Lesson 3 Print out lesson and quiz

Lesson 3
Print out lesson and quiz.
Paul’s Conversion and Apostleship

Galatians 1:10-24
10        For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be
the servant of Christ.
11        But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12        For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
13        For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God, and wasted it:
14        And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous
of the traditions of my fathers.
15        But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
16        To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh
and blood:
17        Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned
again unto Damascus.
18        Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.
19        But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.
20        Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not.
21        Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia;
22        And was unknown by face unto the churches of Judaea which were in Christ:
23        But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed.
24        And they glorified God in me.

The apostle Paul in this section is obligated to defend his apostleship. He had come to these Galatians when they were
heathen, when they were idolaters, and had been God’s messenger to them. Through him they had been brought to the
Lord Jesus Christ. But they had fallen under the influence of false teachers, and now looked down upon the man who had
led them to Christ; they despised his ministry and felt they were far better informed than he. Even today, we often see
young converts (new Christians, age is not the gage here) and happy in the knowledge of sins forgiven, until under the
influence of false teachers they look with contempt upon those who presented the gospel to them. Where do we find
these false teachers? They may be co-workers, they may be friends, neighbors, even relatives. They may be authors of
the books you read. Not all who write write the same gospel. They may be song artists whose music, both word and
sound, is not God honoring even though they call themselves Christians and their music Christian. We are living in the
time when it is very easy to be deceived.

2 Tim 3:13
But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

Verse 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I
should not be the servant of Christ.

Paul undertakes to show how he became the apostle to the Gentiles. His express purpose was to do the will of the
One who had saved him and commissioned him to preach the gospel of His grace.

Verse 11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.

Verse 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul says, “I did not get my gospel from men. No man communicated it to me. I received it directly from heaven.”

Christ called Paul vocally. Today, Christ does His calling, not by word, but by the wooing of the Holy Spirit. If a man
is brought to understand the truth of the gospel, it is because the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation
in the knowledge of Christ, opens that man’s heart and mind and understanding to comprehend the truth. Otherwise
he would not receive it.

1 Cor 2:14

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

When a man preaches the gospel of the grace of God and insists upon man’s utterly lost and ruined condition, declares
that he is unable to do one thing to save himself, but must be saved through the atoning death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
there is nothing about that to please the natural man.

Galatians 1:13-14
13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God, and wasted it:
14 And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous
of the traditions of my fathers.

The two English words, “Jews’ religion” are translated from the one Greek word, which means “Judaism.” Paul hoped
through that to save his soul and gain favor with God, until through a divine revelation he had an altogether different
conception of things. As long as he believed in Judaism he persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. Paul hated
Christianity. Judaism was dearer than life to him. He thought it was the only truth, that all men, if they would know God
at all, must find Him thought Judaism.

Paul writes in verse 16 that God called him by His grace.

In Acts 9, in the story of Paul’s conversion, we read that God spoke to Ananias and sent him to see Paul in the street
called Straight in Damascus. He did not want to go at first, he was afraid he would be taking his life in his hands;

Acts 9:15-16
15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles,
and kings, and the children of Israel:
16 For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.

Christ had a purpose for Paul. I believe He has a purpose for all whom He calls. Paul’s purpose was to preach Christ
to the Gentiles; a Jew going to the Gentiles. But he could not go without any schooling. Paul was sent into the wilderness
of Arabia for three years. There were others who were sent into the wilderness to be prepared to serve God. There
were Moses, Elijah, David, John the Baptist, even Christ.

If you read carefully in the book of Acts you will see it was not until after the conversion of Paul that any one preached
Christ as the Son of God. Peter preached Jesus as the Messiah, the Servant, but Paul began the testimony that Jesus
was in very truth the Son of God. When the Lord Jesus asked Peter, “Whom say ye that I am?” Peter answered,
“Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew. 16:15,16). But it was not yet God’s time to make that known,
for the message was limited, in measure, to the people of Israel in the early part of Acts.

But when Saul was converted, without fear of man he preached in those very synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God
and he himself now was persecuted bitterly by those who had admired him (Saul, now Paul) as the leader in their
religious practices.

Verse 18 To see Peter. The word “see” in the original is very interesting. It is the Greek word from which we get
our English word “history,” the telling of a story, talking things over, and so Paul says that after three years he went up
to Jerusalem to relate his history to Peter, to talk things over with him, to tell him what the Lord had done.

Verse 19 James the Lord’s brother. James who was the half brother of our Lord Jesus Christ, who did not believe
while the Saviour was here on earth, but was brought to believe in Him in resurrection, and who led the Church of God
in Jerusalem. Paul saw him, but from none of them did he get any special endorsement or authorization. He met them
on common ground. They were apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ; so was he, by divine appointment.

Verse 20 Before God, I lie not. Strange that he should have to say this! Strange that these Galatians, his own
converts, should think for a moment, that he might be untruthful. But when one gets under the power of false teaching,
as a rule he is ready to make all kinds of charges to the integrity and the honesty of other people. And so it is here,
that Paul inserts, “I lie not.”

From Jerusalem Paul sets forth to visit churches that had heard of him, but never seen him face to face. Saul, the great
persecutor, has now become Paul, the evangelist for the Church.

Lesson 3 Quiz on Galatians 1:10-24

1. In this section, Paul is obligated to defend his
A. Kinship B. Workmanship C. Apostleship D. Citizenship

2. When Paul came to the Galatians, they were
A. Heathen and Idolaters B. Christians

3. Paul led them
A. Astray B. To false teachers C. To the Lord Jesus Christ D. Nowhere

4. The Galatians were now following __________________ teachers.

5. Are there false teachers today? __________

6. We are living in the time when it is very easy to be _____________________ .

7. Paul undertakes to show how he became the __________________ to the ___________________ .

8. Paul’s purpose was to do what? To do ________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

9. Whom did Paul seek NOT to please? __________________

10. Christ called Paul, but who does the calling today? ___________________________

11. “The ___________________ man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are ___________________________ unto him: neither can he ____________ them, because ____________ are ________________________ _______________________ ” (I Corinthians 2:14).

12. The majority of people who hear the gospel do not ____________________ it.

13. The majority of the people do not hear the gospel because
_______________________________________________________________________

14. The two English words, “Jews religion” are translated from the one Greek word, which means “_____________________.”

15. God spoke to _____________________ and sent him to see Paul in the street called ____________________ in Damascus.

16. Paul’s purpose was to _____________________ to the ______________________ .

17. It was not until after the conversion of Paul that any one ___________________ Christ as _________________________________________ .

18. After three years in the wilderness, whom did Paul go to see? ___________________
and __________________________ .

19. He met them on ___________________ ground. They were ___________________ .

20. What statement of fact does Paul insert in his letter? “_____ __________ ________”

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