Galatians 1:10-24

Galatians 1, continued

Was revealed from Jesus Christ
Paul knew the Galatians were familiar with his former life
- Persecuted and tried to destroy the church
- Outdoing his contemporary Jews – more zealous
Why would Paul be such a zealot? Possibly …
- Not born in Jerusalem – born in Tarsus
- Not born to two Jewish parents – born to a Jew and a Greek with Roman citizenship
- Born with “evil” Roman citizenship
- Short – he was not like most Pharisees in Jerusalem
- East-west divide among Jews
  - Hellenistic Jews had a lower standing in many people’s minds than Jews from other areas.
- So here was Paul – Mister Different
- Paul kicks against the goads
  - Paul an expert with the Word – Acts 5:34; 22:3
    - He should have known!
  - Present at Stephen’s sermon – used status to approve
  - Side note: Philippian jailer, Paul, and Silas (Acts 16)
  - Paul persecutes – not doubt heard same, but trying to outdo Stephen’s murderers
  - He was pleasing – outdoing – them while resisting the Holy Spirit
  - He was advancing beyond his contemporaries
  - Being exposed to gospel at the same time

God knew Paul
- From before his birth
- Understood his character and love for God
  - Persistence
  - Dedication
  - Zealous nature
  - God would set Paul apart
    - To preach the gospel to the Gentiles
- Once Jesus is revealed to Paul
  - No longer striving to be best Jew and Pharisee
  - Not any of what he’d previously been
- Where did Paul go?
  - Not Jerusalem!
  - He went there later
- Paul’s next move – what would most of us expect?
  - Not consulting with Peter, James, etc.
Paul didn’t go to get “trained” or to “intern”
- Went to Arabia
- Back to Damascus
- Saw no apostles

Quite a while in Damascus
- Then on to Jerusalem
  - Met with Cephas/Peter and apostle James (Jesus’ brother)
  - No others – what is that important?
    - Revelation came from Jesus via Holy Spirit
    - Was not trained by apostles, not ordained at Jerusalem
Why would he make an oath as to the truth?
- Affirming all he’d written about this
- Quite critical to his apostleship
  - It was real
  - Jesus had given authority as apostle

As read in Acts 9:25-30 and Galatians 1:21
- Fled Jerusalem
- Taken to Caesarea
- Moved on to Tarsus – capital of Cilicia
Judean Christians
- Couldn’t recognize him by sight
- They knew OF him!
- Praised God – he was converted and preaching the word