Why Did Paul Spend Three Years Alone Before Preaching? — Galatians Explained

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick, an Oklahoma rancher and farmer. Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for over 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say, time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Ok, back to Galatians chapter 1. For those of you here in the studio, and for those of you joining us on television, we trust that you're doing the same thing. Take your Bible and read and study with us, because I don't want people to say, well that's what Les says. I want people to say, well my Bible says such and such, and be able to confirm whatever you may be sharing with someone from the Word, because this is the authority. This is the only thing that we have to go on, is the inspired Word of God. I always emphasize that I am a firm proponent that this is the inspired Word of God from Genesis 1.1 to the last verse of Revelation, and everything in between. Whenever Paul speaks in the first person, it is still inspired of God, and it is God's Word, and we can rest upon it. I think we'll just jump right into the text, because we didn't get it as far in the last program as I intended to, so I'm going to dispense with any announcements, and come right back to Galatians chapter 1, and we left off at verse 18 where Paul had now finished his 3 year hiatus with evidently the Lord alone down in Mount Sinai in Arabia. I think as one person asked me, why did it take 3 years? Well I flippantly answered, it probably took 2 -1-2 years to get Judaism out of his system. And she having come out of a religion herself, she said, yeah that makes sense, it took me forever to get my old religion out of my system. And this is a possibility, because Saul of Tarsus had been a Jews Jew, a Hebrew of the Hebrew, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, and educated at the feet of the greatest Rabbi of that time. So you know he was saturated with Judaism. He was more religious than many of his peers, and he was human. And you know we're all human, and when we have had something drummed into us for years and years, boy it does take the power of God to cleanse us of all that. And see there is such a stark difference between Judaism and all of its rules and regulations and law keeping, and Phariseeism on the part of Paul, and then to step into the grace of God, and receive all of this free for nothing without lifting a finger, that flies in the face of human thinking. But this is where we have to begin. Now we don't stay there of course, that's where we begin. That's where salvation comes in, is when we just say, Lord there's nothing I can do, but I believe You've done it all, and I believe that on top of dying for me, You rose from the dead, and I believe it. Then God expects us to move out and live a life of service, and some to more extent than others of course, but He does not expect us to just simply rest in that saving grace and do nothing about it, but we're to move on. That's the whole thrilling part of it. I was just sharing in our break time with a young man in our television audience in a distant state, and he came out of one of these binding religions, and oh he is so thrilled. He just calls time after time, and he's seeing another truth, and he just can't get over it. He had been blinded to all this for so long, and now he's begun a Bible study on his own. I think last night was his third Bible study, and he was so thrilled. He said, I just can't wait until tonight. Well that's the way it goes. When you come out from underneath all of that pressure of a religion, of legalism, you have to do this, you have to do that. And then to step into the freedom of grace, it's just like setting a bird free out of its cage. Now this is where the apostle Paul is coming from. He has been weighed down with Judaism and all of its demands of a religious leader, and now he's been set free. So he's had 3 years to shed himself of all that, and to absorb not all, but the things that he brings out in his prison epistles of Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. He probably had revealed to him while he was in prison in Caesarea, before he got to Rome. Because then by the time he gets to Rome, all these new revelations are fresh on his mind as he begins to write those letters. But back here in his earlier epistles, I think all of these tremendous doctrines that are so separated from legalism and Judaism, and yet all fits. It isn't something that is like a thorn in the rest of Scripture, no it all fits. In fact I may have shared it with some of you in our mid-week class, but I had a lady also call from a distant state, and she said yesterday morning our sermon was the verse in Matthew 19, where the rich young ruler came to Jesus and said, Matthew 19. This morning's program you came out and said we're not under the commandments, we're under grace. Now she said, I'm confused. Well I said, have you got a few minutes? And she