Living by Faith - Galatians

Paul’s Calling

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Living by Faith

Lesson: 3-19

Genre: Talk

Track: 03

Dictation Name: Tape 02A

Location/Venue:

Year: ?

Let us worship God. Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. God is a Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit, and in truth. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God, whose grace has been poured out unto us, and whose mercies and blessings are new every morning, we give thanks unto Thee that Thou art ever near, that we are never alone, that we have the certainty of Thy government and of Thy grace. And so our Father we come to Thee, mindful of how rich we are in Christ, rejoicing that Thou art our God. Fill us oh Lord, with Thy grace and wisdom, to make us strong in Thy service and faithful in all that we do, to the end that the ends of the world might know that Thou art God, and might serve Thee and obey Thee with all their heart, mind, and being. Bless us to this purpose, in Jesus name, amen.

Our scripture is from Galatians 1:11-24, and our subject: Paul’s Calling. Galatians 1:11-24.

“11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and wasted it:

14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers.

15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,

16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.

19 But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.

20 Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.

21 Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;

22 And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:

23 But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.

24 And they glorified God in me.”

Earlier in verse 2 of this chapter, Paul began by making clear that the brethren, that is, the other leaders in the churches, are with me in what he has to say. Now he begins to recount some personal history, and his purpose is to make it clear that he speaks by the direct, inspired authority of Jesus Christ. His calling is by revelation. Paul tells us that on occasion he was ready to listen to the counsel of other apostles, as in Acts 21:15-26, but he knows how great his commission is to carry the gospel to the gentiles, and set forth the truth of God.

As a result, Paul speaks from God. On occasion he criticizes Peter and also James and Barnabas, and it is clear as we shall see subsequently, that they accepted his rebuke. But Paul at the same time acknowledges the power of Peter’s work. Paul thus makes clear his independent authority, and his respect for the position and authority of others. We have to recognize that while Paul is as he makes clear an apostle apart from the original company of apostles, he is something more. Paul asserts his prophetic apostleship. He is both an apostle, and in a very real sense, comparable to the Old Testament prophets. The Old Testament prophets spoke directly from God; they were under neither the high priest or the king. They came to all whom they spoke and said: “Thus saith the Lord.”

Paul is familiar with his prophetic power. He knows the Old Testament, and he makes clear that he is in this same tradition. He is a New Testament prophet, he is one whom Christ calls directly and immediately, and one who speaks directly from God with God’s authority. The other apostles had walked with our Lord; they knew what He had to say, and wrote down in the gospels what He had to say, and in their few letters they also expressed what our Lord had taught them. The only apostle who at any time had a prophetic role was John in Revelation, and there he speaks as a prophet, but his other writings are apostolic. Paul speaks as a prophetic apostle, as an apostle and a prophet.

Thus he tells the Galatians, they are face to face with God’s man in his person, that he is one who is chosen and called by Revelation. Galatia was predominately a Gentile province, and so in speaking to the Galatians he refers to the Jews religion twice, using the terminology that would be common to the pagans. It is outside the experience of many of them, even though they have been subjected to Judaizers from Jerusalem.

There are many people who have spent much time trying to work out the chronology that Paul gives here, and trying to fit it in with Acts and other writings of the New Testament. I shall not deal with the chronology of the three years and the fourteen years to which he refers subsequently, in Galatians 2:1, for two reasons; first, it is not an area where I have any confidence, and second we are concerned primarily with the message of Paul, its relevance to our world today. And so, the chronology is not our concern except superficially.

But he does make a very important point concerning authority, and that is relevant to us. For example, in Acts 23 we see an interesting episode. At the beginning of Acts we see that Paul was sent out by the Sanhedrin with authority to persecute Christians, which he did. He had them arrested, he was responsible for their death in many cases. There was a human legitimacy in what he did, he never denied it. Paul was never the enemy of legitimate authority, but he also recognized that there was a higher authority than all human authorities, that human authority could be used for evil. And yet within bounds you were to respect that human authority, even as you fought against it, even as you tried to bring about justice in a situation of injustice.

There is a very telling bit of evidence of this in Acts 23:1-5. There we read: “23 And Paul, earnestly beholding the council,” (this was at the time of his arrest in Jerusalem) “said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.

2 And the high priest Ananias commanded them that stood by him to smite him on the mouth.

3 Then said Paul unto him, God shall smite thee, thou whited wall: for sittest thou to judge me after the law, and commandest me to be smitten contrary to the law?

4 And they that stood by said, Revilest thou God's high priest?

5 Then said Paul, I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.”

Now this is a tremendously important episode, because it tells us so much about Paul. First, the High Priest was doubly lawless. He had ordered Paul to be struck, contrary to Roman law, and contrary to Old Testament law. According to Roman law, no Roman citizen could be in any way abused or struck until he were convicted, and they knew Paul was a Roman prisoner, that fact was established at the time of his arrest; and yet the High Priest ordered him to be struck. But this is not all. Biblical law forbids any such mistreatment of a person, and of course Nicodemus in John 7:51 made this clear when in one instance the court was getting out of hand, and he said: “Doth our law judge any man before it hear him, and know what he doeth?” In other words, even to make a statement of implied judgement was forbidden, let alone to strike a man. The high priest was thus clearly lawless. He acted in contempt of the law he was required to uphold.

But Paul’s response is very significant, and it tells us a great deal about Paul and his high order of intelligence, to the statement: “Revilest thou God’s high priest?” He says immediately: “I did not know he was the high priest.” After all, it was seventeen years since he had had any first hand knowledge of Jerusalem and of the temple, and of the internal affairs. Fourteen years before he had been there for just a brief visit, three days; or rather, fifteen days. Now he was there with no knowledge of what had transpired. When Paul broke with Phariseeism, he dropped everything in the way of keeping in touch with it. So Paul here was ignorant of the situation there, ignorant of who the high priest was, and since this was not a ceremonial temple occasion, the high priest was not robed. Paul thus did not know.

And so, his response was: “I wist not, brethren, that he was the high priest: for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people.” he quotes Exodus 22:28, the law. He makes clear that: “I keep the law, even if you, Ananias, do not.” He thus rebukes the High Priest with lawfulness, but it is still an apology. He does not say that his statement was wrong, he does not retract it; but rather that he was in error in making it; a very subtle and important distinction. All authorities can err, but we do not have the freedom to correct them at will. No human authority is absolute, but it is still authority, and dissent must be legitimate, it must be orderly.

Paul then very subtly divided the council by calling attention to the fact: “Men and brethren, I am here because I believe in the resurrection from the dead.” Well, immediately the whole Sanhedrin divided. The Sadducees, skeptical of any such thing, the Pharisees dedicated to a belief in the resurrection from the dead, and since they were in the minority on the council, they were ready on any occasion to frustrate the Sadducees. And so they proceeded to divide the council, to create a division over that.

Paul with subtlety turned the council against itself. In verse 14, Paul says that he had profited in the Jews religion “above many mine equals in mine own nation.” That is, he had advanced in it. For a relatively young man he was close to the top. He was perhaps a member of the Sanhedrin. Some have questioned that because of his age, but he says he cast his vote against Steven, and for Steven’s execution, which would indicate that he was a member, that he had the voting power. Thus his conversion was a major shock in Israel, it explains the continuing hostility to Paul.

Now in these verses, 11-24 which we are considering, Paul is thus citing his character as an Israelite of great importance, one learned in the faith and a foe to the Christians. He then cites his conversion and his call; then he says he did not confer with flesh and blood, he did not go up to Jerusalem after his conversion, but into Arabia, and then returned to Damascus. Three years later he went to Jerusalem for fifteen days to meet with Peter, and he saw none other of the church leaders except James, the brother of our Lord. Paul regarded Peter and James as two very important men in the church, he meets with them as an equal. In 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 Paul tells us that Christ in his resurrection appearances, besides appearing to various groups of peoples, appeared to individuals by themselves. Peter, James, and Paul. Those three. Thus these three have a place of note.

Again, we see something of Paul’s status in Galatians 2:1-2, he tells us that 14 years later he went up to Jerusalem, for the council of Jerusalem, and he went up by revelation because God required him to. He had no relationship with Jerusalem before, because God did not want it, apparently. His calling was unique.

In verse 23-24, Paul tells the Galatians what they very well knew, that the churches which had once feared Paul now glorified God in him, their former persecutor was now an apostle. These churches never doubted the genuineness and integrity of Paul’s calling and preaching, and the Galatians knew and Paul was letting them know, that he knew they knew they had received only good from him. Paul stresses the fact that his calling is unique; not his gospel. He is preaching what everyone else is preaching. But God has called him to set forth the ramifications of it, the implications of it. The Lord had kept Paul from Jerusalem and from the others to enable him to grow, and to see the faith in terms not only of the Jewish perspective, but of the Greco Roman world. Paul was ably prepared for that by being both a learned Israelite, and a Roman citizen; a former leader in Jerusalem, and a person of prominence as a Roman.

