Moving along to Galatians 1:18-24, and closing out the first chapter, we find Paul writing about some of the history of what happened after Jesus rather dramatically encountered Paul on the road to Damascus. So far, Paul has said that Jesus revealed Himself, and that Paul didn't immediately see any of the other apostles. Instead, he went away into Arabia, where it is very likely that he engaged in a deep study of the Old Testament, and discovered just how prevalent the foretelling of Jesus was throughout those words from God.
The timeline is a bit sketchy, but as we take Paul's words here and the book of Acts, we find Paul spending approximately three years before he really meets any of the eye witnesses of Jesus. In Acts, we are told that Barnabas is the one who risks himself to bring Paul to the apostles. Regardless of the circumstances, Paul meets Peter and chats with him (very likely in depth about Jesus) for a little over two weeks. It's also very likely that Paul told Peter exactly what he had been set apart to do by Jesus Himself, and then set out on what we call one of his missionary voyages.
What is signifcant about all this? As it concerns the letter to the Galatian Christians, it is that Paul had been preaching the Gospel for about three years before he met any of the other apostles. Even then, he only met with Peter and James for a short time, which seemed to be enough to verify for them that the message Paul was preaching was in tune with what they were preaching. For those who had been saying that Paul had been preaching a different gospel message from the rest of the apostles, this would seem to back up Paul's assertion that his was the true gospel message, and the others were the ones with the wrong message, which was to be ignored. The Galatian Christians could trust Paul because his message was the true gospel, regardless of what others were saying about him.
And then, we have that beautiful verse that rounds out chapter 1. They glorified God because of me. That is, ultimately, the hope of all who speak the message. Not that the messenger gets glorified, but that God gets glorified through the one who speaks His message. The churches that Paul had created, at which he had preached the message, were turning to God and giving him glory. Yes, Paul was instrumental in their hearing of the message of the gospel, but Paul wasn't the point. Jesus was the point, as the one who restored them to God. It wasn't about Paul's credentials, but about Jesus' credentials. And in Jesus, they would find one who would bring them to God, thus giving them reason to glorify God because of the message that Paul was speaking.
The timeline is a bit sketchy, but as we take Paul's words here and the book of Acts, we find Paul spending approximately three years before he really meets any of the eye witnesses of Jesus. In Acts, we are told that Barnabas is the one who risks himself to bring Paul to the apostles. Regardless of the circumstances, Paul meets Peter and chats with him (very likely in depth about Jesus) for a little over two weeks. It's also very likely that Paul told Peter exactly what he had been set apart to do by Jesus Himself, and then set out on what we call one of his missionary voyages.
What is signifcant about all this? As it concerns the letter to the Galatian Christians, it is that Paul had been preaching the Gospel for about three years before he met any of the other apostles. Even then, he only met with Peter and James for a short time, which seemed to be enough to verify for them that the message Paul was preaching was in tune with what they were preaching. For those who had been saying that Paul had been preaching a different gospel message from the rest of the apostles, this would seem to back up Paul's assertion that his was the true gospel message, and the others were the ones with the wrong message, which was to be ignored. The Galatian Christians could trust Paul because his message was the true gospel, regardless of what others were saying about him.
And then, we have that beautiful verse that rounds out chapter 1. They glorified God because of me. That is, ultimately, the hope of all who speak the message. Not that the messenger gets glorified, but that God gets glorified through the one who speaks His message. The churches that Paul had created, at which he had preached the message, were turning to God and giving him glory. Yes, Paul was instrumental in their hearing of the message of the gospel, but Paul wasn't the point. Jesus was the point, as the one who restored them to God. It wasn't about Paul's credentials, but about Jesus' credentials. And in Jesus, they would find one who would bring them to God, thus giving them reason to glorify God because of the message that Paul was speaking.
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