08. Independent of Judean Churches - 1:18-24
Independent of Judean Churches - 1:18-24
“Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to make acquaintance with Peter, and I remained with him fifteen days …” (1:18) The fourth point is that after three years Paul went up to Jerusalem. The time had come for him to go there. He had been formed by God and God felt it was the right time that he should go to Jerusalem to visit Cephas (the Aramaic name for Peter). Why did Paul feel the need to visit Peter? Peter had opened the door for the Gentiles (Acts 10:1-48) the Lord had used him, but now Paul was in preparation as the vessel to be used by the Lord extensively among the Gentiles and so there needed to be this communication. Paul went to see Cephas to explain to him what had happened to him. We find more details of Paul’s conversion in Acts 9:1-43. When Paul came back to Jerusalem, about three years after his conversion, Barnabas introduced him to the believers, but what is mentioned here is important in connection with Paul’s ministry. He was going to work among the Gentiles and so he needed to be in touch with the one whom God had used to open the door for the Gentiles. It was not that Paul needed a crash course from Peter to tell him what to do, not at all, it was to have fellowship with him, and so that Peter could discern whether Paul’s mission, the things that he wanted to do, was correct or not. Peter would have time enough to correct him in the fifteen days Paul was in Jerusalem, if that would have been needed, but it was not long enough to train him for this mission. God had trained him during those three years in Arabia. This is an important point.
“…but I saw none other of the apostles, but James the brother of the Lord.” (1:19)
Paul did not see the other apostles but he saw Peter and then James, who is also seen as an apostle in this sense. This is important and we will see more about this in chapter 2 in connection with the council at Jerusalem as recorded in Acts 15:1-41. Seeing none of the other apostles except James proves that he was not sent by the ‘board of apostles’to Syria. It is very clear that that was not the case. He only saw Peter and James, who was then also considered an apostle (but in James’case, he was apostle of a different order, sometimes called ‘second class,’which means apostles who, like James, had seen the risen Lord, or even the glorified and exalted Lord, as Paul did (Acts 9:1-43), but who had not been with Him from John the Baptist all through His ministry till His death and resurrection).
“Now what I write to you, behold, before God, I do not lie.” (1:20) This is a little parenthesis. Why does Paul say this? There had been false teachers among the Galatians and their only way to attack Paul was for them to question his apostleship, they questioned whether Paul was a real apostle. That is why Paul emphasized so much his divine call, “an apostle not from man, nor through man”(1:1) and this is why he gave so many historic details, so that they would understand what God had done and what had happened to him.
“Then I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.” (1:21) This is the sixth point. Paul went into the regions of Syria. The brethren sent him away to Caesarea (Acts 9:30) and then he went to Cilicia. We do not know anything about these areas from the book of Acts except that Paul went through them on his journey. So before Barnabas went out to call him in Acts 11:1-30 Paul had worked there from Acts 9:1-43 to the end of Acts 11:1-30, although we do not know exactly how much time that was, and probably assemblies had been formed because we have references to assemblies there, for example, in Acts 15:23, we read, “And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia.”So Paul worked in Cilicia, and there were assemblies formed.
“But I was unknown personally to the assemblies of Judea which are in Christ; only they were hearing that he who persecuted us formerly now announces the glad tidings of the faith which formerly he ravaged …” (1:23)
Paul was now working in Cilicia, in the region of Syria, and the report came back to Judea that the one who was persecuting in past times was now preaching the faith which he once sought to destroy. Where was he doing that, in Judea? No, he was doing that in Syria and Cilicia and when Barnabas went out to find him (Acts 11:1-30) he left that field of service and went to Antioch and from there he started his first so-called missionary journey, in Acts 13:1-52.
“…and they glorified God in me.” (1:24) This is beautiful. Here we see how Paul was now a vessel of praise. That is the last part of this seventh point, now Paul was an instrument of God, and as the instrument he was now a vessel of praise.