The Divine Character of the True Gospel – Part 1

Galatians 1:11-24

February 1, 2004

 

            This morning we are beginning a series entitled The Divine Character of the True Gospel. At the outset, let me state what this series will cover, and what it will not cover. Let me start with the negative. This series will not cover the contents of the Gospel message itself. My aim is not to explain to you the meaning of the Gospel message, nor am I attempting to define the essential elements of the true gospel. As we go through this epistle the Apostle will expound on the meaning of the gospel message itself, but that is not his intent in these verses to explain the message of the gospel; therefore, it is not my intent. My aim in this series of messages is to explain to you the divine and supernatural character of the gospel message. We will come to the meaning of the gospel as we work our way through the epistle, beginning in chapter 2, but for now Paul is laying the groundwork for the divine character of his gospel, which is the true gospel message.

            In this chapter Paul’s greatest concern is to convince the Galatians of the authenticity of his apostleship and his gospel message. Before he can explain what his message is, he must be clear that his message is the true gospel. As we learned in verses 6-9, there were those who had come into Galatia with another gospel, a false gospel that would only bring condemnation to those who ascribed to it. These false teachers apparently were not only teaching false doctrines, but they also were slandering the Apostle Paul. In order to discredit his message, they tried to discredit him. Nothing would do more to convince the Galatians not to believe Paul than to convince them that Paul himself was an illegitimate apostle who had maligned the Gospel message and tampered with it to suit his own devices. The Apostle does not here tell us exactly what had been said about him, but from the introduction of the letter we gain some insight by his comments.

            First, it appears from 1:1 that Paul’s enemies were discrediting him by saying that he was an apostle of men, not of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were accusing Paul of being commissioned by men, and certainly, it would appear, men who were inferior to them. Paul’s defense is that he was an apostle by the agency of Jesus Christ and God the Father, and the same power that raised Christ from the dead called Paul as an apostle. We see from this brief introductory verse that Paul’s adversaries called his apostleship into question by deriding him as a man-made apostle, not an apostle by the will and calling of Jesus Christ.

            The second attack that Paul’s enemies were employing was to accuse Paul of being a lone wolf. They criticized him by saying that he preached a different gospel than the original Apostles, such as Peter and James and the other pillars of the Jerusalem church. They attacked him on the grounds that the original churches did not recognize Paul as an apostle, perhaps even not as a true believer, but as a hypocrite out to create his own following. This criticism has continued to some degree even in our own day. Do some research into liberal theology, and you will quickly discover that many so-called scholars will claim that Paul and Jesus preached a different message, that Paul had his own agenda, and that Paul departed from the original form of Christianity the Apostles taught. These liberal scholars would even contend that Christianity would not be understood in the form it is today if it hadn’t been for Paul preaching his own self-styled doctrines. The attacks on Paul are endless, even in our day, especially this attack that he changed Christ’s message to suit his own ends. Paul responded to such an attack in verse 2, where he said, and all the brethren with me. Paul rightly told the Galatians that he was not alone in his Gospel, but rather all the believers who were with him agreed with his letter to these Galatian churches. Paul was not a maverick trying to chart his own course. In 2 Peter 3:15 Peter calls Paul a beloved brother. Nevertheless, such lies concerning Paul were spreading like gangrene, and he had to address this situation forthrightly.

            This criticism, however, is difficult to disprove for the Apostle. Consider what these men criticized Paul of doing. They criticized him of not being a true apostle of Jesus Christ. To prove that he was, he needed to show that he had no dependence upon man for his teaching or his understanding, but that he had first-hand knowledge of the risen Lord. Yet they also accused Paul of being a maverick, preaching his own gospel to create his own following. To prove this untrue, Paul must prove that he is in agreement with the apostles and the rest of the brethren, and that he is not alone in his teaching. So Paul must simultaneously prove that he is not dependent upon anyone for his teaching, and yet he must also prove that all the other apostles taught what he taught. It seems to be a near-impossible dilemma for this apostle to resolve, as he must prove he is both independent of the apostles and yet somehow that he is not independent of them entirely. It was a brilliant criticism by these servants of Satan disguised as angels of light, yet it was not brilliant enough to be unanswerable. Truth prevailed, even in this seemingly impossible case with such strong accusations against the beloved Apostle.

