FollowA Walk Through Galatians, Part 2
© 2026 Lee Tankersley
(Part 2: Galatians 1:11-24)
Introduction:
In the beginning of this epistle, Paul’s introduction gave us a bold stance on where it was going. He combated the false teachers who were speaking against Paul. They were causing confusion with the churches in Galatia and turning believers from faith to legalism. Obviously, legalism is still a relevant issue today. Many groups would try to have us earn God’s favor or even salvation by following rituals and obeying certain rules.
As Christians, God has not boxed us in but has set us free. To uphold our freedom we must stay close to Christ. We stand firm against anyone who promotes subtle or obvious, blatant lies: Ways for us to earn our salvation. Jesus saved us from God’s judgment and the penalty for sin by God’s gift of grace to us. We cannot earn it. (See Ephesians 2:8-9.)
How Does God Save Sinners?
8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. 9 Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
We obtain salvation by Grace, through faith (trusting in him) and not by anything else. Being a Christian is in no part based on our own initiative, wise choices, or good character.
Now we will see a little of Paul’s background and how he came to Christ. We don’t know every detail, but he gives us some insight. So if you want to grab your bible we can open up to the book of Galatians 1:11-24. I am reading from the NLT. You can follow along with the translation of your choice. I want to give my sources credit. The NLT Life Application Study Bible, A Layman’s Look at the Epistle to the Galatian Churches, and the BibleRef app.. Thank you.
(Read Galatians 1: 11-24)
11 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. 12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ. 13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.
15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being. 17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie. 21 After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of me.
How the Epistle Began
At the beginning of Paul’s letter, he spoke harshly to the churches of Galatia. They were in serious danger. He did not apologize for his direct words. He knew he could not serve Christ faithfully if he allowed them to stay on the wrong track.
Now he explains his own background to provide insight on his coming to faith.
First Argument
11 Dear brothers and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning.
Paul begins this section to the Galatians by proving that he is a real apostle. Some of the Judaizers of that time were spreading rumors that he was not. Paul knew people needed to trust his authority as a genuine apostle, one sent out by Christ himself. So, Paul presented his evidence. Humans never dreamed up the gospel he preached: It’s not “man’s gospel.” Paul is not just passing along some religious teaching he picked up from other people.
We Need Humility to Seek God’s Wisdom
Not relying on our own understanding or reasoning seems to be a foreign idea to us. We actually think too highly of our own ability and think we actually know how everything works. Then we try to push this thought process onto the gospel. Coming to the good news takes humility. It means the willingness to humble oneself and to say, “I don’t have it all figured out: I need help.”
Now I can look at myself and truthfully say I don’t understand my own motivations or desires. I certainly don’t understand yours, much less those of the world we live in. So I take these motivations and desires to the Cross. And I thank God that he has provided a permanent solution. God’s solution does not rely on me. It only requires faith in what Jesus has done on the Cross, and not on myself. (I can be honest: I would have no chance, if it did.)
Now God has given us a new nature, one that looks, understands, loves, and hopes differently. We can have confidence that he will continue this good work in us through a promise, in Philippians 1:6. “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.”
According to Philippians 2:13, we can know God is working in us! “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”
Paul Explains the Source of His Information
12 I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.
The message Paul preaches along with the other apostles comes from Jesus himself. We see that Jesus revealed himself to Paul in Acts 9: 3-6. Jesus revealed his true identity that confirmed the gospel message that Paul was looking to destroy. God provided the revelation to Paul. It was not the apostles, nor the believers whom Paul was tracking down and persecuting at that time.
13 You know what I was like when I followed the Jewish religion—how I violently persecuted God’s church. I did my best to destroy it. 14 I was far ahead of my fellow Jews in my zeal for the traditions of my ancestors.
