GALATIANS 1:17

In this part of Galatians chapter one Paul is continuing his detailed explanation of his own beginnings in the Christian faith and in the Christian ministry in order to show clearly that his doctrine and his teaching came from God and not from man. We need to listen to the Apostle Paul because his message came directly from God and from Christ. Paul wrote in Galatians 1:17-19, “Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, except James the Lord’s brother.”

For the first three years of Paul’s Christian life, he had no contact with any of the other apostles except for a brief period of fifteen days. The point that Paul is trying to make once again is that he learned from Jesus directly, not from man. There are many over the centuries who would have done much better if they had followed Paul’s example. What happens is that people join a church or join a religion and start learning from man. Therefore, they accept conclusions and biases and assumptions that other humans teach them. When you copy another human, you copy their weaknesses as well as their strengths. Some people read too many books about Christianity, when they would do much better to be reading the Bible. Paul did not learn from man the great doctrine of salvation by grace through faith in Christ. He learned it directly from God.

Paul wrote in Galatians 1:20-24, “Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not. Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia; And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judea which were in Christ; But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preaches the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me.” Paul mentions the churches of Judea because those were the very first churches of Christianity. It goes without saying that the majority in most of those churches were Jews who had also become believers in Jesus. Paul became like them when he became a believer in Jesus. But the biggest point that Paul is making is that not only does he give his word as to the truthfulness of what he was saying; the churches of Judea would also testify that Paul’s life had been changed. There is no better testimony than a changed life. If you have given your life to Jesus then He has changed your life. You are what you are because of Jesus. The difference is Jesus. Those who really know you, know if that is the case or not.

In Galatians 2:1-2 Paul wrote, “Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain.” Paul is emphasizing how little his contact was with the other apostles. He makes this point in order to emphasize once again that the message that he preached he received from Christ and not from any man, not even the other apostles.

Paul said that there was a gap of fourteen years between these two visits of his to Jerusalem and the contact that he had with the other apostles. Once Paul did have some meaningful contact with the other apostles, there is one thing he wanted to make clear: Paul did not change his message when he was around them. The same message of salvation by grace alone that Paul preached at the beginning of his ministry, he was still preaching fourteen years later when he went to Jerusalem.

Evidently to have preached the truth year after year and to have been faithful to the same message was not so easy to do. When Paul went to Jerusalem he was under pressure to compromise a little here and a little there as far as the message was concerned. A problem had arisen among the early Christians, and there was pressure to compromise the message of salvation by grace through faith. Paul was pressured, and he knew that if he gave into that pressure he would have lost something important. It would have been as though he had run his race in vain. Up to that point Paul had strenuously run the race of preaching the gospel of grace through Christ. If he compromised now it would be a great failure. It is much more important how you finish than how you start. Many people start well, but do not finish well. Paul knew that, and he did not want to be one of them. He preached the same message no matter whom he was around. The more that you learn about human beings, the more that you will know how rare of an accomplishment that really is. People tend to change their message depending upon who is the audience.

Paul did not do that. He preached the same gospel when he was preaching to Gentiles that he preached when he went to Jerusalem and was preaching to Jews. Paul fought against the same controversy when he went to Jerusalem as the one he was fighting against by writing this epistle to the Galatians. Concerning the controversy in Jerusalem, Paul wrote in Galatians 2:3-5, “But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privately to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”

These are the things that we know about Titus from these verses: he was a believer, he was a gentile, and he was not circumcised. Circumcision was a requirement in the law of the Old Testament for a gentile to become a Jew. So now we know what these false teachers were teaching. They were teaching that a gentile had to become a Jew as well as a believer in Jesus in order to be saved. They were teaching that the law had to be obeyed in order to become saved, and the law stated that a man must be circumcised. Of course, that is in conflict with the message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ.

These false teachers had a false message: they mixed law with grace. Almost all false teachers teach law in some form. They put burdens on men that they themselves cannot bear. In the first century this legalism took the form of an attempt to mix Christianity with Judaism. Today it is even more subtle, but false teachers still manage to come up with something that you must do in addition to believe in Christ in order to be saved and in order to be accepted by God. Some people add water baptism, and others add tithing or church membership or attendance. If you have been saved, it is for one reason and one reason only: because of the grace of God that is in Christ Jesus. There was no effort that you made, no work that you did, and no religious ceremony that you were involved in that accomplished this. Salvation is by grace through faith in Christ and nothing else: not circumcision, not the law, not water baptism, and not church membership. Paul knew this, and therefore he refused to require Titus to be circumcised.

