Transcript

The following is from a man applying for a pastorate: “Gentleman, understanding your pulpit is vacant, I should like to apply for the position. I have many qualifications: I’ve been a preacher with much success and have also had success as a writer.

“Some say I’m a good organizer. I’ve been a leader most places I’ve been. I am over 50 years of age. I have never preached in one place for more than 3 years.

“In some places I have left town after my work has caused riots and disturbances. I must admit that I have been in jail three or four times, but not because of any real wrongdoing.

“My health is not good, though I still get a great deal done. The churches I’ve established and preached in have been small, though located in several large cities.

“I’ve not got along well with religious leaders in towns where I have preached. In fact, some have threatened me and even attacked me physically.

“If you can use me, I shall do my best for you. Signed: The Apostle Paul.”

That resume probably wouldn’t result in many job opportunities today!

Paul’s life truly was remarkable. He was called by God’s grace as the apostle of the Gentiles. In that office, he suffered much, labored hard, traveled far, all to serve his Savior and make the gospel of grace known out of his burden for lost souls.

And the Church is challenged in Philippians 4:9 to follow his doctrine, as well as his example in his practice: “Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you.”

With the raising up of Paul, and his salvation on the road to Damascus, this began the dawning of a new age, the age of grace. In Galatians 1, Paul reminds the church of his background, his early ministry and the origin of his message for this age. We’ll examine Galatians 1:11-24 in this episode.

Galatians 1:11-12: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Paul teaches in these verses that with the beginning of this new age, that a message and gospel was revealed to him directly by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul emphatically wrote “I certify you, brethren.” He uses a strong word “certify” in attempting to leave no doubt about the importance and truth of the statement, intending to draw special attention to what he was about to say.

Paul is driving this truth home to the Galatians, stating: I make known to you with certainty, I assure you. It’s like he is saying, “Let me make this perfectly clear.”

Then, he begins with a negative, informing where his message did NOT originate. And he uses three expressions to deny that his gospel originated with man.

First, he states that the gospel he proclaimed “is not after man.” It was not conjured up in the mind of man or from a human source. It was not man-made. Paul did not invent it. It is not according to a human standard or even in harmony with ideas of men.

Second, he states that he “neither received it of man.” The gospel Paul preached is not something given to him that he received from another man. It was not communicated or shared with him from the twelve apostles or any other man. It was not a continuation of what the twelve also preached. This gospel for this new age was new and unique.

Third, Paul states, “neither was I taught it.” It was not impressed upon his mind through the process of teaching by man. It was actually impossible for any man to teach it to him because Paul was the first one to learn of it.

Paul’s message was not of human origin or human transmission. Now having made clear where he did NOT get his message, Paul now positively declares where he DID receive it.

It was “by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul states plainly that received his message directly from the risen, exalted Lord of glory by a special, direct revelation.

The term “revelation” means to uncover to open view that which was before not visible, known or disclosed. The gospel Paul preached was previously not known or disclosed, and a revelation from Jesus Christ was necessary for it to be known.

What Paul is showing us here is that the gospel he preached was not of human origin, it was of divine origin. It did not come from the mind of man, it came from the mind of God. He did not receive it from the twelve or any man; he received it from God Himself.

He was not taught it by man; he was taught it by Christ from heaven. This message was given directly and first to Paul.

The gospel Christ made known to Paul is “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24). And this unique message declares justification by faith alone, apart from the law. This is the truth that Paul declares in this strongly worded epistle to the Galatians about law and grace, and our freedom from the law.

Paul makes it clear here that this message was received APART from the ministry of the Twelve Apostles or any other human source.

And then to reinforce this fact, the rest of chapter 1 is about Paul confirming his independence from the twelve through his experiences at the beginning of his ministry.

Galatians 1:13-16a: “For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

“And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

“To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen…”

Paul’s first step in proving that he had not received his gospel of grace from men was that, before his conversion, he was, in fact, a violent opponent of Jesus Christ.

Paul reminds the Galatians that they had “heard” of his “conversation” or manner of life in time past in Judaism.

