Latest / Reformed Thinking / No Other Gospel: Paul’s Fierce Defense of the True Faith (Galatians 1) | John Peter Lange

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No Other Gospel: Paul’s Fierce Defense of the True Faith (Galatians 1) | John Peter Lange · Reformed Thinking

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Imagine the founder of your company sending out a company
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wide memo. Oh boy.
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Yeah, right. But instead of the usual opening
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where they say something like hope everyone is having a great
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week, the very first line reads something wild.
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Like what? It reads.
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Half of you are actively destroying everything we have
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built and you are cursed. Wow, that is that is aggressive.
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Very aggressive, no pleasantries, no hello, just
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immediate blistering confrontation.
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Yeah, that would definitely get your attention.
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For sure, and that is that's the tone the Apostle Paul takes in
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the 1st chapter of Galatians. He really does.
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So welcome to Reform Thinking. This is a custom tailored deep
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dive into John Peter Lange's commentary on the 1st chapter of
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Galatians. I am so glad to be here to
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unpack this with you. Same here.
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Our mission for you today, for the listener, is to unpack
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Paul's fierce defense of the gospel of grace.
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Right, because he is not holding back.
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Not at all. We're going to look closely at
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how his Apostolic authority and his theology are perfectly
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aligned with the Reformed understanding of God's sovereign
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will. Which is such a crucial topic.
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It really is for you listening right now.
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This discussion is about cutting through the noise of human
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works. Yeah, getting rid of all that
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extra baggage. Exactly.
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Wait. I mean precisely.
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It is about locating the pure, undiluted message of
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justification by faith alone. Which sits right at the very
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heart of the Protestant faith and, you know, the Westminster
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Confession. It does.
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So we are starting right at the very first verse of the letter.
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Because you really have to. Yeah, because Paul's tone here
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sets the theological stage for the entire text.
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It does. Usually when Paul writes a
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letter to a church, he begins with a warm commendation.
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Right. He offers pleasantries.
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He thanks God for their faith. Yeah, the typical letter writing
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etiquette of the day. But here in Galatians there are
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no pleasantries. None at all.
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It is straight to business. Think of it like the ancient
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equivalent of a parent calling a child by their first, middle and
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last name. Man, when you hear that, you
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know you are in trouble. You know it is bad.
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OK, so let's unpack this right now.
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Sounds good. Why is Paul so eager to defend
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his title as an apostle right out of the gate, before he even
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gets to the substance of the letter?
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Well, what is fascinating here is the sheer precision of his
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language in that opening sentence.
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OK, and it points directly to the smear campaign his opponents
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were running against. Him, they're really going after
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him, weren't. They Oh, absolutely.
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Paul announces himself as an apostle and immediately says not
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of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father.
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So he is setting the record straight instantly.
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Yes, the Greek prepositions he uses are doing a massive amount
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of heavy lifting to establish his defence here.
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How so? Like what is the specific
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phrasing doing? First, he says his apostleship
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is not of men, and he uses a preposition that denotes the
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original source. Ah, OK, the origin.
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Right. He denies that his office has a
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human derivation. He is not a messenger sent out
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by a committee of men in Jerusalem.
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So it wasn't a board meeting that gave him his title.
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Precisely. Then he says neither by man,
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using a preposition that denotes the channel or the instrument.
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OK, so the method of his appointment.
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Yeah, he was not installed into his office by any human mediator
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laying hands on him. No ordination service by the
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other apostles. Right.
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His authority comes directly through Jesus Christ and God the
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Father. Wow.
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And in the original language, the preposition for through
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applies to both Jesus Christ and God the Father in the same way.
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Oh, that is an interesting detail.
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It is huge. This direct coordination places
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Christ on a level of absolute equality with the Father.
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So he is pushing back against any idea that Jesus was just a
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lesser messenger. Yes, he is asserting Trinitarian
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equality from the very first breath of the letter.
