Galatians 1:11-24 – verse by verse devotional commentary

Main Reading: Galatians 1:11-24

“For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 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. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 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; 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. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me”

Since the focus of Galatians, so far, has been about the gospel in it’s pure form, it might be beneficial or, at the very least, a little fun to review some examples of ways people add to the gospel and distort it. A quick Google search will yield endless results of pastors adding unnecessary and unbiblical requirements to salvation.

One Independent Fundamentalist Baptist preacher says: “we know if someone starts reading and embracing the NIV, ESV, NASB…HIV…that person is probably not saved.” Another says that “if he needs a good laugh,” he’ll read a translation other than the King James. And there’s yet another who says “God will not bless” or save anyone apart from the King James Version of the Bible.

A preacher in the Oneness Apostolic movement shouts from his stage that facial hair is prideful and equates having a beard to participating in the sins of the world. (Never mind that Jesus Himself had a beard, see Is. 50:6).

And an Orthodox Priest explains says that the veneration of icons, things like kissing paintings and bowing to statues of historical Christian figures, are a necessary component of true worship.

One Roman Catholic influencer says her priest shared with her 5 tips to get to Heaven. 1) Pray a Daily Rosary, 2) 15-minutes of Bible reading, 3) Frequent use of “holy water,” 4) Pray three times to Mary in the morning and evening, 5) fast throughout the week.

In an interview, a Pastor from the Churches of Christ says that “the Gospel is what we need to do to be saved.” Another pastor in the same movement says “if someone accepts the Gospel, they’ve got a lot of work to do!” And, finally, another one of their ministers says: “a church that claims to be of Christ but uses instruments is not of Christ because musical instruments are not of Christ, it’s as simple as that!"

If you just based your understanding of Christianity on YouTube videos, who knows what you might walk away thinking! Apparently, if you want to know God to the fullest, you need to throw away all of your Bibles except for the KJV, shave off your mustache, construct shrines to saints to be used in your church’s next service, and smash the grand piano in your church’s sanctuary to pieces. Well, it is my duty to inform you that all of these ideas are man-made.

Paul’s gospel, on the other hand, was not from man, and he’s going to prove it to us in this section.

v. 11-12 — “For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Verses 6-10 served as a warning against falling for fake gospels. We cannot accept a message that’s different from the true one or that’s been changed at all. Well, in verse 11, Paul tells us the reason behind that. Here, we figure out why no one is allowed to make any changes to the message. It’s because the gospel is not a human invention. It’s not a scam or a story. And, like the apostle Peter once wrote, it’s not a man-made myth. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).

With the way Paul words this statement, it’s as if he’s bringing new information to the Galatians. He doesn’t say: “let me remind you…” he says, “you ought to know…” Now the fact that the gospel is God’s message and cannot be edited by anyone is obviously something these churches should have already known…But Paul writes to them in a way that suggests “I guess you guys don’t know this, but you need to.”

Paul knew that the gospel he preached came from God Himself. He received it, not at seminary or in college, not from a church, and not from a teacher, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Every once in awhile, in Paul’s writings he’ll mention how he received something in a revelation. Here are some examples:

“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me’” (1 Corinthians 11:23-24).

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 Corinthians 15:3).

“For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-16).

In the same way, Jesus also told Peter that what he knew about the Messiah came not from himself or another man but it was revealed to him by God. “Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:13-17).

The true Good News always originates from the mouth of God and is passed down to us. Men, like Peter and Paul, were graciously used by God to spread and communicate the news throughout the world. But just in case there were still some Jews out there speculating that Paul must’ve made all this stuff up about the grace of God, the freedom from the Law, and the Good News of Jesus, Paul begins to remind them about where he came from.

v. 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. 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.”

It would have made zero sense for Saul of Tarsus, one the most decorated Jews of his time, to start or join a religion that did away with the Hebrew traditions. No one would have been happier to force people to obey Jewish laws & rituals than Paul—he was a Pharisee through and through! He was moving up the ranks of his religion. He was totally invested in all of its traditions. And, at one point, he was violently punishing & killing people who practiced the Christian faith. He was literally hacking & slashing (προκόπτω prokoptō — “advancing”) through churches, trying to spread his version of Judaism or Phariseeism.

“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women,” (Acts 22:3-4).

“And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities” (Acts 26:10-11).

Now, just about any old Jew would’ve been resistant to change their traditions. I’m sure all of them felt awfully uncomfortable when Gentiles came into their meetings, and isn’t it even at least a little understandable that they wanted to keep practicing circumcision, a kosher diet, and maintain some sort of a status quo? It was difficult for any Jew to transition into Christianity, so just imagine what would have to happen for a devout anti-Christian, like Paul, to start preaching a gospel about faith in Jesus Christ! The only way to explain why someone like Paul had become a preacher of grace & the gospel is that God must have totally interrupted His life and sparked a radical change. And that’s exactly what had happened!