said, yes. I said, well let me just give you a one on one Bible study. So I brought her up all through the Abrahamic covenants and Christ's earthly ministry and Israel's rejection, and the raising of Saul of Tarsus who became the apostle Paul, and the revelation of the mysteries, and how that now since the work of the cross was complete, he had been resurrected from the dead, he had gone back to glory, and revealed these truths. How that now there was no need to work, it's all done. And she just was silent for a second, and you know what her answer was? It's so logical isn't it? Yeah it is, it's so logical that if it's all done, then why try to work, work, work to still do more? It's done. Now this is what the man is trying to get across. And so he says, now after being three years at Sinai, he said in verse 18 where we end in our last program. I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and bode with him fifteen days. Now that's only two weeks and a day. But other of the apostles, the other eleven, I saw none, except James the Lord's brother. Now verse 20. Now the things which I write unto you, now come back again, who's he writing to? The Gentiles up in Galatia. He's writing to us. Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God I lie not. Sound familiar? What did he say in the Corinthians? I didn't bring you a corrupt message, I didn't bring you something that's been adulterated, and now here we have it in a little different language, but it's the same thought. I'm not bringing you something that's false, before God I lie not. Now verse 21. Ephesians 2. After he had been to Jerusalem, and the three years with the Lord at Sinai, then after he is now ready to fulfill that commission to go to the Gentiles that we saw in the last program back in Acts chapter 9, then he said, I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. Now I think most of you know your Bible geography well enough to know that Cilicia was just around the corner of the Mediterranean Sea, and up here along the river valley a few miles in from the Mediterranean Sea was the city of Tarsus, and this particular state was called Cilicia. That was Saul's hometown area of Tarsus. So he's not that far removed from Palestine, but yet he is in total Gentile territory when he begins his ministry after the two weeks with Peter. He goes from Jerusalem directly up to his home area of Cilicia. Now let's carry on. Verse 22. Ephesians 2. Now why did the Holy Spirit inspire the man to make a statement like that? Why is He letting us know that He had nothing to do with those Jewish congregations in Palestine? Because this man is going to be separated from all that. He has no ministry to the Jews there in Judea, no more than the twelve had a ministry to the Gentiles when Jesus sent them out. Do you see the difference? It's just a complete fork in the road. This man is going to be sent to the very opposite direction that Peter and the apostles were sent. And so he goes up into a total new Gentile area, wherein of course there were some Jews no doubt, they were in all areas of the Roman Empire, but he goes into Gentile territory in the area of Cilicia and Tarsus. Now verse 23. Ephesians 2. But these Jewish believers down in the area of Jerusalem and Judea had heard only that He who persecuted us, in other words the one who had tried to stamp out Jewish believers of the Messiah, that He who persecuted us in times past, is now preaching the faith that is concerning Jesus the Lord Christ, which once He destroyed. And so they glorified God in me. Of course, why not? Because after all it's the same God, it's the same Christ, but whereas the Jewish believers had come in by virtue of the Kingdom economy and the Kingdom Gospel, yet this man now is going in a different direction, but still serving the same God. And don't lose sight of that, because somebody sent me an article the other day where there are theologians who are trying to promote the theory that the apostle Paul, even though he was the founder of Christianity, was in complete contradiction to the teachings of Jesus. How can you come to such a conclusion when he says over and over, just for example, turn to Ephesians chapter 3, because I'm sure you're going to hear more of this, because it makes for good book sales. And so these men are writing that Paul was the founder of Christianity, but it's a Christianity that is in total opposition to what Jesus taught. No, it's not in opposition, it's a difference. It's not under Law, it's under Grace, but it's the same God, it's the same Christ. And so how can they say that he was in direct opposition to the teachings of Christ, when in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 1, Paul says, "...for this cause I Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ, but for whose purposes ye Gentiles, for I am the prisoner of the Lord Jesus Christ for you Gentiles." Well he's not in opposition to the teachings of Jesus, it's an extension of them. That now that the life of Christ was culminated there at the cross, and then picked up in resurrection power, of course that makes it different, but it's still the same God. Back to Galatians chapter 2, we're ready for verse 1 of chapter 2. Now remember everything that's come along, we've seen him saved on the road to Damascus, we've seen him spend three years, whether it was divided between Arabia and Damascus, or whether it was as I feel, all in Arabia. There's still a three year gap in here, and so fourteen years after his conversion. Now here are just once in a while where the Lord has seen fit to give us the time element, and the chronologers of course can jump on this, and they can pretty much reconstruct the whole time table, even though there is nothing definitive, and consequently I have not found two chronologers that agree. They're always at least a few years apart on their estimation of some of these things. In other words, some will say this book of Galatians was written in 58, and some will say 60, and some will say 57. So you can't be definitive. But here is one benchmark. Here Paul says that fourteen years after his conversion on the road to Damascus, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas. Now that should ring a bell. Where did Paul hook up with Barnabas? Well up at Antioch. And when did he get to Antioch? After he had been up to Cilicia. So we know that there is a time frame in there between his conversion and this Council in Jerusalem. Now I think again, most chronologists feel that this Council in Jerusalem was somewheres around 51 or 52 A.D. I hope I can do my arithmetic, I'm always afraid that when I get on the board and people are watching me, I'll make some gruesome simple arithmetic mistake. But we want to remember now that Christ was crucified and Pentecost took place in 29 A.D. Then I feel that there was a 7 year interval between Pentecost and the stoning of Stephen, which would be in 36 A.D. When Saul was at the height of his persecuting those Jewish believers, and had brought about the stoning of Stephen, then in the next year Saul's conversion on the road to Damascus, which would then take you up to 40 A.D. when he went to Cilicia. But if he went back up to Jerusalem in Galatians chapter 2, 14 years after 37, that takes you up to 51 A.D. Now the only reason I do this is to show that all during the book of Acts, time is moving on. This isn't all happening just in a year or so. Time has been going by. Now here we have been 14 years after his conversion, he has been out in the Gentile world preaching his Gospel of Grace, and in the meantime, as we saw in the Corinthian letters in our previous programs, the Judaizers from Jerusalem are opposing him at every turn. Whether they were believing Jews, whether they were under the influence of Peter and the Eleven, or whether they were from the Orthodox, it made no difference. They would come into these Gentile congregations and say, you can't be saved by Paul's Gospel alone. You have to keep the Law, you have to practice circumcision, or you can't be saved. Now let me show you where the Scripture makes that so plain, and we have to go back to the book of Acts again. Now I know that when we teach Galatians we use Acts, and that's sensible isn't it? Back to Acts chapter 15 verse 1, and again not everybody is going to agree with me, but I maintain that this consul in Jerusalem in Acts 15 is Luke's account, whereas in Galatians chapter 2 it's the same consul, but it's Paul's account, and they all jod. Now let's go back to Acts chapter 15 verse 1. Now I've got to take my time here, I've got to force myself to slow down, because otherwise you're going to lose the thread. Verse 1. Acts 15. Luke's account. Now I'll look at that and analyze it. What kind of Jews would come into a Gentile congregation and begin to teach them? Well not the Orthodox, not the Pharisees, they wouldn't have anything to do with something like this. After all, what were Gentiles in the mind of a Pharisee? They were dirty dogs. So they certainly wouldn't. So who must have been coming into these Gentile congregations? Jewish believers that Jesus was the Christ. Now they weren't believers of Paul's Gospel, they were still believers that Jesus was who He said He was. He was the Messiah of Israel. And so they are still under the Law. Now a lot of people don't realize that. That those early Jewish believers under Peter's preaching, were still Law keeping Jews. My, it's so evident. And I don't have to show you the Scripture. You remember when Peter had the vision of the sheet, and all these creatures were in there, and they came down. And what did the Lord command Peter to do? He said, Rise Peter, kill and eat. And what did Peter answer? No way Lord, why? I have never eaten anything unclean. Why hadn't he? Hey, he's a Law keeping Jew. It had to be kosher or Peter wouldn't eat it. And then a little later he gets up to the house of Cornelius, and as he is with trepidation, you know I've always put it this way. From Joppa, where the Lord