+I. Begins in an unmistakable revelation of Christ to his own
soul.+--"To reveal His Son in me."
+II. Urges him to declare the Gospel to the most needy.+--"That I
might preach Him among the heathen."
+III. Raises him above the necessity of mere human
authority.+--"Immediately I conferred not with flesh and
blood."
Ver. 17. _The Divine Call to the Apostleship._--1. That extraordinary
way whereby the Lord made known His mind to the penmen of Scripture
was so infallible in itself and so evident to those to whom it came
to be no delusion that they were above all doubt and needed not to
advise with the best of men in order to their confirmation about the
reality of it. 2. The Lord maketh sometimes the first piece of public
service as hazardous, uncouth, and unsuccessful as any wherein He
employs them afterwards, that His ministers may be taught to depend
more on God's blessing than on human probabilities, and that they may
give proof of their obedience. Thus it was with Moses (Exod. ii. 10),
and Jeremiah (Jer. i. 19). 3. The apostles were not fixed to any
certain charge, as ordinary ministers are. Their charge was the whole
world. They went from place to place as the necessities of people
required, or as God by His providence and Spirit
directed.--_Fergusson._
Ver. 18. _Requirement of a Preparation for Work._--"I went into
Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus." 1. Affording opportunity
for thought and self-testing. 2. Gives leisure for study and forming
plans for future service. 3. Is often the prelude of a busy and
prosperous career.
Vers. 18, 19. _The Divine Call acknowledged._--1. That nothing of
Peter's supposed supremacy over Paul and the rest of the apostles can
be gathered from this place appears from this, that Paul went first
to his work before he came to Peter, and that his business with Peter
was not to receive ordination from him or to evidence his subjection
to him, but from respect and reverence to give him a friendly visit.
2. It ought to be the endeavour of Christ's ministers to entertain
love and familiarity one with another, as also to make their doing so
evident to others, it being most unseemly for those who preach the
Gospel of peace to others to live in discord among themselves. 3. As
ministers may and ought to meet sometimes together, to evidence and
entertain mutual love and concord, and because of that mutual
inspection which they ought to have one of another, so their meeting
ought neither to be so frequent nor of so long continuance that their
flocks suffer prejudice.--_Fergusson._
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 20-24.
_God glorified in His Servant_--
+I. By the undoubted truthfulness of his statements.+--"Now the
things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not" (ver.
20). The assertions of the apostle flatly contradicted the
allegations of his enemies. They insinuated that Paul was but a
messenger of the authorities of the Church at Jerusalem, and that all
he knew of the Gospel had been learned from the twelve. So far from
this being the case it is evident that for several years he had been
preaching the Gospel, and had not seen any of the twelve, except
Peter and James, and that only for a fortnight at Jerusalem about
three years after his conversion. "In the present case," remarks
Professor Jowett, "it is a matter of life and death to the apostle to
prove his independence from the twelve." Having said all he can to
substantiate his point, he concludes by a solemn appeal to God as to
his veracity: "Behold, before God, I lie not." The apostle never
makes an appeal like this lightly, but only in support of a vital
truth he is specially anxious to enforce (Rom. ix. 1; 2 Cor. i. 17,
18, 23; 1 Thess. ii. 5).
"When fiction rises pleasing to the eye;
Men will believe, because they love the lie;
But truth herself, if clouded with a frown,
Must have some solemn proof to pass her down."--_Churchill._
The vigorous and faithful maintenance of the truth brings glory to
God.
+II. By his evangelistic activity.+--"Afterwards I came into the
regions of Syria and Cilicia" (ver. 21). During this tour very
probably the Churches were founded, referred to in Acts xv. 23, 41.
"A man's work," says George Macdonald, "does not fall upon him by
chance, but it is given him to do; and everything well done belongs
to God's kingdom, and everything ill done to the kingdom of
darkness." God is the sublime end of all human activity, and our
powers can never be more nobly employed than in expounding His will,
unfolding His gracious character, advancing the interests of His
kingdom, and striving to promote His glory among the children of men.
Man is never so great, so luminous, so grand as when he is doing work
for God with the light and help of God; and all such work is a
revelation of the character and purposes of God open to the eyes of
all who will see.
+III. By the reputation of his changed life.+--"And was unknown by
face unto the Churches: . . . they had heard only, That he which
persecuted us in times past now preached the faith which once he
destroyed" (vers. 22, 23). The conversion of Saul of Tarsus was one
of the most striking events in the early history of the Church. It
was a marvel to all who had known his previous life. It was an
unanswerable testimony to the power of the Gospel, and an argument
that has been used in all ages to illustrate the possibility of the
salvation of the worst of sinners. It is said the Duke of Burgundy
was born terrible. He would indulge in such paroxysms of rage that
those who were standing by would tremble for his life. He was
hard-hearted, passionate, incapable of bearing the least opposition
to his wishes, fond of gambling, violent hunting, the gratifications
of the table, abandoned to his pleasures, barbarous, and born to
cruelty. With this was united a genius of the most extraordinary
kind; quickness of humour, depth and justice of thought, versatility
and acuteness of mind. The prodigy was, that in a short space of time
the grace of God made him a new man. He became a prince, affable,
gentle, moderate, patient, modest, humble, austere only to himself,
attentive to his duties, and sensible of their extent. If we could
lay a hand on the fly-wheel of the Scotch express, running fifty or
sixty miles an hour, and stop it, we should perform an astounding
miracle. But this is what God does in His miracles of conversion. He
laid His mighty hand on the fly-wheel of Paul's life, and not only
stopped its mad career, but turned it right round in the opposite
direction. The persecutor becomes a preacher.
+IV. By the recognition of His Divine call.+--"And they glorified God
in me" (ver. 24). The attempt to disparage the authority of Paul was
the work of a few malcontents, who sought to ruin his influence in
order to extend their own. The Churches of Jerusalem and Judea,
though many of them had not seen the apostle, acknowledged and
praised God for the Divine work done in him and by him. A few false
teachers may work much mischief, but they cannot overturn the work of
God, nor prevent its full recognition. The faithful servant may
safely leave his reputation in the hands of God. It lifts humanity,
especially Christianised humanity, into special dignity, when it is
discovered that God is glorified in man.
+Lessons.+--1. _The Gospel elevates man by transforming him._ 2. _The
conscientious worker has God on his side._ 3. _God is glorified by
obedient toil._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._
Ver. 20. _Self-conscious Truth._--1. The choicest servants of Christ
may be looked upon as liars and unworthy to be trusted, even by those
to whom they are sent, and yet they must not give over to preach as
knowing that the Word spoken by them doth still get credit from some,
and will beget trust to itself from others, and for the rest it will
seal up their condemnation and make them inexcusable. 2. It is not
unlawful for Christians to take an oath, providing it be with these
conditions: (1) That the thing we swear be truth. (2) That there be
weighty reasons for taking an oath. (3) That we swear only by the
name of God, and not by the creatures, seeing none but God can bear
witness to the secrets of the heart.--_Fergusson._
Vers. 21-24. _The Self-evidencing Proof of a Divinely commissioned
Messenger._--1. Seen in disinterested labours and travels (vers. 21,
22). 2. Seen in a remarkable change of character and conduct (ver.
23). 3. Seen in that the glory of his work is ascribed to God (ver.
24).
_Practical Proofs of Apostleship._
I. +Paul went from Jerusalem into Syria and Cilicia.+--1. Because he
was ordained specially to be the apostle of the Gentiles. 2. Because
Cilicia was his own country, and his love to his country was great.
If any apostle above the rest be the pastor and universal bishop of
the Church over the whole world, it is Paul and not Peter.
