GALATIANS 1:11-24

Roy Coad explains the dilemma that Paul was in before he was able to continue chastising the Galatian church. He first needed to re-establish his apostolic credentials with them. To do so, he had to show that his revelation came directly from God and was not a second-hand truth he obtained from the apostles. But at the same time, he had to demonstrate that the apostles had ratified his message.

I experienced a situation almost identical to this some years back while working for the chemical division of a major oil company. We wanted to build a production plant to manufacture a particular industrial chemical, but the main hurdle was getting approval from the parent company's board of directors. Right before the key meeting (to which I was not invited), one of our very nervous vice-presidents cornered me since I happened to be the research manager of the group which had developed the technology behind the proposed chemical unit. The vice-president asked me to give him absolute assurances on two questions: (1) Had our technology already proved itself in commercial plants run by other companies? and (2) Was our technology totally unique compared to those being practiced commercially so that we wouldn't run into any patent infringement problems?

I am not exactly sure how I managed to give him assurances on those two mutually exclusive points, but he seemed satisfied, fortunately no one grilled him in the meeting, the plant functioned beautifully, and we were never sued. I can only feel that Paul, with God's guidance, was equally successful in satisfying the Galatian church even if they were probably a little harder to please than the powers-to-be in our company.

Galatians 1:11 The events here are, of course, also told in Acts 9 (read that chapter).

Galatians 1:13-14 The phrase “in Judaism” occurs twice to stress the life Paul lived before. “...he in effect recognizes a certain analogy between his 'conversion' and that of the Gentiles who abandon their pagan way of life to serve the living God.” (Silva)

Galatians 1:13 As an inclusio to this whole passage are repeated references to Paul's earlier persecution of the church here and in v. 23.

Galatians 1:14 Watson explains that Jewish boys from 10-13 years old attended a secondary school to study the oral law (midrashes and the mishnah). “The oral law was taught by recitation, usually chanting aloud, until the material was mastered.” “Traditions” refers to this oral law, as differentiated from the written law, the Torah.

Neil: “Trained as a rabbi in Jerusalem under Gamaliel, he absorbed more of 'the strict manner of the law' (Acts 22:3) than of his teacher's tolerance and moderation (Acts 5:34ff).”

Galatians 1:15 Paul's call is highly reminiscent of Jeremiah's call (Jeremiah 1:5) and that of Isaiah (49:1,5). “It is upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (who are the apostles of the Old Testament, similarly appointed by the sole and sovereign will of God) that the holy temple of Christ's Church is built (Eph. 2:20ff).” (Hughes)

Kasemann notes that as in Jeremiah 1:5, election “precedes a concrete commission.” Melick adds: “The parallel with Jeremiah goes beyond the words and concept of election in the womb. Perhaps Paul began to identify with Jeremiah early in his ministry (at the time of writing Galatians, ca. A.D. 49). Jeremiah suffered during his lifetime as a fulfillment of the divine plan. In a similar way, Paul would suffer, too.” “The allusion to Isaiah indicates that Paul was selected to continue the work of the Servant [see my post on 'The Servant Songs'].”

Galatians 1:16  France: The parallel use of “flesh and blood” to denote humanity in contrast to God appears in Matthew 16:17 applied to a revelation given to Peter. It has been suggested that Paul knew of this tradition and is purposely implying that his revelation is no less than that given to Peter. (France)

The last phrase in this verse can read “to me” or “in me.” Mikolaski says there is no reference here to Paul witnessing to others – an idea which is, however, given in the rest of the sentence.

Galatians 1:17-18 Arabia is the area east of Damascus. It is not known what Paul did while there. Similarly, we don't know what Peter and Paul talked about during Paul's visit. That is given rise to much speculation concerning both issues. Cephas is the Aramaic name of Peter, both meaning “rock.”

Galatians 1:18 Coad points out that the fact that Paul, the educated Pharisee, actually consulted with Peter “pays eloquent tribute to the intellectual and spiritual capacity of the Galilean fisherman.”

Galatians 1:19 This verse may possibly imply that James the brother of Jesus was already considered as an apostle at that time.

Galatians 1:21 “Syria and Cilicia” is the name of a particular Roman political entity. Therefore it does not necessarily mean that Paul went to Syria itself.

Galatians 1:21-24 I won't go into the apparent differences between this account of Paul's early years as a Christian and the events narrated by Luke in Acts 9 (read that chapter). Suffice it to quote Mikolaski, who says that the differences “are no irreconcilable if the general character of the narrative in Acts in contrast to the very specific details in Galatians is borne in mind.”

Galatians 1:22 This does not mean that his reputation was not known (see Gal. 1:23) or that not one person in the church knew him. (Stein)