Paul reminds the Galatians that he was not a friend of the apostles or the good news. He had been on a path to try to destroy it at all cost. In Acts 7:54-8:3 we see that Paul, (then known as Saul,) fully approved of the stoning and death of Stephen. Paul frequently talks about the zeal he had for the law. Also, that he had surpassed his peers in religious knowledge and practice. He was far more zealous than the Judiazers were, for the law.
The Gospel Is For the World
Many Jews had a hard time understanding that God gave his message of salvation to Jews and Gentiles alike. But God has always planned to offer salvation to all people. He had revealed this plan clearly and repeatedly through the Old Testament prophets and had fulfilled it through Jesus Christ. Now He announced it through Paul.
Jesus fulfilled somewhere around 300+ prophecies of the Old Testament. God gave many of these prophecies hundreds of years before the birth of Christ: They cover various aspects of his life including his birth at Bethlehem, ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection.
Mathematician Peter W. Stoner calculated that the probability of one person fulfilling just eight of these prophecies is 1 in 1017 . That’s 1 in one hundred quadrillion, that’s 17 zeros… The chances of that are like taking a silver dollar and marking it in some way, then filling Texas two feet deep in silver dollars, and having a blindfolded person pick out that single marked coin on the first try.
Paul’s Calling
15 But even before I was born, God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace. Then it pleased him 16 to reveal his Son to me so that I would proclaim the Good News about Jesus to the Gentiles. When this happened, I did not rush out to consult with any human being.
Paul continues to defend his authority by telling of his extraordinary conversion to show that his message came directly from God. God commissioned Paul to preach the good news to the Gentiles when (See Acts 9: 3-6) he revealed Jesus to him on the road to Damascus.
When Did God Choose Paul?
Paul says, “even before I was born, God chose me” Now I’m not going to pretend that I fully comprehend this, because I don’t. It really baffles me, but we see proof of it happening before, in the Old Testament, when God was talking to Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5 “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.”
And in Ephesians 1:4, Paul says the same truth is for us also: “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.”
God chose us to make the point that salvation depends totally on God. He saved us, not because we deserve it, but because God graciously and freely gives us salvation. Our wisdom or good behavior does not have any impact on God’s decision, in his Mercy he has saved us according to his plan and has set us apart.
I guess that is the reality of having a God who is omniscient and is outside of our space and time. He knows the end before the start. He is the only being able to know all things because he has created all things.
Paul’s Response to Conversion
17 Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to consult with those who were apostles before I was. Instead, I went away into Arabia, and later I returned to the city of Damascus.
So Paul didn’t “rush out” to go find Peter, John, or any of the other twelve, or head over to Jerusalem to consult with them or with anyone who was a believer before he was: He went away! What was he doing?
I don’t have all the answers for you: My time in my studies and just talking to people about Jesus or trying to share the good news has taught me that I’m not an apologist.
But I will ask, if you had an enemy who was hunting you down, and he “disappeared,” and then showed back up on your team (as we will see in the next verse) how would you respond?
(Compare Acts 9:22-26) We should remind ourselves that The book of Acts is a historical document with a continuous narrative that spans roughly 30 years. Jesus commissioned Paul in Acts 9:15-16. That leads me to the conclusion that during that three years, he also was trained by Jesus as the other apostles were, through whatever means God chose to use.
Paul’s encounter with Jesus showed that he believed who Jesus said He was. If we look at the bible “with blinders on” we can easily be deceived and fooled by our own understanding or “human wisdom.”
Paul Gives Credit to God
Paul speaks on these things, saying in 1 Corinthians 1:19-22, “19As the Scriptures say, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.” 20 So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world’s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish. 21 Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. 22 It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.”
Some Demand Signs and Miracles
Trying to share the good news, I have encountered people who say things like “Where are all the miracles?” or “I would believe it if I saw a miracle because they happen all the time in the Bible”, and I think that’s a scary place to want to be. Having to try and explain that the bible timeline is compressed, and was written roughly over 1,500-1,600 years spanning roughly about 6,000 years of history, with many things still to come, and God’s preferred method of working is through people, he seldom does what the world describes as miracles.