            Paul began defending his apostleship, you recall, by denouncing the false teachers and pointing out that they were under God’s curse for their lies and false gospel. In verses 8 and 9 Paul wrote, But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! His defense begins with offense, as he points out the reality of the situation as God sees it. Those who contradict or change the Apostle’s message are actually under God’s curse. They are not approved by God, and they are not pleasing to God.

            Paul goes on to defend his apostleship by showing that in recognizing God’s curse he is not seeking to please men. He wrote in verse 10, For am I now seeking the favor or men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ. The clear meaning of this is that Paul claims to be a true servant of Jesus Christ. He does not seek to please men, but rather he is a bond-servant, or slave, of Jesus Christ.

            His critics might answer at this point and say to him, “Oh really, Paul? Are you really a bond-servant of Christ? Are you really not seeking to please men in your gospel message? How do we know you are pleasing Christ with this divine curse you have pronounced?” Someone may have reasoned, “Very well, Paul is not seeking to please men, yet that still does not prove his gospel is the only true gospel message. On what grounds do you say these things, Paul? Why should we believe these teachers are accursed and not you? What is so special about your gospel message that we should listen and believe and obey?”

            The rest of chapter 1 forms Paul’s answer to these types of questions. Paul has said a very solemn and frightening thing in verses 8 and 9. If you say something that serious, you need to be able to back it up with more than just opinion. You need to be able to back it up with more than just zeal, because you can have zeal without knowledge of the truth. You need to back it up with divine revelation. You need to show that your message is the only true, divine message. You must prove that your gospel has the character of being from God Himself. If you can prove your message is directly from God Himself, then you have every right to pronounce curses on those who contradict it, because they do not contradict you, but God. Thus, in verses 11 through 24 Paul takes great pains to prove that his gospel, the one he proclaimed in Galatia and the one the Galatians received, is divine. He takes pains to prove the divine character of the true gospel.

            It is this theme that we will spend the next few weeks discussing. Paul’s central message in these verses is the divine character of the gospel message he preaches. His gospel is not of human origin, it is not humanly contrived, and it does not accord with natural human reasoning; it is of a uniquely divine character. In these 14 verses Paul gives 7 proofs of the divine character of his gospel message. Over the course of the next few weeks we will examine the nature of these proofs and see how they should impact us as we seek to proclaim the gospel to others. There are jewels in these verses that will take time to unpack, and then once they are unpacked, it will take time to gaze at them, study them, meditate upon them, wonder at them, and pray that God would help us to live them out in this world, just as Paul lived them out daily in his life.

 

Doctrine: The Gospel Paul preached is not a human gospel, but the only true gospel revealed by God

 

            Before we look at the 7 proofs of the divine character of the gospel, it is essential that we understand the doctrinal statement that Paul is making in this passage. Before Paul makes his case for the divine character of the gospel, he tells us that this is what he is intending to prove. He does this in verses 11 and 12, writing, For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Let me summarize this doctrine like this: The gospel that Paul preached is not a human gospel; it is the only true gospel revealed by God. Or, to put it another way, Paul’s gospel is not a human invention; it is divine revelation.

            The reason Paul picks up this theme is, as I said a few minutes ago, to prove that his divine cursing and his appeal that he is a true servant of Christ are valid. The word for at the beginning of the verse shows its connection to what has gone before it. The argument runs like this: “I am not seeking to please men. Instead, I am a servant of Christ Jesus. The reason I say I am a true servant of Christ and do not please men is because my gospel is not a human gospel; it is divine.” To understand Paul’s writings you really have to read closely, because he packs these arguments in very tightly. He is not throwing out disconnected thoughts that seem germane to the argument; rather, he is following a very close pattern of logic and thought in his argument. He began with the curse on all false teachers. He argued from there that he did not please men but Christ. He argues from there that his gospel is not man’s gospel, but the gospel of Christ. This is a very tightly knit argument, which is why it takes a while sometimes to explain it all if we are to see it in its fullness.