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He is linking the divine source of his calling directly to the
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Godhead. That structural detail is
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striking. I mean, he is wrapping the
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Father and the Son together as the single unified source of his
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calling. Yeah, they are completely
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unified in this action. Essentially telling his critics
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that to question his authority is to question the father and
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the son simultaneously. Which is a bold, bold claim.
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It is, but he also adds a very specific historical detail right
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there in the first verse he does.
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He mentions God the Father who raised him from the dead.
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Right, the resurrection. Usually Paul might say God the
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Father who loves us, or, you know, who created all things.
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It feels like a very deliberate choice.
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It is very deliberate. So why does John Peter Lange's
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commentary suggest Paul brings up the resurrection of Christ at
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this specific moment? Well Lands provides a brilliant
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insight on this specific phrasing.
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God the Father is mentioned as the one who raised Christ from
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the dead because this very act made Paul's immediate calling
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possible. Oh I see, because of the
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Damascus Rd. experience. Yes, Paul is defending his
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status as an apostle equal to the original 12 and the defining
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requirement for an apostle was having seen the risen Lord.
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Right. And Paul did not follow Jesus
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during his earthly ministry. No, he wasn't there.
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He was not there for the Sermon on the Mount or the feeding of
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the 5000. It's just all of that.
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Completely His entire claim to apostleship rests on the fact
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that the resurrected, exalted Christ appeared to him directly
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on the road to Damascus. If that makes total sense.
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So by mentioning the resurrection immediately, he is
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pointing to the historical event that validates his authority.
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Precisely, He was called by the risen Christ.
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It is not just theology, it is his personal resume.
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Yeah, and furthermore, as Langer points out, mentioning the
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resurrection highlights the divine validation of Christ's
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entire redemptive work. God's seal of approval.
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Yes, the Father raising the Son is the Father stamping his seal
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of approval on the sacrifice of the Cross.
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That brings a lot of clarity to verse 4, actually.
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How? So.
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Well, verse 4 highlights the very core of the Reformed faith.
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Paul writes that Christ gave himself for our sins that He
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might deliver us from this present evil world according to
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the will of God and our Father. That is such a packed verse.
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It really is. The Westminster Confession
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teaches that the cross was not an accident, nor was it a backup
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plan. Right, it wasn't Plan B.
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No, it was a divine decree. This is substitutionary
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atonement. Christ took our place.
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He stood in for us. Yeah, but the commentary points
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out that this giving of himself was an act of both high priestly
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sacrifice and perfect obedience to the Father's eternal decree.
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Yes, Lange brings that out beautifully.
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I think we need to break that down.
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How does an expiatory sacrifice actually work in this context?
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That is a great question. And why does it matter that
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Christ is both the priest and the offering?
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Well, if we connect this to the bigger picture of the Old
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Testament sacrificial system, the high priest and the
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sacrifice were always separate. Right.
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The priest is a person, the sacrifice is an animal.
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Yeah. The priest would take an
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unblemished animal, lay his hands on it to symbolize the
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transfer of guilt, and then offer its blood to satisfy the
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wrath of God against sin. OK, so a clear division of
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roles. Exactly.
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That is the mechanism of expiation.
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It is the removal of guilt through the payment of a
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penalty. Got it?
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But, Lange notes, the phrasing Paul uses implies that Christ
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was both the offer and the offered.
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That is mind bending. It is.
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He was the high priest holding the knife, so to speak, and he
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was the I am on the altar, he willingly offered himself.
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He wasn't a victim of circumstance.
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No, not at all, and this is vital for understanding the
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Reformed perspective. OK, break that down for me.
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Well, the work of redemption was accomplished according to the
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will of God and our Father. There was nothing arbitrary in
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the redeeming work of Christ. It was all planned out.
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Yes, it was a God appointed work that rested on the Father's
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decree. Because of this, all human
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scruples about the value of Christ's sacrifice are taken
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away. Meaning we can't doubt if it was
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enough. Right.
