Paul's Commission

I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

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. I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased  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. 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.

Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.

Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they praised God because of me. Galatians 1: 11-24

Saul of Tarsus was an ambitious Pharisee, diligently working to destroy the Church. Apparently, he never listened to the gospel message the Church was preaching, or just was not ready earlier, to believe it. Maybe the timing and circumstances weren’t right, if and when he heard the gospel presented by the apostles. Perhaps he never encountered Jesus during His earthly ministry.

The young Pharisee was racking up points in Judaism, advancing in the ranks of religion, surpassing other young men with his accomplishments and burning with zeal “for the traditions of my fathers.” Destroying the Church would look good on his religious resume, and he was in hot pursuit of that next goal, when he had a shocking face-to-face meeting with the risen Jesus that forever altered his life (Acts 9:1-7).

I love the statement in verse 15 that “God set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace.” This means to me that throughout his life, even as a driven legalist, Paul had been positive to the reality of God and sincerely wanted to please God; that was the motive for his determination to wipe out the new Church of Jesus Christ. He believed he was doing God’s will by this intense persecution. Jesus had warned His disciples about this: John 16:2 “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.”

So the fiery Pharisee with a sense of destiny was sincerely trying to please God, but he was sincerely wrong about what God wanted him to do. This was because he didn’t really know the God he was so zealously trying to serve (John 16:3). That changed on the road to Damascus.

Some of us just can’t comprehend the gospel, even though we believe in God, until such time as God sees fit to “reel us in.” With Paul, this happened through a sudden, blinding interruption in his plans. With some modern humans, it involves getting alone with the written Word of God, reading it with the desire to understand, until the words of Jesus can penetrate the soul, bringing salvation. This was my own experience. Although I never doubted the reality of God, or the truth of His Word, I could not comprehend the gospel message and did not know God until I read and believed the words of Jesus: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No man comes to the Father but through Me” (John 14:6); and Peter’s response in John 6:68 “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.”  And  John 12:24 “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” John 3:36 "Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them." 

The Holy Spirit enables those who are willing to believe. Reading the authoritative words of Jesus and His disciples day by day, knowing He is real and that God’s plan is fulfilled IN HIM opened my blind eyes, which before could only see the legalism and condemnation portrayed in the Old Testament scriptures. When your frame of reference is a works system, human viewpoint rules your reasoning. We can always see ourselves as “better” than some folks and view the “good works” of others with skepticism, suspicion and contempt. But it is not about works! Until I knew Jesus as Savior, and therefore knew the Father He represents, works were all I could see, obscuring the grace of His perfect atonement. Now I know works are not the issue. Sin is not the issue. Faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ is the only issue, and anyone can believe and receive His grace. There is no competition.

Paul was evangelized by the living Lord Jesus. He didn’t seek interpretation or approval from any other human, but spent three years alone with the Lord in Arabia. During those years, the Old Testament scriptures Paul had excelled in were the foundation for the New Testament Truth regarding the fulfillment of God’s plan in His Son. He came out of the desert fully educated in Church doctrine, before meeting with any of the other apostles. He first introduced himself to Peter (Cephas) and James, the Lord’s brother. By this time, Paul knew exactly what His mission was and how to present the gospel to the Gentiles He had been appointed and trained to teach.

The Church, who had feared and dreaded any contact with Paul before now rejoiced in His salvation and praised God for this man’s ministry. It was truly a miraculous conversion. All of them are.