Galatians 1:10-24

  • David Fairchild
  • May 7, 2006
  • Series: Galatians

The Gospel at Work in Paul 

Verses 10-12- “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant (Gk. doulos- means slave) of Christ.  11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached (gospelled) by me is not man's gospel.  12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” 

  • Because of the Gospel, Paul is free from people-pleasing
  • He considers himself no longer a slave to human approval, but to Christ
  • He wants the Christians in Galatia to be certain that the Gospel that was preached (literally- “gospelled”) by him was not of mere human origin
  • Since he claims he did not receive it from any mere man, nor was taught it, but received it through the unveiling revelation of Jesus the King, he is claiming not only that its origin is God, but that Jesus Christ is God. This shows us the uniqueness of Jesus over any other religious leader.  In other religions, you are saved by the revelation of the teaching.  In Christianity, the revelation is about the teacher.  Jesus didn’t come to be a good moral example; He came to live a perfect life we could not.  Jesus didn’t come to point to a teaching and then ask us to follow it to be saved; He came to reveal himself to us as the only Savior whom we should trust.  The life of the teacher in other religions is only important in that you are to follow their example.  The life of Jesus in Christianity is important in that you can not be Christ, only receive His righteousness that He earned through His perfect obedience.  He didn’t come to live as an example; He came to live in our place.  He didn’t come to die as an example; He came to die in our place.  He didn’t rise from the dead as only an example, but rose from the dead in our place so that we are given the righteousness of His life, the credit for His death, and the victory over death that He won. 
  • What has become your master? Parental or peer approval? Prestige? Power?
  • What then is your ultimate authority? Man’s word or God’s? The Gospel or self?

The Gospel is at work in Paul during this writing as evidenced by Paul’s insistence that the message he preached is not his message, and the master he serves is not human approval.  We can tell the Gospel is at work in our lives when we begin to see our identity, value, or approval as coming from our Father in heaven rather than the opinion of self or others.  We also see the Gospel at work in our lives when the Scriptures become our ultimate authority since they are revealed by God himself to man.  Or propensity to accept other authorities (popular opinions, philosophers, poets, peers, etc.) is all too tempting.  When Christ is revealed to us not only at conversion, but continually through the reading of His word, we find our trust in His message.   

Since it is revealed by God, it is not man’s opinions about God (religion), but God’s declaration of Himself (theology).  This story is one that man would never have chosen.

Paul before his conversion 

Verses 13-14- “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.” 

  • Paul not only rejected Christ, but lived his life attempting to crush those who followed him.  Paul wanted the church of God to be destroyed. 
  • The more Paul violently persecuted the church, the more he gained human approval.
  • Paul was zealous and sincere before his conversion.  But he found he was zealous as an enemy of Christ, and sincerely wrong. 
  • Paul was a racist and fanatic with his entire devotion given to destroying the church.
  • With this kind of record, does it seem like Paul was chosen before birth to love Christ, plant churches, and preach the Gospel of Jesus? 
  • What about your testimony?  Did you seem an obvious choice for God’s favor?
  • What changed Paul’s heart?  The next passage tells us.

Paul is essentially saying that he didn’t come to this Gospel through extensive retreats and highly intellectual contemplation and meditation.  He hated Christ, hated the message of Christ and His followers, and was in no way wanting, willing, or desiring to trust in this Gospel.  He was bent on the destruction of the church and of this early Christianity.   

Imagine Osama Bin Laden calling a worldwide press conference to say that he met Christ, was wrong in every way regarding Christianity and now has given himself to plant churches, preach the gospel, love the brothers and sisters in Christ to see the Kingdom grow for God’s glory.  This is the magnitude of Paul’s hatred and subsequent conversion. 

Paul had spent years zealously living for the traditions and religion of his fathers.  He was outpacing and advancing far beyond his peers as a great moral example and follower of his religion.  Yet even with all this time, energy, moral effort, intellectual resources, and passionate and sincere zeal, he was still not saved nor in relation with the Father.  He was still in his sins and acting as an enemy combatant, even though he was claiming his allegiance and obedience to God.   

Of all to have experienced God’s grace, Paul is one who can tell us first hand what it is like to live a moral life, follow a strict ethical standard, and give your time and resources to your religion, only to fail no matter how much effort is made.  Paul has already experienced this. He is perhaps the best example for those of us who assume we will have favor with God by what we do or say, or how sincere we are in our actions and beliefs.  He is telling us that he has already attempted such a life, and it was upended when he met Christ.   

