In Acts chapters 9 and 22 and 26 it is told. What dramatically happened to Paul on the “Damascus Road” that epochal day long ago.

But in the Epistle to Galatians, though in shortened form, Paul tells it “in his own words.”

“But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen …” Galatians 1:15-16a

It was God’s “pleasure” to save Paul!

The verb “pleased” is “eudokeo,” simply meaning “to esteem or think upon something” but always “with delight!”

I personally believe God is pleased with the salvation of every soul who trusts in Jesus’ Shed Blood! (Based partly on Ezekiel 33:11 … “Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.”)

God was also “in charge” of Paul’s birth, physically speaking! He speaks of “God, who separated me from my mother’s womb.” Wow, God as Midwife!

Psalm 139 suggests that God “builds” every little human body, when he or she is still in the womb! One lexicon says of “separated” (in Greek “aphorizo”) “to mark off from others by boundaries.” Paul was “special” to God, even from birth! (Think of Jeremiah here too. “Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Jeremiah 1:4-5, yes, pretty “special!”)

Astounding!

Then comes (immediately in the sentence, out Text) Paul’s second birth!

God … “called me by his grace.”

Just five words in English, the same in Greek for that matter … and the world is changed forever!

Paul the persecutor becomes Paul the Apostle!

Yes, God “calls” (“kaleo”) unto salvation.

Via His Holy Spirit.

We often refer to this phenomenon as “conviction!”

Which, when faith in Jesus is exercised, leads to “conversion!”

No further details here, in Galatians.

No emphasis even on Paul’s response, which was vital in the exchange!

“Who are Thou, Lord?”

As in Luke’s account of the event: “And as he (Paul) journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: and he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 9:3-6

Oh yes … Faith!

“For by grace are ye saved through faith.” Ephesians 2:8

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” Acts 16:31

“Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13

Jesus now: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24

Yes Brother Paul, we understand: “God called you by His grace!”

Then in today’s Text Paul even tells us WHY God saved him. Or at least part of the reason, a main part I suspect! The answer is twofold: “To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen.”

To show (“to reveal” is “apokalupto” meaning “to unveil”) JESUS to Paul!

Then to show (via “preaching,” the Greek word “evangelizing”) JESUS to the world, the lost world!

I’d say both goals were gloriously achieved!

God saves us to serve Him!

Wonderful!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

More tomorrow, the Lord willing.

 

Grandma Green used to say, “The cream always rises to the top!”

That’s true I guess, when one is churning better! Anyone remember those days?

But it is also true in human personality, human endeavor, in the character of a man or woman.

If that is so … Paul (really Saul of Tarsus back then) was “the best of the best” in nearly all he did!

Even as a lost man he could truthfully report: “And (I, Paul) profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.” Galatians 1:14, today’s Text.

Wow!

I love that first verb!

“Profited” translates the Greek “prokopto.” It’s a blend, with “kopto” meaning “to cut, strike, smite” something. And “pro” meaning “before” one’s face. In other words, “cutting a path in front of you!” Being a “leader!” Being a “trailblazer!” Way ahead of the pack!

Wow!

And here Paul uses this verb, builds it as an “imperfect indicative.” It’s both a “fact,” what he is saying … and it is an action that he has correctly reported as having happened in the past, but it is yet in effect. He is still cutting roads for others to follow!

The “Jews’ religion” is one Greek word, as Paul wrote it anyway. Spelled “Ioudaismos,” it translates something like this, “Judaism.” Proof that Paul, no  matter what anyone says, departed from his former religion, when he got saved!

He is now a GRACE Preacher, not a LAW Preacher!

But Paul puts his Jewish religious history in perspective for us now. “I profited (excelled) in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation.” Above my “peers,” he is claiming! The noun “equals” is “sunelikiotes,” anyone “in my age group!” Anyone who would have been contemporary with the future Apostle! He outpaced them all! And he is telling us so!

Even to this extent: “I Paul being more exceedingly zealous” than they ever were! Here the phrase “more exceedingly zealous” combines an adverb and a noun to declare Paul’s supremacy in diligence, enthusiasm, work-ethic, and even vehemence! In pursuing his fathers’ religion!

Wow!

Almost an “overachiever!”

“Obsessed” with the things of the Law of Moses!

Why is Paul so uncharacteristically saying these things?

Because his Galatian Christians are being threatened at that very moment by men who were nearly as ardent followers of Judaism (the Law of Moses) as was Paul!