revealed all this to Peter, until he gets up to the house of Cornelius some 80-90 miles up the coast, I've always said there must have been heel prints in the sand, where the Lord just pushed him, and pushed him, and pushed him. Because Peter didn't want to go, no more than Jonah did. And so he gets to the door of Cornelius house, and still with trepidation, what's the last thing he says before he steps in? Now Cornelius, you know it's an unlawful thing for me, a Jew, to keep company with a man of another nation. Well why does he say something like that if he's set free? Well he wasn't set free, he was still a Law keeping Jew. Now those same kind of believing Jews who were under Peter's control there at Jerusalem, they had maintained a separation, but they were still temple worshipers. They can't ever prove to me that they weren't. And they were still legalistic Jews, but they had recognized Christ as the Messiah. Now let's come back to Acts chapter 15, and so verse 1 says, Acts 15. These certain men came down from Judea, and they taught these Gentile brethren, and they said, now look at it carefully, because your Bible says it as sure as mine, unless you be circumcised after the manner of Moses. What? You cannot be saved! That's what your Bible says. But it's quoting these Jewish people from Jerusalem who are now up there in the Gentile area of Adion. Oh you can't be saved by Paul's Gospel, does that sound familiar to you? Oh you bet it does. Oh we don't use circumcision today, but they use a host of other things. Oh you can't be saved by what Lester's teaching, you've got to do this, you've got to do that, there's no difference. Now let's read on. When therefore, because of this kind of false teaching coming into their midst, which Paul had to constantly refute, when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension, arguing with them, and disputation, they all of them together determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the wheels, and unto the apostles and elders about this question. Now then jump for sake of time all the way down to verse 5. They get to Jerusalem, and what do they run into in this big meeting of the Jerusalem believers, now believers that Jesus was the Christ, the ones that Saul had been trying to stamp out, and Paul and Barnabas. Here is the meeting. Verse 5. And there rose up certain of the sect of Pharisees, but what kind of Pharisees? Believing Pharisees. They had embraced Jesus of Nazareth as their Messiah. They're not the whited sepulchers who were religious, but had nothing. No, these were Pharisees who had seen the light, that Christ was who He said He was. They were Pharisees who believed. And these Pharisees said that it was needful to circumcise them, but it doesn't stop there. Not only were these Gentiles to be circumcised, but they were to be commanded, like I pointed out in Matthew 10, that Jesus did to the twelve. He commanded them to go not into the way of the Gentiles. These Pharisees are commanding these Gentile believers of Paul's Gospel, based on faith alone, that not only do they practice circumcision, but they have to what? Keep the Law. They have to keep the Law, or they couldn't be saved. Verse 6. Here is the bone of contention between the Jerusalem Jewish believers and these Gentile converts that Saul or Paul has now won up there in Antioch. Can you see the argument? Oh listen, we've got to understand this, because this is where Christianity is at today. We are being deluged with the same demands that, oh yes, we believe the Gospel, but it's not enough alone. You've got to do this, you've got to do that, you have to come this way, or you have to come this way. And listen, Paul's Gospel will have none of it. God through Christ in this Age of Grace will have none of it, and we'll see that several weeks down the road when we get to Galatians chapter 5. Here was the need for this Council then to consider this, and now I'd like to have you come back to Galatians chapter 2 before we run out of time. So here we are, 51 AD, a long time after Pentecost, and that makes it about 22 years if I use my right arithmetic, 22 years after Pentecost they are still debating. Can you be saved by faith alone, or do you have to keep the Law of Moses and practice circumcision? Galatians 2. Paul says, I went up by revelation. Now when you see that word revelation in Paul's letters, was that me? The Lord spoke it. The Lord evidently told Paul, now it's time to get up to Jerusalem and confront the Twelve. We have to settle this, because otherwise we'll never be able to move out into the Gentile world. So he says, I went up by revelation, and I communicated unto them, underline if you don't mind doing it in your Bible, the word that. You say, well that's not an important word. It's all important in this verse, and I communicated unto them that gospel, which gospel? Which I preach among the heathen. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kenta, OK 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.