day, when a person talked about Galatia, you could not be sure whether he meant the smaller country of Galatia or the larger Roman province.
Bible students are divided over whether Paul wrote to churches in the country of Galatia or in the province of Galatia. The former view is called the "north Galatian theory" and the latter the "south Galatian theory." The matter is not finally settled, but the evidence seems to indicate that Paul wrote to churches in the southern part of the province of Galatia—Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe—churches he founded on his first missionary journey (Acts 13-14).
Paul always had a loving concern for his converts and a deep desire to see the churches he had founded glorify Christ (see Acts 15:36; 2 Cor. 11:28). He was not content to lead men and women to Christ and then abandon them. (For an example of his "after-care," read 1 Thes 2.)
When Paul heard that false teachers had begun to capture his converts and lead them astray, he was greatly concerned—and rightly so. After all, teaching new Christians how to live for Christ is as much a part of Christ's commission as winning them (Matt. 28:19-20). Sad to say, many of the Galatian Christians had turned away from Paul, their "spiritual father" in the Lord, and were now following legalistic teachers who were mixing Old Testament Law with the Gospel of God's grace. (We call these false teachers "Judaizers" because they were trying to entice Christians back into the Jewish religious system.)
So, Paul had a ministry as an apostle, and specifically as the founder of the Galatian churches. As such, he had the authority to deal with the problems in the churches. But there was a second source of authority.
His message (vv. 3-4). From the very beginning, Paul clearly states the message of the Gospel, because it was this message that the Judaizers were changing. The Gospel centers in a Person—Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This Person paid a price—He gave Himself to die on the cross. (You will discover that the cross is important in the Galatian letter, see 2:19-21; 3:1, 13; 4:5; 5:11, 24; 6:12-14.) Christ paid the price that He might achieve a purpose—delivering sinners from bondage.
"Liberty in Christ" is the dominant theme of Galatians. (Check the word bondage in Gal 2:4; Gal 4:3, Gal 4:9, Gal 4:24-25; Gal 5:1.) The Judaizers wanted to lead the Christians out of the liberty of grace, into the bondage of Law. Paul knew that bondage was not a part of the message of the Gospel, for Christ had died to set men free.
Paul's ministry and message were sources of spiritual authority.
His motive (v. 5). "To whom be glory forever and ever!" The false teachers were not ministering for the glory of Christ, but for their own glory (see Gal. 6:12-14). Like false teachers today, the Judaizers were not busy winning lost people to Christ. Rather, they were stealing other men's converts and bragging about their statistics. But Paul's motive was pure and godly: he wanted to glorify Jesus Christ (see 1 Cor. 6:19-20; 1 Cor. 10:31-33).
Paul has now explained his authority. He is ready for a second step as he begins this battle for the liberty of the Christian.
He Expresses His Anxiety (Gal. 1:6-7) "I am amazed that you are so quickly moving away!" This is the first reason for Paul's anxiety: the Galatians were deserting the grace of God. (The verb indicates they were in the process of deserting and had not fully turned away.)
Paul strikes while the iron is hot. God had called them in His grace, and saved them from their sins. Now they are moving from grace back into Law. They are abandoning liberty for legalism! And they are doing it so quickly, without consulting Paul, their "spiritual father," or giving time for the Holy Spirit to teach them. They have become infatuated with the religion of the Judaizers, just the way little children follow a stranger because he offers them candy.
"The grace of God" is a basic theme in this letter (Gal. 1:3, Gal. 1:6, Gal. 1:15; Gal. 2:9, Gal. 2:21; Gal. 5:4; Gal. 6:18). Grace is simply God's favor to undeserving sinners. The words "grace" and "gift" go together, because salvation is the gift of God through His grace (Eph. 2:8-10). The Galatian believers were not simply "changing religions" or "changing churches" but were actually abandoning the very grace of God! To make matters worse, they were deserting the very God of grace! God had called them and saved them; now they were deserting Him for human leaders who would bring them into bondage.
