Galatians 1:11-24

1:11-12 | Unlike the representatives of the Jewish religious establishment, Paul preached a message that was not an invention of man. It was the gospel of God as revealed to Paul through Jesus Christ (1:15; Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 15:1-8; Eph. 3:3-5). Paul defended his apostleship not out of personal pride but from a deep concern for the gospel. If the false teachers could discredit him, they would discredit the gospel as well.

1:13 | Prior to meeting the Lord on the Damascus road, Paul believed that killing Christians and destroying the church was a noble service to God (Acts 8:3; 9:1-2; 22:4-5; 22:20; 26:10-11). Paul stresses his former passion for persecution to show that his conversion was not just a change of mood but a radical change of heart created by the radical message of the gospel. The emphasis on the church of God highlights the enormity of his sin.

1:14 | Paul emphasizes what a devout Jew he was - in practice as well as ancestry (Acts 22:1-3; 26:9; Phil. 3:5-6) - so his conversion to Christianity would carry more weight with the Jewish Christians in Galatia.

1:15-16 | Notice the change in Paul’s tone. Although the previous verses focus on Paul’s work, these focus on God’s works (Acts 9:15; 2 Cor. 4:5-7). The story of Paul’s conversion is so important that the NT records it five times (Acts 9; 22; 26; Phil. 3; 1 Tim. 1).

1:16 | Paul received the message he preached to the Galatians from the Lord, not from other people (flesh and blood). His calling to preach among the Gentiles does not mean that his message was not also meant for the Jews. He viewed the two audiences as inextricably connected (Rom. 11:11-32). His point here is that the Gentiles need not observe the law to be saved.

1:17-19 | By emphasizing that he did not immediately sit under other apostles in Jerusalem after his conversion but spent only fifteen days there with Peter and James long after his conversion, Paul again defends the divine origin of his message. In fact, he spent three years in other regions before visiting Jerusalem (Acts 9:26).

1:17 | How Paul spent his time in Arabia is not known for certain. Paul then likely proclaimed the gospel there as he had in Damascus (2 Cor. 11:32-33).

1:21 | After leaving Jerusalem, Paul traveled to Syria and Cilicia and was out of the reacch of the apostles’ ministries. This is most likely the same journey mentioned in Acts 9:30.

1:22-24 | Paul’s former zeal in persecuting believers was so well-known that many had a difficult time trusting the genuineness of his conversion. Their minds were changed by the grace of God on display in Paul’s life. The final proof of the divine origin of his message was the change it made in his own life.

1:24 | The work of the gospel in the lives of believers should cause onlookers to glorify God and motivate nonbelievers to come to Christ (1 Pet. 2:11-12).