Galatians 1; Paul's Testimony

Galatians 1:^10-24For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

¹¹But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. ¹²For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

¹⁵But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, ¹⁶to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see ^[^c^]Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰(Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)

²¹Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. ²³But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God in me.

My whole life: It’s all about Jesus and me

During this time of lock down surrounding the COVID-19 virus, everyone is talking about how we adjust to the “new normal.” We have to figure out how to work from home, how to scavenge for hand sanitizer, how to become a homeschool family. There’s a lot of adjustment taking place. And some of that adjustment may be sending some people over the edge. I hope that is not the case if you are a Christian.

Yes, it can be uncomfortable having your husband, or wife, “right there” all day, every day. Or your kids. Or just being confined to your home, and unable to “get out” can be difficult.

But let me suggest a remedy, for a Christian. Use this time to realign your spiritual life.

During “normal” times, it’s easy to make our lives about work, play, entertainment, or education. Now that much of that is stripped away, it may lay bare that we are starving spiritually. We haven’t nourished the part of us that hungers and thirsts for righteousness. We haven’t spent time in the Word of God, in prayer, in spiritual conversations, sharpening our inner man.

Well Paul is a good example for us regarding having that priority in our lives. In today’s study, he is defending his apostleship. But he is also giving us an insight into the priority of his life. His new life was all about his relationship to Jesus Christ.

Paul’s epistle to the Galatians addresses the problem of Judaizers teaching Gentiles that you have to be circumcised and follow Mosaic law in order to be saved. Works salvation. But in order to address that teaching, he has to first defend himself as a teacher. In fact, he has to defend himself as an apostolic teacher. An Apostle of Jesus Christ. In other words, he has to convince them that he got his message and calling straight from Jesus Christ. If they don’t believe he was sent from Jesus, there’s no reason to value his gospel over the “different gospel” that the Judaizers are teaching.

And there is where we should be as well. Let me ask you this; If someone challenged your Christianity, what evidence from your life would you give, that you know and love and follow the Lord?

That’s where we are going.

So why do they not believe him? He started these churches. Iconium, Derbe, Lystra. What happened?

The Judaizers not only came in and started teaching a different gospel, (works) they also began accusing Paul of things in order to undermine his teaching.

The accusations;

1. He’s not really an apostle of Jesus Christ.

Paul addresses that accusation immediately at the beginning of the letter---Paul, an apostle of…

The 2^nd accusation…

2. He’s preaching an easy gospel to make it easy on himself. He’s an ear-tickler.

He’s just telling you Gentiles what they want to hear, so they will like him and follow him

He addresses that accusation in verse 10…

Galatians 1:¹⁰For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

Those are the 2 major accusations, so today we look at his answer to the first of those accusations---that he is not really an apostle. He answers that in chapters 1 and 2.

1. His personal experience testifies to his apostleship 1:10-24

2. His experience with the other apostles testifies to his apostleship 2:1-21

Today, His personal experience testifies to his apostleship 1:10-24

The outline to his defense reminds me of High School Speech class—We had to give different types of speeches, introductory, informative, ….and extemporaneous speech.

Extemporaneous means off the cuff. On your day in class, the teacher would walk up to your desk and hand you a slip of paper with the topic for the speech you were to give. If I remember correctly, mine was something like “How to ask someone out on a date.” I had no experience. But in about a minute, I was going to share my inexperience with the class.

Well, I figured out some generic outlines, during this section. For example, I figured out that I could talk about practically any subject with the outline; this subject in the past, this subject in the present, and this subject in the future. Well that is our outline for today’s sermon.

Paul’s defense of his apostleship centers around his conversion---he describes

AA. His personal experience with Christ before he was converted

BB. His personal experience of conversion to Christ

CC. His personal experience with Christ after conversion

And they all point to the fact that he is an apostle chosen by Jesus Christ, not by men.

AA. His personal experience before he was converted

My life before turning to Christ testifies to the fact that I am an apostle and am not a man-pleaser.

2 things: I was a persecutor and I was at the top of my Pharisaic class.

¹³For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.

1. Remember Paul’s testimony

a. Persecuting the church

b. Trying to destroy it

He’s given this testimony many times

Acts 26 Then Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.”