As an unbeliever, Paul was in rebellion against God, but his rebellion was manifested through his religion. This is the irony of religion.

Many think that they are doing God a great favor by the things they do in the name of religion, but in truth they are in rebellion against the Savior and the things of God, and are actually the enemies of God, because they have not submitted themselves to the gospel and God’s Word and trusted Christ alone.

Beyond measure,” Paul wrote, he “persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.” Paul went above and beyond in his persecution. “Beyond measure” means exceedingly, excessively, surpassing.

Once upon a time, a king ordered a three-day fast throughout the kingdom. Anyone caught eating was to be STRUCK seven times with a rod. Anyone caught assisting another in breaking the fast would be shackled to a BALL and chain.

After two days, one nobleman, a COUNT, decided he couldn’t hold out. So he ordered three servants to prepare a meal. Word leaked to the royal palace that the COUNT and countess were breaking the fast.

The king and queen were furious, and rushed to the count’s home, bursting in just as dessert was being served. The king growled in a sarcastic voice, “Is the count full?”

The queen, pointing to the five offenders and ordering their punishment, declared: “Yes, ball three and strike two!” Paul ordered and carried out the punishment of many believers in his persecution.

The church that Paul persecuted at that time was the Messianic Jewish church of the Acts period, believing Israelites who had an earthly kingdom hope, the church that Christ mentioned in Matthew 16, that was built on the rock of Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living God.

Paul NEVER persecuted the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ didn’t come into being until Paul, the chief of sinners, was saved by God’s grace, and he became its first member.

In his persecution of the earthly kingdom church, Paul said he “wasted” it. The word “wasted” is very strong. It referred not merely to an attempt to devastate or ravage, but to actually ruin and destroy.

In Acts 9:21, those in Damascus said of Paul, “Is not this he that DESTROYED them which called on this name in Jerusalem?” The word “destroyed” and “wasted” are translated from the same Greek word (Gal. 1:23).

Obviously, Paul was not one of the members of the kingdom “church of God” who believed in Christ as Israel’s Messiah, instead, Saul severely persecuted those of that church. And he did not receive his gospel from this church of God.

In verse 14, Paul speaks of how he “profited in the Jews’ religion.” The word “profited” here means “to blaze a trail.”

By his zeal for the Jews’ religion, Paul was blazing a trail for himself and advancing up the ladder in the hierarchy of Judaism. He was an “up and comer,” driven to excel and surpass his contemporaries.

He loved his religion, and its accompanying Rabbinical traditions. Even today, traditions often supersede the Word of God. And it’s interesting to note how Paul was zealous for the Jewish TRADITIONS and not the truth of God’s Word.

“But” then something happened. But when “it pleased God,” in other words, when Paul was on the road to Damascus, God separated [Paul] from his mother’s womb. This verse shouldn’t be taken to mean that Paul was separated unto God from before he was born.

It needs to be interpreted in its context. What Paul is talking about is the Jews’ religion.

And “from his mother’s womb” is referring to the Jews’ religion, and how from his mother’s womb, Paul had been born and raised and lived in this religion.

Paul had been “circumcised the eighth day,” and all he had known from his mother’s womb, from the moment he was born, was adherence to the law, the traditions of the fathers, and the Jews’ religion. He had been tied to it all from the womb.

But when it pleased God, God separated him from all of this on the Damascus Road.

Paul was saved, not in Judaism, not by Judaism, but from Judaism, out of Judaism.

He was separated from all he knew and believed from the time he was born from his mother’s womb, and Paul was called by God’s grace on the road to Damascus.

Paul was separated from the law, and called to the grace of God. And with Saul’s conversion, the dispensation of grace dawned, when this zealous man of the law and severe persecutor of God’s people, was saved apart from the law and called by the grace of God.

No man taught Paul his gospel, because his own conversion by the grace of God was unique and demonstrated the truth and reality of his gospel. Paul had been justified by grace thru faith alone in Christ, apart from the law.

And after He separated and saved him, God called Paul “to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the heathen” or the Gentiles.

Now God had already revealed His Son when He sent His Son to this earth to live, minister, and die on the Cross.