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If it was the eternal will of the Father to save us through
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the substitutionary death of His Son, then that salvation is
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completely secure. The father accepts the son's
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offering every single time. Yes, and it cuts off any
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argument from those trying to earn their salvation through
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legalism, which is what the false teachers in Galatia were
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trying to do. Oh, that makes sense, because if
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it's already perfectly handled, you can't add to it.
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Precisely if the father decreed it and the son accomplished it
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perfectly. Human additions are not just
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unnecessary. What are they?
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They are an insult to the finished work.
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An insult? Wow.
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So if the work is finished and the decree is secure, how does
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that translate to the daily life of the listener?
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It changes everything. Well, Paul says Christ gave
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himself to deliver us from this present evil world.
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He does. Sometimes in Christian circle,
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salvation is talked about purely as an evacuation plan.
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You know, getting a ticket to heaven for when you die.
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Just a future hope. Yeah, but this phrasing sounds
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like a present rescue, like we are being delivered right now
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from the ethical corruption and the judgement facing a fallen
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world. Yes, it is very present tense.
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The world is ruined by sin and we are caught in its systems.
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It sounds like Christ sacrifice reaches into our present reality
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and pulls us out of the dominion of that corruption today.
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That is spot on. The deliverance is absolutely
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twofold, OK. Twofold.
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Half. It rescues us from the judgment
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that is coming upon a sinful world.
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But because Christianity is inherently ethical, it also
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frees us from the moral corruption of the world right
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now. We don't have to live in that
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mud anymore. Right.
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The Greek craze for deliver us carries the connotation of being
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rescued from danger, like being pulled out of a raging river.
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Oh, I like that image. Yeah, God's grace is directed
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toward delivering us from destruction, and that carries
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with it a change in how we Live Today.
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Because you aren't drowning anymore.
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Exactly. We are no longer held captive by
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the talent of this present age. The systems, the values and the
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despair of a fallen world no longer have a legitimate claim
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on the believer. Christ's death bought our
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freedom from that present darkness.
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It really did. So if Poles authority is that
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absolute and the atonement is that secure, what on earth could
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possess the Galatians to throw it all away?
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It is baffling, isn't it? It really is.
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And that brings us to the actual crisis on the ground in verses 6
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through 10. The defection.
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Yeah, Paul looks at these believers and says, I marvel
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that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
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grace of Christ unto another gospel.
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He is stunned. He can't believe it.
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They are abandoning the true faith.
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They are defecting, and Paul points out that this different
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gospel isn't actually a gospel at all.
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No, not even close. You know, it is easy to think of
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adding rules to faith as just being extra careful.
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Like a safety net. Yeah, exactly.
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But it is not. It is like a patient trying to
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help a surgeon perform open heart surgery on them.
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Oh, that is a terrifying visual. Right, the patient thinks I'll
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just grab a scalpel and assist. I want to contribute to my
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healing. But they're going to cause a
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disaster. Total disaster.
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The patient's help is the very thing that will kill them on the
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operating table. The Judaizers were coming into
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the church and adding the law to grace.
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But I have to ask, is Paul overreacting here?
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Some people definitely read it that way.
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Because he uses incredibly severe language.
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He even talks about a curse. Yes, the word anathema.
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Yeah, when I read the word anathema it feels like a temper
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tantrum. It feels like Pauls ego is
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bruised because they stopped listening to him.
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I can see why it feels that way to a modern reader.
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It is easy to read it that way. So why isn't it an overreaction?
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Well, if you look at the Old Testament roots of that word, it
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is not about ego at all. It is about a protective
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quarantine. A quarantine.
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Yeah, Anathema translates the Hebrew concept of something
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being devoted to destruction without ransom.
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Oh wow, that is heavy. Think of the city of Jericho in
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the book of Joshua. It was devoted to total
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destruction because it's corruption was an existential
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threat to Israel. So it wasn't just punishment, it
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was containment. Yes, and Paul uses a double
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curse here. He says that even if he himself
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or an Angel from heaven should bring a message contrary to the
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true gospel of grace, that messenger should be a cursed
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anathema. He even curses himself
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conditionally. Right.
