Complete turn around
The last verses of the first chapter of Galatians conclude in three powerful points. Paul didn’t get the Gospel from the 12 disciples of Jesus or from Jesus’ brothers. The Gospel He got directly from Jesus was exactly the same as that of the 12 and Jesus brothers. This Gospel turned his life around, The power and purity of the Gospel astounded the Church and glorified God. We can get the Gospel from the 12, from Jesus brothers and from Paul in the writing of the New Testament. If the Gospel we have doesn’t turn our lives around, then either it’s not the true Gospel, or we haven’t truly trusted it.
Scripture
Galatians 1:19-24 ESV But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) 21 Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they glorified God because of me.
Bible Study Questions
God calls us, changes us and sends us out to change others
Paul was set apart, called and had Christ revealed to him in a different way to the 12 disciples of Jesus, but the result was the same. Their lives all changed and they dedicated them to preach the Gospel. Compare the similarities and differences between the way the 12 and Paul were called and prepared to preach, what does this tell us about God?
Galatians 1:15-18 ESV But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. 18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days.
Mark 3:13-15 ESV And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. 14 And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach 15 and have authority to cast out demons.
The Apostles and the Lord’s brothers didn’t give Paul the Gospel
The books of the new testament are written by eyewitnesses (or those who wrote for the eyewitnesses) to Jesus’ life death and resurrection. These witnesses include those of the 12 disciples, the brothers of Jesus and Paul. Here Paul says he met with Peter (one of the 12) and James, Jesus brother, but not for long enough for them to instruct him in the Gospel. . What do the 12, Jesus brothers (James and Jude) have in common?
Galatians 1:19-20 ESV But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!)
1 Corinthians 15:3-8 ESV For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Paul went home and didn’t get trained in the Churches around Jerusalem
Paul is not just making it clear that the Gospel he preached was not formed by human authors collaborating, but by actual instruction of the risen Son of God, he also stressed the lack of contact between hum and the Churches around Jerusalem and thus the secondary influence of the 12 disciples. Why does Paul want to show the complete independence of the Gospel he preached, why does he take such care to show that he didn’t get the Gospel from the 12, from Jesus brothers or the Churches that they planted?
Galatians 1:21-22 ESV Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.
Acts 9:28-31 ESV So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. 30 And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus. 31 So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.
Paul had a complete turn around
The Christians were terrified of Paul because he had persecuted them. He had them imprisoned and executed, he tried to destroy the Gospel. The God saved him with the Gospel and equipped hum to go out and preach the very faith he tried to destroy. What effect did this have on those who heard Paul preach the Gospel and those that heard about his growing ministry?
Galatians 1:23 ESV They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
Acts 9:26 ESV And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.
The same faith of the 12 and the brothers of Jesus
By telling us that he preached the same faith he tried to destroy, Paul makes it clear that they are one and the same. The faith he tried to destroy was the same Gospel that he began to preach. The Gospel preached by the 12, Christ’s brothers and Paul were exactly the same, but all groups received it independently. What does that tell us about the origin, trustworthiness and power of the Gospel?
Galatians 1:23 ESV They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
2 Peter 3:15-16 ESV And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, 16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.
The Gospel makes us dead to sin and alive to God
Paul was radically changed by the Gospel. He explains this radical change in passages of Scripture like Romans 6. How should the true Gospel affect us when we truly believe it?
Romans 6:10-14 ESV For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
The Gospel Glorifies God
The realisation that Paul’s Gospel, though independent of the 12 and of Jesus brothers, was exactly the same message, had people in awe of God. What else about Paul caused people to glorify God? How should we ask God to use us to glorify Him?
Galatians 1:24 And they glorified God because of me.