And God revealed His Son through the Twelve Apostles after Christ ascended to heaven, telling them to go into all the world and to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

So why was Paul needed? Why did God need to reveal His Son through raising up a new apostle?

The reason is that God had revealed His Son, but not in the way He would reveal Him through the Apostle Paul, according to a new message and program, and according to Christ’s heavenly ministry as the Head of the Body of Christ.

And God revealed His Son in Paul to have him make Christ known to the nations in a new way, under the terms of the gospel of the grace of God, which is faith alone in Christ that He died for our sins, was buried, and rose again.

Paul was separated from the law and the traditions of his fathers to the grace of God. He was separated from the Jews’ religion to Jesus Christ. And he was separated from Israel to the heathen, or the Gentiles.

Preaching Christ “among the heathen,” was Paul’s calling as the Apostle of the Gentiles. He was called to be God’s spokesman who was sent to the nations.

As Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 2:7: “Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, and lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.”

And as Gentiles under grace and members of Christ’s Body, we find Christ’s instructions for us in the writings of the one who is the preacher, apostle, and teacher of the Gentiles.

And right on the Damascus Road, Christ called Paul to preach Christ among the heathen. At the dawning of this new age, the Lord told Paul that He was “Delivering thee from the people [of Israel], and from the Gentiles, unto whom NOW I send thee,

“To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts 26:17-18).

Galatians 1:16b-20 reads: “immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.”

Following his conversion, Paul still reinforcing the truth that he did not receive his gospel from man, states, “immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.”

The word “conferred” means “to lay upon in addition to.” Paul is teaching that after he got saved, no man laid up in addition to what the Lord revealed to him regarding his gospel. He received his message solely from the exalted Lord Jesus Christ.

Then Paul states that he did not go up to Jerusalem right away. He didn’t receive his gospel from the twelve apostles, and they didn’t teach it to him.

If Paul had gone to Jerusalem immediately to meet with the other apostles, this might suggest that he might have received his message from them and that his ministry was somehow under their authority.

But this is not the case, because Paul’s apostleship and message is unique and separate from the Twelve. Paul’s apostleship stands alone from the Twelve. We should not mix them. Paul is making it clear that their apostleship and message and his are separate. They have 2 different callings for 2 different programs.

Instead of going to Jerusalem, at the dawning of this new age, Paul “went into Arabia.”

Later, in this book in Galatians 4:25, Paul wrote about “mount Sinai in Arabia.” Mount Sinai, of course, is where Moses received the revelation of the law from the Lord.

Whether Paul was on or near Mount Sinai in Arabia, we don’t know, but in Arabia is where Paul received revelations of grace from the Lord for this current dispensation and for the Church the Body of Christ within this age.

Paul’s time in Arabia was a time of preparation, revelation, learning and unlearning from all he had been taught from his mother’s womb concerning the law and Jewish traditions.

Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:2-3, “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward [you Gentiles]: How that by revelation He [Christ] made known unto me the mystery.”

Christ revealed the mystery, the body of truth for this age of grace, to Paul through a series of revelations over time. And this likely began in Arabia.

But, personally, I don’t believe Paul spent three years in Arabia receiving the revelation of the mystery from the risen, exalted Lord. We are not told by Paul in Scripture how long he spent in Arabia.

Paul simply wrote, “I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem…” (Gal. 1:17-18). The majority of those three years were spent by Paul ministering in Damascus.

Moses received the law from the Lord in Arabia over a period of 40 days and 40 nights (Ex. 34:27-28). The twelve apostles were taught by the Lord following His resurrection for 40 days “of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3).

And it’s possible that, likewise, Paul was taught by the Lord about this dispensation of graced over this same time period of 40 days in Arabia.

At the dawn of this age, the chronological order of Paul’s early ministry entailed at first preaching Christ in the synagogues in Damascus, then going to Arabia for a time, then back to Damascus, where he “confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ” (Acts 9:22).

Acts 9:23 then teaches, “And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to kill him.” This is when Paul was let down in a basket from the wall in Damascus.

