Galatians 1:11-24

Galatians 1:11-24

I.                   The Origins of Paul’s Gospel (vv. 11-12)

a.       The gospel Paul preaches is of divine origin, it was neither received, nor was it invented by man

b.      V. 11

                                                              i.      Paul switches to the first person singular, making this his own statement as opposed to the statement of his supporters mentioned earlier.

c.       V. 12

                                                              i.      Apokalypsis, or “revelation”, occurs 18 times in the NT, 13 are in the Pauline epistles

                                                            ii.      God, and specifically Jesus, singled Paul out to receive the gospel on the road to Damascus.  On that road Christ confirms to Paul that He is the Risen Lord, while Paul later receives the detail of Jesus’ story from the apostles who lived it, thus confirming his experience

II.                Paul’s Former Life (vv. 13-14)

a.       Paul’s former way of life refers to orthopraxy, though it is not exclusive of orthodoxy

b.      V. 13

                                                              i.      Paul contrasts Judaism with the “assembly of God”, the connotation being that the former can no longer be called the latter in a synonymous sense

c.       V. 14

                                                              i.      We see from this context, but also from others (cf. II Corinthians 9:2 & 12:20) that zeal is an ambiguous characteristic.  It is what we are zealous for that determines whether are zeal is commendable or not

                                                            ii.      The zeal described here shows us that a consistent theme in Paul’s life is that the Law and faith in Christ are at odds.  The difference comes in which one Paul sides with (the Law pre-conversion, Christ post-conversion)

III.             Paul’s Conversion/Call (vv. 15-17)

a.       Conversion and call are simultaneous, being grounded in the Christophany (appearance of Christ) on the Damascus road

b.      V. 15

                                                              i.      Cf. Jer. 1:5 & Isa. 49:1 ff.

                                                            ii.      The parallel texts in Jeremiah 1 and Isaiah 4 also involve a mission to the Gentiles, or nations

                                                          iii.      “set apart”, compare to Paul’s former life as a Pharisee, which means “one set apart”

c.       V. 16

                                                              i.      The word “reveal” is another use of the word “apocalypse”

d.      Paul more than like goes to Arabia for missionary purposes, not reflective ones, though some time for reflection cannot be precluded

IV.             Paul’s First Visit to Jerusalem (vv. 18-20)

a.       V. 19

                                                              i.      James the Just, the brother of Jesus, killed in 62 AD at the instigation of Annas the High Priest in between the rule of two Roman governors.

                                                            ii.      In the Middle East, the line of inheritance passed horizontally from one brother to the next, so James would be seen as the natural successor to the movement began by Jesus.

                                                          iii.      The fact that Paul refers to James as “the Lord’s brother” probably shows that he did not think James responsible for the attacks against the gospel. 

b.      V. 20

                                                              i.      This is probably similar to what someone saying today “I’ll testify to that in court, under oath”

c.       Cf. I Cor. 15:1-7 to see that Paul probably did receive some tradition from Peter and James at this time

V.                Mission to the Gentiles (vv. 21-24)

a.       V. 21

                                                              i.      “climata”, or territories of Syria and Cilicia (eastern Cilicia) were united as a single Roman province

b.      V. 22

                                                              i.      The churches of Judea, which probably included refugees from the Jerusalem church, had still not physically seen Paul, they only knew of Saul. 

c.       V. 23

                                                              i.      The structure of “hearing” as it is used in the Greek implies that the hearing happened over a period of time, i.e. sustained reports