We must never forget that the Christian life is a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. A man does not become a Christian merely by agreeing to a set of doctrines; he becomes a Christian by submitting to Christ and trusting Him (Rom. 11:6). You cannot mix grace and works, because the one excludes the other. Salvation is the gift of God's grace, purchased for us by Jesus Christ on the cross. To turn from grace to Law is to desert the God who saved us.
But they were guilty of another sin that gave Paul great anxiety: they were perverting the Gospel of God. The Judaizers claimed to be preaching "the Gospel," but there cannot be two gospels, one centered in works and the other centered in grace. "They are not preaching another gospel," writes Paul, "but a different message—one so different from the true Gospel that it is no gospel at all." Like the cultists today, the Judaizers would say, "We believe in Jesus Christ--but we have something wonderful to add to what you already believe." As if any man could "add" something better to the grace of God!
The word translated "pervert" in Galatians 1:7 is used only three times in the New Testament (Acts 2:20; Gal. 1:7; James 4:9). It means "to turn about, to change into an opposite character." The word could be translated "to reverse." In other words, the Judaizers had reversed the Gospel—they had turned it around and taken it back into the Law! Later in this letter, Paul explains how the Law was preparation for the coming of Christ, but the Judaizers had a different interpretation. To them, the Law and the Gospel went together. "Except ye be circumcised after the manner [Law] of Moses, ye cannot be saved" (Acts 15:1).
What was this "deserting and perverting" doing to the Galatian Christians? It was troubling them (Gal. 1:7). This verb "trouble" carries with it the idea of perplexity, confusion, and unrest. You get some idea of the force of this word when you see how it is used in other places. "Trouble" describes the feelings of the disciples in the ship during the storm (Matt. 14:26). It also describes the feelings of King Herod when he heard that a new King had been born (Matt. 2:3). No wonder Paul was anxious for his converts: they were going through great agitation because of the false doctrines that had been brought to the churches. Grace always leads to peace (see Gal. 1:3), but the believers had deserted grace and therefore had no peace in their hearts.
Keep in mind that God's grace involves something more than man's salvation. We not only are saved by grace, but we are to live by grace (1 Cor. 15:10). We stand in grace; it is the foundation for the Christian life (Rom. 5:1-2). Grace gives us the strength we need to be victorious soldiers (2 Tim. 2:1-4). Grace enables us to suffer without complaining, and even to use that suffering for God's glory (2 Cor. 12:1-10). When a Christian turns away from living by God's grace, he must depend on his own power. This leads to failure and disappointment This is what Paul means by "fallen from grace" (Gal. 5:4)—moving out of the sphere of grace into the sphere of Law, ceasing to depend on God's resources and depending on our own resources.
No wonder Paul was anxious. His friends in Christ were deserting the God of grace, perverting the grace of God, and reverting to living by the flesh and their own resources. They had begun their Christian lives in the Spirit, but now they were going to try to continue in the power of the flesh (Gal. 3:3).
Having explained his authority and expressed his anxiety, Paul now takes the third step.
He Exposes His Adversaries (Gal. 1:8-10) "Make love, not war!" may have been a popular slogan, but it is not always feasible. Doctors must make war against disease and death; sanitary engineers must war against filth and pollution; legislators must war against injustice and crime. And they all fight because of something they love!
"Ye that love the Lord, hate evil" (Ps. 97:10). "Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good" (Rom. 12:9). Paul waged war against the false teachers because he loved the truth, and because he loved those whom he had led to Christ. Like a loving father who guards his daughter until she is married, Paul watched over his converts lest they be seduced into sin (2 Cor. 11:1-4).
