Introduction
How do we know that something is the truth? Many years ago Larissa and I were in Fiji. This was before we had children. And we were staying at the fijian which has a wonderful lagoon that heads out into the pacific ocean. Well we were in our twenties and I suggested that we go sailing as they had boats there that we could use as guests of the resort. Friends, Larissa looked at me with a bit of a quizzical expression and said, “do you know how to sail”. Yes I responded, but friends I don’t think she was completely convinced. We had never talked about this before, I guess we had just never been in a position where I could take her out on a sail boat. I’m thankful that my wife trusted me enough to go out into the lagoon on the little skiff and we had a wonderful time and she was pretty impressed with my sailing prowess. I had indeed been telling the truth. How does Larissa know that it was true that I could sail, she knows because that is exactly what we did. We sailed back and forth across the bay. How does Paul know that His Gospel is the Truth? Well today’s passage gives one overarching and compelling reason, and that is because of who gave him this news.
It is always good to remind ourselves of where the passage that we are looking at today fits in with the whole letter. Now as we saw from last week’s passage, and Pastor Philip’s sermon. Paul introduces himself as an apostle of Christ and God the Father. He was writing to the churches in Galatia which was most likely the southern part of Asia Minor. Paul was writing out of urgency as there were people around the church spreading a false Gospel where they were trying to add having to be circumcised and keeping the Mosaic law. So Paul now refutes this by showing the origin of the Gospel that he preaches. Read with me verses 11 & 12.
1. The Origin of the Gospel (Galatians 1:11-24)
11 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
Paul makes it clear that the origin of the Gospel, the good news that he speaks, came directly from Jesus. From God himself. Revealed to him by Jesus. In saying these words Paul is making it crystal clear that he has not invented this Gospel, that he has not been taught this Gospel by any human tradition or lesson. But that these are the very words of God, revealed to him by the risen Christ himself. This is why Paul can be so certain about his Gospel. He is making this clear and in so doing he is also defending the Gospel against those who would say that he had been given these words that he preaches from anyone else, including from the 11 Apostles. This is the most important point in Paul’s defense of the Gospel.
Formerly I tried to destroy the good news
13 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. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 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. 17 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.
I had been given the Gospel from God. Nothing else was needed. Paul’s Authority is from God!
What Paul is saying in these verses is that his zeal for Judaism that was taught to him by men led him to try and destroy the Church of Christ. These ‘traditions of my fathers.” These man made rules that had led him to persecute God himself. Yet, when he met Jesus. When he realised that the Gospel is God’s plan. In fact Paul realised that from before he was born God had set him apart for the Gospel. Everything changed forever. Friends, when we realise God’s grace to us in Christ and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. We like Paul, need to realise that we are set apart for God as well. When we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead. We are saved and are adopted as God’s precious children through faith by grace.
Paul is actually saying that he didn’t need any human being to corroborate what had been revealed to him. Why because God himself had revealed the Gospel. Who could possibly say anything that would make this more certain. There was no need for any other witness. Paul had Jesus as the revealer of the Gospel mystery.
Paul was the Pharisee of Pharisees. That is really quite obvious from his persecution of Christians. He was all about the law and the traditions of the fathers. He says these very words. Yet, in his Gospel there is no law, there is no tradition. There is only faith in Jesus because of God’s grace to us. This once more must accord with the fact that this is not in any way made up by Paul. He is so immersed in Judaism, that had this been a man made gospel, he would not have been able to help himself, but include jewish rules and regulations. Yet, this is Jesus’ revelation by his Spirit to Paul. So we know that this is The Gospel.
18 Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.
Paul went and met with Peter after three years
Paul didn’t rush off to see if what he was saying was ok. He had been given the very words of God. The Good news of Jesus Christ revealed to him by Jesus Christ. And the fact that he didn’t rush off to be affirmed by the other apostles is the second point in Paul’s defense of the Gospel. He preached what Jesus had given him.
I think that it is most probable that after three years when Paul goes to Jerusalem it is accounted for in what we see read in ACTS 9:26-30.
What wonderful proof that this Gospel is truth
21 Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they praised God because of me.
Paul was the one standing there in ACTS as they stoned Stephen for preaching about Jesus. Saul was there mentioned as the young man standing where those who stoned Stephen dropped their coats. And as we read in ACTS 8:1 “And Saul approved of their killing him.” Friends Saul was glad that they killed Stephen. He was completely against Jesus and his followers. He didn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah. He believed that those preaching Christ were blasphemers and needed to be dealt with as we read in ACTS 8:1-3.
