In Galatians 1:13-16, the apostle Paul continues laboring the point that the authority he has as an apostle was given to him directly by Christ. Therefore, the gospel he had preached to them was authenticate, having its origin from the supreme authority, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The error that was troubling the Galatians had come from Judaizers, who were teaching that Gentiles had to be circumcised according to the law of Moses in order to be saved and join the church. Works of the law as a legal requirement added to faith in Christ for salvation is out of step with the gospel of grace, so Paul, in verses 13-14, reminds them of his former life as a Pharisee.
Paul’s point is that nothing blinds a man to his depravity more than a legal mindset that supposes he merits the favor of God. When Paul was in Judaism, he “persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.” A crucified Messiah was an insult to a Pharisee, as was the teaching that no one could be justified before God by the works of the law.
Paul, when he was a Pharisee, saw clearly that Judaism and the Christian faith was incompatible and saw it even more clearly after his conversion. Adding a legal requirement to the gospel will ruin a soul and would be a step backwards toward Judaism, a step away from grace and the sufficiency of Christ.
We should learn from this the value of gospel humility. It stands opposed to self-confidence, a sense of superiority to others that desires others to acknowledge it and takes it badly if not acknowledged. Such was the legal-minded Paul before he was converted.
Gospel humility also stands opposed to self-righteousness. The Pharisee and the tax collector are contrasted by the Lord Jesus to show that a moral man puffed up with a sense of what he deserves is more offensive to God than an immoral man bowed down with a sense of guilt.
In verses 15-16, Paul emphasizes that his credentials come from God. God set him apart before he was born, called him by his grace, revealed his Son to him, and appointed him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles. Paul is the shining example that salvation is of God.
We see the importance of grace in the life of Paul. We don’t know the truth of our own character apart from grace. Paul admitted that he was full of pride, rebellion, and blindness to the glory of God. He removes anything that can be attributed to himself in his conversion or becoming an apostle. God’s whole plan of salvation is to glorify himself and humble the pride of man. The soul cannot rest until it is in its proper place before God—the humble are at peace before God.
Paul says that God was “pleased” to reveal his Son to him. The word means it was God’s “good pleasure”. Why did God give sinful man his Son for salvation? It was according to the good pleasure of God. Paul knows his conversion was according to the good pleasure of God.
When Jesus was born, the angelic host cried out, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is ‘pleased’.” This means peace according to the “good pleasure” of God. This is the same word Paul uses of God being pleased to reveal his Son to him.
Likewise, we see this word in the baptism of Jesus. God says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” God is well pleased with his holy Son humbling himself, and it is his good pleasure to give his Son to represent sinners. The same phrase is used at the transfiguration of Jesus that glorified him: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”
In that gracious command, it is the Father’s good pleasure to reveal his Son to you, to show you the glory of his Son. To reveal his Son is to cause you to know his Son, to make known what was hidden, so that you believe that he is the Son of God. This is what staggered Paul, that the Son of God gave himself for me—I, who persecuted him. If Christ is glorified in our deliverance, how can we think to add our own merits that are mixed with sin to such a work of the Son of God? The converted Paul knew the deadly curse in men that Christ died for—self-conceit and pride, that which a false gospel would sow more securely in the soul that swallows it.
