- Lesson 2 in the Connect360 unit “A Cry for Freedom: Grace That Is Still Amazing” focuses on Galatians 1:11-24.
Paul declared he received the gospel through a revelation of Jesus Christ (1:12). Don’t miss the joining of the two names: Jesus (Savior from Hebrew language) and Christ (Anointed One, meaning Messiah from Greek language). Jesus came to save all people, both Jews and Gentiles. There was to be one people of God, who were transformed by Jesus Christ.
Most scholars assume that this revelation of Jesus Christ to Paul is the event described in Acts 9:1–16, when a light shone around Paul, he fell to the ground, and entered into a dialogue with the resurrected, glorious Jesus Christ. Paul was physically blinded for three days from this encounter, and on the third day, Paul was figuratively resurrected as he regained his sight.
The words “through a revelation of Jesus” in 1:12 can be interpreted two ways. It can mean that Jesus is the content of the revelation, so the true nature, person, mission and message of Jesus was revealed to Paul. It also can mean Jesus was the source of the gospel, the channel through which Paul received it. Both of these are true. As Ray Frank Robbins has succinctly stated, Jesus is both the One revealed in the Gospel, and the Revealer of the Gospel.
The gospel is not just information transmitted, but rather a life-changing encounter with Jesus. In this passage, Paul definitely met the glorified Jesus, recognized him as Lord and God, and submitted his life to service of Jesus. Perhaps Jesus also flooded Paul’s mind with all the Old Testament Scriptures that talked about him, as Jesus did speaking with the two men on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection (Luke 24:27).
In 1:12–16, it is clear Paul did not discover the gospel through what he knew. He discovered the gospel through whom he knew. The gospel is a dynamic, life-shaping relationship with the living Christ, not merely a relationship with facts and intellectual content. Paul now had both.
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