Galatians 1:14 Commentary and Bible Study

Paul advanced in Judaism beyond many of his contemporaries by being more dedicated to the traditions of his religion as a Pharisee, more learned about them, more enthusiastic for their universal application among the Jews, more certain that they were right, and more ready to take extreme and even violent measures to enforce them. This was the source of his persecuting zeal.The Judaizing faction saw the gospel as a direct threat to Judaism, and Paul, or Saul of Tarsus as he was then, saw more clearly than any why this was the case. Judaism had become a distortion of the true religion of the Old Testament, for it substituted human achievements in place of the grace of God, and in so doing boosted human pride. The scribes and Pharisees had elevated their own traditions above the word of God and made the people slaves of their man-made laws which directly impeded true obedience to God’s commandments. The gospel, on the other hand, takes away all credit from man and declares the performance of ritual and ceremony, and the keeping of man-made traditions, to be useless and powerless to please God. Circumcision and descent from Abraham count for nothing unless there is repentance and faith, and a new birth from above. Saul therefore saw the persecution of Christians as part of his duty. He struggled to excel and to make a name for himself even among his own party. No one could say of Paul that he did not know what Moses taught. Who better than Paul to say that the legal teachings of the Judaizers were contrary to the gospel?