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He includes himself in the curse to prove this has nothing to do
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with his personal feelings or his ego.
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That is a great point. He is protecting the objective
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truth of the Gospel, and Lenge points out a crucial detail
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about their apostasy. What does Lamb say?
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Paul describes it as a departure from a person, not just a
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departure from a set of doctrines.
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Not just leaving a school of thought.
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Right. They are turning away from him
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that called you. They are turning away from God
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Himself. That changes the weight of it
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entirely. It is an act of gross
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ingratitude. It is slapping away the hand
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that just rescued them from the raging river.
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The Judaizers were essentially troubling the conscience of the
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believers. They were likely very pious
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sounding people. They probably look like the best
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guys in the room. That's.
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Right. They were whispering that faith
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in Christ was good, but it was not quite enough to secure God's
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favor. Just adding a little bit of fine
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print, yeah. You also needed to observe the
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Jewish ceremonial laws. You needed circumcision.
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You needed the dietary restrictions to show you were
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truly serious. Mixing grace with human effort.
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Which strikes at the very heart of the Westminster Confections
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stance on justification. It does.
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In the Reformed view, justification is an act of God's
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free grace. He pardons all our sins and
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accepts us as righteous in His sight, only for the
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righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith
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alone. Faith alone, that is the key.
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Let's break down that word, imputed mechanically for the
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listener. Sure, if you have a completely
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ruined credit score, zero credit, and a billionaire
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legally transfers his perfect credit score to your name, you
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do not work to maintain it. You couldn't even if you tried.
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Right, it is his score legally credited to your account.
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That is a great analogy. The Judaizers were telling the
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Galatians they still needed to pay off the debt themselves,
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even after the billionaire had cleared the Ledger.
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Which implies the billionaire's payment wasn't sufficient.
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Exactly. Any edition of Human Works ruins
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the grace of the Gospel entirely.
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Yes, because if merit is mixed in, it is no longer grace.
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They cancel each other. Out they do.
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As soon as you say that Christ's sacrifice needs a little bit of
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human help to be effective, you have destroyed the gospel.
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You really have. You have made salvation
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dependent on human flesh. You were telling the billionaire
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that his perfect credit score isn't quite good enough and you
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were going to chip in a few pennies you found in the couch
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cushions to make it truly secure.
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That is just arrogant. It is, and that is why Paul
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pronounces the anathema. These false teachers were
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playing with the eternal destiny of the Galatian believers.
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They were playing with fire. They were leading them away from
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the only source of salvation and back into bondage.
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The curse Paul pronounces is the necessary severity of a shepherd
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defending the flock from wolves. If a wolf is in the sheep pen,
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the shepherd doesn't politely ask it to leave.
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He uses force to eliminate the threat.
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That makes perfect sense. He is protecting the sheep and
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we see this further drawn out in verse 10.
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What does he say there? Paul asks A rhetorical question.
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He says, For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to
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please men? For if I yet pleased men, I
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should not be the servant of Christ.
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That is a sharp question. It is because false teachers
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almost always soften the message to make it palatable to human
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pride. Oh, all the time.
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Human pride wants to contribute to salvation.
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We love a checklist. We want a task list to feel
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accomplished. Yeah, we want to say we earned
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it, even just a fraction of it, so we can boast.
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Exactly. By shutting down all human
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effort, Paul's message is incredibly offensive to human
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pride. Very offensive.
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It's. Harshness.
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His willingness to use the word anathema proves he is a true
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servant of Christ. He subordinates human favor to
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divine truth. A man pleaser fashions his
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doctrine according to the sensibilities of his audience to
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gain their applause. Just telling them what they want
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to hear. Right.
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But a true servant of Christ cares only for the favor of God.
