any
other gospel unto you than ye have received, let him be accursed."

VERSES 13, 14. For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the
Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God,
and wasted it: And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals
in mine own nation.

This passage does not contain doctrine. Paul adduces his own case for
an example. "I have," he says, "at one time defended the traditions of
the Pharisees more fiercely than any of your false apostles. Now, if
the righteousness of the Law had been worth anything I would never have
forsaken it. So carefully did I live up to the Law that I excelled many
of my companions. So zealous was I in defense of the Law that I wasted
the church of God."

VERSE 14. Being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my
fathers.

Speaking now of the Mosaic Law, Paul declares that he was wrapped up in
it. To the Philippians he wrote: "As touching the law, a Pharisee;
concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness
which is in the law, blameless." He means to say, "I can compare myself
with the best and holiest of all those who are of the circumcision. Let
them show me if they can, a more earnest defender of the Mosaic Law
than I was at one time. This fact, O Galatians, should have put you on
your guard against these deceivers who make so much of the Law. If
anybody ever had reason to glory in the righteousness of the Law, it
was I." I too may say that before I was enlightened by the Gospel, I
was as zealous for the papistical laws and traditions of the fathers as
ever a man was. I tried hard to live up to every law as best I could. I
punished myself with fasting, watching, praying, and other exercises
more than all those who today hate and persecute me. I was so much in
earnest that I imposed upon my body more than it could stand. I honored
the pope as a matter of conscience. Whatever I did, I did with a single
heart to the glory of God. But our opponents, well-fed idlers that they
are, will not believe what I and many others have endured.

VERSES 15, 16, 17. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother's womb, and called me by his grace. To reveal his Son in me,
that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not
with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were
apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto
Damascus.

Here Paul relates that immediately upon being called by God to preach
the Gospel to the Gentiles, he went into Arabia without consulting a
single person. "When it had pleased God," he writes, "I did not deserve
it. I had been an enemy of Christ. I had blasphemed His Gospel. I had
shed innocent blood. In the midst of my frenzy I was called. Why? On
account of my outrageous cruelty? Indeed not. My gracious God who shows
mercy unto whom He will, pardoned all mine iniquities. He bestowed His
grace upon me, and called me for an apostle."

We also have come to the knowledge of the truth by the same kindness of
God. I crucified Christ daily in my cloistered life, and blasphemed God
by my wrong faith. Outwardly I kept myself chaste, poor, and obedient.
I was much given to fasting, watching, praying, saying of masses, and
the like. Yet under the cloak of my outward respectability I
continually mistrusted, doubted, feared, hated, and blasphemed God. My
righteousness was a filthy puddle. Satan loves such saints. They are
his darlings, for they quickly destroy their body and soul by depriving
them of the blessings of God's generous gifts.

I tell you I stood in awe of the pope's authority. To dissent from him
I considered a crime worthy of eternal death. I thought of John Huss as
a cursed heretic. I counted it a sin even to think of him. I would
gladly have furnished the wood to burn him. I would have felt I had
done God a real service.

In comparison with these sanctimonious hypocrites of the papacy,
publicans and harlots are not bad. They at least feel remorse. They at
least do not try to justify their wicked deeds. But these pretended
saints, so far from acknowledging their errors, justify them and regard
them as acceptable sacrifices unto God.

VERSE 15. When it pleased God.

"By the favor of God I, a wicked and cursed wretch, a blasphemer,
persecutor, and rebel, was spared. Not content to spare me, God granted
unto me the knowledge of His salvation, His Spirit, His Son, the office
of an apostle, everlasting life." Paul speaking.

God not only pardoned our iniquities, but in addition overwhelmed us
with blessings and spiritual gifts. Many, however, are ungrateful.
Worse, by opening again a window to the devil many begin to loathe
God's Word, and end by perverting the Gospel.

VERSE 15. Who separated me from my mother's womb.

This is a Hebrew expression, meaning to sanctify, ordain, prepare. Paul
is saying, "When I was not yet born God ordained me to be an apostle,
and in due time confirmed my apostleship before the world. Every gift,
be it small or great, spiritual or temporal, and every good thing I
should ever do, God has ordained while I was yet in my mother's womb
where I could neither think nor perform any good thing. After I was
born God supported me. Heaping mercy upon mercy, He freely forgave my
sins, replenishing me with His grace to enable me to learn what great
things are ours in Christ. To crown it all, He called me to preach the
Gospel to others."