Paul thus was prepared by God for a unique role. We cannot do without Paul, nor have we yet caught up with him. Peter in 2 Peter 3:15-16, speaks of the wisdom given to Paul. Now it is ironic that so many seminary professors try to point to some fancied quarrel between Peter and Paul; and Peter and Paul and James, all of which is fiction. There is no evidence of it. We shall see next week and the week after that at Antioch Paul rebuked Peter one occasion, and Peter took it; but there was no quarrel, no conflict between them. Peter tells us in his letter that Paul has a particular wisdom from God. He calls Paul: “Our beloved brother” and he says: “Many wrest Paul’s words, as they do the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” Now that is strong language. What Peter says is a promise, a declaration of judgment that God will bring to everyone if they misinterpret Paul. In other words, misinterpret Paul, and you will destroy yourself.

As our Lord says of all scripture, the scripture cannot be broken. The word ‘broken’ means we cannot loosen the full force of any word of God, and that includes what Peter says about Paul. To misinterpret him is to invoke the sure judgement of God.

So Paul has the witness of Peter as to his importance in the faith. And now, Paul writing to the Galatians makes clear that he is a prophet and an apostle, and they will either hear him or be judged by God. Let us pray.

Our Lord and our God, we thank Thee for Thy word given to us by Thy prophets and apostles of old, and we thank Thee oh Lord that Thy word comes with blessing as well as with judgement; and we pray that Thy people may heed the warnings, that they may be spared destruction, and that they may proclaim the word given unto us, to the end that the world may hear and believe, and that the nations might know that Thou art the Lord. Guide us in the way of faithfulness and of blessing, and deliver us in the time of judgement, and make us strong by Thy word and Spirit. In Jesus name, amen.

Are there any questions now about our lesson? Yes?

[Audience Member] Well the difference of Jew and Gentile still continues to be a subject of dispute, and I heard Jerry Falwell the other day on Newspeak, who was asked by the interviewer, the interviewer quoted Falwell in one of his (preachments?) saying that there was no salvation outside of Jesus, and the interviewer said: “How do you reconcile, how do you avoid the charge that this is a statement injurious to the Jewish people?” and Falwell said: “Well, the Orthodox Rabbi’s tell their people that the Messiah is yet to come, that Jesus was not the Messiah. Is that an injury to us, and why don’t you ask me that question?”

[Rushdoony] Yes, and now we have a concerted campaign which was even noted in some television reviewers column, to make us believe in the glories of India and their religion, and to break down our bigotry and our refusal to see Hinduism as a means of salvation. Now this is the kind of thing we are subjected to, attempts to prove that we are bigots because we take very seriously our faith. And of course, one of the recent history book club selections deals with American Indians and their supposed barbarism, and how actually they were superior, and a few hundred Englishmen recognized that and joined the Indian tribes. We are getting this from all sides, and it is anti-Christianity par excellence.

[Audience Member] Even in the church they are coming into that, like for instance remember (?) from Australia? I mean, he was so strong on justification by faith and teaching that, and now he has come around saying that from all the religions they could be saved. Now this is the come around that he has come to, and it is interesting how he is into it. I have a tape, what was the Navigator reunion, and I met a couple there who, you would think they were really scriptural and so forth, and yet they were sharing, just privately not publicly, that everybody in the whole world eventually will be saved, and that all these different religions, eventually they are going to come around to Jesus Christ. And so I asked them, “Where do you have scriptural grounds?” So I went to their room and they tried to explain to me, and I went to scripture and completely nullified everything they brought up, but then they gave me some tapes by one of the Christian leaders in the east coast, I have forgotten his name right now, I have the tape; and they said: “Listen to this!” And it was just terrible, he is propagating this, and it is a movement that is going on.

[Rushdoony] Well, (Brince Meed?) and his associates began by abandoning and speaking evil, literally, of God’s law. And step by step they have moved away from a Christian faith to one which is really unrelated to Christianity.

[Audience Member] I wonder if this is a reaction because he was seventh day Adventist; the law was so dead to them that as a reaction he is going in the opposite direction?

[Rushdoony] No, it’s sin. It’s sin. Wanting their own way.

[Audience Member] I know, but I’m just wondering…

[Rushdoony] I don’t think so, I think from start to finish the root of it is sin, because it is a way of saying: “My will be done.” That is what all humanism amounts to. Any other questions or comments?

Well, if not let us bow our heads in prayer. All glory be to Thee God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. We thank Thee that Thy government circumscribes all creation, all things great and small, and that Thy purposes are altogether righteous, holy, and perfect. We thank Thee our Father that it is Thy purpose that shall be accomplished, and that in Thy sovereign grace Thou hast made us part of it.

And now go in peace, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, bless you and keep you.