II. +Paul was known to the Christian Jews only by hearsay,+ because
it is the office of an apostle not to build on the foundation of
another or to succeed any man in his labour, but to plant and found
the Church of the New Testament.
III. Seeing the intent of the devil and wicked men is to destroy
the faith, +we must have a special care of our faith.+--1. We must
look that our faith be a true faith. 2. We must keep and lock up our
faith in some safe and sure place--in the storehouse or treasury of a
good conscience. 3. Our care must be to increase in faith that our
hearts may be rooted and grounded in the love of God.
IV. +Our duty is to sanctify and glorify the name of God in every
work of His.+--Neglect in glorifying and praising God is a great
sin.--_Perkins._
Ver. 24. _God glorified in Good Men._--We are taught to honour God in
man and man in God. We are taught to avoid, on the one hand, all
creature idolatry, and, on the other, that cynical severity, or
ungrateful indifference to the Author of all good in man, which
undervalues or neglects the excellencies which ought to be held up to
admiration that they may be imitated by ourselves and others. Each of
these extremes robs God of His just revenue of grateful praise. In
what does creature idolatry consist but in honouring and trusting in
the natural and acquired excellencies of creatures to the exclusion
of God? But is there then no wisdom, no might, no excellence, in man?
As it were absurd to deny this, it would be affectation to pretend to
overlook it. Admire and deny not this wisdom, acknowledge this
efficiency, and affect not to lower its estimate; only glorify God
who worketh all in all. If He has chosen any of them to be more
eminently His instruments for the furtherance of His purposes of
mercy to mankind, He does it by virtue of His sovereignty. If He
continues their useful lives, whilst you have their light rejoice in
the light and glorify Him from whom it comes as its original and
source; and when He chooses to quench these stars of His right hand
in the darkness of death, still glorify Him. As to us, this is to
remind us of our dependence on Him, who appointed their orbit and
invested them with their different degrees of glory; and as to them,
though their lustre fades from these visible skies, it is that it may
be rekindled in superior glory in the kingdom of their
Father.--_R. Watson._
* * * * * * * *
+CHAPTER II.+
_CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES._
Ver. 1. +Then fourteen years after.+--From Paul's conversion
inclusive. +I went again to Jerusalem.+--The same visit referred to
in Acts xv., when the council of the apostles and Church decided that
Gentile Christians need not be circumcised.
Ver. 2. +I went up by revelation.+--Quite consistent with the fact
that he was sent as a deputy from the Church at Antioch (Acts xv. 2).
The revelation suggested to him that this deputation was the wisest
course. +Communicated privately to them which were of
reputation.+--It was necessary that the Jerusalem apostles should
know beforehand that the Gospel Paul preached to the Gentiles was the
same as theirs, and had received Divine confirmation in the results
it wrought on the Gentile converts.
Ver. 3. +Neither Titus+ [not even Titus], +being a Greek, was
compelled to be circumcised.+--The apostles, constrained by the
firmness of Paul and Barnabas, did not compel or insist on his being
circumcised. Thus they virtually sanctioned Paul's course among the
Gentiles, and admitted his independence as an apostle. To have
insisted on _Jewish_ usages for _Gentile_ converts would have been to
make them essential parts of Christianity.
Ver. 4. +False brethren unawares+ [in an underhand manner] +brought
in privily to spy out.+--As foes in the guise of friends, wishing to
destroy and rob us of our liberty--from the yoke of the ceremonial
law.
Ver. 5. +To whom we gave place by subjection not for an hour.+--We
would willingly have yielded for love, if no principle was at issue,
but not in the way of subjection. Truth precise, unaccommodating,
abandons nothing that belongs to itself, admits nothing that is
inconsistent with it (_Bengel_).
Ver. 6. +They in conference added nothing to me.+--As I did not by
conference impart to them aught at my conversion, so they now did not
impart aught additional to me above what I already knew. Another
evidence of the independence of his apostleship.