But Paul “saw the light!”

He turned from the deadness of the Law (apart from the Holy Spirit) and found Jesus Christ the Lord! Trusting Him as God’s Son, as personal Saviour!

Maybe these very strong words of Paul’s will “impact” the new Believers in the Galatians Churches! Talk some “sense” into their heads!

What did Paul so “love” about the Jews’ religion?

It’s their “traditions!”

Or so he says here. “Being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.” But, what are they, “traditions?”

The noun is “paradosis,” meaning “things that have been handed down” from generation to generation, fathers to sons, for centuries! Literally … things given you to keep with diligence, to place beside you all your life! Never to forsake!

This could include their view of the Scriptures, the Writings of Moses, the Law, the Pentateuch (Genesis through Deuteronomy). For that matter, the rest of the Old Testament as well. But with their slant on it!

Man’s view of what God says!

Then one day, Paul met Jesus!

Jesus who topped Moses by a million miles!

Jesus Who brought GRACE, whereas Moses only brought LAW!

And Paul “converted!”

John 1:17 factually preaches this: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

Hallelujah!

By the way, this nearly unparalleled “eagerness” Paul brought to his false religion … is certainly parallel to the “diligence” he brought to his new, better Jesus Religion!

He became an “achiever” for Jesus’ Sake!

An “outlier,” maybe the greatest Christian who has ever lived, to this point anyway!

That “on fire” for Jesus!

He could truthfully say: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Philippians 1:20, Paul’s very life was “hid with Christ in God.” So he says in Colossians 3:3.

Amazing!

What a Christian, became Paul the Apostle!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

The portion of the New Testament Epistle to the Galatians we’re currently studying involves a biographical section (really, “autobiographical”) describing (in some detail) the Apostle Paul.

Today we hear him depict his “past.” What he did … prior to his salvation!

“For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews’ religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it.” Galatians 1:13

The Apostle seems pretty sure that by the time he penned Galatians, everyone there already knew (“Ye have heard …”) his “testimony.” After all, Dr. Luke has already told it three times in the book of Acts! (Smile here, please!) In Acts 9 and 22 and 26, really! With Acts 9 being in the third person. While the other two are recorded as being in the first person, no doubt approximating Paul’s very words! (Luke being an eye-witness, an onlooker, the secretary.)

But still, here in Galatians there is a personal touch that’s missing anywhere else I think. Maybe just because now Paul is holding the pen!

The noun “conversation” (in Greek “anastrophe”) means one’s lifestyle, one’s behavior, one’s daily conduct. Literally the “turns” of life, its “ups and downs” and its “ins and outs!”)

Some so-called progressives nowadays say Paul never left his former “religion.” Well, here he calls “Judaism” simply this: “the Jews’ religion!” It  is now “theirs,” not “Paul’s!” Yes, he has left it behind! (But he certainly never lost his burden to see the Israelites saved! To see them “converted” to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the long-awaited Messiah!)

The phrase “beyond measure” is “hyperbole!” In Greek, meaning “way beyond” anyone’s imagination! Out of sight! To the utmost degree!

The verb “persecuted” means “chased and pursued diligently, in order to hurt” someone! And surprisingly, Paul frames the verb as an imperfect active! He (in his mind) still feels he vehemently “wronged” the little infant Church of those bygone days! (It seems almost as if he can’t get over those wicked deeds! Can’t forget them! That’s part of why he still refers to himself as “the chief of sinners!”)

“The Church of God!” That’s genitive, mind you. God “owns” that little Church, it is “HIS!” Paul “touched” God’s Property! And he is very sorry.

But he also tells us here that he “wasted” the Church! An unusual translation! “Portheo” is the verb. It’s from a root word meaning “to sack,” a wartime, battlefront term. Sack? Yes … chiefly in historical contexts, the verb means “to plunder and demolish.” Wow, a pretty strong term. When “portheo” is used by Luke in Acts 9, it is there literally rendered/translated as “destroyed!”

It must have “hurt” Paul to write these words! But he wanted the Galatians (I think) to know why he so loved the Gospel! How he had been saved (by the Grace of God) from that kind of hateful lifestyle, born-again into a life of loving Jesus!

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17!

Hallelujah!

 

Paul and his writing the Epistle to the Galatians …

The great Apostle has been saved now by at least fifteen years, maybe a little more. And he (finally) says something autobiographical! In fact, he is giving here his “testimony,” in a way! About how he “heard” (really “understood,” became “sure of,” even “believed”) the Gospel!

