Galatians 1:18-24

18: Then three years later I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, and stayed with him fifteen days.
19: But I did not see any other of the apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.
20: (Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying.)
21: Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22: I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea which were in Christ;
23: but only, they kept hearing, “He who once persecuted us is now preaching the faith which he once tried to destroy.”
24: And they were glorifying God because of me.

*** 

Paul, continuing his personal history, said that three years after his conversion and subsequent time in Damascus and Arabia, he went to Jerusalem to meet Cephas (Peter) and stayed only fifteen days with him. Peter, and James, the Lord’s brother, were the only ones he saw during that visit. He did not meet any other apostles. We read in Acts that he was trying to associate with the disciples in Jerusalem, but they were afraid of him, not believing he was really a disciple of the Lord. Barnabus took Paul to meet the apostles, Peter and James, and confirmed that he had met the Lord on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:26-27).

James, the Lord’s brother, (or you could say half-brother because although he was the son of Joseph and Mary, Jesus was the son of God and Mary), became a leader of the church in Jerusalem. Although Jesus’ brothers did not believe in Him until after the resurrection (John 7:5), we read that Jesus’ mother and brothers were in the upper room in Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension, devoting themselves to prayer with the apostles and the women (Acts 1:14). James became “a pillar” along with Peter and John (Galatians 2:9). He was called “James the Just.” James, the son of Zebedee—John’s brother—was martyred by Herod in 44 A.D. It’s rumored that James the Just was martyred in 62 A.D.

Paul had fallen into a trance during his visit to Jerusalem and the Lord told him to get out of Jerusalem quickly for they would not receive his testimony about the Lord. He said He was sending him to the Gentiles (Acts 22:17-21). The Hellenistic Jews were in fact trying to kill Paul while he was there, but he left and went to Syria and Cilicia—to Caesarea, then Tarsus (Acts 9:28-31). No one recognized him as he travelled, but the churches had heard that he had met the Lord and now preached Jesus. They glorified God for that.

So, we see that Paul only briefly met Peter and James three years after his conversion, and none of the other apostles yet, making his point that he was not appointed an apostle by any other apostle, or by any man for that matter, but by God Himself.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians 1:1-10

1: Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), 2: and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia: 3: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, 4: who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, 5: to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen. 6: I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; 7: which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8: But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9: As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! 10: For am I now see...
Read more

2 Corinthians 7:8-16

8: For though I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it—for I see that that letter caused you sorrow, though only for a while— 9: I now rejoice, not that you were made sorrowful, but that you were made sorrowful to the point of repentance; for you were made sorrowful according to the will of God, so that you might not suffer loss in anything through us. 10: For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11: For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter. 12: So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you i...
Read more

2 Corinthians 10:1-11

1: Now I, Paul, myself urge you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am meek when face to face with you, but bold toward you when absent! 2: I ask that when I am present I need not be bold with the confidence with which I propose to be courageous against some, who regard us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, 4: for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. 5: We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, 6: and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. 7: You are looking at things as they are outwardly. If anyone is confident in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again within himself, that just as he is Christ’s, so also are we. 8: For even if I boast somewh...
Read more