The Judaizers are identified by the false gospel that they preached. The test of a man's ministry is not popularity (Matt. 24:11), or miraculous signs and wonders (Matt. 24:23-24), but his faithfulness to the Word of God (see Isa. 8:20; 1 Tim. 4; 1 John 4:1-6; and note that 2 John 5-11 warns us not to encourage those who bring false doctrine). Christ had committed the Gospel to Paul (1 Cor. 15:1-8), and he, in turn, had committed it to other faithful servants (1 Tim. 1:11; 1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Tim. 1:13; 2 Tim. 2:2). But the Judaizers had come along and substituted their false gospel for the true Gospel, and for this sin, Paul pronounced them accursed. The word he uses is anathema, which means "dedicated to destruction." (Read Acts 23:14 for a forceful illustration of the meaning of this word.) No matter who the preacher may be—an angel from heaven or even Paul himself—if he preaches any other gospel, he is accursed!
But there is a second characteristic of Paul's adversaries: the false motives that they practiced. His enemies accused Paul of being a compromiser and "adjusting" the Gospel to fit the Gentiles. Perhaps they twisted the meaning of Paul's statement, "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some" (1 Cor. 9:22). They said, "When Paul is with the Jews, he lives like a Jew; but when he is with the Gentiles, he lives like the Gentiles. He is a man-pleaser, and therefore you cannot trust him!"
But in reality, it was the false teacher who was the man-pleaser. "These men are paying you special attention, but not sincerely," Paul wrote (Gal. 4:17). "They want to shut you off from me, so that you may keep on paying them special attention" (WMS). Later, Paul also exposes the false teachers as the compromisers, going back to Old Testament practices so that they would not be persecuted by the Jewish people (Gal. 6:12-15). Paul was definitely not a man-pleaser. His ministry did not come from man (Gal. 1:1), nor did his message come from man (Gal. 1:12). Why, then, should he be afraid of men? Why should he seek to please men? His heart's desire was to please Christ.
When Verdi produced his first opera in Florence, the composer stood by himself in the shadows and kept his eye on the face of one man in the audience—the great Rossini. It mattered not to Verdi whether the people in the hall were cheering him or jeering him; all he wanted was a smile of approval from the master musician. So it was with Paul. He knew what it was to suffer for the Gospel, but the approval or disapproval of men did not move him. "Therefore also we have as our ambition... to be pleasing to Him" (2 Cor. 5:9, nasb). Paul wanted the approval of Christ.
The servant of God is constantly tempted to compromise in order to attract and please men. When D.L. Moody was preaching in England, a worker came to him on the platform and told him that a very important nobleman had come into the hall. "May the meeting be a blessing to him!" was Moody's reply, and he preached just as before, without trying to impress anybody.
Paul was not a politician; he was an ambassador. His task was not to "play politics" but to proclaim a message. These Judaizers, on the other hand, were cowardly compromisers who mixed Law and grace, hoping to please both Jews and Gentiles, but never asking whether or not they were pleasing God.
We have noted three steps. Paul took toward engaging these false teachers in battle: he explained his authority, expressed his anxiety, and exposed his adversaries. But how is he going to attack his enemies? What approach will he use to convince the Galatian believers that all they need is faith in God's grace? A quick survey of the entire letter shows that Paul is a master defender of the Gospel. Take time to read the entire letter at one sitting, and, as you read, note the three approaches that Paul takes.
His first approach is personal (Gal. 1-2). He reviews his own personal experience with Jesus Christ and the message of the Gospel. He points out that he had received the Gospel independently, from the Lord and not from the 12 Apostles (Gal. 1:11-24), but that they had approved his message and his ministry (Gal. 2:1-10). Furthermore, Paul had even defended the Gospel when Peter, the leading apostle, had compromised his earlier stand (Gal. 2:11-21). The autobiographical section of the letter proves that Paul was not a "counterfeit apostle," but that his message and ministry were true to the faith.
