Galatians 1:10-12
Who to Persuade?
By way of introduction, look at verse 10 again.
Paul was asking. "Who should I be trying to persuade here, men or
God." We need to understand what Paul said there. God gave a
salvation, but Paul was finding out that some didn’t like it.
What did they not like about it? As we discussed last week,
Judiazers had crept into the churches telling Christians that the
only way they could be saved, or at least please God, was by keeping
parts of the Old Testament law. That is not the gospel! The gospel
is the GOOD NEWS that Jesus died for all and that faith and
repentance is all that is necessary for anyone to be saved.
The Judiazers did not like and apparently they found many who thought
like they thought. So Paul was asking those who had decided they did
not like God’s salvation, what they wanted him to do. Should he try
to persuade God to change salvation or should he persuade men just to
accept it? Paul did not answer the question, but he did state the
obvious. The only way he or anyone else could serve God would be to
accept what God has done and preach.
That one statement from this passage demonstrates how much resistance
Paul had to the message of saved by grace from Christians in churches
he had started!
With that statement, Paul began a section \\#Gal 1:10-2:21\\ where
Paul would give his testimony. Why did Paul spend so much time on his
own personal testimony in this book? Because then as now, the easiest
way to get rid of Paul’s message was to get rid of the Apostle Paul.
Many in Paul’s day attempted to do that literally; but when they
could not kill Paul, they set out to discredit him. For that reason,
Paul will have to spend time defending himself as an apostle, even
from those he personally won to Christ and from churches he
personally established.
To emphasis to the Christians at Galatia that he was a bonafide
apostle of Christ, Paul will share three truths by his testimony.
I. \\#11-24\\ Paul had Christ’s Revelation
A. \\#11\\ Notice Paul’s Point
Gal 1:11 But I certify you, brethren, that the
gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
1. Paul certifies (declares, states, promises, pledges) that
he did not get his doctrine from another man, but from
Jesus Christ Himself.
2. The question we should ask is, "How did he do that since
Jesus was resurrected and ascended before Paul was even
saved?"
B. \\#12\\ God gave it to him by DIVINE REVELATION.
Gal 1:12 For I neither received it of man,
neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of
Jesus Christ.
1. What is divine revelation? It is what a lot of people
claim they have and DON’T.
2. Divine revelation is when God reveals directly to you
truth that had previously been kept secret.
3. That is how God gave us all of the Bible.
4. The difference between Paul and others who claim to have
divine revelation is that Paul also had divine miracles
to back him up!
C. \\#13-24\\ To prove that he had not been taught by others,
Paul gave his testimony to show it was three years before
he even had a change to meet with any of the apostles.
1. \\#15-16\\ That was on the Damascus Road.
2. \\#17\\ Arabia is a desert.
3. \\#18\\ "Then AFTER three years"
a. From \\#Acts 9:1\\ where Saul was brought to his knees
by the shining light to \\#Acts 9:25\\ where he is
let down the wall in a basket is THREE YEARS.
b. That also means that three years of his conversion,
the Christians at Jerusalem were still too afraid to
let him join with them. He must have been a hard,
cruel man before his salvation.
4. \\#18\\ But then the only apostle he saw was Peter, and
there were only 15 days that they were together.
5. \\#21\\ After that he went back to Tarsus and preached in
Syria and Cilicia, which is where he was when Barnabas
went and fetched him \\#Acts 11:25\\.
D. Paul’s point in this portion of his testimony is to say he did
not get the gospel he preached from any other than from
Jesus Christ Himself.
II. \\#2:1-10\\ Paul had the Church’s Approval
A. \\#2:1\\ Then Paul fast-forwarded 14 years.
Gal 2:1 Then fourteen years after I went up
again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus
with me also.
1. Paul was not saying he spend the next 14 years in Syria
and Cilicia.
a. He did spend some time there, but no one knows how
long.
b. The trip that he was referring to here was after the
first missionary when he, Barnabas, and Titus went to
Jerusalem to let the church at Jerusalem decide and
declare what the relationship of the law and
salvation was.
2. This cause for this trip as well as the outcome are
recorded in Acts 15.
Acts 15:1 And certain men which came down from
Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye
be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye
cannot be saved.
