Brethren, I would have you know that the gospel which was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it; and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me through his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.
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One of the earliest controversies confronting the nascent Christian church was how these converts newly acquired were to be dealt with. At the time of Christ all his followers, practically speaking, were Jewish and as such had conformed to the Mosaic Law in relation to circumcision. Any male child that had opened his mother’s womb was circumcised on the eighth day. The book of Exodus tells us that when the covenant of circumcision was declared by God, Abraham at 99 years old, Ishmael at 13 years of age and all the men of the house were circumcised at the same time so that the covenant between God and man was honoured. Therefore, to the way of thinking of the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem, one had to be circumcised before one could be declared a follower of Christ. In other words; Jewish first, and then Christian. The upshot being that every male person who converted had to be circumcised so everyone conformed to Mosaic Law.
So, for Christianity, the battle lines were drawn. Paul, as a disciple for Christ, taught the circumcision of the heart whereas the Jews in Jerusalem continued to talk of the circumcision of flesh. This dispute has become vital as to the shape of Christianity today.
Paul begins his epistle by declaring himself to be an apostle – not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead. In order to shore up his credentials he argues eloquently that the gospel he is in fact teaching was not received from any human but rather from direct Revelation of Jesus Christ. In order to emphasise the grace of Christ Paul speaks of his past life as a Pharisee. He is open about how he persecuted the Church of God violently and tried to destroy it. How he, advanced in Judaism, was so zealous for the traditions of the Pharisees. But he declares that he was also set apart and called through grace so that he may change from being the persecutor of the Christian faith to its guardian.
Paul did not receive revelation from man but directly from Christ. In chapter nine of Acts of the Apostles Luke tells of the conversion of Saul to Paul and how he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” To which Saul responded “who are you, Lord?” The Lord responded “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting; rise and enter the city and you will be told what to do”. It was the direct hand of Christ that led to his conversion. Now Paul sees for himself and understands that the Mosaic law is obsolete and that there is now is a new covenant with Christ. Everything has moved on, and now grace and mercy, as opposed to justice and punishment, prevail.
However, this was not acceptable to the Christian Jews in Jerusalem so they endeavoured to undermine Paul’s teaching by telling the Christians elsewhere that Paul was teaching false doctrine, that Paul was in effect watering down the teaching of Christ to suit their particular understanding. To be a Christian, according to them you had to convert to Judaism. Against this Paul argues that such a thought would be regressive. Now, instead of the law being central to the lives of the faithful it was the spirit of God that fills all things. It was grace that revealed Christ to him and it was grace that revealed to him what he should teach to converts. Paul had no thought of making converts for the sake of making converts. He did not consult with the leadership in Jerusalem nor did he consult with any of the other disciples but withdrew into the Arabian desert to be shaped by the Lord. It is to be remembered that in the book of Acts it was Ananias who undertook the task of healing Paul. Ananias was called by the Lord and told to go to a street called Straight and enquire in the house of Judas for a man of Tarsus named Saul and that the purpose of Ananias was to lay his hands on him so his sight may be restored. Ananias response was “Lord I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to thy saints in Jerusalem, and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call upon the name of the Lord.” The Lord responded by saying: “go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel”. Notice that the Lord did not finish at that point but continued: “for I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”
Paul, was indeed, filled with the Holy Spirit. He was pugnacious and was not diverted from what he saw as his purpose which was to spread the word of the Lord. So Paul revealed the Son to the Gentiles. It was only after he was strengthened in mind and spirit that he was able to go to Jerusalem and be acquainted with Cephas. Here is the thing: when Paul went to Jerusalem he attempted to join the disciples but they were afraid of him, for they did not believe him to be a disciple. It was Barnabas who stood up for him and had him declared in effect as being a true disciple to the others in Jerusalem.
Now, in Galatia, Paul finds himself once again having to defend his credentials. He needs to establish his credentials so he can show to the converts that he’s truly speaking for Christ. The wonder and beauty of this is that the dispute between Paul and Jerusalem was won by Paul and as a result Christianity came out into the Gentile world rather than remaining within Judaism. This released the teaching of Christ into the world at large for the benefit of each and every one of us. Now circumcision of the heart is the gateway for both male and female and there is equality of both in the eyes of the Lord.