From Galatians 2:4 we know something about false teachers. It says, “false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privately to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus.” There always have been and there always will be false teachers who sneak into Christianity in order to pervert the gospel. What makes them false teachers is their misunderstanding of the gospel. There are some subjects on which believers should agree to disagree. You do not know everything. Until you get to heaven, you have progress and improvements to make, including your understanding. But one place where there can be no compromise is the subject of the gospel and salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The natural man does not understand the things of the Spirit of God. The natural man will not be able to have any affinity or commonality with salvation by grace through faith in Jesus alone. The nature of the natural man is opposed to this truth. He has not experienced it. He cannot speak about it or expound upon it. The only thing that he understands is human works. Instead of being centered upon what Christ has done, the false teacher will be centered upon what man has done or can do. The false teacher will put burdens on man and will bring man into bondage to a set of laws or rituals or religious regulations.

The false teacher will never understand the “liberty” that true believers have in Christ. Jesus said, “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.” What is this wonderful freedom and liberty that we have in Christ? Once a person is born again and saved by grace through faith in Christ, that person is entirely and completely justified and accepted before God. Because of Jesus we are free from guilt, free from condemnation, and free from the obligation to obey the law for the purpose of being saved. If you have been saved, you did not earn it, cannot earn it, and will never need to earn it. Salvation was given to you as a free gift because of what Jesus did. There is nothing for you to do but to believe with true trust and faith in Christ the Savior. That is liberty, a liberty that no one in the world knows or understands except the true believers in Jesus.

Anyone who attempts to teach the gospel and teaches it otherwise has perverted the gospel. Anyone who has added works or religious ceremony of any kind to the gospel has corrupted the gospel of grace. Paul would not put up with such false teachers. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:5 concerning his attitude towards the false teachers who had perverted the gospel, “To whom we gave place by subjection, no not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.” The will of God is that the gospel will be revealed from faith to faith. One person who has faith in the gospel of Christ will tell it to another, and so on, and then the gospel continues. The truth of the gospel will cease to continue in human history as soon as there is no one who teaches or preaches or speaks forth the truth of the gospel. Paul did not leave that responsibility to others. He took it upon himself, nay, he was called by God to do it.

Paul resisted the false teachers concerning the truth of the gospel, and Paul also resisted other believers, even the other apostles, when necessary concerning the truth of the gospel. If anyone fails concerning the message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, they must be resisted, opposed, and exposed if necessary. Paul wrote in Galatians 2:6-7, “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it makes no matter to me; God accepts no man’s person) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me: But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter.”

The Bible says, “God accepts no man’s person.” The statement is directly related to how God views every member of the human race compared to how man does so. One of the problems with the human race is the fact that some people get treated differently based upon their status or title or reputation. God treats everyone the same: equally, whether rich or poor, great or small. This will be seen better than ever at the judgment. Too many human beings tend to bow down or give in to someone that is rich or famous or powerful, when in fact they should simply be given the same respect and honor that would be given to someone who is poor, unknown, and has no power at all. No one should be disrespected, but everyone should be given the same respect. And if someone needs to be opposed because of something they have said concerning the gospel of grace, then they need to be opposed no matter who they are. That is what Paul did.

When Paul went to Jerusalem, Paul stood up for the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. Because of the power of his arguments, the other apostles had no choice but to recognize the truthfulness of Paul’s teachings regarding the gospel. Of course, they also recognized that to Paul had been given this understanding of the gospel partly because of the unique calling that Paul had compared to the other apostles. Paul was called of the Lord to take the gospel to the gentiles: those who had not been circumcised and who would not be circumcised. If they were not circumcised, then how did they become saved and become a part of the family of God? Only one way: by grace through faith in Christ.

Hopefully you are trusting in Jesus and only Jesus for the salvation you need from your sins. If you are not, you can turn to Him today before it is too late.

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