Galatians 3 and 4 are doctrinal, and in them Paul presents several arguments to establish that sinners are saved by faith and grace, not by works and Law. First he appeals to their own experiences (Gal. 3:1-5). Then he goes back to the Old Testament Law in Galatians 3:6-14 to show that even Abraham and the prophets understood salvation as being by grace through faith. Having mentioned the Law, Paul now explains why the Law was given originally (Gal. 3:15-4:18). He then uses the story of Sarah and Hagar to illustrate the relationship between Law and grace (Gal. 4:19-31).
The final two chapters of the letter are practical in emphasis, as Paul turns from argument to application. The Judaizers accused Paul of promoting lawlessness because he preached the Gospel of the grace of God; so in this section, Paul explains the relationship between the grace of God and practical Christian living. He shows that living by grace means liberty, not bondage (Gal. 5:1-12); depending on the Spirit, not the flesh (Gal. 5:13-26); living for others, not for self (Gal. 6:1-10); and living for the glory of God, not for man's approval (Gal. 6:11-18). It is either one series of actions or the other—Law or grace—but it cannot be both.
Galatians 1:11-24
"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." So wrote Emerson, and many a thinker agrees with him.
The English art critic John Ruskin said, "I fear uniformity. You cannot manufacture great men any more than you can manufacture gold."
The German philosopher Schopenhauer wrote, "We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people."
Francis Asbury, first bishop of the Methodist Church in the United States, once prayed at a deacon ordination, "O Lord, grant that these brethren may never want to be like other people."
Of course, there is a wrong kind of individualism that destroys instead of fulfills; but in a society accustomed to interchanging parts, it is good to meet a man like Paul who dared to be himself in the will of God. But his freedom in Christ was a threat to those who found safety in conformity.
Paul's enemies pointed to his nonconformity as proof that his message and ministry were not really of God. "He claims to be an apostle," they argued, "but he does not stand in the apostolic tradition." It is this misrepresentation that Paul answers in this section of Galatians. His nonconformity was divinely deliberate. God had chosen to reveal Himself in a different way to Paul.
In Galatians 1:11-12, Paul states his theme: his message and ministry are of divine origin. He did not invent the Gospel, nor did he receive it from men; but he received the Gospel from Jesus Christ. Both his message and his apostolic ministry were divinely given. Therefore, anybody who added anything to Paul's Gospel was in danger of divine judgment, because that Gospel was given by Jesus Christ from heaven (1 Cor. 15:1-11).
The best way for Paul to prove his point is to reach into his past and remind the Galatian Christians of the way God had dealt with him. Paul states that his past life was already known to his readers (Gal. 1:13), but it was obvious that they did not fully understand what those experiences meant. So, Paul flashes on the screen three pictures from his past as evidence that his apostleship and his Gospel are truly of God.
The Persecutor (Gal. 1:13-14) Paul begins with his past conduct as an unconverted Jewish rabbi. (For a vivid account of these years from Paul's own lips, read Acts 22 and 26, as well as Acts 9.) In this historical flashback, Paul points out his relationship to the church (Gal. 1:13) and to the religion of the Jews (Gal. 1:14). He was persecuting the church and profiting and progressing in the Jewish religion. Everything was "going his way" and he was rapidly being recognized as a spiritual leader in Israel.
It is interesting to note the words that are used to describe Paul's activities when he was "Saul of Tarsus" persecuting the church. He "consented" to the murder of Stephen (see Acts 8:1), and then proceeded to "make havoc of the church" (see Acts 8:3) by breaking up families and putting believers in prison. The very atmosphere that he breathed was "threatening and slaughter" (Acts 9:1). So bent on destroying the church was Paul that he voted to kill the believers (Acts 22:4-5; 26:9-11). He mentions these facts in his letters (1 Cor. 15:9; Phil. 3:6; 1 Tim. 1:13), marveling that God could save such a sinner as he.
