Keeping on with our Galatians study, we now dive into the next few verses. There's a lot in these verses, so we may take our time working through it. That means we may spend two or three extra days on these verses, but that's okay. Sometimes the riches of God's Word means that we have to spend some extra time in order to dig deeply into it. True, we will never exhaust everything we can learn, but we also want to keep on moving through to get the full content of this letter.
So, Galatians 1:11-17. Now, Paul starts to get into what his complaint is against the Galatian Christians. It seems that they have been saying that Paul didn't preach the full Gospel message to them. They also seem to have called into question whether or not Paul was teaching what others had taught him. It seemed to be a question of Paul's credentials, which he seeks to emphasize here. No one gave him the Gospel message. It came to him from Jesus Himself. Paul even emphasizes here how drastic it is that Jesus would have chosen him to be His apostle. Paul had tried to wipe out those who put their faith in Jesus. Not only that, he was a shooting star in the ranks of his former way of life. Paul was the most unlikely of people to be a person sent by Jesus.
Now, to some degree, this may sound almost as though Paul is uncertain about his right to preach the Gospel. It almost sounds like he is insecure about how the Galatian Christians see him. However, I would actually venture a slightly different view of it. Because these others who are coming among the Galatians are saying something along the lines of circumcision being required to receive the good news of Jesus, it would seem that Paul could assert that he knew the Old Testament Scriptures far better than any of them. In other words, if that were really something that God was calling for, who would have been better to know this than Paul? No one surpassed him in zeal. Very few others could compare to what he knew of God's revelation of Himself in the Scriptures.
And yet, Paul also points out how humbling it is to receive this great gift. Upon being called by Jesus to be an apostle, Paul was made to realize that God had set him apart for this task long before Paul ever would have anticipated it. Perhaps he realized that he had been set apart in a way similar to Jeremiah, who was told that he was known even before he had been born. As the realization sank in, that God had called Paul to this even before he was born, it seems that Paul truly realized what a great gift it was that he had received from God. And how better to respond than to share that same gift with others!
That seems to be a hinge point for Paul throughout this letter. God had prepared Paul for this by his intensive study of the Scriptures, and then, at just the right time (a phrase we will later hear in this letter), Jesus encountered Paul and put that knowledge to work in sharing God's redemption with many. If anyone would know whether circumcision was required or not, who better to say it than someone fully versed in what the Scriptures say?
We'll spend a little more time on this section, but this seems a good amount of thinking for today!
So, Galatians 1:11-17. Now, Paul starts to get into what his complaint is against the Galatian Christians. It seems that they have been saying that Paul didn't preach the full Gospel message to them. They also seem to have called into question whether or not Paul was teaching what others had taught him. It seemed to be a question of Paul's credentials, which he seeks to emphasize here. No one gave him the Gospel message. It came to him from Jesus Himself. Paul even emphasizes here how drastic it is that Jesus would have chosen him to be His apostle. Paul had tried to wipe out those who put their faith in Jesus. Not only that, he was a shooting star in the ranks of his former way of life. Paul was the most unlikely of people to be a person sent by Jesus.
Now, to some degree, this may sound almost as though Paul is uncertain about his right to preach the Gospel. It almost sounds like he is insecure about how the Galatian Christians see him. However, I would actually venture a slightly different view of it. Because these others who are coming among the Galatians are saying something along the lines of circumcision being required to receive the good news of Jesus, it would seem that Paul could assert that he knew the Old Testament Scriptures far better than any of them. In other words, if that were really something that God was calling for, who would have been better to know this than Paul? No one surpassed him in zeal. Very few others could compare to what he knew of God's revelation of Himself in the Scriptures.
And yet, Paul also points out how humbling it is to receive this great gift. Upon being called by Jesus to be an apostle, Paul was made to realize that God had set him apart for this task long before Paul ever would have anticipated it. Perhaps he realized that he had been set apart in a way similar to Jeremiah, who was told that he was known even before he had been born. As the realization sank in, that God had called Paul to this even before he was born, it seems that Paul truly realized what a great gift it was that he had received from God. And how better to respond than to share that same gift with others!
That seems to be a hinge point for Paul throughout this letter. God had prepared Paul for this by his intensive study of the Scriptures, and then, at just the right time (a phrase we will later hear in this letter), Jesus encountered Paul and put that knowledge to work in sharing God's redemption with many. If anyone would know whether circumcision was required or not, who better to say it than someone fully versed in what the Scriptures say?
We'll spend a little more time on this section, but this seems a good amount of thinking for today!
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