Galatians 1:10 - Meaning and Application

Paul now goes on to explain more fully what he had already said in the opening of this letter. He had called himself an apostle of Christ, and here he gives a stronger defense of that claim. Some people in the Galatian churches had begun to question him, because teachers who pushed the ceremonial law tried to weaken Paul’s influence. Paul preached the pure gospel to Gentiles, so he answers their attacks by showing that both his calling and his message came from God.

He first points to the purpose of his ministry. He says he was not trying to please people, but God. This can mean that he did not preach under human authority, but under God’s call and command. It can also mean that his aim was to lead people to obey God, not human leaders. In either sense, his heart was set on God’s glory and on turning sinners back to Him.

Because of that aim, Paul did not adjust his message to suit people’s tastes. He did not soften the truth to win approval or avoid trouble. The Jewish-Christian teachers who troubled these churches mixed works with faith and the law with the gospel to stay on good terms with the Jews and avoid persecution. Paul was different. He would not change Christ’s message to gain favor or escape anger.

He says plainly that if he were still trying to please people, he would not be Christ’s servant. He knew the two things could not go together. No one can serve two masters in that way. He did not needlessly offend anyone, but he would not trade faithfulness to Christ for human approval. In this, he shows that his work came from sincere motives and proves that he was truly Christ’s apostle.

From this, we learn that gospel ministers should aim to bring people to God. We also learn that faithful ministers will seek God’s approval rather than people’s praise. If they want to remain true servants of Christ, they must not make it their business to please men.

If that were not enough, Paul gives another proof of his apostleship. He says that the gospel he preached did not come to him through other people, but by revelation from heaven. An apostle, in the strict sense, was someone called and taught directly by Christ Himself. Paul says he was not lacking in this at all, no matter what his enemies claimed. Ordinary ministers receive their call and much of their instruction through others, but Paul received both his knowledge of the gospel and his authority to preach it directly from the Lord Jesus.

To support this, he reminds them of his earlier life. He had been raised in the Jewish religion and had advanced beyond many of his own age among his own people. He was deeply devoted to the traditions of the elders, that is, the teachings and customs handed down by earlier generations. In his zeal for those traditions, he had violently persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. He was not only against Christianity, despite its clear proof of coming from God, but actively worked to wipe it out.

Paul often mentions this because it shows the riches of God’s grace. It highlights the great change God worked in him, turning a fierce persecutor into a sincere believer and an apostle. It also matters here because it shows he did not come to Christianity merely by education. He had been trained in open opposition to it. So the change in him must have been something remarkable, strong enough to overcome his deep prejudice and lead him not only to believe, but to preach, the very truth he once fought against.

He then explains how he was turned from error, brought to faith in Christ, and set apart for apostleship. This did not happen in an ordinary way or through ordinary means. God had set him apart from his mother’s womb. That means the change in Paul was part of God’s purpose for him from before he was born, before he had done any good or evil. He was also called by God’s grace. All who are truly converted are called by grace, because their conversion flows from God’s good will and power. But Paul’s case was special because the change was sudden, great, and brought about directly by Christ’s own appearance and action, without human help as the means.

Paul also says that God revealed His Son in him. Christ was not only revealed to him, but in him. It is of little value for Christ to be shown to us unless He is also made known within us. In Paul’s case, God opened his heart to know Christ and His gospel by a special and direct revelation.

Paul says that God appointed him not only to believe in Christ, but also to preach Christ among the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations. So he was both a Christian and an apostle by direct revelation from God. After God called him, he did not first look for human approval or ask people what he should do.

The point here is that Paul did not consult flesh and blood, meaning he did not go to other people for advice or direction. He did not go up to Jerusalem right away to the apostles who had been there before him, as if he needed their permission or further teaching. Instead, he went into Arabia, either for a time of quiet so he could receive more revelation from God, or to preach the gospel there among the Gentiles, since he had been chosen as the apostle to the Gentiles. From there he returned to Damascus, where he had first started his ministry and from which he had escaped his enemies with great difficulty (Acts 9).

It was not until three years after his conversion that he went to Jerusalem to see Peter. Even then, he stayed only fifteen days, and he did not spend much time talking with the other apostles. He saw no one except James, the Lord’s brother. So no one could fairly say that Paul learned the gospel from the apostles or got his authority to preach from them. His gifts and his call to the apostolic office were clearly special and given by God.

Because this account was important, both to defend his right to this office and to correct the false claims of his opponents, Paul confirms it with a solemn oath (Gal 1:20). He speaks as one standing before God and says that what he has told them is completely true. This does not mean we should make such appeals to God for every small matter, but it does show that in serious matters, this can be right and even necessary.

After that, Paul says that he went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. After his brief visit to Peter, he returned to his work. At that time, he had no contact with the churches of Christ in Judea, and they had not even seen him in person. But when they heard that the man who once persecuted them was now preaching the faith he had tried to destroy, they glorified God because of him. Many gave thanks to God for this great change, and the news of it filled them with joy and led them to praise God.