Paul actually thought that Jesus was an impostor and His message of salvation a lie. He was sure that God had spoken through Moses, but how could he be sure that God had spoken through Jesus of Nazareth? Steeped in Jewish tradition, young Saul of Tarsus championed his faith. His reputation as a zealous persecutor of "the sect of the Nazarenes" became known far and wide (see Acts 9:13-14). Everybody knew that this brilliant student of Rabbi Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) was well on his way to becoming an influential leader of the Jewish faith. His personal religious life, his scholarship (Acts 26:24), and his zeal in opposing alien religious faiths, all combined to make him the most respected young rabbi of his day.
Then something happened: Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the church, became Paul the Apostle, the preacher of the Gospel. This change was not gradual; it happened suddenly and without warning (Acts 9:1-9). Saul was on his way to Damascus to persecute the Christians; a few days later he was in Damascus preaching to the Jews that the Christians are right. How could the Judaizers explain this sudden transformation?
Was Saul's remarkable "about-face" caused by his own people, the Jews? Unthinkable! The Jews were encouraging Saul in his program of persecution, and his conversion was an embarrassment to them.
Was Saul's change caused by the Christians he was persecuting? Certainly the believers prayed for him, and no doubt the death of Stephen—and especially the glorious testimony he had given—affected Paul deeply (Acts 22:19-20). But the Christians ran from Paul (Acts 8:1, 4; 9:10-16), and, as far as we know, they had no idea that the young rabbi would ever become a Christian.
But if the amazing change in Paul was not caused by the Jews or the church, then who caused it? It had to come from God!
No matter how you look at it, the conversion of Paul was a spiritual miracle. It was humanly impossible for Rabbi Saul to become the Apostle Paul apart from the miracle of God's grace. And the same God who saved Paul also called him to be an apostle, and gave him the message of the Gospel. For the Judaizers to deny Paul's apostleship and Gospel was the same as denying his conversion! Certainly Paul was preaching the same message that he himself had believed—the truth that had changed him. But no mere human message could effect such a change. Paul's argument is conclusive: his past conduct as a persecutor of the church plus the dramatic change that he experienced prove that his message and ministry are from God.
The Believer (Gal. 1:15-16b, 24) Having discussed his past character and conduct, Paul now explains his conversion; for, after all, this was the crucial thing in his life. "What I preach to others, I have experienced myself," he is saying to his accusers. "This is the true Gospel. Any other Gospel is counterfeit." In these verses Paul explains the characteristics of bis conversion experience.
God did it (vv. 15a, 16a). "It pleased God... to reveal His Son in me." Whenever Paul spoke or wrote about his conversion, it was always with emphasis on the fact that God did the work. "Salvation is of the Lord!" (Jonah 2:9)
God did it by grace (v. 15b). Paul's experience reminds us of young Jeremiah (Jer. 1:4-10) and also of John the Baptist (Luke 1:5-17). Salvation is by God's grace, not man's efforts or character. Grace and called (Gal. 1:15b) go together, for whomever God chooses in His grace He calls through His Word (1 Thes. 1:4-5). The mysteries of God's sovereign will and man's responsibility to obey are not fully revealed to us. We do know that God is "not willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9), and that those who do trust Christ discover they have been "chosen... in Him before the foundation of the world" (Eph. 1:4).
God did it through Christ (v. 16). In another letter Paul makes it clear that he had plenty to boast about when he was an unconverted man (Phil. 3). He had religion and self-righteousness, as well as reputation and recognition; but he did not have Christ! When on the Damascus Road, Paul saw his own self-righteous rags contrasted to the righteousness of Christ, he realized what he was missing. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ" (Phil. 3:7).
God revealed Christ to Paul, in Paul, and through Paul. The "Jews' religion" (Gal. 1:14) had been an experience of outward rituals and practices; but faith in Christ brought about an inward experience of reality with the Lord. This "inwardness" of Christ is a major truth with Paul (Gal. 2:20; 4:19).
