Galatians 1, 11 to 2 ,10 The foundation of the Gospel preached by Paul

Galatians 1:11-2:10 Exposition, The Foundation Of The Gospel Preached By Paul By Dr. John Gerstner

By:
On:
In: Book of Galatians, New Testament Studies
Tagged:
Spread the love

Welcome back to our study of the book of Galatians with the late Dr. John Gerstner. Today we’ll be looking at Galatians 1:11-2:10. In our last session, we talked about Paul’s sharp rebuke to the Galatian Church. He was utterly flabbergasted with the rapidity with which they had succumbed to the distorted Gospel preached by the traditional Judaizers. Prior to his rebuke, Paul had to establish his apostolic authority in order to preserve the integrity of his message- the true Gospel of Christ. Today he’s going to continue to defend the Gospel he has been preaching in all the churches by showing its origin, foundation and what it entails.

Galatians 1:11-2:10, The Foundation Of The Gospel Preached By Paul

The Passage 

Paul Called by God

11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.[a] 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. 13 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. 15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born,[b] and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to[c] me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;[d] 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. 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 Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Notes

  • Verse 11-12

Paul gives the reasons why the Gospel he preaches isn’t about being a people pleaser. He received the Gospel not through the agency of a human, but by a direct revelation of  Jesus when he was on his way to Damascus. The event is recorded for us in Acts 9. Most of us have received the good news about Jesus Christ because someone was led by the Holy Spirit to share it with us, maybe by a sermon, a conversation, whatever the interaction may have been. But that wasn’t the case with Paul, he had a direct encounter with the Glorified Christ who presented the Gospel to him, and called him out of darkness. And he mentions later in his letter to the Corinthians that because of this amazing revelation, God gave him a thorn in the flesh to keep him from being conceited. I’m saying all this to say that Paul had the  privilege of being  preached the Gospel by Jesus Himself, and his confidence didn’t rest on any man but God himself. So he wasn’t about to waver or deviate from what he had heard from Jesus because this Gospel was founded on the author of Truth Himself. This is in essence what Paul was trying to convey to his readers. And later on in Chapter 2, he is also going to show that His Gospel didn’t compete against the one the original apostles were preaching, but it was the same Gospel. In our day and age we have to be extremely cautious with people claiming to receive direct revelations from God. Paul was very well aware of that and as a result he used another argument in Chapter 2 to reassure his readers that Peter’s Gospel was the same as His Gospel.

  • Verses 13-14

He is also giving another argument to support his case. If there was anyone that  could be crowned Hebrew of  Hebrews, that would be the apostle Paul. In his former days as a traditional Judaizer, he was more zealous than his own contemporaries. He studied under Gamaliel and was well learned in traditional Judaism. If anyone  could be saved  by legalistic observance of the law, Paul would rank in the top three. He was so zealous that he was ready to even kill Christians because he thought that they were heretics, perverting the law of Moses. He is basically saying to his readers to consider his case. He was more zealous than the ones trying to deceive them now , yet he  realized by the grace of God through the direct revelation from Jesus Christ that he was wrong.  He is essentially calling them to exercise sound wisdom. To sum up Paul’s argument, if anyone had any valid reasons to reject Christianity that would be him. But even him , as rigid as he was and deeply rooted as he was in traditional Judaism came to realize that he was in error. I don’t think we understand how serious these traditional Judaizers took their faith. They weren’t nominal Judaizers, but serious practitioners.

  • Verses 15-24

Paul’s background uniquely equipped him to be an effective apostle to the Gentiles. He was a Pharisee, a student of Gamaliel, and had an intimate knowledge of the Old Testament scriptures. Paul’s education and experience in Judaism prepared him to recognize the truth of the Gospel when he received it by direct divine revelation. When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, he immediately recognized Him as the Messiah. From that moment on, Paul was completely committed to preaching the Good News of salvation through Christ. Paul was also uniquely suited for his task because he was experienced in both the Greek and Jewish cultures. He could effectively communicate with both groups of people. This is why he mentioned that God had set him apart before he was born. The Lord allowed Paul to study “hardcore Judaism” to equip him later on to be a minister of the Gospel to both the Jews and the Gentiles. Paul also mentions why Jesus was revealed in him ( through him), that he might preach Him to the gentiles. The majority of the early believers were of Jewish descent and most of them were only preaching the Gospel to their fellow Jews. But the promise was not only for the Jews, but Jews first and also the Gentiles in accordance with the promise given to Abraham by God in Genesis 12:3

