Week 3
How Paul Became an Apostle
11 For I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the good news which was proclaimed by me is not a product of human origin. 12 For I neither received it from a human, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a revelation from Jesus, the Anointed.
13 For you heard of my former manner of life in Judaism; that I was persecuting the church of God beyond measure and was trying to destroy it, 14 and I was progressing in Judaism above many contemporaries among my own people, being even more of a fanatic than they were of my forefathers’s tradition. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his son in me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with other people, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles before me, but went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus.
18 First of all, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days, 19 but I didn’t see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 Now in what I am writing to you, I swear before God that I am not lying.
21 Then, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 But I was unknown by sight to the congregations of Judea that are in the Anointed. 23 But they were only hearing that, “The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the faith that he once tried to destroy”. 24 And they were glorifying God because of me. My Translation
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.
21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me. NIV11
Comment
11 For I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the good news which was proclaimed by me is not a product of human origin. My Translation
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. NIV11
When Paul says "I make known to you", he is about to describe something to the Galatians, that apparently, they had not known about Paul. He addresses the congregations as ἀδελφοὶ (brothers and sisters) as he does in all his letters. He may be angry with them, but he is not to the point of “kicking you out of the family” so to speak. Paul then goes into a sort of word-play with τὸ εὐαγγέλιον (the good news) and it’s cognate verb εὐαγγελίζω/εὐαγγελισθὲν which actually means “I bring or announce good news”. It is presented here as an aorist (past tense) participle, “which was the good news announced” with the added “by me”. It could be rendered as “the good news which was the good news announced by me”.
Regardless of the play on words, this τὸ εὐαγγέλιον was Paul’s. In Romans 2:16 and 16:25, Paul calls it τὸ εὐαγγέλιόν μου (my Good News). It didn’t originate from human beings. As Paul puts it οὐκ ἔστιν κατὰ ἄνθρωπον (it is not according to a man/human being). It is not a product derived by humans, nor did he received it from humans. This parallels verse 1. What is inferred here is that the Gospel that includes the works of the Law IS a product of human beings.
12 For I neither received it from a human, nor was I taught it, but it came to me through a revelation from Jesus, the Anointed. My Translation
12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. NIV11
Paul goes on to explain what he means by “not a product of human origin”. The Gospel that Paul preached didn’t get passed to Paul by any human being. A human did not past it to him who had received it from God, nor did a human being teach it to Paul. This is a reference to the Apostles in Jerusalem. It seems that Paul’s opponents had told the Galatians that Paul received his instructions from the Apostles in Jerusalem. Paul is about to dismiss that notion.
Paul received his Gospel δι᾿ ἀποκαλύψεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (through a revelation of/from Jesus Christ). Paul is undoubtably speaking of his Damascus road experience with Jesus. The Greek word ἀποκάλυψις (apocalypse) means “something revealed”, “something uncovered” or “something unveil”. It would be the same as what we would say today: “pulling the curtain back to fully see what was behind it”. In this case, it was the revealing of/from Jesus Christ. We will see the cognate verb of this word in verse 16. So why could it be a revealing of/from Jesus? The nature of the Greek genitive form could either be subjective (revelation FROM Jesus) or objective (revelation ABOUT Jesus). It is probably a bit of both.
13 For you heard of my former manner of life in Judaism; that I was persecuting the church of God beyond measure and was trying to destroy it, My Translation
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. NIV11
Paul starts to focus on his background. One such as Paul who persecuted the Church of God can’t go “unheard”. Although there is no doubt that Paul would have spoken about his former life to his converts, there is also no doubt that they would have heard just how bad Paul was in his former life. Good and bad news travels fast. To intensify Paul’s actions in his former life, he uses verbs in the imperfect tense, thus relaying that his actions were continual or repeated actions.
Paul’s use of πορθέω (to destroy) carries the sense of annihilation. It was also used in the military sense of “sacking a city”.
The singular τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ (the church/congregation of God) is Paul’s way to referring to all christianity at the time. Paul also compares it in an opposite way to Judaism.