God did it for the sake of others (v. 16). God chose Paul, not only to save him, but also to use him to win others. In the Bible, the doctrine of election is never taught with a view to producing pride or selfishness. Election involves responsibility. God chose Paul to preach among the Gentiles the same grace that he had experienced. This, in itself, was evidence that Paul's conversion was of God; for certainly a prejudiced Jewish rabbi would never decide of himself to minister to the despised Gentiles! (See Acts 9:15; 15:12; 22:21-22; Eph. 3:1, 8.)
God did it for His glory (v. 24). As a fanatical rabbi, Paul had all the glory a man could want; but what he was doing did not glorify God. Man was created to glorify God (Isa. 43:7) and man is saved to glorify God (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Bringing glory to God was ever a compelling motive in Paul's life and ministry (Rom. 11:36; 16:27; 1 Cor. 10:31; Eph. 1:6; 3:20-21; Phil. 4:20). The Judaizers were interested in their own glory (Gal. 6:11-18). That is why they were stealing Paul's converts and leading them astray. If Paul had been interested in glorifying himself, he could have remained a Jewish rabbi and perhaps become Gamaliel's successor. But it was the glory of God that motivated Paul, and this ought to motivate our lives as well.
When Charles Haddon Spurgeon was a young preacher, his father, the Rev. John Spurgeon, suggested that Charles go to college to gain prominence. It was arranged for him to meet Dr. Joseph Angus, the principal of Stepney College, London. They were to meet at Mr. Macmillan's home in Cambridge, and Spurgeon was there at the appointed hour. He waited for two hours, but the learned doctor never appeared. When Spurgeon finally inquired about the man, he discovered that Dr. Angus had been waiting in another room and, because of another appointment, had already departed. Disappointed, Spurgeon left for a preaching engagement. While he was walking along, he heard a voice clearly say to him, "Seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not!" (see Jer. 45:5) From that moment, Spurgeon determined to do the will of God for the glory of God; and God blessed him in an exceptional way.
Paul has pictured himself as a persecutor, and has reviewed his character and conduct. He has also pictured himself as a believer, reviewing his conversion. He now presents a third picture.
The Preacher (Gal. 1:16-23) What were Paul's contacts with other believers after he was converted? This is a question vital to his defense. Paul had no personal contacts with the Apostles right after his conversion experience on the Damascus Road. "Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood" (Gal. 1:16). The logical thing for Paul to have done after his conversion was to introduce himself to the church at Jerusalem and profit from the spiritual instruction of those who had been "in Christ" before him. But this he did not do—and his decision was led of the Lord. For if he had gone to Jerusalem, his ministry might have been identified with that of the Apostles—all Jews—and this could have been a hindrance to his work among the Gentiles.
At this point we need to remind ourselves that the message of the Gospel came "to the Jew first" (Acts 3:26; Rom. 1:16). Our Lord's ministry was to the nation of Israel, and so was the ministry of the Apostles for the first few years (see Acts 1-7). The death of Stephen was a turning point. As the believers were scattered, they took the Good News with them to other places (Acts 8:4; Acts 11:19ff). Philip took the message to the Samaritans (Acts 8), and then God directed Peter to introduce it to the Gentiles (Acts 10). However, it remained for Paul to carry the Gospel to the Gentile masses (Acts 22:21-22; Eph. 3:1, 8), and for this reason God kept him separated from the predominantly Jewish ministry being conducted by the Apostles in Jerusalem.
Paul did not immediately go to Jerusalem. Where did he go? He reviews his contacts and shows that there was no opportunity for him to receive either his message or his apostolic calling from any of the leaders of the church. (Compare this section with Acts 9:10-31, and keep in mind that even the best biblical scholars are not agreed on the chronology of Paul's life. Fortunately, the details of history do not affect the understanding of what Paul has written: we can disagree on chronology and yet agree on theology!)
