Galatians 1:11-24 (NRSV): ¹¹For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; ¹²for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. ¹⁴I advanced in Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. ¹⁵But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased ¹⁶to reveal his Son to me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus. ¹⁸Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days; ¹⁹but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord's brother. ²⁰In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie! ²¹Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia, ²²and I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ; ²³they only heard it said, "The one who formerly was persecuting us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy." ²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

One of the harshest words that someone can speak to me as I seek to carry out my ministry is that what I am teaching is "just your opinion." Someone at another parish once said that to me in response to my desire to have members caring for one another. He advocated that everyone is "on their own" in spite of Paul's call to love and care for one another as members of the body of believers.

Paul is defensive at this point. He has been accused of being a second rate apostle because he did not walk with Jesus for three years. So he distances himself from Peter and says that he is not just repeating what he heard from Peter. Paul says that the Lord himself spoke with him and he reflected on the meaning of Christ's dying and rising for many years. Yet he also says that Peter supported his ministry.

What is "Christian" thinking? What is "fallen" human thinking? Paul is astounded that the Jewish Christians in Galatia are rejecting his teaching because it seemed "just his opinion." We become mature when we recognize which ideas come from the Lord and carry out salvation and which come from our old selfish nature. For the Galatians, thinking they could keep being "Jewish" and "Christian," in the sense of God loving them for what they performed, would lead to eternal death.

We are called to read and study the Scriptures. Listen again this month to Paul in Galatians. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to recognize what you are thinking that comes from the Lord (gather with others, love others, worship together, study the Scriptures) and what comes from the dangerous old sinful nature (I am doing fine, I know enough, I can decide what my relationship with fellow Christians needs to be).

May we yearn to be together and rub shoulders with others who claim God's grace through faith for our eternal salvation. It takes Christ's death and resurrection to change our heart. We need to be careful not to turn back to what looks "religious" and "nice" but what is not "Christian."

In Christ our Lord and Savior,
Pastor Thomas Trapp