14 and I was progressing in Judaism above many contemporaries among my own people, being even more of a fanatic than they were of my forefathers’s tradition. My Translation
14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. NIV11
Paul speaks not just of his life in Judaism, but also his life as a Pharisee. He was so “zealous” in his Judaism, he tried to destroy Jesus’ Church. Paul’s use of περισσοτέρως ζηλωτὴς ὑπάρχων carries a sense of “REALLY being even more of a zealot”. When it came to the Pharisees way of Judaism, Paul had no equal.
The problem with Judaism in the 1st Century was that the Jewish people were so bound up in the tradition, that they couldn’t see what their own Hebrew Scriptures foretold about the Anointed One who was to come. Therefore, when Jesus came, since he didn’t fit in with their tradition, he was “written off” so to speak. So it also was with Paul. To him, Christianity was something that perverted his Pharisaic ways and needed to be destroyed.
15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his son in me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with other people, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to the apostles before me, but went into Arabia and returned again to Damascus. My Translation
15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. 17 I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus. NIV11
This passage suffers from the verse devisions, but it is one whole sentence in Greek. Part of this verse parallels with Romans 1:1, where Paul says that he is κλητὸς ἀπόστολος ἀφωρισμένος εἰς εὐαγγέλιον θεοῦ (called an apostle, set apart for God’s Good News). But here in Galatians, our verse 15 alludes to a couple of Old Testament passages as well as part of Paul’s history as presented in Acts 13. I like to call it “Paul's great allusion”. The two Old Testament passages that Paul is alluding to are Jeremiah 1:5 and Isaiah 49:1-6.
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Isaiah 49:1 Listen to me, you islands;
hear this, you distant nations (Gentiles):
Before I was born the LORD (Yahweh) called me;
from my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me into a polished arrow
and concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.”
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing at all.
Yet what is due me is in the LORD’s (Yahweh’s) hand,
and my reward is with my God.”
5 And now the LORD (Yahweh) says—
he who formed me in the womb to be his servant
to bring Jacob back to him
and gather Israel to himself,
for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD (Yahweh)
and my God has been my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
The latter verses in Isaiah are probably more in line with Paul’s usage of ἐκ κοιλίας μητρός μου (from my mother’s womb), which matches exactly to Isaiah 49:1. The implications of Paul’s allusion are great as he is doing two things: 1. He is reminding the Galatians of when he and Barnabas were with them (Acts 13) and what he had spoken to them. 2. As Paul stated in Acts 13:47 when he was with them in Pisidian Antioch of Galatia (see map), Paul is the one who was to continue to be “a light for the Gentiles”. In the Greek of Acts 13:47, it is very close to the Isaiah 49:6b LXX. This is what Paul and Barnabas said about themselves.
Acts 13:47 οὕτως γὰρ ἐντέταλται ἡμῖν ὁ κύριος,
Τέθεικά σε εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν
τοῦ εἶναί σε εἰς σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς.
Acts 13:47 For the Lord commands us in this way,
I have appointed you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
Isaiah 49:6b ἰδοὺ τέθεικά σε εἰς διαθήκην γένους εἰς φῶς ἐθνῶν τοῦ εἶναί σε εἰς σωτηρίαν ἕως ἐσχάτου τῆς γῆς.
Isaiah 49:6b Behold! I have appointed you for a covenant for a race, for a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.
But, the main thing that the Galatians should have remembered and kept was:
13:38 Therefore, let it be made known to you, Men, Brothers, that through this one (Jesus), forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and from all things that you were not able to be justified in the Law of Moses, 39 in this one (Jesus), everyone who believes is justified.
Now that is a great allusion that is meant for a purpose!
The end of 15 is much of what would be expected. Paul was called by God’s grace. Nothing else! Paul was not called by how well he performed the Jewish law. He was not called because he was a fanatic of Jewish tradition. He was called by the grace of God just as the Galatians were (1:6).
By that grace, God was pleased to reveal Jesus in Paul. Here we have ἀποκαλύψαι/ἀποκαλύπτω (to reveal), which is the cognate noun of ἀποκάλυψις. How are we to take “God...was pleased to reveal his son in me”? There is no doubt that Paul is speaking of the Damascus Road experience when the Lord Jesus appeared to him. It was at that moment that the reality of Jesus was revealed to Paul. But this statement probably goes much deeper than Paul’s first encounter with Jesus. Paul may be referring to the Gospel that he preaches in that God revealed his son in Paul in such was way that both his Apostleship and his Gospel are confirmed. In other words, this is the “revelation of Jesus Christ” that Paul mentions in 1:12, i.e. what he preaches.