Trying to explain this to someone and have them view the Bible with a wider lens is disheartening, and I have come to understand that if someone is seeking a miracle or is only interested in worldly wisdom, it won’t matter what is put in front of them, they will reject it. But we need to continue as Chet has taught us through and from the Bible, that we are to stand, shine a light, and sound an alarm.
This is Not a New Problem
(Remember Proverbs 3:5 “ Trust in the LORD with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.)
18 Then three years later I went to Jerusalem to get to know Peter, and I stayed with him for fifteen days. 19 The only other apostle I met at that time was James, the Lord’s brother. 20 I declare before God that what I am writing to you is not a lie.
We can see this in Acts 9: 26-30, when he arrived he was met with fear from the believers there: They remembered who he was and the reputation he had. But after Barnabas found him, he became a bridge to the apostles. Barnabas came alongside Paul, putting behind himself the fear and reputation he had known him for: Barnabas saw Paul’s change.
Can God Change You and Me?
Some people claim to be Christian but don’t intend to allow Jesus to produce any change in their life, heart, and mind. That is something to think about as James, (the one Paul meets in verse 19,) says, in James 2:14-16 14 What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? 15 Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, 16 and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?
If Paul had not allowed Jesus to change his heart, then Barnabas may have never seen the light that allowed the barrier of fear to be broken down.
We know we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone: Then and only then are we made holy: We are set apart to do the good things he planned for us long ago. Paul finally returned from his three years away: Barnabas brought him to Peter, and James, who at the time was serving as a leader of the church of Jerusalem. Jerusalem was and still is where the first church is. People gathered in house churches for worship, prayer, and fellowship.
Paul spent the two weeks not in training or commissioning with Peter for he already had received that from the Lord, but preaching boldly with them before a few of the Jews there tried to kill him, he was then sent away to Tarsus which was his hometown.
21 After that visit I went north into the provinces of Syria and Cilicia.
Why Did Paul Leave?
Paul must not have planned to stay there long: Even though he already had people who were looking to kill him, he shares with us this understanding in 2 Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.”
Paul didn’t shrink or shy away from his call and the attempts on his life: He realized his life did not belong to him, Paul expresses this in one of my favorite verses and one beloved by many: Galatians 2:20 “20 My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We will dive deeper into this verse another time. His new reputation was seen by both sides. When we have put our trust in Christ we are no longer who we were and Paul shares this understanding also in Philippians 3:13 “No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead”
(So, no matter who you were, you don’t have to be like that person now.)
God Calls us to Change
22 And still the churches in Christ that are in Judea didn’t know me personally. 23 All they knew was that people were saying, “The one who used to persecute us is now preaching the very faith he tried to destroy!” 24 And they praised God because of me.”
The churches of Galatia knew Paul and believed the good news he shared, only to turn and doubt him, the Judean churches only knew what people were saying about him: They knew his change could have only come from God, and so instead of doubting Paul’s credibility the Judean churches believed and glorified God.
Now, you and I may or may not have had as dramatic a change as Paul had, but our lives should still change in ways to honor God. When people look at me, do they recognize that change? If not, what might be getting in the way of the Holy Spirit’s work in my life? What are ways that I could better show others the work God is doing in my new life? These are some questions we should ask ourselves.
Jesus is the One Who Changes Us
I was reading the gospel of Mark recently and something stuck out that I want to share. Jesus said in Mark 2:17 “When Jesus heard this, he told them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.”
Realizing that I am in need, that I don’t have it all figured out, and knowing that Jesus isn’t afraid of all my failures and brokenness, or whatever I think about myself or what I may have done; I take all my passions and desires to the Cross and allow Him to change me: To change the way I see and think about things.
Whether it be fast or slow, I know He will not fail me or abandon me, and it is all for His glory. The biggest step is to allow Him to mold me into the person He created me to be.
Amen.