And he did NOT formulate his doctrine from man!

It came straight from God!

(As opposed to what the Galatians were doing at that very time, reformulating the Gospel they believed, according to a group “outsiders,” a cadre of men who were disciples of Moses!)

Today’s Verse, Text: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.” Galatians 1:11-12

Wow!

The verb “certify” is “gnorizo” in Greek. A direct relative of “ginosko.” It means “to make known.” In early Greek it even could mean “to thoroughly make known.” And it is also a present active indicative verb. Paul was constantly “making known” the “Gospel” he preached, including its origin in his life! The word’s Latin heritage (“certus”) includes “attestation, confirmation.” And carries a bit of “gravitas” as well.

Paul is “telling them,” the Galatians, his view of the Gospel! (As in he told them “a thing or two!”) His God-given view, as we shall momentarily see.

Back to our Verse: “But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Notice he is here still calling them “brethren,” though he is becoming doubtful of their real standing in Christ! (As later in Galatians 4:20 he blatantly says to them: “I stand in doubt of you.”)

Wow!

Paul’s verb for “preaching” (“was preached”) here is “euaggelizo,” sharing the Good News about Jesus’ Death, Burial and Resurrection! Our word “evangelizing.”

“Not” is “ouk,” the strongest negative available in the Greek language! No exceptions allowed! Men (or women) did not decide the meaning of Paul’s message!

Even the preposition “after” is significant, strong. It is “meta,” meaning “down from, through, according to.” Nothing “human” about Paul’s Gospel! It’s source is divine!

The adverb “neither” at the beginning of verse 12 is “oude,” a powerful little blend of “ouk” and “de,” forming a conclusion. It can further strengthen any negative already expressed in the sentence, just in a slightly different way. He is piling “no” on top of “no” here. as in “NO WAY!”

“Received” is “paralambano,” meaning “to take something right alongside oneself.” To adopt. To join to one’s self! To make an associate.

“Man” is the noun “anthropos,” self explanatory I suspect. (Paul’s “theology” is not derived from Paul’s “anthropology!”)

“Taught” is “didasko,” formal instruction, “causing someone to learn.” (But past tense now, “aorist” in Greek.) Not by man … but by Jesus Christ!

As in: “Neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

The noun “revelation” is “apokalupsis.” Literally “an unveiling!”

John received an “apocalypse” of Jesus on the Isle of Patmos around 95 AD or so.

But Paul received his own “apocalypse” of Jesus in the Arabian desert around 35 AD or so!

A revelation “of Jesus Christ!”

The Name of our Lord is written here in the genitive case.

It either means Jesus’ owned the “Revelation” and gave it to Paul!

Or … it is a “Revelation” focused solely on Jesus Christ, He being the Subject” of Paul’s now Christian education, learning!

Either way, it is beautiful!

Paul’s Testimony, as to its very Source anyway!

Galatians 1:11-12, priceless!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

WHERE/HOW did you learn the Gospel?

 

 

Paul refuses to put himself in a dilemma. Not self-imposed, anyway!

He chooses NOT to be a man-pleaser!

But to always BE APPROVED of God!

And Galatians 1:10, today’s Lesson, today’s Bible Text, illustrates the basis of Paul’s conviction. The one I just stated, about “pleasing Almighty God.”

“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”

An alternative meaning to the Greek verb “peitho” (translated “persuade” in our verse) is “to have confidence” in someone.

Paul: “Will I believe these men who are teaching a different Gospel?” Or “Will I try to seek their favor?” Maybe even: “Will I forsake what God taught me those three years in Arabia?” See Galatians 1:17.

The verb “please” is “aresko,” to “win their smiles,” even “to excite their emotions,” in essence … to agree with their (false) doctrines!” Paul again: “Do I seek to please men?”

The obvious answer is NO!

When a choice must be made: “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” That’s Paul’s ultimate conclusion, for sure, according to Romans 3:4 here.

There are some men you cannot please … and please Christ Jesus at the same time!

You can’t be a “servant” (here “doulos” means a “slave” literally) of men who hold false doctrine … and simultaneously be a “servant” of our dear Lord!

Jesus said this too, just in a different way. “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24

Short verse today.

But well worth pondering!

Worth emulating, in fact!

“For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.”

You will “serve” (seek to please) the person for whom you have the most respect, the most reverence, the most adoration!

And That finally should be God, always!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell