THE KING’ S BUSINESS
350
Jews religion,” and emphasizes the fact that not only the Jews, but that part of the Jewish people who were the special custodians o f the traditions, the Phafisees, were his fathers (cf. Acts 22:3; 23:6; 26 :5; Phil. 3 :5 ). Having called their attention to’ his thorough acquaintance with and former devotion to the Jews’ religion, Paul next tells them how he came to give up his zeal for Judaism and Phariseeism. He gave this up because he had found something immeasurably better. This some thing better was that the Son o f God^had revealed in him (vs. IS, 16)’. This revela tion of the Son o f God in him was not because of any merit of his own, it was all o f grace, it was “the good pleasure o f God” (cf. Eph. 1:5), God had “ separated” him, i. e., set him apart, for His saving love and for the work o f a witness—‘even from his mother’s womb. God’s work and His chosen ones begins with the very dawn of their life (cf. Ps. 22:19; 71:6; Isa. 49:1, 5; Jer. 1:5; Luke 1:15), before they have done good or evil (Rom. 9:11, 12). It is all o f grace —“through His grace.” While the separation of Paul to , preach the gos pel-unto the Gentiles in God’s purpose was thus early ( “ from his mother’s womb” )/; the actual call came years later on the Damascus road (Acts 26:15-18). This call was also all o f grace ( “through His grace” ), Paul certainly did not deserve to be called to .the glorious work of pro claiming that very Jesus whom he had so bitterly persecuted. God revealed His Son “in" Paul, not merely to him: that is, the revelation was made in his inmost being by His Holy Spirit. It is in our hearts that God shines to give the light of the knowl edge o f the glory o f God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor, 4:6). Friday, April 12 . Gal. 1 : 16 , 17 . In revealing His Son in Paul, God had a .purpose o f love that reached far beyond Paul himself—that reached indeed even to us. That purpose was, that Paul might preach His Son among the Gentiles (cf. Acts 9:15; 22:14, 15; 26:16, 17). The Son
gospel o f Paul is the gospel o f Jesus Christ, jesus Christ Himself taught it to him. The gospel that we find in Paul is as directly from Jesus Christ as the gospel spoken by Jesus Christ by His own lips when He was here on earth,, which we find recorded in the four gospels. The gospel contained in the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is the gospel Jesus Christ preached in the glory after His ascension, first to Paul, and then through Paul to us. They are the same gospel, though, of course, there is in the epistles a fuller unfolding o f it than there is in the record o f What the Lord Jesus said during His earthly life. ' He Himself had told the dis ciples that He had many things to say unto them, buf they were not able to bear them yet, but that He would reveal them fully through the Holy Spirit after His ¡ascen sion to the Father (John 16:12-14). As to when Jesus Christ revealed this gospel to Paul we are not told, but probably it was during the three years, part o f which Paul spent in Arabia (v. 17),'’somewhere near where the law was given to Moses. Thursday, April n . ; Gal. 1 : 13 - 15 . Having declared that he received the gospel he preached by direct “ revelation of Jesus Christ,” , Paul calls their attention to the well known fact of his thorough early training in a .devotion to that very Judaism to which they are now becoming proselytes. He does this in order that they may bear in mind, that it was not ignorance of the Jews’ religion on his part that led him to teach them that they would get no profit out .of jt. He had gone thoroughly into Nthe Jews’ religion, indeed, had “advanced in the Jews’ religion beyond many o f his (mine) own age among his (my) country men, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions o f his (my) fathers” (v. 14, R. V .). He had even been a persecutor o f “the church o f God” which taught the very doctrines that he himself afterwards taught the Galatians and had made havoc of the church. Elsewhere he goes into detail .as to how he had “advanced in the
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker