Paul received his teaching through revelation, not man. (Galatians 1:6-24)
·
v7 – “those who distort” – would most likely have
been believers, more than likely either Jewish or proselyte. Non-believers would not distort the truth,
they would deny or refute.
o
Jews, both those that accepted Jesus as the
Messiah and those that did not, believed that salvation was reserved for Jews,
either natural born or proselyte.
o
Paul was teaching that conversion was not
required. This was a very radical
concept in that day. Gentiles, of
course, loved this message. Some Jews
would hear him and see the proof in his scripture teaching.
o
After Paul left synagogues, those that didn’t
agree, including proselytes that had converted, would try to sway others to
back into thinking it was required, thus dismissing Paul’s teaching.
o
At this time, there were very valid reasons to
become legally Jewish, mainly to avoid Roman or Greek god worship, by law. The pull to convert and be circumcised was
strong for this reason also.
·
v11-12a – “not man’s gospel” –
o
Refer back to v6-7 to see that Paul is not claiming
he is teaching a different gospel or anything contrary to scripture.
o
He’s pointing out that the typical method of
learning the gospel would have been through the apostles or disciples of
Jesus.
o
These eye witnesses to his life, ministry, and
resurrection were preaching in synagogues.
o
Paul is explaining the extraordinary
circumstances surrounding him becoming a believer. Similar to someone today giving testimony
about being healed or seeing a vision from God.
·
v12b – Jesus revealed himself to Paul through a
vision. Acts 9:1-9
·
Paul was confident in his teaching – Acts 9:22
o
“in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the
Christ” – at this point in history there wasn’t a New Testament, so Paul would
have been using the Tanakh (what we call the Old Testament) to prove the
prophecy that Jesus was the Messiah.
§
Tanakh (pronounced tuh-knock) is the original
Hebrew scripture and is an acronym:
·
T stands for Torah
– translation: Teachings or Instructions (not law)
·
N stands for Neviim
– translation: Prophets
·
K stands for Ketuvin
– translation: Sacred Writings
§
Septuagint is the Greek translation of the
Tanakh
o
“increasing in strength” is referring to his
confidence and boldness in which he was able to prove Jesus as the Messiah
through scripture.
o
Paul was extremely knowledgeable with scripture. Having studied at Gamaliel’s feet, he would
have had most, if not all scripture memorized.
At the very least he would have been intimately familiar with the scripture.
o
Paul knew the prophet writings, but prior to his
revelation, the “light bulb” just hadn’t been turned on that Jesus was indeed
the Messiah. As soon as the light bulb
was turned on by God, all of the scripture proof was probably jumping out at
him. This would have continued to just “increase
his strength.”
·
Paul was confident his vision was from God
o
Confirmed by Ananias in Damascus. Acts 9:17-19
o
v1:16-17 – “did not immediately consult with
anyone” – Implying that he was confident from the beginning that he had been
chosen by God to have his eyes opened to Jesus being Messiah and God revealing
through scripture this truth.
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