VERSE 15. And called me by his grace.

"Did God call me on account of my holy life? Or on account of my
pharisaical religion? Or on account of my prayers, fastings, and works?
Never. Well, then, it is certain God did not call me on account of my
blasphemies, persecutions, oppressions. What prompted Him to call me?
His grace alone."

VERSE 16. To reveal his Son to me.

We now hear what kind of doctrine was committed to Paul: The doctrine
of the Gospel, the doctrine of the revelation of the Son of God. This
doctrine differs greatly from the Law. The Law terrorizes the
conscience. The Law reveals the wrath and judgment of God. The Gospel
does not threaten. The Gospel announces that Christ is come to forgive
the sins of the world. The Gospel conveys to us the inestimable
treasures of God.

VERSE 16. That I might preach him among the heathen.

"It pleased God," says the Apostle, "to reveal himself in me. Why? For
a twofold purpose. That I personally should believe in the Son of God,
and that I should reveal Him to the Gentiles."

Paul does not mention the Jews, for the simple reason that he was the
called and acknowledged apostle of the Gentiles, although he preached
Christ also to the Jews.

We can hear the Apostle saying to himself: "I will not burden the
Gentiles with the Law, because I am their apostle and not their
lawgiver. Not once did you Galatians hear me speak of the righteousness
of the Law or of works. My job was to bring you the Gospel. Therefore
you ought to listen to no teachers of the Law, but the Gospel: not
Moses, but the Son of God; not the righteousness of works, but the
righteousness of faith must be proclaimed to the Gentiles. That is the
right kind of preaching for Gentiles."

VERSE 16. Immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.

Once Paul had received the Gospel from Christ, he conferred with nobody
in Damascus. He asked no man to teach him. He did not go up to
Jerusalem to sit at the feet of Peter and the other apostles. At once
he preached Jesus Christ in Damascus.

VERSE 17. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles
before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

"I went to Arabia before I saw any of the apostles. I took it upon
myself to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles without delay, because
Christ had called me for that purpose." This statement refutes the
assertion of the false apostles that Paul had been a pupil of the
apostles, from which the false apostles inferred that Paul had been
instructed in the obedience of the Law, that therefore the Gentiles
also ought to keep the Law and submit to circumcision.

VERSES 18, 19. 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, save James the Lord's brother.

Paul minutely recounts his personal history to stop the cavil of the
false apostles. Paul does not deny that he had been with some of the
apostles. He went to Jerusalem uninvited, not to be instructed, but to
visit with Peter. Luke reports the occasion in the ninth chapter of the
Book of Acts. Barnabas introduced Paul to the apostles and related to
them how Paul had met the Lord Jesus on the way to Damascus, also how
Paul had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Paul says
that he saw Peter and James, but he denies that he learned anything
from them.

Why does Paul harp on this seemingly unimportant fact? To convince the
churches of Galatia that his Gospel was the true Word of Christ which
he learned from Christ Himself and from no man. Paul was forced to
affirm and re-affirm this fact. His usefulness to all the churches that
had used him as their pastor and teacher was at stake.

VERSE 20. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I
lie not.

Was it necessary for Paul to go under oath? Yes. Paul is reporting
personal history. How else would the churches believe him? The false
apostles might say, "Who knows whether Paul is telling the truth?"
Paul, the elect vessel of God, was held in so little esteem by his own
Galatians to whom he had preached Christ that it was necessary for him
to swear an oath that he spoke the truth. If this happened to Paul,
what business have we to complain when people doubt our words, or hold
us in little regard, we who cannot begin to compare ourselves with the
Apostle?

VERSE 21. Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

Syria and Cilicia are adjacent countries. Paul traces his movements
carefully in order to convince the Galatians that he had never been the
disciple of any apostle.

VERSES 22, 23, 24. And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea
which were in Christ: But they had heard only, that he which persecuted
us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And
they glorified God in me.

In Syria and Cilicia Paul won the indorsement of all the churches of
Judea, by his preaching. All the churches everywhere, even those of
Judea, could testify that he had preached the same faith everywhere.
"And," Paul adds, "these churches glorified God in me, not because I
taught that circumcision and the law of Moses should be observed, but
because I urged upon all faith in the Lord Jesus Christ."