The “many days” that “were fulfilled” in Damascus refer to the time period mentioned here in Galatians 1:18, the “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter.”

After his conversion, Paul went up to Jerusalem for the first time after three years. There and then Paul met with Peter for a little over 2 weeks.

He saw none of the other apostles, save James the Lord’s brother, a secondary apostle who was not even one of the Twelve.

But Paul didn’t go there to receive instruction from Peter, but as Paul carefully states here, he just went to “see” him. Paul simply went to visit and get acquainted with Peter. And it was only for 15 days. Paul had been working for the Lord for three years before he ever saw the face of an apostle.

The purpose of these verses again is to show that he did not receive his message from man, neither was he taught it. Paul was showing that he was not a second-hand apostle, receiving his message from the Jerusalem apostles. He was called to be an apostle directly by the Lord Jesus Christ and given his message from Him.

In verse 20, Paul says that these things he had written, before God, he says he was not lying. This verse was to help the Galatians to realize, not only that he was telling the truth but that he truly had received his gospel by divine revelation.

The truth of the gospel of justification by faith alone apart from the law, as Paul preached it, was at stake in the truthfulness of what he said and wrote, therefore, Paul makes this solemn oath before God that he was not lying.

Galatians 1:21-24: “Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:

“But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me.”

From Jerusalem, Paul went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Again, emphasizing his separation from the Twelve, these were regions that the Twelve Apostles hadn’t been to. If Paul had been under their authority and commissioned by them, he would have been assigned to the churches of Judea around Jerusalem. But he was not.

Instead, being called by God’s grace to be the Apostle of the Gentiles, he went to Gentile territory, and he traveled north into “Syria,” by way of Caesarea according to Acts 9:30.

Damascus was located in Syria, so after his recent near-death basket escape from the city, Paul with courage, determination, and a burden for lost souls, went right back into that area to preach the gospel of grace and to establish churches.

From there Paul went to “Cilicia.” In Acts 22:3, before the crowd in Jerusalem that wanted to kill him, Paul declared to them, “I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia.” As we know, Paul is called Saul of Tarsus. Cilicia was the province in which Paul’s hometown of Tarsus stood.

We know that Paul went to Tarsus in Cilicia, because 6 years later when Barnabas went looking for Paul, Acts 11:25-26 teaches that “Then departed Barnabas to TARSUS, for to seek Saul: And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch.”

Personally, I believe that Paul went to Tarsus after his conversion, because his family was there. After one becomes saved, our burden often turns to our family and out of love, we have a desire to share the gospel with them that they might believe and be saved from their sins and have hope in Christ as well.

At the dawn of the age of grace, during Paul’s 6 years in Syria and Cilicia, he carried out an extensive ministry among the Gentiles and established Gentile assemblies.

As Paul later went out for his second apostolic journey, Luke records how “he [Paul] went through Syria and Cilicia confirming the churches” (Acts 15:41).

The only time Paul could have founded these Gentile assemblies was during this 5-6 year time period in Syria and Cilicia.

In Galatians 1:22-24 we learn how Paul had so little contact with the Jewish churches in Judea, that after nearly a decade of ministry, he “was unknown by face” and the people there could not recognize him by sight.

Therefore it was impossible that these churches would have or could have influenced or instructed Paul in his gospel.

These Judean churches had a separate message and calling from Paul’s, as they proclaimed an earthly hope according to the gospel of the kingdom. This was unlike Paul, who preached the gospel of the grace of God, with its heavenly hope.

These Jewish churches of Judea only knew Paul by reputation and by what they had “heard.” But they thanked God “that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.”

In Acts 9:20, we learn about the faith Paul preached: “And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues that He is the Son of God.”

This was the faith Paul once destroyed, imprisoning and condemning to death any who believed that Jesus was the Son of God. But now he believed Christ is God’s Son who had risen from the dead, and he preached it with conviction.

Paul had a calling by God’s grace and a message of grace to make known. Each of us in the Church too have a calling and a message to proclaim. Our calling is to be ambassadors for Christ, and to us has been committed “the word of reconciliation.”

As 2 Corinthians 5:20 teaches, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God.”