On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Paul was doing everything he could to destroy Christ’s church. But now we see that the churches of Judea, who had never met Paul were praising God, for this destroyer of Christ’s church was now preaching Christ. He now knows the truth and can’t stop preaching.
Friends, we should be so encouraged by this passage. It shows a wonderful certainty to what Paul says throughout the New Testament. The revelation that he has received that he has written down for us is from Christ. Not from man, but from God. The Origin of the Gospel we believe, is from God himself. This is why Paul can later say in Romans 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”
2. Preserving the Gospel (Galatians 2:1-10)
In the second half of today’s passage Paul moves from the Origin of the Gospel to ensure the preservation of this God ordained truth.
And friends, any threat to that Gospel revelation that Paul had received needed to be addressed. And that is what we see in chapter 2 verses 1-10. Paul ensures that the Gospel revealed to him by Jesus would not be subtracted from or added to. Read with me verses 1-5:
2 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
Paul 14 years after his conversion went to Jerusalem on his second visit. Now there is some conjecture about the timing of this visit to Jerusalem and how it fits with the events in the book of ACTS. In a nutshell the two most probable possibilities are either that this visit was at the time of ACTS 11:27-30 which talks about the prophecy of Agabus who predicted a severe famine and Paul and Barnabas agreed to take a gift to the elders in Judea. Or ACTS 15 where the Jerusalem Council was convened. I lean towards the timing of ACTS 11 which would mean the letter to the Galatians was around 48-49BC and before the Jerusalem Council. It seems most likely that the famine prophecies best align with verse 10 of chapter 2 of Galatians. What we see is that after 14 years of preaching Paul now meets with “those esteemed as leaders”, and we ask ourselves who were they. Well in verse 9 we have our answer: James, Peter and John. The three who were the inner circle of Jesus’ disciples. The ones who were with Jesus at the transfiguration. This is who Paul presented his Gospel to.
And now Paul speaks about preserving, protecting the Gospel. He wanted to make sure that the Gospel was intact. He knew that nothing else was needed. But he wanted to make sure that those who had been with Jesus also knew this. For the sake of Jewish and Gentile believers. As we see in the following verses, Paul wasn’t looking for their approval. He only looked to God for approval. Paul wanted to make sure that those the same Gospel was being preached to the circumcised and the uncircumcised. And praise God that was the case as we, see the same God, with the same message, to the whole world. One Gospel. Read with me verses 6-8:
6 As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. 7 On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. 8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.
The Gospel given to all the Apostles by Jesus
And brothers and Sisters when I read verses 7 & 8 my heart is full. Peter, James and John were convinced that Paul, like them, was preaching the very words of God and that the one Gospel was what they all knew and agreed was what the world needed. In fact James, Peter and John agreed that God had entrusted Paul and Barnabas to preach the one Gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted to preach to the circumcised. After 14 years you could say that there was now a formally understood Gospel partnership between Paul and the other Apostles, because they all had the very words of Jesus. I was also struck very early this morning by the thought that apart from Jude, the other epistle (letter) writers in the New Testament are the ones meeting together here. Paul, Peter, James and John. Those who had all had the Gospel revealed to them by Christ himself, and who are in complete agreement on the message of the Gospel. How wonderful for us to have this certainty of the truth we read in scripture and believe. Read with me verses 9 & 10.
9 James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
Friends, this passage is glorious. It shows us the certainty of the Gospel recorded for us. Paul has been called to preach the Gospel. The Gospel that Jesus himself revealed to Paul. So Paul didn’t need anyone else to affirm that. But Paul did 14 years later visit those who had been with Jesus from the beginning, specifically those closest to Jesus. James, Peter and John. And they agreed that the Gospel stands alone. They agreed that the Gospel Paul preached is the same Gospel that Jesus had given them. There is nothing to add or subtract. What amazing news for us here today. Christ is all we need. It is not what we do, or what we have done. Our salvation rests in Christ’s death and resurrection. So, like Paul 2,000 years ago we need to ensure that the one true Gospel is all that we preach and live. I like the idea as Christians that we are to Preach and Protect the Gospel by the Holy Spirit. Where there are false Gospels we need to like Paul call them out. God chose us, Jesus lived, died and rose for us. Our salvation is entirely a work of God’s grace. There is no better expression of this than Ephesians 2:8-9.
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Let’s pray.
