Galatians 1:11-24
Paul again defends his apostleship here, in three parts. First, …the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (vv. 11-12) Here Paul is claiming “divine revelation”, not human transmission. He follows up that first statement with a second: I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. (vv. 16-17) Again, he dismisses any human intervention. He makes special mention of “…apostles before me”, very subtly acknowledging his own apostleship. Finally, his third defense is easy to miss: But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. (v. 19) Here Paul includes James among the “other apostles” – even though James was also not of the original twelve or the eleven-plus-one, Paul includes him as an apostle, the same claim he is making for himself.
Theologically, none of this is crucial – whether or not today we refer to Paul as an apostle. However, I think it gives us a window into Paul’s personality. I see him as quite defensive, maybe even a bit insecure – in spite of his own extreme confidence in who he is. It might help us to understand some of Paul’s later writings if we see where he is coming from.
Slava Bohu!
I was struck by the fact that other Jews commended him, even though they had never met him. They knew of him by his reputation as a changed man, a changed life. I pray that we may also be identified in that way, as having a changed life. Do I/we really show a changed life, different from before accepting Christ and different from those who have not yet accepted Him?