Galatians 1:11-14 The Repentant Rabbi

Format for Your Devotions

Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.

Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.

Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.

Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.

Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?

Step 5: Apply this to your own life.

Step 6: Prayer

My Example Devotion: May 25, 2020 Galatians 1:11-14

Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.

For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.

(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) Paul continues on his theme of not serving man and only serving Jesus.  He gives his own testimony to show that he came out of the limitations of Judaism into the freedom of serving Jesus.  He wants the Galatians to understand that the Judaizers are asking them to take a step back away from Jesus and His revelation of the Father.  He is telling them that Jesus wants them to take their steps closer to Him, not away from Him.  In a way, we must all say with Paul that we do not receive the gospel from any man and we are not taught the gospel, but that we receive it through the revelation of Jesus as our Savior, the Messiah.  Sure, a person can tell us the news, but unless the news opens up inside of us revealing the Savior, we will not receive it.  People can teach us facts about Jesus, but unless He becomes real to us, the facts make no sense to us.

(Understanding the Text) Paul wants the Galatians to understand that the gospel of Jesus was not created by humans, so it cannot be manipulated to suit a certain situation.  Instead, that gospel was given directly by God to humans.  Thus, it should not be fenced in with limitations by people.  Paul is saying that Jesus taught Paul directly.  He did not get the message that he gave to the Galatians from the Jews in Jerusalem, so Paul’s message is not some corrupted, incomplete message that the Jews of Jerusalem need to tinker with and correct.  Paul’s message came from Jesus directly, so it is more complete and more correct than anything the new messengers who claimed to know better could teach because they received their message from men and added human ideas to it. 

By giving his credentials, Paul was saying that he knew more about being a Jew than these new messengers did.  He had more training and more acknowledgement as an authority on Judaism, and this human knowledge had formerly caused him to fight against God Himself.  Paul is showing the Galatians the end result of accepting the limitations and distortions preached by the new messengers from Jerusalem.  He is showing the Galatians that this kind of thinking actually leads to fighting against Jesus rather than serving Him.  Paul has been there and done that when it came to following Jewish traditions and laws, and he was testifying that the end result was to become a murderer and an enemy of Jesus while thinking that you are serving God.

In this passage, Paul is reminding the Galatians of both his high achievements in man’s society and his horrible sins against God’s children.  He is holding up his knowledge of the laws of the Jews and showing that he knew more about it when he was still a child than these new “learned” men preaching circumcision knew now.  These false teachers had not studied under that best rabbi of the age.  They had not been seen as a child prodigy in the law, but Paul had.  Then Paul shows that with his great “learning” had came a worse but logical outcome.  He had ended up rejecting God’s true will in order to carry out the logical conclusion that came from knowing and following the Jewish law.  Following the Jewish law led Paul to sin against God.  Jesus saved Paul from that sin and set him down on the better path that leads to heaven.

(Application / Prayer) I must be wary of my own human logic. The only way to avoid adding my own worldly ideas is to immerse myself in the scriptures and in prayer. I pray to serve You with undivided loyalty and to teach the pure gospel that leads to life rather than a corrupted, distorted version that leads to death and rebellion against You.  Help me to serve You and not fail You with others. Unfortunately, I keep failing.  Help me and heal me and save me from my headstrong, selfish, opinionated, broken ways.