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Paul knows that preaching justification by faith alone,
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without the works of the law, angers those who want to rely on
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their own righteousness. It takes away all their bragging
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rights. It strips away all their
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trophies and their religious resumes.
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If his goal were popularity, he would preach A blended message.
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A little bit of this, a little bit of that.
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Yeah, he would tell the Galatians to believe in Jesus
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and also get circumcised and everyone would be happy.
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No conflict. Right.
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The fact that he refuses to compromise, even at the cost of
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being hated by the Judaizers, authenticates his ministry.
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It proves he's not in it for the applause.
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Exactly. He is acting as a faithful
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steward of the message Christ gave him, knowing that a blended
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message saves no one. So to prove he is not a man
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pleaser who bends to peer pressure or the theological
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trends of the day, Paul provides his own biography in verses 11
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through 17. This part is so fascinating.
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It is he proves his message did not come from human schooling.
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He points out that he was not trained in a Christian seminary.
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Quite the opposite really. Yeah, his past was the exact
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opposite. He was the chief persecutor of
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the Church. He's hunting them down.
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Think about this analogy for a second.
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Imagine a top executive at a mass of tobacco company.
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OK, I am picturing it. For years, his entire life has
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been dedicated to selling cigarettes, lobbying for the
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tobacco industry and destroying the health of millions.
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Right, totally committed to the 'cause.
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He hates anti smoking advocates. Then he wakes up 1 morning and
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suddenly becomes the world's most aggressive anti smoking
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crusader. Just out of nowhere.
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Yeah, he gives away all his money, protests outside his
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former company, and dedicates his life to tearing down the
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very empire he built. People would think he lost his
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mind. It defies human logic entirely.
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You would look at him and say something radical must have
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happened to this man from the outside to cause such a
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reversal. That is a brilliant way to frame
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it, because if we connect this to the bigger picture, Paul's
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former life in Judaism was characterized by extreme zeal
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for ancestral traditions. He was intense.
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He was not just a casual observer of the law.
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He tells the Galatians that he was advancing in Judaism beyond
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many of his own age, being extremely zealous for the
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traditions of his fathers. He was a rising star in that
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system. Very much so.
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And acting on that zeal, he violently persecuted the Church
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of God and tried to destroy it. Not just arguing with them.
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No, he wasn't just debating Christians in the synagogue.
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He was dragging them out of their homes and casting his vote
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for their execution. That is terrifying.
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He was a man actively dismantling the Christian faith
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with lethal force. No human agency could have
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brought about such a sudden and total reversal in his life.
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Someone couldn't just talk him out of it.
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Right. He didn't sit down, read some
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philosophical arguments, and slowly change his mind over a
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cup of coffee. He was stopped in his tracks by
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divine intervention. And that divine intervention is
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described beautifully in verses 15 and 16.
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What does he say there? Paul writes.
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But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
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womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me.
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That is such a powerful statement.
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It is the doctrine of unconditional election painted
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in vivid colors. It really is.
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The Westminster Confession teaches that God from all
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eternity did freely and unchangeably ordained whatsoever
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comes to pass. Paul traces his calling all the
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way back to before he was even born.
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Before he had done anything good or bad.
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Right. It wasn't based on his behavior,
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because his behavior was murderous toward the church.
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It was an act of pure grace. I want to look at the mechanics
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of this sovereign grace for a minute.
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How does this entirely bypass human merit?
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Well, Paul attributes his entire conversion to God's sovereign
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pleasure when it pleased God. Just because God wanted to.
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Yes, this cuts away any ground for boasting his calling was
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entirely independent of his Pharisaic zeal or any foreseen
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merit. God didn't look at his zeal and
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say, oh, I can use that energy. No, not at all.
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God chose him, separated him, and called him by grace.
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The Reformed understanding of election highlights that God
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does not look down the corridors of time to see who will choose
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him and then elect them based on that foreseen faith.
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Because if he looked down the corridor at Paul.