Yet with all his hatred and venom towards Christ, with all his horrific acts against Christians and the church, with all his racism and prejudice against Christians, he was given God’s scandalous and unmerited favor.  He was lavished with God’s grace and welcomed into the family as a son.  He was tired and worn, he was laboring and was heavy laden, and Christ gave him a rest he had never experienced.  Not only did the Father save Him by His grace, He called Paul to preach the very gospel he tried to destroy.  If anyone knew something of God’s grace and could preach it with confidence and boldness, yet with humility and hope, it would be the man Paul.  Not because of Paul’s background, but in spite of Paul’s background.   

No one is so far gone that they are without the hope of grace, and no one is so good that they don’t need grace.  The Gospel flat out contradicted religion and dealt a blow to all those who assumed God was on their side because of their past, present, or future accomplishments.       

The Gospel at Paul’s conversion 

Verses 15-16a- “But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called (Gk. Kaleo- call forth) me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son in me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…” 

  • Paul’s focus moves from “I” to “He.” 
  • Paul now can look at his past with the lens of the Gospel and see that God was at work through his entire life, pressing, moving, pushing him towards this moment when He would shower him with grace
  • Paul is aware of his past, but this doesn’t cripple him, it motivates him to spread the message of the Gospel
  • Paul now sees that God is sovereign in grace and that He will truly have mercy on whomever He wills
  • The Gospel came to Paul by grace and it revealed Jesus to him
  • God took great pleasure in pouring out his grace on Paul and revealing Christ
  • Paul recognizes that he was called not only to be a Christian, but to proclaim this Gospel to the very people he hated—the Gentiles

This should give us tremendous hope for those who may currently be lost, since it is all of grace.  Even though Paul pursued Christians and consented to their punishment and death, all the while God had marked him and appointed him before birth to be His own.  Think of Stephen, who Saul (Paul) was standing right by, holding the cloaks of the Pharisees who stoned him to death.  God had appointed Paul before he was born to be His own, and even in his sin, he was a marked man.   

Think of this: not only did Paul come to love and trust in the One he hated and despised, but he was then called to preach the very news he had come to believe to a people that he hated—the gentiles.  Since he was a strong and zealous Pharisee, he would have vehemently fought against such a notion were he not transformed by the Gospel of grace.  He was a racist who then went out to love the very race he once hated, with a message from the very man he despised, for the growth of a family who he once persecuted and attempted to exterminate.   

Though the external unveiling of Jesus occurred on the road to Damascus, the true unveiling happened internally as God illuminated his soul and shined the light of the glory of Christ into his heart.  God’s choice of Paul before birth, God’s work of Christ upon the cross, and God’s effectual call as Christ was revealed to him are all owing to God’s grace alone.  It is all the work of God from front to back. 

The Gospel after Paul’s conversion  

Verses 16b-24- “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 (Peter) and remained with him fifteen days. 19 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.” 

  • Paul stresses again that his Gospel came from Christ, not human consultation
  • Paul spends three years with Christ as the disciples had, but not in the same way
  • When he did go to Jerusalem to see Peter and James it was to build relationships
  • His life before, God’s grace at conversion, and his isolation from the other apostles demonstrate his message is not from man but God (I do not lie!)
  • The result of Paul as a trophy of God’s grace is that “they glorified God”

What did Peter think of Paul’s authority?  Turn to 2nd Peter chapter 3: “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, 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.” 2 Peter 3:15-16 

This is the cycle of our testimony: here’s who I was, here’s who I met, here’s what happened, and this is who I am now.   

Who do you glorify God for?  Who are you thankful for and praise God because of?   

Paul has a clarity of his past sin (who he was), an awareness of God’s grace in his life (what God did), a knowledge of the purpose for which God called him by grace (who he is now and what he’s to live for), and a boasting in the goodness of God (his motivation for all that he does).   

The greatest compliment to be paid to Paul was this statement: those he taught and loved glorified God because of him.  Since this was what Paul cared about more than life itself, this statement would have caused him tremendous joy and satisfaction in all his labors and tears as God poured him out as a drink offering for the benefit of the church.  That God would be glorified was what he was willing to live and die for.  Paul gave his very life for the man he was at one time pleased to see crucified.  Paul experienced the same hardships, sufferings, persecution, and ultimately execution for his love and trust in the One he met on the road to Damascus.  Imagine the embrace he received from Stephen as He entered the presence of the Lord and the saints who died before him.  

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