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Ambassador Baptist Church
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   You Are Here: Bridge / Galley / Pastor's Pen / Pathways through Paul, Vol 2
Pathways through Paul, Vol 2 Daily Devotional
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Pathways Through Paul, Vol 2
Daily Devotional

January 8
Click on verses for Full Scripture
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Today's Pathway:


 Galatians 1:15-19
  1. But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
  2. To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:
  3. Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
  4. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
  5. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.

His Majesty's Service

 Yesterday we saw the tremendous change that God made in the life of Paul. Now in verses 16-17 Paul states that after his calling he did not consult with any other person concerning the doctrine that he was to preach. Acts 9 gives us a timeline for what took place after Paul's conversion. He was led into Damascus and was there for three days (Acts 9:10), then Ananias came to see him (Acts 9:17). His sight was restored, he was baptized, and he stayed with the believers there for "many days" (Acts 9:23). During that time he preached in the Jewish synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God (Acts 9:20) and that He is the Christ (Acts 9:22). At that point the Jewish leaders desired to kill him, so the Christians lowered him over the wall in a basket and he escaped (Acts 9:25). Acts 9:26 then speaks of Paul going to Jerusalem. However, there is a three year gap between verse 25 and 26. It is during this gap that the events of Galatians 1:16-17 take place.

 Little is known about what transpired during this time, for neither Acts nor Paul's epistles speak of it except in today's passage. What we know is that Paul did not seek the advice of any teacher in Damascus. Paul had been taught the Law by the Pharisee Gamaliel (Acts 22:3), but no man in Damascus taught him any New Testament theology. Donald Campbell commented,

"Paul had emphasized that he did not receive his message from men before the time of his conversion. Now he affirmed that he was free from human influences afterward as well. Though Paul met other Christians he did not consult them on doctrine."
He also did not go to Jerusalem to be instructed by the apostles who were leading the church there. Instead, he went into Arabia, and after being there for a while returned to Damascus.

 We do not know how his time was divided between Arabia and Damascus. We know that the combined time spent in those two places was three years. We also do not know the specifics of what took place while Paul was in Arabia. We know what the results were however. As one preacher stated,

"Paul went into Arabia with his salvation and came out with the New Testament."
It is important to remember that Paul is telling the Galatians this because they need to understand that the Gospel that he preached was not simply a message of his own creation, or something that he had heard others teach, but was something that he had been given directly by God Himself. Since it had been given to him by God, the Galatians should believe it and not be swayed by the teachings of the Judaizers or anyone else.

 So after the three years were concluded, Paul went to Jerusalem. Acts 9:26-27 reads,

"And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus."
The believers feared him because of his reputation as an enemy of Christianity, but Barnabas had heard Paul preach in Damascus and led the disciples to accept him. After that Paul met with Peter. That must have been a very interesting fifteen days! Peter was probably telling Paul about his three years of walking with Jesus, while Paul was telling Peter about the doctrine and instructions that he had received privately from the Lord. By the way, isn't it interesting that both the disciples and Paul spent the same amount of time with the Lord? This is another evidence that Paul's "apostleship" was not inferior to that of the original disciples. Paul then adds that he saw James, but no other apostle.

 Paul's doctrine is God's doctrine. The Galatians needed to believe it, and so do we.

Pastor Mark J Montgomery

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1926 Babcock Blvd
Pittsburgh, PA 15209
(412)477-3210
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