He went to Arabia (v. 17b). This was after his initial ministry in Damascus (Acts 9:19-20). Instead of "conferring with flesh and blood," Paul gave himself to study, prayer, and meditation, and met with the Lord alone. He may have spent the greater part of three years in Arabia (Gal. 1:18), and no doubt was involved in evangelism as well as personal spiritual growth. The Apostles had received three years of teaching from the Lord Jesus, and now Paul was going to have his own opportunity to be taught of the Lord.
He went back to Damascus (v. 17c). It would have been logical to visit Jerusalem at this point, but the Lord directed otherwise. Certainly it was a risky thing for Paul to go back to the city that knew he had become a Christian. The Jewish leaders who had looked to him as their champion against Christianity would definitely be after his blood. Apparently the "basket incident" of Acts 9:23-25 (see 2 Cor. 11:32-33) took place at this time. The return to Damascus and the danger it brought to Paul's life are further proof that the Jewish leaders considered Paul an enemy, and therefore that his experience with Christ was a valid one.
He finally visited Jerusalem (vv. 18-20). This was three years after his conversion, and his main purpose was to visit Peter. But Paul had a tough time getting into the church fellowship! (Acts 9:26-28) If his message and ministry had been from the Apostles, this would never have happened; but because Paul's experience had been with the Lord Jesus alone, the Apostles were suspicious of him. He stayed in Jerusalem only fifteen days, and he saw only Peter and James (the Lord's brother). Thus he received neither his message nor his apostleship from the Jerusalem church. There simply was not the time nor the opportunity. He had already received them both directly from Christ.
He returned home to Tarsus (vv. 21-23). Again, the record in Acts explains why: his life was in danger in Jerusalem, just as it had been in Damascus (Acts 9:28-30). As Paul went through Syria, he preached the Word, and when he arrived in Cilicia, his home province (Acts 21:39; 22:3), he began to evangelize (see Acts 15:23). Historians have concluded that he remained there perhaps seven years, until Barnabas recruited him for the work in Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). A few believers in Jerusalem knew Paul, but the believers in the churches of Judea did not know him, though they heard that he was now preaching the very faith he had once tried to destroy.
In the light of Paul's conduct, his conversion, and his contacts, how could anybody accuse him of borrowing or inventing either his message or his ministry? Certainly he did receive his Gospel by a revelation from Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must be careful what we do with this Gospel, for it is not the invention of men, but the very truth of God.
Some critical scholars have accused Paul of "corrupting the simple Gospel," but the evidence is against this accusation. The same Christ who taught on earth also taught through Paul from heaven. Paul did not invent his teaching; he "received" it (Rom. 1:5; 1 Cor. 11:23; 15:3). At the time of Paul's conversion, God said He would appear to him in the future (Acts 26:16), apparently for the purpose of revealing His truths to him. This means that the Christ of the four Gospels and the Christ of the epistles is the same Person; there is no conflict between Christ and Paul. When Paul wrote his letters to the churches, he put his own teaching on the same level with that of Jesus Christ (2 Thes. 3:3-15). The Apostle Peter even calls Paul's letters "Scripture" (2 Peter 3:15-16).
Modern-day "Judaizers," like their ancient counterparts, reject the authority of Paul and try to undermine the Gospel which he preached. In Paul's day, their message was "the Gospel plus Moses." In our day it is "the Gospel plus" any number of religious leaders, religious books, or religious organizations. "You cannot be saved unless..." is their message (Acts 15:1); and that "unless" usually includes joining their group and obeying their rules. If you dare to mention the Gospel of grace as preached by Jesus, Paul, and the other Apostles, they reply, "But God has given us a new revelation!"
Paul has the answer for them: "If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed!" (Gal. 1:9) When a sinner trusts Christ and is born again (John 3:1-18), he is "born free." He has been redeemed—purchased by Christ and set free. He is no longer in bondage to sin or Satan, nor should he be in bondage to human religious systems (Gal. 4:1-11; 5:1). "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).