Ver. 9. +They gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of
fellowship.+--Recognising me as a colleague in the apostleship, and
that the Gospel I preached to the Gentiles by special revelation was
the same as theirs.
Ver. 10. +Remember the poor.+--Of the Jewish Christians in Judea then
distressed. Paul's past care for their poor prompted this request.
His subsequent zeal in the same cause was the answer to their appeal
(Acts. xi. 29, 30; Rom. xv. 26, 27; 1 Cor. xvi. 3; 2 Cor. ix. 1; Acts
xxiv. 17).
Ver. 11. +When Peter was come to Antioch I withstood him to the
face.+--The strongest proof of the independence of his apostleship in
relation to the other apostles, and an unanswerable argument against
the Romish dogma of the supremacy of St. Peter.
Ver. 13. +The other Jews dissembled likewise with him.+--The question
was not whether Gentiles were admissible to the Christian covenant
without becoming circumcised, but whether the Gentile Christians were
to be admitted to social intercourse with the Jewish Christians
without conforming to the Jewish institution. It was not a question
of liberty and of bearing with others' infirmities, but one affecting
the essence of the Gospel, whether the Gentiles are to be virtually
compelled to live as do the Jews in order to be justified.
Ver. 14. +Walked not uprightly according to the truth of the
Gospel.+--Which teaches that justification by legal works and
observances is inconsistent with redemption by Christ. Paul alone
here maintained the truth against Judaism, as afterwards against
heathenism (2 Tim. iv. 16, 17).
Ver. 17. +Is therefore Christ the minister of sin?+--Thus to be
justified by Christ it was necessary to sink to the level of
Gentiles--to become sinners, in fact. But are we not thus making
Christ a minister of sin? Away with the profane thought! No; the
guilt is not in abandoning the law, but in seeking it again when
abandoned. Thus, and thus alone, we convict ourselves of
transgression (_Lightfoot_).
Ver. 19. +I through the law am dead to the law.+--By believing union
to Christ in His death we, being considered dead with Him, are
severed from the law's past power over us.
Ver. 21. +If righteousness came by the law, then Christ is dead in
vain.+--Died needlessly, without just cause. Christ's having died
shows that the law has no power to justify us, for if the law can
justify or make us righteous, the death of Christ is superfluous.
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 1-9.
_Confirmatory Proofs of a Divine Call--_
+I. Seen in a prudent consultation with the acknowledged leaders of
the church+ (vers. 1, 2).--The men of reputation referred to in these
verses are not so called by way of irony, but because of their
recognised authority in the mother Church. Paul was not summoned to
Jerusalem, but Divinely directed to take the journey. Neither his
teaching nor his office was called in question, nor did he fear the
most searching inquiry into his commission. Conscious of his Divine
call, he claimed equality of status with the rest of the apostles and
explained to them and to the Church the principles and methods of the
Gospel he preached. He had nothing to fear, whatever might be the
judgment of the Church leaders in Jerusalem. He expected from them
nothing but sympathy and encouragement in his work, and he hailed
with joy the opportunity of sharing the counsel of men as interested
as himself in the success of the Gospel. With his God-given
convictions and views, it was impossible for him to meet the apostles
on any other ground than that of perfect equality.
+II. Seen in a prompt and stern refusal to compromise principle+
(vers. 3-5).--The object of Paul's visit to Jerusalem was to discuss
a vital principle of the Gospel--the right of the Gentiles to the
privileges of the Gospel without observing the works of the Jewish
law. A misunderstanding at that critical moment might have imperilled
the liberty of the Gospel. The presence of Barnabas and Titus was
significant--the one a pure Jew, a man of gentle disposition and
generous impulse; and the other a Gentile convert, representing the
world of the uncircumcised. It is to the credit of the Church leaders
at Jerusalem that, with their strong Jewish prejudices, they admitted
that the legal rite of circumcision must not be imposed on Gentile
converts. They were so convinced that this was the will of God, and
that He had already sanctioned this an essential feature of the
Gospel, that they dared do no other. An attempt was made, not by the
apostles, but by certain "false brethren," to insist that Titus
should be circumcised; but this was promptly and stoutly opposed. A
concession on this point would have been fatal to the universality of
the Gospel--the whole Gentile world would have been trammelled with
the bondage of legal ceremonies. It was then that the great battle of
Christian liberty was fought and won. The victory was another
testimony of the validity and power of the Divine commission with
which Paul was entrusted.
