Galatians 1:18-24 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me.
Galatians 2:1-5 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
In the above verses, Paul affirms that the ministry he revealed to the Galatians came from Jesus directly, not by the teaching of men. The revelation of Jesus alone for the salvation of mankind came to him from the Holy Spirit’s work within him. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to earth to teach men all truth about himself and his Father God. Paul, an apostle out of season or one who was not called by Jesus or heard Jesus’ teachings during his earthly ministry, had to learn the truth of Jesus from the Spirit of God. “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into ALL THE TRUTH. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.” (John 16:12-15) The disciples had the advantage over Paul for Jesus said that they would be reminded of what He had taught them while He was with them. The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and WILL REMIND you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:26) Paul in his direct encounter with Jesus was given a commission to teach Jesus to all people. But to know Jesus and who He really was, the Son of God, Paul had to know that truth through the witness of the Holy Spirit in his mind and heart. Jesus would open the truth of the Torah, the Jewish Bible, to this intelligent rabbi, Paul. He would show Paul who and where He was in the Old Testament, a center piece in the Torah and the prophets’ words. Jesus could not reveal all of this to his disciples, for they were not ready to hear before Jesus’ death all the mysteries of the Old Testament. Through Paul the complete message of the Messiah in the Old Testament could be revealed. Paul saw the Messiah in the Old Testament and understood that Jesus came to complete the work of the law in his earthly ministry. Nonetheless, his ministry was hard for the Jews to receive. Peter even said that Paul’s message of redemption was hard teaching and that some foolish people would distort it for their own ungodly purposes. By stopping Paul on the road to Damascus, Jesus was choosing a rabbi of zeal for God who would be willing to carry out the message of redemption through Jesus only, a deep revelation of light coming to the world. ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ (Acts 26:15-18) Jesus appointed him to hear a message that not even the apostles who were with Jesus daily for three years could bear completely. Jesus through the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, would expose Paul to a divine message of redemption. Paul would expound this message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ because the Spirit made him a witness of deep heavenly insight: witness of what you have seen and will see of me.
After Paul was converted, he spent three years in Arabia and the Damascus area, away from the authorities in the Christian church. In those three years, he learned of Christ in the purest form, for he gained his knowledge from the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Paul learned the Torah revealed Christ and his suffering. He saw that the sacrifices and the law were fulfilled by Jesus Christ on the cross. Even Abel, who was called by Jesus a prophet of God inferred that blood had to be shed for the redemption of sinful man. Because of being well versed in the Torah, Paul befuddled his critics who desired that the law must be taught alongside of Jesus and the cross. But Paul would not have any of that dilution of the pure message of Jesus Christ alone as the way to God. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:8-10) Jesus elucidates this truth of faith in him alone when talking to the disciples. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” (John 14:6-7) Jesus comforts the hearts of the disciples with these words, for they were troubled by Jesus saying that He was going away. Where and why was He going? They did not fully understand that He was going back to the Father, back to the eternal dwelling of God his Father. Jesus pacifies their hearts by telling them that they too someday will settle with him in the Father’s eternal home. Paul understood what Jesus was talking about when He told the disciples that He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. The Holy Spirit founded this message in Paul’s heart. As a learned rabbi, he was able to connect the truth of the Messiah in the Old Testament to Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. Jesus fulfilled God’s plan of redemption for all of mankind. Jesus drank the full cup of God’s wrath on sin for the salvation of all people, releasing mankind from sin and death. Because of God’s love for men and women, He surrendered the Bright and Morning Star of heaven to die on the cross, to release people from eternal death. Jesus would be the complete and final propitiation for man’s rebellion against God’s authority.
Paul is writing to the Galatians because he has heard that the Christians of Galatia were watering down the message of Jesus Christ alone as the door to heaven and eternal life. This matter of people’s works plus Jesus Christ’s work on the cross had entered into their midst by false teachers who resented the freedom that Christians were experiencing IN CHRIST. Paul tells the Galatians that after fourteen years away from Jerusalem, he went back to the church fathers to tell them about what he was teaching in the provinces. He wanted to make sure that his ministry of grace and mercy was in line in what was taught in Jerusalem. He had suffered much in teaching the Good News of God’s salvation plan. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. He also wanted to check on whether the corrupting message of circumcision had crept into the headquarters of the church. Were the church fathers holding to Christ alone or were they watering down the true message of Christ by including law into the redemption message? He found that they were holding onto the truth of Jesus Christ and his works alone for they did not demand that Titus, who was a Greek, be circumcised. This of course validated Paul’s ministry of faith in Jesus Christ and his work on the cross as being the only way to God the Father. Paul called that the truth of the gospel. God’s plan of redemption is the only plan acceptable for the eradication of sin and rebellion. The failure for mankind to accept God’s plan for life has always been part of man’s innate rebellious nature. This rebellion goes back to Eve. Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:5) The serpent desired Eve to accept another plan other than God’s plan to life. He tells her that she can be like God if she strikes out on her own. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. (Genesis 3:5) By eating of the fruit, then she can determine what is good or evil. That spirit of rebellion is still part of man’s nature. As Paul says, this supposed freedom of knowing right or wrong only leads to death, for evil has become part of my life, rather than knowing only good, I have knowledge of evil, and it has taken me captive. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? (Romans 7:21-24) Paul asks, “Who will rescue me from this captivity to the Pharaoh in my life?" Paul concludes this struggle with the answer. Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! Paul wants the Galatians to know, only Jesus can deliver them from their captivity to sin. His work on the cross finished that condemnation that he feels about sin. Christ’s blood not the works of man washes the sins away. The blood is the only stain that can cover a sinful life. God will see the blood imprinted on a man’s soul. We are free, completely free from sin and death because Christ’s work on the cross covers every sin that we have committed and every sin we will commit. We are now free, free indeed, approaching God with Jesus’ name written over our name; life written over the sentence of death. Paul wants the people of Galatia to finish the race of life, knowing it is Christ alone and no other work that has made them right with an eternal, sinless God. Walk in the sinless light of your Savior today. Amen!
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