Paul Defends His Gospel Galatians 1:10-24

Paul had ministered to the churches in the southern Galatian region on his first missionary Journey. He had preached to them the pure, unadulterated Gospel of grace, of freedom from sin and from death that Christ alone can provide. The Galatians were troubled by a group of false believers who attempted to add works to grace, of making them Jewish converts before they could become Christian converts. As we have learned as we have studied Galatians, if we add work to the grace of God, it is not grace at all. Religion attempts to do this; it attempts to place a system of steps or of do’s and don’t s that when accomplished by man will please God. Religion is detestable to God, because it obfuscates the truth and does not give God the full glory and honor he deserves. We can guess that in this passage we are about to study that Paul was addressing the false teachers who were likely questioning his credibility to preach the Gospel . In this passage of Galatians 1, Paul distances himself from this false Gospel, while establishing how he is qualified to preach the Gospel of God.

10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.

Paul, in defending himself against those bringing a false gospel, cannot be concerned with pleasing both man and God. The two are mutually exclusive, as he has made abundantly clear. Man desires to have his own standards of righteousness, man believes that he is good, indeed, in some cases, man believes he is a god unto himself. If Paul were seeking to please man, he would be promoting a system of dos and don’ts, of a man-centered salvation having nothing to do with the cross. Paul would be seeking to promote something that benefited himself, or gave himself some level of control. But Paul is not concerned about the opinion or approval of man, otherwise he would not be the doulos- the slave of Jesus Christ. He is not seeking an earthly kingdom or rule. He is promoting God’s gospel, of obtaining salvation not by works that we do but trusting in what Christ has done. Therein lies the difference; religion makes us slaves to a system of laws and rules. Christianity gives freedom to be able to please God. My friend, make no mistake. You are either going to be a slave to religion, doing a bunch of good works that hopefully will be enough so that God will be pleased. Or you are going to be a slave to sin, allowing the lust of the flesh to control your every move, blinding you to the work of Christ on your behalf. The third option is to be a slave to Christ in which He does all the work to accomplish your salvation, allowing you as a new creature to do the good works that He has prepared in advance for you to do (Ephesians 2:10).

Man’s gospel always involves man’s goodness and performance. This is what the Judaizers were trying to establish with the churches in Galatia. In history, they are not the only ones. Man’s Gospel wants to be able to work, and desires there to be a system of control. Take this selection from the Catholic Catechism, Part 3, Section 1 Chapter 3 Article 2 entitled Grace and Justification.

2020 Justification has been merited for us by the Passion of Christ. It is granted us through Baptism. It conforms us to the righteousness of God, who justifies us. It has for its goal the glory of God and of Christ, and the gift of eternal life. It is the most excellent work of God's mercy.2021 Grace is the help God gives us to respond to our vocation of becoming his adopted sons. It introduces us into the intimacy of the Trinitarian life.2022 The divine initiative in the work of grace precedes, prepares, and elicits the free response of man. Grace responds to the deepest yearnings of human freedom, calls freedom to cooperate with it, and perfects freedom.

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.

Paul continues his defense of his training in grace and the gospel. He was not taught this Gospel by man, He was taught it by a direct revelation of Jesus Christ. The evidence is in how Paul has walked since God converted him on the Damascus Road. The Gospel that Paul received is the Gospel that Paul experienced. If anyone could brag about his religious knowledge, it was Paul, but this is what he denigrates First, Paul was not seeking salvation, he believed that he had it through the training he had received in Judaism and the earnest way in which he was following that training. In other words, Paul was very religious, but he did not really know God.. Second, He was advancing in Judaism faster than his peers because he fanatically believed in the religious traditions of all those who trained him and came before them. Third, He was trying to destroy the Church. He saw Christianity as a cult, he saw Jesus as a false Messiah, and he saw his followers of deserving of death. Following his belief, He was in a sense attacking the body of Christ seeking to murder or imprison Jesus’ followers. He was going in a polar opposite direction of Jesus- like we all do prior to conversion. When Jesus met Paul on the Damascus road, it was not because he was pursuing Jesus, it was because Jesus was pursuing Him. Paul met Jesus on the Damascus road, and he was converted. He experienced Christ first hand so he knew the Gospel by direct revelation of Christ and by experience.

Set Apart By Christ for the Gospel

15 But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16 was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles,

In addressing his accusers here, Paul testifies to something that all Christians would do well to realize. He did not come to Christ because of anything he was doing religiously or even because he was in any way seeking Christ. He came to Christ because he was called to Him by God, having been set apart before he was born. He was called not because of the good he was doing, but despite all the wickedness he had done. He was called to Jesus by the grace of God. God chose to reveal Christ to Paul, as Paul says, God was pleased to reveal Christ to Him in order that He might bring the glorious Gospel to the Gentiles. This is significant. Paul was a zealous Jew, the only thing he hated more than these new Christians was the Gentile dogs. In His purposes, God called Paul to bring the good news of the Gospel as a messianic Jew to the Gentiles. The power of the Gospel turns us completely around, makes us a new creature in Christ. This is exemplified in Paul very significantly, but no less in us when we realize how sinful we are in the eyes of God, how much we deserve His righteous indignation and wrath for our sins, and how much that payment for our sins cost Him. We would do well to realize that we have been set apart before we were born, called by God, drawn to Christ through God, and given a significant assignment by God to complete, that is, the proclamation of the Gospel and the glorification of God by and through our lives. This work is nothing we would even desire to do ourselves had we not been saved through His grace.

I did not immediately consult with anyone; 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.

There are some people who will never acknowledge the work of God in our life. They will question our qualifications, our motivations, our testimony. Paul was questioned in all three by those who would like to destroy the Gospel and establish rules and control instead of Biblical grace. There are those who want to enslave us to a system of control, a system of hierarchies. There is a better way, the way that Paul preached: The Gospel that Jesus Christ died to save sinners. Christ calls us to be slaves only in the sense that we lay down all our goodness and badness, indeed all that we are at His feet and allow Him to completely save us for Himself to use us as He will to the glory of God. We access this grace by simply believing on His finished work and by following Him. This is the Gospel! The fact that salvation is a gift that is completely undeserved and is somehow out of the reach of man’s good works is counter-intuitive to the unregenerate mind, but to those who are called it is the power of God unto salvation. I urge you to drop your religion, your works, your need of a system and simply call to Christ if you have not done so. I urge you to simply believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and on His finished work. This is repentance; a change of mind and direction regarding Christ. Stop believing you can save yourself through your good works. Stop believing there are no eternal consequence to your actions. If you can simply turn to Christ and receive, take to yourself the truth of the Gospel of grace, it is because God has called you, that he has changed your mind, that He has regenerated you, giving you the ability to believe. Take that faith, though it be the size of a mustard seed, and place it with Christ. He will save you as He has promised, allowing that seed of faith to grow and transform you into the image of Jesus Christ, for the glory of God!

Galatians Bible Study

Let Them Be Damned

Encourage and build up others

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