Paul's Backstory: Part 2

 Hello everyone.

Today, I will continue to share the story that Paul tells, in his efforts to to prove his point that the gospel he has shared with them is the one and only true gospel.  Here is my translation of Gal. 1:16b-24

When he called me, I did not immediately consult with anyone. 17  I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went to Arabia, then went back to Damascus. 
18 Three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 I didn’t see any of the other apostles, only James, the Lord’s brother.  20 (Before God, I promise you, that what I am writing to you is true). 21 After that, I went into the region of Syria and Cilicia. 22 But my face was yet unknown to the churches that are in Christ in Judea. 23 They had only heard that one who had formerly persecuted them was now preaching the gospel of faith, rather than destroying it.  24 So they praised God because of me. 

Paul states that after God's call, he didn't consult with anyone, including those who were already apostles and the leaders of the church,  but rather goes off to Arabia for a while, then returns to Damascus.  We can only speculate as to what happened during Paul’s time in Arabia, but it seems likely that this was a time in which Paul received that gospel that he spoke about in verse 12, the one that he did not receive from a man, but through revelation from Jesus Christ.  He speaks here of going out to Arabia, and of not consulting with anyone.  This idea fits what Paul is saying here. 

Douglas Moo notes that there are two different lines of thinking regarding the trip to Arabia.  One line of thinking is that Paul went away to meditate on the vision of Christ.  The other is that he went for the purpose of sharing the gospel.  Moo points out that these two things do not need to be mutually exclusive, and that Paul could very well have gone off to do both.  (Moo, 106-107.) 

Then, three years after his conversion, Paul makes his way to Jerusalem.  He stays about two weeks, seeing Peter and James.  So, Paul is called directly by Jesus and given his own revelation.  He is at work for three years before consulting with the leaders of the church, and then when he does, he only meets with two of them.  One would think that all of the apostles and leaders of the church would be eager to meet with Paul, but it appears that they were not.  

In verse 20, Paul makes something of a parenthetical statement.  I have translated it as “Before God, I promise you, that what I am writing to you is true.”  I wondered what Paul was saying here that was so important that he needed to pause and declare the truth of it “before God.” Moo helps out here.  Paul has made the point that he had learned of the gospel of grace that he had taught them by direct revelation of God, and not from the apostles, whom he had very little contact with, or, for that matter, any other man. (Moo, 111.) 

Paul is dealing with people who are challenging his apostolic authority, so he has to strongly defend his position that God gave him a direct revelation, and therefore his message is authoritative. 

After Paul’s short visit to Jerusalem, where he only saw a couple of the church leaders over a two week period, he went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.  Paul is still making the point that he had very little contact with the apostles, and that his message came from God, rather than men. (It appears that after his brief stop in Jerusalem, Paul went home to Tarsus.  Tarsus is in Cilicia.  Acts 11:25 tells us that Barnabus, who had been sent to Antioch, goes to Tarsus and brings Paul back with him to Antioch.) 

In verses 22-23, Paul is still making the point that he was not well-known in Judea, and was not influenced by the leaders there.  He says in the Greek “ἀγνοούμενος τῷ προσώπῳ “(agnooumenos tō prosōpō).  A direct translation of this would be something like, "unknown by face," meaning that the ordinary disciple in Judea may have heard about Paul, but they would not have recognized him.  Paul’s status as a relative unknown in Judea strengthens his point that he did not learn the gospel he was teaching from men.  

Why is Paul spending so much time stressing the point that he received his revelation directly from God and not from other men?  Well, if his message came directly from God and has no other human influence, then it has to be the one that we should listen to.  It carries the authority of God. This other message cannot possibly make this claim, and should be avoided.  The Gospel that Paul presented to them is the true, and the one and only Gospel from God. 

The chapter ends with Paul making the point that while most of the disciples in Judea had not personally met Paul, they had heard of his conversion, and praised God for it. 

As Saul, he had thrown himself into persecuting the church with great vigor.  Now, as a fellow-disciple, he was pursuing Christ and the growth of the church with the same energy. For the Judean disciple, this must have seemed almost too good to be true. John Stott shares that they must have seen Saul’s conversion as “A signal trophy of God’s grace.”  (Stott, 36.)  The church’s greatest persecutor had become its greatest defender, and people had good reason to give praise to God. Paul had been given a special task by God, to take the gospel to the Gentiles.  (Acts 13:47.)  So, in his missionary journeys, he would spend very little time in Jerusalem.  He had not been converted there, learned his message or mission there, but he was still a great encouragement there.