So Paul stretched out his hand and answered for himself: ²“I think myself happy, King Agrippa, because today I shall answer for myself before you concerning all the things of which I am accused by the Jews,

⁴“My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. ⁵They knew me from the first, if they were willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.

His testimony before Agrippa is the same one he tells on multiple occasions. I was a Pharisee who persecuted Christians, and now I am a Christian missionary. We can’t pass over that to quickly. He is pointing that out because it is the strongest evidence from experience that anyone could bring.

This is Strong evidence that something big happened, He met Jesus

Let me illustrate. I am a Southern Baptist preacher of the gospel. I’ve been a Christian since I was 8. I started preaching when I was 18. But let’s say that I went away, or you did, and we met again in 6 months. And when you met me again, you said, “How’s the Southern Baptist ministry going?” And I said, “Oh, I’m not a Southern Baptist preacher anymore.” You say, Oh? Did you become another kind of Baptist, no, Freewill, no. “No, I’m now an atheist. Opened a bar.” What would be your next question. “What happened?” tragedy, secret sin. You would think something big had to have happened that caused me to make such a radical change.

But that was Paul’s testimony---and it is evidence that he was given his apostleship directly from Jesus Christ. How is it evidence? Because something radical had to have happened to Paul to make him change from a Christian persecuting Pharisee, to a Christian missionary.

Continuing with his testimony before Agrippa…

⁹“Indeed, I myself thought I must do many things ^[^a^]contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ¹⁰This I also did in Jerusalem, and many of the saints I shut up in prison, (comment) having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. ¹¹And I punished them often in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme; (comment)

and being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities. (not content with Jerusalem or Israel)

Paul was an evil man.

But he was a very religious man before he followed Christ, that didn’t change did it. Yes, he might as well of converted from being the pope to being the president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Before conversion…

Now, I was at the top of my Pharasaic class.

¹⁴And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.

The Pharisees, numbering around 6000 at the time of Christ, in a population of over a million jews.

They were a group who believed in adhering to the mosaic law, and the traditions that built up around the law. Jesus described them…

Matthew 23:5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.

²³“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin,

²⁵“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish,

The law said, “keep the Sabbath day” rest on the Sabbath day. They made long lists of what could and couldn’t be done on the Sabbath. 39 categories

1. Carrying 2. Burning 3. Extinguishing 4. Finishing 5. Writing 6. Erasing 7. Cooking
8. Washing 9. Sewing 10. Tearing 11. Knotting 12. Untying 13. Shaping 14. Plowing
15. Planting 16. Reaping 17. Harvesting 18. Threshing 19. Winnowing 20. Selecting
21. Sifting 22. Grinding 23. Kneading 24. Combing 25. Spinning 26. Dyeing

27. Chain-stitching 28. Warping 29. Weaving 30. Unraveling 31. Building 32. Demolishing 33. Trapping 34. Shearing 35. Slaughtering 36. Skinning 37. Tanning
38. Smoothing 39. Marking

Paul not only followed these traditions—he helped enforce them on the jewish population

As he would say later—I was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. You couldn’t get more devout than I was. I wanted to follow the law perfectly. I was an up and comer. He was moving up among his contemporaries

This was a radical change ---a real conversion

—we doubt jailhouse conversions—they are at the bottom, no where else to turn—but if someone is at the top, and they abandon it all.

So what he is saying to the Galatians is this; my life before my conversion offers proof that Jesus personally appeared to me and chose me as an apostle, because nothing short of that could have changed me from the radical I was.

I was on a path to kill and destroy Jewish Christians, so how can you accuse me of preaching the gospel just to please people?

There should be real change in a person’s life.

BB. His personal experience with Christ at conversion

My conversion to Christ testifies to the fact that I am an apostle and am not a man-pleaser.

¹⁵But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, ¹⁶to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles,

Notice that he takes no credit for his conversion. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb---he doesn’t say

“I began to study—Christian apologetics—I saw the light. I heard Stephen’s sermon----

It pleased God to choose me. He chose me before I was even born. Hold it, Paul was chosen before he was born? Yes. In that way he was like John the Baptist. John the Baptist was chosen to be the forerunner, announcer of Christ, from his mother’s womb. Remember how at the greeting of Mary, he lept in his mother’s womb. And Paul was chosen for this role as a missionary to the Gentiles, before he was born.