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Right. If God had looked at Paul's
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future, he would have seen a man breathing threats and murder
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against the disciples. Nothing worth choosing there.
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Exactly. Instead, election is
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unconditional. It arises solely from the
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counsel of God's own will. That is so humbling.
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It highlights the vast difference between his former
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walk and his new calling. His former walk was heading
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toward destruction, even though it looked highly religious to
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the outside world. Wow, that is a scary thought.
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Religious but heading for destruction?
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His new calling was a sheer gift, an apprehension by the
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grace of God. But notice the phrasing Paul
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uses about the revelation. He says God chose to reveal his
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Son within me. That specific wording is very
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significant. Wait, I need some clarity here
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because the book of Acts describes a massive blinding
21:35
light on the road to Damascus. It does a huge external event.
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An outward vision, a literal voice from heaven that knocked
21:43
him to the ground. But here, Paul says the
21:45
revelation was within him, right?
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Why does he focus on the internal aspect of the event
21:49
here instead of the dramatic external fireworks?
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Because the outward vision on the Damascus Rd. led to a
21:55
massive internal illumination. OK, so the outside triggered the
21:59
inside. Yes, and without the internal
22:01
work, the outward vision would have just been a terrifying
22:03
anomaly. He just would have been blinded
22:05
and scared. Exactly.
22:06
The outward event, the blinding light and the voice of the risen
22:09
Christ was the objective reality.
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But for Paul to become an apostle, that objective reality
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had to penetrate his stone heart.
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Oh. I see.
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His spiritual eyes had to be open to see that the Jesus he
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was persecuting was the glorious Son of God.
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That requires internal work. The revelation within speaks to
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the subjective conviction, the breaking down of his legalistic
22:32
pride, and the imparting of the gospel of grace directly to his
22:36
Spirit. So the physical scales falling
22:38
from his eyes and acts was just a picture of what happened in
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his heart. Precisely.
22:43
The scales didn't just fall from his physical eyes, they fell
22:46
from his heart. It wasn't just data he received,
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it was the person of Christ taking up residence in his heart
22:52
through faith. That is incredible.
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And this inward revelation was specifically tied to his
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purpose, he says. It was that I might preach him
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among the heathen. And that purpose led him to take
23:04
a very unusual path. He certainly did.
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After this radical conversion, Paul says he did not immediately
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confer with flesh and blood. He didn't go up to Jerusalem to
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get his credentials stamped by Peter or James or John.
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Which is what you would expect. Yeah, you would think a new
23:18
convert would immediately seek out the leaders of the movement.
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Instead, he went into Arabia. Arabia.
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Why Arabia? Why actively avoid the very
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people who were the established leaders of the faith he just
23:30
joined? Well, this detail is crucial for
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Paul's argument against the Judaizers.
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He is establishing his absolute independence from flesh and
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blood. To prove he is not a secondhand
23:41
apostle, Yes. By avoiding Jerusalem, he is
23:44
proving that he did not receive his gospel from the senior
23:47
apostles. He wasn't their student.
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He didn't go to them for a theological training course to
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figure out what Christianity was all about.
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Arabia was a theological wilderness.
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Just him and God. Right.
23:58
Lange and other scholars point out the symbolic and historical
24:01
weight of Arabia. It is the region of Mount Sinai
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where the law was given to Moses.
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Oh wow, I never thought about that connection.
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There's a striking poetic irony here.
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Paul, the former zealot of the law, goes to the very
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geographical birthplace of the law.
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That is amazing. It was a time of quiet
24:19
preparation and direct communion with God.
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It parallels the experiences of Moses and Elijah at Sinai.
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So he is basically going to the source.
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Yes, he was receiving his instruction directly from the
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Lord, validating his claim that his gospel came through
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revelation from Jesus Christ, not from any human source.
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He went to the mountain of the law to receive the revelation of
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grace. That is a great way to put it.
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That geographical detour speaks volumes about his confidence in
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the divine source of his calling.