3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”[c]

Paul also shows in these verses that he was secure about the Gospel that was revealed to him that he felt not need to be validated by the other apostles. After his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, he went away to Arabia for three years, and I suspect that those were his seminary years. He also reveals that that when he went to Jerusalem after his three years of training, his fellow Hebrew believers glorified God because of his conversion. They were basically approving the Gospel Paul was preaching. In the first ten verses of chapter 2, he is also going to single out a specific visit to Jerusalem to cement his argument.

  • Verses 1-2 ( Chapter 2)

Because of a revelation from the Lord, Paul eventually returned to Jerusalem. He didn’t go there in order to appease the Jerusalem Church. When he came, all he wanted to do was present the Gospel he had been preaching to the respected leaders, including James, Peter, and a few others. And he didn’t do it out of fear that the Gospel he was preaching was wrong. In the first chapter, Paul was absolutely convinced that the Gospel he was preaching was the true Gospel. To avoid any form of disruption from the traditional Judaizers, he simply spoke to the leaders first.

Paul eventually went back to Jerusalem  because of a revelation from the Lord. He didn’t go there because he was trying to appease the Jerusalem Church. And when he arrived, he only chose to present the Gospel he had been preaching to the reputable leaders notably James, Peter and a few others. And he did so not because he was afraid that the Gospel he had been preaching was false. In chapter 1, Paul was without a doubt convinced that the Gospel he was preaching was the true Gospel. He only chose to speak first to the leaders to avoid any type of chaos from the traditional Judaizers. He was very tactful and rightfully so.  Paul used to be a rigid traditional Judaizer and he was aware of their rigidity when it came to tradition.

  • Verses 3-5

Paul didn’t go to Jerusalem alone, he went with Titus,  a gentile convert ( who was not circumcised). This journey to Jerusalem led to what is widely known as the Jerusalem Council. I believe Paul purposely brought Titus alongside him to prove his point. James, Peter and the main leaders didn’t compel Titus to undergo circumcision. They agreed with Paul that gentiles didn’t have to be circumcised to be saved. The reason why this false teaching about circumcision entered the church is because of some false brothers. They professed to be believers in Christ, but by the teachings they were espousing, they proved to be false brothers. Christ died to set mankind free from the curse of the Law. The law is holy and good but by the law one comes to realize that he/she can’t be saved because of the weakness of the sinful nature. The law exposes our depraved hearts and lead us to the Messiah. It shows us God’s code of conduct for His mankind. And no one can keep the law perfectly because of the weakness of the sinful nature. Christ set us free from the curse of the Law, that we might live according to the Spirit. Paul will talk more in depth about that in chapters to come . Jesus cam to set us free from the sinful nature that we might live according to the Spirit. It’s imperative to remember that Spirit of God in us loves the law of God. The traditional Judaizers were saying that Christ’s atoning death wasn’t sufficient, that one had to also undergo circumcision in order to be saved, and that was a perversion of the Gospel Paul denouncing. Paul categorically rejected that false teaching and so should we. When it comes to the Gospel, there is no compromise.

  • Verses 6-10

Paul makes a very important point in these verses. James, Peter and John were considered the pillars of the Church in Jerusalem. And we all ought to respect them because Jesus entrusted the Gospel to them. But just like Paul, our allegiance is not to Man but to God. In verses 6 through 10, we learn that the leaders of the Church in Jerusalem recognized that the Gospel preached by Paul was consistent with the Gospel they were also preaching. They recognized that Salvation was attained by the work God wrought through Jesus, as He died on the cross for the sins of the world. They didn’t preach any other Gospel but the only one, the one preached by Paul as well. To learn more about the Jerusalem Council, go to Acts 15 ( read the entire chapter).

Be Sure To Subscribe To Ligonier Ministries on Youtube

PS: All the videos series from RC Sproul and Dr John Gerstner added to the website have been thoroughly listened to by myself. And I highly recommend them to anyone looking to deepen his/her faith in Christ. We live in the age of relativism and now more than ever understanding what we believe, and why believe what believe is not optional.