Paul’s point; I didn’t decide on this profession. I’m not running around taking the role of apostle on myself, I was chosen even before I was aware.

What about his conversion? It to testifies that he was an apostle.

Let’s just read this account again.

Acts 9 Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ²and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. ⁴Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?”

⁵And he said, “Who are You, Lord?”

Cognitive dissonance---I thought I was serving God---God’s shekinah glory appears—brighter than the noon day sun—blinds me---and a voice comes—I expect the voice of God---why are you persecuting me?

I don’t even know who I’m talking to.

Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ^[^a^]It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

⁶So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

I have no idea what the agenda is for me. Called by Christ to be an apostle

Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

⁷And the men who journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice but seeing no one. ⁸Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

He was blind. In more than one way. Physically. His spiritual eyes were opened. But he was also blind regarding his future. Before the meeting with Jesus, He had a clear path in front of him. Now, he has no idea what is next for him.

What’s his point—I didn’t choose apostleship—Christ chose me.

¹⁰Now there was a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and to him the Lord said in a vision, “Ananias.”

And he said, “Here I am, Lord.”

¹¹So the Lord said to him, “Arise and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. ¹²And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight.”

¹³Then Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much ^[^b^]harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. ¹⁴And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.”

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children^[^c^] of Israel.

Jesus says; I picked him for a purpose. I’ll show him…

¹⁶For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

¹⁷And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord ^[^d^]Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized.

¹⁹So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus.

Jesus radically changed Paul from the inside out. What about you? Was your life changed by Christ? Where is this change now?

But his conversion testified to his apostleship.

How did the original twelve learn about the gospel? From the lips of Jesus. That’s exactly how Paul did as well.

Chosen by Christ and not a man-pleaser; If I were a man-pleaser—why would I leave what I was doing?

CC. His personal experience after conversion

I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

So what about after his conversion? It to bears witness to the fact that he was chosen as an apostle by Christ, not men, and that he wasn’t a man pleaser.

Chronology of events after Paul’s conversion. 3 themes; preaching, persecution, no conferencing with the apostles

1. I didn’t confer with flesh and blood.

I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me;

Acts 26:19, Paul says, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”

It might have been natural for Paul to go up to Jerusalem to confer with the disciples. But circumstances didn’t allow that.

What I’m saying, the gospel I’m preaching, the gospel of grace without circumcision and without law, is not something that I got from the apostles in Jerusalem; this came directly to me from God. Therefore it is the true message. I didn’t go to Jerusalem.” Jerusalem seminary

2. I spent a few days in Damascus.

A few days in Damascus; I didn’t sit at the feet of Ananias. I didn’t get together with a group of Christian believers there to have them explain things to me. I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood. I didn’t enter into any conversations with people in Damascus. I didn’t go back to confer with the disciples.

3. He was driven out of town.

Acts 9:19 – “for several days immediately after his conversion, he was with the disciples who were at Damascus just a few days, recovering from three days of blindness, and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, ‘He is the Son of God.’”

He started going into the Jewish Synagogues proclaiming Jesus is the Son of God. “And all those hearing him continued to be amazed, and were saying, ‘Is this not he who in Jerusalem destroyed those who called on this name, and who had come here for the purpose of bringing them bound before the chief priests?’” The Jews in the synagogues knew he was a persecutor of Christians, and said, “What is happening here?”

“Saul kept increasing in strength and confounding the Jews who lived at Damascus.” Not only was he preaching Christ, he was proving that Jesus is the Messiah.

Where is this coming from? Where is he getting this ability to handle the Old Testament and to handle the truth about Jesus? How does he know about the life of Jesus? How does he know about the proof? How does he know the connections to the Old Testament?

He is being taught by the risen Lord Himself.

“When many days had elapsed, the Jews plotted together to do away with him. Their plot became known to Saul. They were also watching the gates day and night so that they might put him to death.

But his disciples took him by night, let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a large basket, lowering him in a basket.” That’s how he got out. And where did he go? He went to Arabia. He went to Arabia.

