Galatians 1:18 Commentary

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Galatians 1:18

Comments

After three years therefore he came to Jerusalem and met Peter. This is the visit recorded by Luke in Acts 9:26-30. Acts 22:17-21 is another parallel passage. There Paul says, ‘I returned again to Jerusalem’, meaning that it is from there that he originally set out for Damascus as he had said (Acts 22:5). Having established his ministry as an apostle, there was no longer any danger that he be accused of receiving his apostleship from the other apostles and he could now meet Peter to learn many details about Christ’s earthly ministry. Acts 9:26 suggests that Paul initially tried to join with the believers in general, but this failed because they were still suspicious of him. Paul won at least the trust of Barnabas, who was able to take him to the apostles. Jerusalem had been the primary place of Paul’s persecuting activity. No wonder the disciples of Jerusalem were afraid of him.He stayed with Peter in his house for fifteen days, during which time Paul was bound to have learned new details from Peter about Christ, for how could it be otherwise than that Christ was the centre of all their conversation and Paul would have been eager to learn about the details of the Lord’s life from the one who was with Jesus from the beginning and was part of the inner circle of three. It is foolish to exaggerate Paul’s claim to independence to mean that he deliberately refused to receive any additional information from any other source.

Application

How different are the outcomes of life from the way we plan them, especially when the Lord intervenes! Paul had gone from Jerusalem three years before on a journey to Damascus which had resulted in such an unexpected outcome. Now he returns to Jerusalem not as his base, nor as the champion of the Jews cause, but as one who repudiated all he previously stood for, no longer having anything in common with those who initially approved his mission. He goes to Jerusalem to see Peter who would certainly have regarded Paul as an avowed enemy in former times.

Questions

One indication that he may have stayed in Arabia for the majority of the three year period is mentioned by Machen. If he had spent much time preaching in Damascus during those three years then it is less likely that the disciples in Jerusalem would have been so shy about meeting him (Acts 9:26), for they would have known that he was genuine. Luke’s many days (Acts 9:23) include the whole of the period from his first arrival in Damascus to his final departure. He had begun to preach immediately after his conversion (‘straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God’ (Acts 9:20)), but the words ‘Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that this is very Christ’ (Acts 9:22) indicate a longer passage of time, which must include the stay in Arabia.

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Galatians 1:18 Commentary and Bible Study