CHAPTER 2

VERSE 1. Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem.

Paul taught justification by faith in Christ Jesus, without the deeds
of the Law. He reported this to the disciples at Antioch. Among the
disciples were some that had been brought up in the ancient customs of
the Jews. These rose against Paul in quick indignation, accusing him of
propagating a gospel of lawlessness.

Great dissension followed. Paul and Barnabas stood up for the truth.
They testified: "Wherever we preached to the Gentiles, the Holy Ghost
came upon those who received the Word. This happened everywhere. We
preached not circumcision, we did not require observance of the Law. We
preached faith in Jesus Christ. At our preaching of faith, God gave to
the hearers the Holy Ghost." From this fact Paul and Barnabas inferred
that the Holy Ghost approved the faith of the Gentiles without the Law
and circumcision. If the faith of the Gentiles had not pleased the Holy
Ghost, He would not have manifested His presence in the uncircumcised
hearers of the Word.

Unconvinced, the Jews fiercely opposed Paul, asserting that the Law
ought to be kept and that the Gentiles ought to be circumcised, or else
they could not be saved.

When we consider the obstinacy with which Romanists cling to their
traditions, we can very well understand the zealous devotion of the
Jews for the Law. After all, they had received the Law from God. We can
understand how impossible it was for recent converts from Judaism
suddenly to break with the Law. For that matter, God did bear with
them, as He bore with the infirmity of Israel when the people halted
between two religions. Was not God patient with us also while we were
blindfolded by the papacy? God is longsuffering and full of mercy. But
we dare not abuse the patience of the Lord. We dare no longer continue
in error now that the truth has been revealed in the Gospel. The
opponents of Paul had his own example to prefer against him. Paul had
circumcised Timothy. Paul defended his action on the ground that he had
circumcised Timothy, not from compulsion, but from Christian love, lest
the weak in faith should be offended. His opponents would not accept
Paul's explanation.

When Paul saw that the quarrel was getting out of hand he obeyed the
direction of God and left for Jerusalem, there to confer with the other
apostles. He did this not for his own sake, but for the sake of the
people.

VERSE 1. With Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

Paul chose two witnesses, Barnabas and Titus. Barnabas had been Paul's
preaching companion to the Gentiles. Barnabas was an eye-witness of the
fact that the Holy Ghost had come upon the Gentiles in response to the
simple preaching of faith in Jesus Christ. Barnabas stuck to Paul on
this point, that it was not necessary for the Gentiles to be bothered
with the Law as long as they believed in Christ.

Titus was superintendent of the churches in Crete, having been placed
in charge of the churches by Paul. Titus was a former Gentile.

VERSE 2. And I went up by revelation.

If God had not ordered Paul to Jerusalem, Paul would never have gone
there.

VERSE 2. And communicated unto them that gospel.

After an absence of fourteen years, respectively eighteen years, Paul
returned to Jerusalem to confer with the other apostles.

VERSE 2. Which I preach among the Gentiles.

Among the Jews Paul allowed Law and circumcision to stand for the time
being. So did all the apostles. Nevertheless Paul held fast to the
liberty of the Gospel. On one occasion he said to the Jews: "Through
this man (Christ) is preached unto you forgiveness of sins; and by him
all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not
be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts 13:39.) Always remembering the
weak, Paul did not insist that they break at once with the Law.

Paul admits that he conferred with the apostles concerning his Gospel.
But he denies that the conference benefited or taught him anything. The
fact is he resisted those who wanted to force the practice of the Law
upon the Gentiles. They did not overcome him, he overcame them. "Your
false apostles lie, when they say that I circumcised Timothy, shaved my
head in Cenchrea, and went up to Jerusalem, at the request of the
apostles. I went to Jerusalem at the request of God. What is more, I
won the indorsement of the apostles. My opponents lost out."

The matter upon which the apostles deliberated in conference was this:
Is the observance of the Law requisite unto justification? Paul
answered: "I have preached faith in Christ to the Gentiles, and not the
Law. If the Jews want to keep the Law and be circumcised, very well, as
long as they do so from a right motive."

VERSE 2. But privately to them which were of reputation.

This is to say, "I conferred not only with the brethren, but with the
leaders among them."

VERSE 2. Lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.

Not that Paul himself