As we continue in Galatians, Paul begins to make the case that he is indeed an apostle of Jesus Christ, and the gospel that he preaches is directly from God. Remember the issue in Galatia. False teachers had come in corrupting the gospel. They claimed that Gentiles had to trust in Jesus and be circumcised to be right with God. They also claimed Paul got his message second hand from the Jerusalem apostles and altered the message so Gentiles would more readily accept it. Paul will refute both of these accusations in chapter 1 and 2. He does so by relating the testimony of his conversion, his calling to preach, and the early years of his ministry. Paul shows that he received the gospel directly from the risen Christ, and it was Jesus himself that called him to preach it to the Gentiles. Paul will also show that for the first fourteen years of his ministry, he had little contact with the Jerusalem apostles and was not influenced by their preaching. Paul is not making the case that his gospel is different from the other apostles. It is exactly the same (as we will see in ch. 2). He is proving that he is an independent witness of the same gospel Jesus gave the other apostles. The gospel is God’s gospel - It is God’s message - It is God’s word to humanity. And while your conversion may not have been as outwardly spectacular as Paul’s, it is no less miraculous that God would call us by His grace and save us outside of any work we can do.

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