            As he is progressing in his argument, the Apostle says, For I would have you know. The meaning of this phrase is that Paul is here certifying what he is about to say. It could be translated, I make known to you, brethren. This does not mean that he had never told them this before. Certainly when he was with the Galatians the first time he told them the divine character of the gospel, but now it is as if he is certifying it for them all over again. He wants them to have unmistakable proof of it.

            Notice, then, that this is something the Apostle wants the Galatians to know. It is something he wants them to be absolutely certain about. The Gospel is not something that, as Christians, we speculate about. It is not something that we muse about or that is our private opinion. It is something we are to know. We are not to wonder if the gospel is from God or not. We are not to merely have an opinion that the gospel is the true message of salvation from God. We are to know it. Do you have this certainty? Do you proclaim this certainty to others? When we tell others the good news of salvation, we must never present it as an opinion we hold. We must never be timid and treat the gospel as if it is one of many valid worldviews. Not at all! We must declare with the apostle, I would have you know! I make known to you! I certify this beyond all doubt and suspicion that this is the true Word of God! We need this kind of boldness today in a world that echoes the sentiments of Pilate in John 18:38, “What is truth?” We need to be ready to stand up and say, “I testify and certify and declare to you the message of salvation!” If only we could have this confidence what a difference it would make in our lives! Let us be certain that we know this message is of God.

            Now then, the first part of this Apostle’s declaration is this: the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. This is the negative. The gospel that he proclaims is not according to man. It is not a human gospel. In the Greek the emphasis in this verse falls on the words the gospel which was preached by me. The focus of Paul’s argument here is the gospel that he preached. It is the gospel that he wrote about in all of his New Testament letters. It is the good news of salvation in Christ. This is his emphasis. He is focused on the gospel and the preaching of it.

The reason he is so focused on this message is because it is not according to man. What does he mean by that? The word translated according to, which is a good translation, has the idea in this context of something in conformity. The idea is that the gospel that Paul preached is not something that conforms to the way a man thinks or naturally is. It is not, in a sense, a man-pleasing gospel. It does not conform to the natural man. If the natural man were to decide on a method of salvation, it certainly would not conform to the message of the New Testament. The message of the New Testament cuts to the heart of man. It smashes his pride and tells him that he is utterly unworthy of salvation and that he is undeserving of eternal life. The true gospel message says that this universe and all that is in it centers around God and His Son, Jesus Christ. For from Him and through Him and to Him be the glory forever! Men do not come up with schemes to put themselves lower and to exalt God higher. Every so-called god that man has ever invented only serves man and centers around man. The message of the gospel is Christ for righteousness so that you can enjoy God and His glory forever. This message is not according to man. It does not conform to man. And that is why men cannot believe it unless the Holy Spirit shines light in their darkened hearts. When men hear the gospel, they don’t want the gospel. They aren’t interested in the gospel, unless there is a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit. Unless the Holy Spirit intervened, no one would ever receive the gospel because it is not according to man.

How do we know this is not the type of gospel that man would devise? How do we know that Paul’s message is not the message that is according to man? He tells us in verse 12, For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. We are immediately confronted by this word for again, showing the apostle is making a close connection to what he has just said. He is giving proof for his previous statement. He has just explained that his gospel is not a human gospel. It is not devised by man or according to man or in conformity with what men would devise and invent. It is not of a human character. What proof does he offer? His proof is that no man had any part in Paul receiving this gospel, but rather it came through a revelation given by God Himself. This message came directly from God.