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He didn't need a human certificate of approval.
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Right. He didn't need human validation
24:53
because the calling from God was so clear and authoritative.
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Exactly. We move down to verses 18, 19
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through 24, where Paul provides a very specific timeline to
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further validate his claim that his authority is equal to the
25:06
original 12. He gives us the dates in the
25:08
itinerary. He does.
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He writes that he waited three whole years before finally
25:12
visiting Jerusalem, and when he did go, he only stayed for 15
25:16
days. That is a very short trip.
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It is. So what does this all mean for
25:19
us? For the listener trying to grasp
25:21
the weight of this letter? Why does Paul provide this
25:24
precise itinerary to the Galatian believers?
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What is actually at stake Stake in these historical details?
25:30
What is at stake is the source of the Gospel itself.
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OK, unpack that. If Paul's gospel was learned
25:37
from Peter, then the Judaizers might argue that Paul
25:41
misunderstood Peter, or that Peter's authority superseded
25:44
Paul's. So they can say don't listen to
25:47
Paul, listen to the guys who taught Paul.
25:49
Yes, exactly, and therefore the Galatians should listen to the
25:52
Judaizers who came from Jerusalem.
25:54
But by giving this timeline, Paul destroys that argument.
25:58
Because the timeline doesn't support a student teacher
26:00
relationship. No, not at all.
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Three years is a long time to preach without consulting the
26:05
leaders in Jerusalem. He was already fully formed in
26:08
his theology before he even met them.
26:10
Right, and when he finally does go, a 15 day visit is barely
26:14
enough time for a networking visit, let alone a theological
26:17
master's degree under Peter. That is a good point.
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You can't learn an entire religious system in two weeks.
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No, you can't. During those 15 days, he met
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Cephas, which is Peter and James, the Lord's brother.
26:29
He saw no one else. Just a very private meeting,
26:32
yeah. Imagine those dinners, the
26:34
tension of the former persecutor sitting across from the lead
26:37
apostle. That must have been intense.
26:39
But they weren't master and student.
26:40
They were comparing notes on the grace that had apprehended them
26:43
both. Recognizing each other as
26:45
equals, yes. Paul even makes a solemn oath
26:48
about this short duration. He says, Now the things which I
26:52
write unto you, Behold, before God I lie not.
26:56
He is swearing an oath on his travel schedule.
26:58
Right, which shows how aggressively his opponents were
27:00
smearing his reputation. They really must have been
27:03
spreading lies about. Him.
27:04
They must have been telling the Galatians that Paul was just a
27:07
rogue pupil of the Jerusalem apostles, distorting the message
27:11
he was taught and lying about his independence.
27:13
Solange's commentary highlights that Paul is established
27:16
publishing full peer status with the original 12.
27:19
He absolutely is. He respects Peter, you know,
27:22
going to make his acquaintance, but he does not submit to him as
27:25
a pupil, to a master. He goes as an equal called by
27:29
the same Lord. That is right, He is a fellow
27:31
apostle, and the inclusion of James, the Lord's brother is an
27:35
interesting historical note. Because James wasn't one of the
27:37
12. Right.
27:38
While James was not one of the original 12 apostles, he held
27:41
immense authority in the Jerusalem church.
27:44
So Paul mentioned seeing him to show unity.
27:46
To show that his Gospel of grace was in total harmony with the
27:50
leaders of the Mother Church, yet independently derived.
27:54
Harmony, but not dependency. Exactly.
27:57
And after the short visit, he goes away again, this time to
28:00
the regions of Syria and Silesia, far from the
28:03
ecclesiastical center of Jerusalem.
28:05
Back into the field to work. Yes.
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And he notes something fascinating about his time
28:09
there. He says he was unknown by face
28:12
unto the churches of Judea, which were in Christ.
28:16
They didn't know him at all. The local Christian
28:18
congregations in the region around Jerusalem didn't even
28:20
know what he looked like. They had never heard him preach
28:23
in person. He was a ghost to them.