It was during this experience that Paul received his calling. He was to proclaim the good news of Jesus among the Gentiles. But, he didn’t consult anyone about “what” he was to proclaim. Paul uses σαρκὶ καὶ αἵματι (flesh and blood) to refer “other people”. The sense of this is that “flesh and blood” refers to mere humanity, while what he received was from the divine. Everything he needed had been given to him by Jesus himself. Therefore, no mere human supplied anything to Paul as to what to preach.
In verse 17, Paul makes clear that he didn’t go to Jerusalem to “get” his Gospel, which his opponents said that he did. Paul started doing what he was called to do immediately by going into Arabia to preach the Gospel.
“The apostles before me” are the twelve who became apostles before Paul received his apostleship. By stating that he didn’t consult the twelve, Paul is stating his independence from them, thus discounting what “the agitators” had said about him.
18 First of all, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days, 19 but I didn’t see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. My Translation
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. NIV11
Paul starts this section with a very strong “then”. Ἔπειτα means “being in the order of time”. The first one being translated as “first of all”, which is the first one. In other words, Paul is describing the timeframe of when he encountered the Apostles in Jerusalem starting from his first encounter to the last encounter.
Paul’s first trip to Jerusalem was three years after his conversion. It is documented in Acts 9:26-30. Luke’s account says nothing of Paul’s journey into Arabia, but it is clear that Paul immediately started preaching that Jesus was the Son of God.
Κηφᾶς is the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic word for “rock”. We know Κηφᾶς as Peter. The only other person that Paul met with was Ἰάκωβος or as we know him, James. James was the half brother of Jesus and was also the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. Luke’s account in Acts 9 just says that Barnabas brought him to the apostles. We now know that it was only two in which Paul became acquainted with and he was with them/him (Peter) 15 days. Paul’s use of οὐκ εἶδον (I didn’t see) may mean that he didn’t spend time with others during his stay. With that said, Paul uses ἕτερος (another of a difference kind) here. If he uses this word in its natural sense, then he may be alluding to “different apostles” who thought differently than he and Peter did. If this is the case, then James would be one of the “different ones”. It could also mean that James was different because he was not part of the original twelve. If so, then Paul is singling James out, which would make perfect sense in related to 2:12. Regardless, Paul places James as an apostle in one way or the other.
20 Now in what I am writing to you, I swear before God that I am not lying. My Translation
20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie. NIV11
Paul now stops to reassure his audience that he speaks (writes) the truth with a oath before God. Paul didn’t receive his Gospel from Peter nor James.
21 Then, I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 But I was unknown by sight to the congregations of Judea that are in the Anointed. 23 But they were only hearing that, “The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the faith that he once tried to destroy”. 24 And they were glorifying God because of me. My Translation
21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me. NIV11
Paul uses his second ἔπειτα (then) here to continue his string of events. He uses this to make sure that his readers know that there was no other meeting with the apostles in Jerusalem before his next meeting with them in Chapter 2. The Acts' account of this trip to Syria and Cilicia is confirmed in 9:30 and 11:25.
“Unknown by sight” or "personally unknown" as the NIV11 has it, is “unknown by the face” in Greek. In other words, the idiom means that the people in Judea would not be able to recognize Paul even if they were to see him face to face. Why? It is because he didn’t spend enough time in Judea and Jerusalem for them to be able to know him on sight, which is the point of Paul’s adding this in. They knew of Paul, but they didn’t know him personally. They didn’t even know him enough to recognize him face to face.
Last of all, these congregations of Judea have their existence in Christ.
Conclusion
Paul’s main focus is on the origins of the Gospel that he preached. It originated from God. Jesus was revealed to Paul on his journey to Damascus. It was there that he received his commission to be an emissary/apostle of Jesus. He did not receive his commission nor his Gospel from the apostles in Jerusalem. Paul goes to great lengths to prove his experience to his fellow believers in Galatia, but he is not done yet!
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