Notice the negative. First, Paul did not receive this gospel from man. This word, received, has the connotation of receiving a tradition that has been handed down from one generation to the next. The gospel that Paul received was not something that was handed down to him from his forefathers. It was not a tradition that he inherited from men. He did not come into possession of this truth through receiving it from any man.

Secondly, he was not taught it. The clear implication there is that he was not taught it by any man. The message of the gospel was not something that a human teacher showed Paul. Certainly through the revelation Paul received, he was taught the truth of the gospel message by the Lord Jesus Christ, and it was from Him that Paul learned this message; however, no mere human had any part in Paul learning this message.

Paul, in these two statements, that he did not receive the gospel from men, and that he was not taught it by instruction of men, are a direct assault on the criticism that he was dependent on some human agent for his message. Remember, Paul is endeavoring to prove that his message is directly from God, and that it is the same message preached by the other apostles. Therefore, he has to prove his independence from the apostles in learning the message, and his unity with them in preaching it. Here he is showing his utter independence of any human agent. No one handed the gospel down to him through tradition, and no one taught it to him through instruction in a religious school or from a religious teacher, not even another apostle of Jesus Christ.

How, then, did Paul receive this message? How did a violent murderer become a preacher of the true gospel? We are told in verse 12 that it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ. The divine message of the gospel came to Paul not through any human, but through a revelation of Jesus Christ.

The phrase of Jesus Christ can be taken to mean two things. It could either mean that Jesus Christ was the source of the revelation, or it could mean that Jesus Christ was the content of the revelation. The revelation could have been given by Jesus Christ, or it could have been given about Jesus Christ. What is in Paul’s mind here?

It seems to me, and we need to skip ahead to verse 15 to see this, but it seems to me that Paul here means to say that the revelation was about Jesus Christ, and the revelation was given by the will and command and the sovereign grace of God the Father. In verse 15 Paul wrote, But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me. The one who revealed the Son to Paul was God. It was by the grace of the God who effectually called and set apart Paul for ministry that Jesus Christ was revealed. And it was God’s Son that was revealed in Paul. So, in verse 12 when Paul says that he received the gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ, what he means is this: God revealed the truth about Jesus Christ to Paul, and it was through this revelation about Jesus Christ that Paul came to know and believe the gospel, and then he went out and preached it. This is significant for two reasons.

The first reason this is so significant is because of the Judaizers insistence upon the Mosaic Law, and because of the way the Jews as a whole viewed Christians. The Christians were seen as a heretical group of Jews, a branch off of Judaism. The criticism was that the Christians had fallen away from God and now were following this crucified man named Jesus. The whole reason the Judaizers tried to compel men to be circumcised was because they wanted to be accepted as legitimate Jews by the Jewish community. They did not want to be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Paul wrote in Galatians 6:12, Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh try to compel you to be circumcised, simply so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. To reject circumcision was a major issue for the Jews, and to them, if a person rejected circumcision they rejected God. The Judaizers, then, wanted to avoid this persecution from the Jews. They wanted to be accepted by this community that had been rejected by God because of their unbelief, and so they earnestly taught the Law and circumcision. When Paul makes his claim that he is teaching divine revelation from God, then, he is overturning the Judaizers whole argument. Paul is saying, “This is a revelation given to me by God Himself. Christians are not a heretical group of Jews; to the contrary, those who deny Jesus have denied God because this is God’s message.” That is why he could say, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything. If you receive Christ Jesus as Lord, you have the Father. If you reject Christ Jesus as Lord, your law-keeping and observances are meaningless, and you do not have the Father or the Son. Paul very clearly wanted to draw a line of demarcation between Judaism and Christianity, and so he wants the Galatians to know that his message is God’s message. It is given by revelation of God.