28:24
They only heard a rumor. The rumor was he which
28:27
persecuted us in times past now preach at the faith which when
28:32
she destroyed. What a rumor to hear about the
28:34
guy who used to hunt you. Right.
28:36
He was a living miracle to them, a walking proof of the sheer
28:40
force of God's intervening grace.
28:42
This brings us back to the Reformed perspective
28:44
beautifully. Look at verse 24.
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OK, what does it say? Paul concludes this
28:49
autobiographical section by saying And they glorified God in
28:53
me. They glorify God, not Paul.
28:56
Right. Think about the Westminster
28:57
Shorter Catechism. It asks what is the chief end of
29:01
man? The answer is man's chief end is
29:04
to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.
29:07
Exactly. The Judean Christians did this
29:10
perfectly when they heard about Paul's conversion.
29:13
They did not praise Paul. They didn't talk about how smart
29:15
he was to figure it out. No, they did not praise his
29:18
intellect, his willpower or his sudden change of heart.
29:21
They knew Paul's previous character.
29:23
They knew he was dangerous. They knew he was a relentless
29:26
persecutor who could not be persuaded by human logic.
29:30
They recognized that only a sovereign act of God could
29:33
change such a man. So the credit had to go to God.
29:36
Therefore they gave all the glory to God for His sovereign
29:39
intervening grace. They didn't applaud the man.
29:42
They worshipped the God who conquered the man.
29:44
That is the ultimate proof of his message, isn't it?
29:47
The true gospel, the gospel of grace without the works of the
29:51
law, always results in God getting all the glory.
29:55
Always. If human works are added, human
29:58
beings get a share of the glory. We get to pat ourselves on the
30:01
back for adding our little pennies to the billionaire's
30:03
account. We love to take credit.
30:05
But when salvation is entirely by the grace of God, from
30:08
election to conversion to final deliverance, God alone is
30:12
glorified. Yes, he gets it.
30:14
All the Galatians were being tempted to turn to a system
30:17
where they could boast in their own flesh.
30:19
A system of checklists and rules.
30:20
Yeah, but Paul's life story stands as a monument to the
30:24
opposite principle. God takes the chief of sinners,
30:28
the greatest enemy of the Church, and by pure grace makes
30:31
him its most vocal messenger. It is a stunning reversal, and
30:35
Paul's narrative forces the Galatians and really anyone
30:38
listening to this text, to confront a serious question.
30:41
Are we relying on our own efforts, our own assurance to
30:44
rules and traditions to secure our standing before God?
30:48
Yeah, because if we do that, we are falling away from grace.
30:51
We are turning to a different gospel that cannot save.
30:54
We are adding water to the gas tank.
30:56
Exactly. Paul's fierce defense of his
30:59
authority is not about his ego. It is about protecting the
31:03
purity of the message that sets captives free.
31:06
The law condemns, but grace saves.
31:09
Yes, the anathema is pronounced on anyone who tries to rebuild
31:13
the prison of legalism after Christ has already torn the
31:16
doors off the hinges. That is a brilliant way to state
31:19
it. So for you, the listener, if
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God's electing grace can apprehend the church's greatest
31:24
enemy, bypassing all human instruction to make him its most
31:27
vocal messenger, Yeah. Where in your own life might you
31:31
be relying heavily on the validation of flesh and blood?
31:34
Where are you seeking the approval of men rather than
31:37
trusting the direct intervening grace of God?
31:39
Those are hard questions to ask ourselves.
31:41
They are, but they are so necessary.
31:43
Think back to our opening thought.
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If God the Father has called you by name, if He has drawn you to
31:48
Himself through the substitutionary sacrifice of His
31:51
Son, human validation is secondary.
31:53
Completely secondary. Do not grab the scalpel.
31:56
Do not try to help the surgeon. Rest completely in the pure,
31:59
undiluted message of justification by faith alone.