2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small
dissension and disputation with them, they
determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain
other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the
apostles and elders about this question.
a. Do you see the Judiazers?
b. They said except you be circumcised, you cannot be
saved.
3. Notice the outcome:
Acts 15:19 Wherefore my sentence is, that we
trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles
are turned to God:
20 But that we write unto them, that they
abstain from pollutions of idols, and from
fornication, and from things strangled, and
from blood.
a. \\#19\\ When it comes to salvation, leave them alone.
b. \\#20\\ When it comes to living clean, leave off the
idols, fornication, things strangled, and the blood.
4. Why was Paul including his testimony about this trip?
a. Because on this trip, the church gave Paul and his
message their APPROVAL.
b. I am not saying Paul needed the church’s approval any
more than any other preacher needs it, but he had it.
B. Notice Paul’s summary of the trip:
Gal 2:9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who
seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that
was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas
the right hands of fellowship; that we should go
unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
1. Paul said that he left Jerusalem with the church of
Jerusalem’s blessings—and he did.
2. \\#Acts 15:23\\said they sent them out with letters
confirming the men and their message and rejecting the
message of the Judiazers.
III. \\#2:11-19\\ Paul had correction for Cephas (Peter)
Gal 2:11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I
withstood him to the face, because he was to be
blamed.
A. \\#11\\ This occurred in Antioch. Jerusalem was where the
church started; but after Gentiles were welcomed into the
church and with the persecution of Jews, the main church
headquarters eventually moved to Antioch, a Gentile city.
B. Summary - Peter, a Jew, had been in Antioch, a Gentile city,
having a great fellowship with the Gentile church until some
from Jerusalem came up, then he VERY NOTICEABLY pulled away
from the Gentiles causing the others Jewish Christians to do
the same.
1. Paul said when he saw what was happening, he rebuked Peter
before everyone!
2. Why is this important?
a. First for the reason Paul rebuked Peter. Peter was
acting as if he were still bound by the Old Testament
law.
Gal 2:15 We who are Jews…
16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus
Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ,
that we might be justified by the faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law: for
by the works of the law shall no flesh be
justified.
(1) Paul was saying that the Gentiles don’t have to
be like the Jews to be saved, but that the Jews
have to be like the Gentiles to be saved—just
trusting in Jesus!
(2) Again, this is the answer to the question, "How
far into Judaism does one have to go to be
saved?" ANSWER - NONE, not even if you are a
Jew.
b. But the second reason this is important is because
Peter’s submission to Paul demonstrates the respect
Peter had for Paul.
(1) And Peter did respect Paul as he wrote in his own
epistle.
2Peter 3:15 And account that the longsuffering
of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved
brother Paul also according to the wisdom given
unto him hath written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them
of these things; in which are some things hard to
be understood, which they that are unlearned and
unstable wrest, as they do also the other
scriptures, unto their own destruction.
(2) In that text, Peter called Paul "beloved" and
acknowledged "all his epistles" as being deep,
controversial, but Scriptures.
So far, this message had been mostly teaching, but we need to
understand what this means today. As the only way in years gone by
to corrupt the Good News of the Gospel was to discredit Paul so some
are doing today. Understand if you discredit Paul you discredit your
Bible.
1. Paul flat out wrote 13 of the 27 New Testament books.
2. Many credit him with writing Hebrews as well, but even if he
did not, Hebrew’s message is the same as Galatians and Romans
so you must throw it out too.
3. Then you have to get of Acts since it repeats Paul’s message
over and over again.
5. But then you must also get rid of the two epistles of Peter
since he credit "all" of Paul’s epistles as Scripture.
6. But since Luke traveled with Paul and wrote the book of Acts,
if the book of Acts is corrupt we would have to assume the
Gospel of Luke is corrupt.
So of the 27 New Testament books you just threw out 18 of them. Any
one who throws out 18 New Testament books is not a confused Christian
they are crazy heretic, a Judaizer. Friend, you can either accept
salvation as God gave it or you can attempt to persuade God that He
got it wrong, because there is no denying the Good News is faith and
repentance in Jesus’ death apart from any and every other thing. May
God help us to understand and to defend that truth.
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