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From the Church on the Hill by D. Eric Williams Pastor, Cottonwood Community Church pastor@CottCommChurch.com Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.”And they glorified God in me (Galatians 1:21-24). At this point in our survey, it is helpful to consider the chronology of events from Paul’s conversion to the point represented by his letter. While there is plenty of “time stamped” material in Acts and Paul’s other letters, it can be frustrating to fit everything together in a sensible chronology. N. T. Wright provides a satisfactory timeline in his commentary on Galatians. “If we assume Paul met Jesus on the Damascus road around AD 33, then the chronology falls out quite easily. The first Jerusalem visit (1:18-24) takes place in roughly 36. The second (2:1-10), with Barnabas and Titus, takes place fourteen years after Paul’s meeting with Jesus on the Damascus road, not after the first visit; it can be dated to roughly 46/47. This visit corresponds to the “famine relief” visit of Acts 11:27-30 (with 12:25). That is then followed by Paul’s first missionary journey in 47/48, in which he evangelizes the towns in the Roman province of “Galatia,” that is, southern Turkey. It is after that, when Paul and Barnabas are back in Antioch, that the people from Jerusalem arrive in both Antioch (Gal 2:12) and Galatia, insisting that male gentile Jesus-followers should be circumcised. Paul then has his face-to-face argument with Peter (2:11-14 and perhaps 15-21). He then writes Galatians in a tearing hurry, before he and Barnabas set off for the so-called Apostolic conference in Jerusalem (Acts 15), which can be dated roughly to 48/49, that is, after the entire episode, including Paul’s writing of the present letter” (N. T. Wright, Galatians, 86). This means nothing described in Galatians took place after the Jerusalem conference. If this is the case, it indicates the sharp confrontation between Paul and Peter in Antioch was used by the Holy Spirit to cause Peter to carefully consider his exclusive – unChristlike - behavior. He was thus prepared to make a strong defense of the true Gospel in Jerusalem. The preceding chronology also shows Peter did not backslide after presenting a powerful defense of the gospel at the Jerusalem conference. The importance of a loving rebuke should not be underestimated. Thus, this section of the letter shows Paul’s gospel was not dictated to him by the original apostles – or anyone else. Paul was acquainted enough with Peter and the others to know there was agreement between them. On the other hand, his contact with them was limited and did not allow Paul to have received his gospel from them. It is also interesting to note Paul was not quickly elevated to a position of prominence in the fledgling church. Indeed, for many years he was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. If there is anything we take-away from this section, perhaps this should be it. Evangelicals are often guilty of giving prominence to the new Christian with a compelling testimony without regard to his maturity. “Paul's status as unknown is certainly different from our own habit of puffing up any prominent convert as soon as they come to Jesus. Paul was happy and well served to spend many years in obscurity before God raised him up” (David Guzick, Commentary On The Whole Bible). We will return to Galatians next week. |
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