+III. Seen in the inability of the wisest leaders to add anything to
the Divine authority.+--"But of these who seemed to be somewhat . . .
in conference added nothing to me" (ver. 6). When Paul was called to
the apostleship he "conferred not with flesh and blood"; now he
affirms that flesh and blood did not confer anything on him. In
conference and debate with the chiefs of the Church he showed himself
their equal, and on the great essentials of the Gospel he was in
perfect agreement with them. Though Paul is too modest to say it, so
far from his learning anything from them, they were more likely to
learn something from him, especially as to the wider scope of the
Gospel. "In doctrine Paul holds the primacy in the band of the
apostles. While all were inspired by the Spirit of Christ, the
Gentile apostle was in many ways a more richly furnished man than any
of the rest. The Paulinism of Peter's first epistle goes to show that
the debt was on the other side. Their earlier privileges and
priceless store of recollections of all that Jesus did and taught
were matched on Paul's side by a penetrating logic, a breadth and
force of intellect applied to the facts of revelation, and a burning
intensity of spirit which in their combination was unique. The
Pauline teaching, as it appears in the New Testament, bears in the
highest degree the marks of original genius, the stamp of a mind
whose inspiration is its own" (_Findlay_).
+IV. Seen in winning the recognition of a special mission and of
equality in the apostleship.+--"They saw that the gospel of the
uncircumcision was committed unto me, . . . and perceived the grace
that was given unto me," etc. (vers. 7-9). Paul won the confidence
and admiration of his fellow-apostles. They listened with candour and
ever-deepening interest to his explanations, and, whatever might have
been their prejudices, they frankly acknowledged his Divine
commission. What a memorable day was that when James, Peter, John,
and Paul met face to face! "Amongst them they have virtually made the
New Testament and the Christian Church. They represent the four sides
of the one foundation of the City of God. Of the evangelists, Matthew
holds affinity with James; Mark with Peter; and Luke with Paul. James
clings to the past and embodies the transition from Mosaism to
Christianity. Peter is the man of the present, quick in thought and
action, eager, buoyant, susceptible. Paul holds the future in his
grasp and schools the unborn nations. John gathers present, past, and
future into one, lifting us into the region of eternal life and love."
+Lessons.+--_A Divine call._--1. _Confers the necessary
qualifications to carry out its mission._ 2. _Demands courage and
fidelity._ 3. _Compels public recognition._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._
Vers. 1, 2. _Truth its Own Evidence._--1. Though the minister of
Jesus Christ is not to depend upon the approbation of others for
confirmation of his doctrine, as if he were uncertain before their
testimony is added, yet he is not to be so self-willed as to
misregard what others judge or think, but ought to demit himself so
far as to give a friendly account of the doctrine, that mistakes
arising from misinformation may be removed and the joint consent of
others to the truth obtained. 2. As there are always some in the
Church of God who have deservedly more reputation than others, so
Christian prudence will teach a man to be so far from striving
against such that he will endeavour, by giving due respect to them,
to receive approbation from such, that he may be in a better capacity
to do good to others. 3. Nothing marreth the success of the Gospel
more than difference of judgments and strifes and debates among
eminent preachers, many resolving to believe nothing till preachers
agree among themselves, and many stumbling-blocks are cast before
people by the venting of passions, jealousies, animosities, and
revenge. Paul endeavoured to get the consent of the other apostles to
the doctrines preached by him, lest by the calumnies of his
adversaries his preaching should be useless.--_Fergusson._