The second reason this is so utterly crucial is because the message centers around the Lord Jesus Christ. The message God revealed to Paul and in Paul was Christ. What Paul is saying, then, is that the only message God has for us is His Son. That is His message. Jesus Christ is the revelation of God. He is the unveiling of God Himself to us so that we might know and understand and love God. God’s message to human beings is not primarily about them; it is primarily about His Son, Jesus Christ, and the glory that He possesses and has possessed from before the world began. It is a message to us so that we can see that glory, and so that we can share in it and enjoy it with Him forever, but the message is not about us. It is all about Christ and His glory. The message that Paul wants us to understand is Jesus Christ. It is so simple a child can understand it, and it is so profound the wisest scholar could never exhaust it.

When Paul came to Corinth, he tells us in 1 Corinthians 2:2, he determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. Why did he determine this? I think the reason Paul determined to only know Christ and Him crucified is because he understood that Jesus is the message of God to us. The gospel message is all about Jesus Christ, and what He has done to save His people from their sins, so that they can enjoy His glory forever.

When you share the gospel with someone determine to know nothing but Christ, and Him crucified. Don’t be ashamed of our Savior and His bloody death on a cross. Tell people that the message is not about them. Life is not about them. Explain to them what Paul explained in Romans 10:4, where he wrote, For the goal of the Law is Christ for righteousness to all who believe! Christ for righteousness! The message is about Christ and His righteousness. It is not about you, it’s not about your righteousness. It’s not about your status, or your wealth, or your prestige, or your accomplishments, or your ministry, or your service, or your zeal. The message of the gospel is Christ for righteousness. It is Christ, and Him crucified for sinners, for righteousness to all who believe!

The gospel is the divine message. The doctrine that Paul lays down for us in verses 11 and 12 is this: The true gospel is not a human invention, but rather it is divine revelation, and the content of that divine revelation is Christ. The gospel is all about Jesus and what He has done for unworthy sinners like Paul and the Galatians and you and me. It is not according to man. Men want the glory, but the gospel says that Christ gets the glory. The divine character of the gospel is evident in how Paul received it. It did not come from men. He was never instructed in it by a man or a group of men. Rather, God the Father revealed His Son in Paul. Paul learned the gospel through a revelation about Jesus Christ.

Look at verse 13 quickly. Paul begins the verse with the word, For. Verses 10, 11, 12, and 13 all begin with this word. Paul is creating a chain of argument here, and verse 13 begins the proof of the divine character of this message, and as I said, there are at least 7 proofs in this text. The problem with revelations like the one Paul received is that they are hard to verify. We cannot empirically go and investigate Paul’s claims. We cannot recreate the situation on the Damascus road where Paul saw the risen Lord face to face. We have no tangible evidence, like a video or a tape or a photograph to prove this revelation actually happened. That is the problem with revelations. They are tough to verify. So, for the next 12 verses, Paul takes great pains to verify that this revelation was not something from his own imagination. He was not, as Festus accused him of being in Acts 26:24, out of his mind. Great learning had not driven him mad. Rather, it was a real encounter with the living Lord that so profoundly changed Paul’s life. So over the next several weeks we will look at each of these seven proofs that the Gospel we believe is truly the very revelation given by God of His Son Jesus Christ.

I love this section more and more each time I read it and study it because, if the conversion of the Apostle Paul doesn’t blow you away and cause you to rethink who is within the salvation of Almighty God, then nothing will. If the conversion of Paul doesn’t convince you of the doctrine of ‘unconditional election’ as it is commonly called, then I can’t think of anything that will. And if this conversion account that we will be studying doesn’t make the doctrine of God’s sovereign choice of sinners for salvation the most hope-filled doctrine for you as you pray for loved ones who are cut off from Christ, then I feel sorry for you, and I would love to pray for you, because this passage reveals so clearly the divine majesty and glory of the gospel message centered around God and His Son Jesus Christ. As we go through this passage, I encourage you to read it during the week, and think about the reality of what is going on here. Picture yourself as a first-century Christian in Jerusalem while Paul was ravaging the church. Let these events become real to you rather than a fantasy, and just learn from the apostle’s own testimony the mighty power of God that made the mountains rise!

Our God is glorious, and our God is powerful to save, and the gospel message is God’s message of salvation. It is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. Let’s pray.

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