Paul recognized that he had an extremely shameful past, but on another level, he loved to tell everyone about it because it stood as a testament to God’s grace. “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).

v. 15-17 — “But when He who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by His grace, 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; 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”

One thing I’ve learned while reading the Bible is to always pay attention to who’s doing the verbs. And whenever the Bible speaks about grace and our salvation, you’ll find that God is always the One taking the action. So, here, Paul switches from what he had been doing to what God had been doing. His old religion was: “I was passionate, I was moving up the ranks, I kept the traditions.” But, now, Paul’s faith is all about: “God set me apart, God called me, and God revealed Himself to me.” And that’s a more accurate way of looking at what went down in Paul’s life.

While Paul was trying to get Christians killed, God looked at him and said “I’m going to make this guy into a great ambassador for my name.” This is the same God who chose Abraham & Sarah, an elderly couple, to start a new family. He chose Jacob, the deceiver, to carry on that family line. Rahab, the prostitute, to shelter Hebrew spies & soldiers. Ruth, a pagan widow, to preserve the family tree of the Messiah. David, the shepherd boy, to be Israel’s most successful king. So, of course, He’d pick Paul, the persecutor, of Christians to become the most famous gospel preacher.

Paul was not made an apostle based on his prayer & fasting, traditions, or works but by God’s grace alone! And if Paul can be changed, called, and converted by God’s grace, anyone can!

That being said, there are some unique aspects of Paul’s work as an apostle. For one, he claims to have been chosen by God for this role before he was born. And by doing so, he’s claiming to be a representative of God on the same level as Isaiah & Jeremiah who made the same statements about their own calling as prophets (Is. 49:1, Jer. 1:5).

But there was a time in Paul’s actual life when his calling would be presented to him. And here’s how it happened: God knocked him off of his horse so that he would stop and listen, because faith comes through hearing (Rom. 10:17). Now, at that moment, Paul could have disobeyed (Acts 26:19)—he could’ve tried what Jonah did; run away. But, instead, Paul basically began to preach right away!

“And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, 'He is the Son of God.' And all who heard him were amazed and said, 'Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?'” (Acts 9:18-21).

Contrary to popular belief, Paul did not get any of his material from other people. Not even the 12 original disciples of Jesus! In fact, before he discussed things with anyone, he went to Arabia & Damascus to preach. Arabia is significant because that’s the wilderness area where Moses received the Law on Mt. Sinai. But for Paul, this was the place where he learned the richness of the gospel—not the Law. Damascus is, of course, the city Paul was headed towards before Jesus stopped him in his tracks. So, I’m sure he probably had some memories to relive while headed there a second time.

v. 18-20 – “Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!)”

While some people were accusing Paul of teaching a man-made, man-centered message, he responds by saying: “Look, after I first encountered Jesus, it was three years before I checked in with any of the other guys.” Paul didn’t ask around with the other apostles looking for permission. Paul did not need Peter’s approval to be considered a legitimate apostle. (This throws a wrench in the Roman Catholic idea of “apostolic succession,” doesn’t it?)

That being said, Paul eventually did get Peter’s endorsement. “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).

So, if Paul wasn’t learning from other Christian pastors and teachers for three years, what was he doing in Arabia and Damascus? What exactly was going on there? Can you think of anything else in the Bible that lasted three years? That’s right, Jesus’ earthly ministry! Jesus spent three years walking around teaching, preaching, and healing while his 12 closest students watched. So, it seems that Paul spent three years in training with Jesus—the same amount of time as Peter, James, John and the others. This either occurred through visions, physical encounters with Jesus, or from re-examining his scrolls as a believer in Christ this time.

v. 21-24 – “Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, ‘He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.’ And they glorified God because of me”

After his time of training, Paul stopped by Cilicia where Tarsus, his hometown, was the capital city. And even though people didn’t have a face to put to the name, everyone was talking about Paul—the guy who was so well-known for fighting against Christianity that he was called “the one who persecuted us.”

I, for one, think it’s humble for Paul to 1) admit all of his past sins, 2) face the facts about what people knew him for, and 3) to not take any credit for his turnaround. He doesn’t say: “everyone was amazed by me, praising me, and patting me on the back” but everyone “glorified God because of me”—that’s how it should be in the Church, by the way. Everything we do is to get people to say, not, “Wow! You are so amazing!” but “Jesus is so awesome!” And this kind of humility can only come from a religion where God’s grace is everything and good works count for nothing.