4. I went to Arabia for 3 years.

but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

Verse 17, “I went away to Arabia.” Nabataean Arabia it was called. If you go north from Israel into the area around Lebanon and go east, you come to Damascus. And if you go from Damascus east and south all the way to the bottom of the Sinai peninsula, that’s all Nabataean Arabia.

What did he do in Arabia? He was learning, He sat at the feet of Jesus.

Three years in Arabia between the two visits at Damascus. Why three years?

How many years had the twelve been with Jesus? Three years. This is his private, personal tutorial with Jesus for his own three years. Three years.

he spent so much time receiving divine revelation, which was given back to him in the writing of these books.

You know that one of the most amazing things to me about the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, it that they remembered Jesus’ words. How? Well the Spirit of God brought them back to remembrance.

Paul, for 3 years, is walking in the Spirit, fellowshipping and learning from his new Lord.

5. Returned to Damascus

Verse 18 says, “Then three years later I went to Jerusalem. Started in Damascus, went to Arabia, returned to Damascus at the end of the three years, and then went to Jerusalem.”

6. Went to Jerusalem

¹⁸Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see ^[^c^]Peter,

and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

I spent three years in the wilderness. Only then did I even go to Jerusalem. And, oh, by the way, I went there to become acquainted with Cephas. I went to meet Peter. He was the great preacher in the early church. You see his sermons in Acts 2, 3, 4, 5, 8. “I wanted to meet Peter, the leader of the apostles.” That’s understandable.

“When he came to Jerusalem,” – verse 26 – “he was trying to associate with the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, not believing he was a disciple. But Barnabas took hold of him and brought him to the apostles and described to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had talked to him, and how at Damascus he had spoken out boldly in the name of Jesus.

Again, it doesn’t ever say, “He was learning; he sat at the feet of.” It just says as soon as he got there, he started preaching, and he preached so powerfully and boldly they tried to kill him. And the apostles and disciples grabbed him, rushed him to Caesarea, put him on a boat back to his home city.

7. Back to Tarsus

And he was with them, moving about freely in Jerusalem, speaking, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he was talking and arguing with the Hellenistic Jews;” – the Jews from around the Mediterranean – “but they were attempting to put him to death.” They’re going to kill him now in Jerusalem. “When the brethren learned of it, they brought him down to Caesarea” – which is a port on the Mediterranean – “and they sent him off to Tarsus,” – where his home was.

So what is he trying to tell us? “I wasn’t taught by the apostles. I wasn’t there to be taught by the apostles. I had a brief two-week time with Peter. That’s not enough time to get a whole systematic theology.

I didn’t spend time with any other apostles, because they weren’t around. The disciples wouldn’t even accept me at first. I did spend my time preaching, and I was preaching so much, so constantly, and with such effect, that they ran me out of town. I am not a product of any human teacher; my gospel came from heaven.”

That’s where the story picks up in Galatians 1:21.

²¹Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. (Syria and Cilicia is the region where Tarsus was. )²²And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. ²³But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God in me.

And then in verse 22 he says, “I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. I was in Jerusalem for a brief time; but outside of Jerusalem in all the other places in Judea where there might be churches, no one even knew me. No one had ever seen me. I didn’t go anywhere else.”

He’s giving every possible, possible biographical argument against the notion that he had learned this from some other source than the mouth of the Lord.

“They didn’t even know me in the churches of Judea. All they knew,” – verse 23 – “they kept hearing, ‘He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.’ That’s all they knew. And” – verse 24 – “they were glorifying God because of me. They didn’t know me, they hadn’t met me, but they heard the story about me. And because I was preaching the very message I once persecuted, they were glorifying God.”

My life after turning to Christ testifies to the fact that I am an apostle and am not a man-pleaser.

His whole life, before conversion, at conversion, after conversion bears witness—called by Christ, an apostle of Christ. not men, not a man-pleaser. It was important for the Galatians to hear that---their faith depended on the single person who was preaching the gospel to the Gentiles. And it’s important for us to believe it---why? Because 13 letters in the N.T. were written by Paul.

There’s an important lesson for us as well. Does my life, before Christ, at conversion, after Christ testify to Christ in my life? What is your life testifying to the world?

In your alone time, where is Christ?

prayer