Chapter 1: What was Saul of Tarsus's role in the early church?
We cannot overemphasize the degree to which Saul of Tarsus almost extinguished the early church. He had it within his power, or at least almost from a human point of view, to actually put out, to snuff out the Christian church at its very infancy.
If we were to put it in modern terms, the Apostle Paul was a radical anti-Christian activist. But he did much more than stage protests. He actually rounded up Christians to be imprisoned or killed, which is why his conversion on the road to Damascus is such a dramatic story. And when a man like that gets saved, it's hard not to pay attention.
Welcome to this Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Nathan W. Bingham. We're spending some time on Saturdays with Derek Thomas in the book of Galatians. These messages are from his series, No Other Gospel.
Chapter 2: How did Saul's actions threaten the Christian church?
And if you'd like to study Galatians more in the new year, respond today at renewingyourmind.org with a year-end donation. And to thank you, we'll send you this series on DVD, unlock the messages and study guide in the free Ligonier app, and also send you a hardcover edition of R.C. Sproul's commentary on Galatians.
Well, here's Dr. Thomas to consider what the conversion of the Apostle Paul teaches us about the nature of God's sovereign grace.
Galatians 1, and this time verses 11 through 24, a larger segment. And I want to draw attention immediately to verse 11. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.
As we saw in the first lesson, Paul is writing this letter to the Galatians because there are certain folk in the church, let's just call them Judaizers for now, who are insisting that it's not enough to believe in Jesus, you need to believe in Jesus plus be circumcised, plus obey the dietary laws, plus, plus, plus. And Paul has said this is a damnable plus.
And anyone who preaches a gospel of this nature is not preaching the true biblical gospel and should be anathematized. And he was very passionate in that opening introduction. Now, he wants to open this up a little bit more because not only are these Judaizers suggesting that Paul's gospel is insufficient, they're actually questioning Paul himself.
That's not a new tactic to go after the person and to make an ad hominem argument in effect. So, who is the Apostle Paul? Well, of course, we know who the Apostle Paul is. We have the benefits of hindsight, and we know that Paul, his Greek name, Saul, his Hebrew name. Some people think that Saul was given that name by Jesus on the Damascus Road. That's probably not true.
He always had these two names. One is a Hebrew name and one is a Greek name. And I think that Paul, when he's ministering now in Hellenist Greek places like Galatia, he uses Paulus. He uses his Greek name. It would be a point of entry for him to advance the gospel. We know that he is the author of 13 of the New Testament books, but the Galatians didn't know that. Indeed.
Their minds were filled with prejudice as to who Saul of Tarsus was. And Paul is now on the defensive, and he has to defend his name, and he has to defend his reputation, and he has to defend his right to impose on the Galatian church a certain view of the gospel. He's not Peter. He's not John. He's not James. He's not one of Jesus' disciples.
He said, Johnny, come lately, these Judaizers are suggesting. Paul does this in a number of epistles. You'll find Paul doing something similar in 2 Corinthians, for example, where the church is being influenced by a group within it calling Paul's authority into question as an apostle of Jesus Christ. So let's look at this section, verses 11 through 24.
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Chapter 3: What significance does Saul's conversion hold?
about the need for Christians to repent of their sins and to flee to a righteous way of living. He's still a conservative in that sense. But something has happened to the Apostle Paul in his understanding of the gospel, that obedience to the law and obedience to Jewish traditions or boundary markers or whatever you call them, that's not a part of the gospel.
So Paul has a past, and it was a violent past. And something has happened. And so in the second place, there's his conversion. He has a past, but he was converted. And in verse 15, but when he who had set me apart before I was born. Isn't that an interesting way of seeing it? He doesn't refer to the time on the Damascus Road.
He doesn't refer to the moment in which he saw and encountered the risen Jesus so much. He goes all the way back there. Before he was born and into eternity, I was set apart before I was born. And Paul is saying, there's something about the understanding of who I am. There's something about my understanding of the gospel that has sovereignty written all over it.
Paul is a man who has encountered and been shaped by the sovereignty of God. The reason why Paul is a Christian, the reason why he's an apostle to the Gentiles, is because God has had a plan for him from before he was born. It's an anonymous hymn. I sought the Lord, and afterward I knew he drew my soul to seek him, seeking me. It was not I that found, O Savior, true. No, I was found of thee.
And that's a hymn, and we sometimes sing it in our church, but it's a beautiful way of describing we sought the Lord and I was converted in December 28, 1971, 1130 or so at night after reading John Stott's Basic Christianity. Within days, I realized that something had been at work. Someone had been at work in my life years before.
In fact, had been shaping my life and the contours of providence from the moment of my birth and the more I read Scripture beyond, further back than the moment of my birth, into the counsels of eternity. When Paul thinks about his conversion, he is gripped by the sovereignty of God. The reason he's a Christian is not because he made a decision. He made a decision. He did make a decision.
His will was engaged. His volition was engaged. His affections were engaged. But who enabled him to will? Who enabled him to be drawn to Christ? It was the gracious, sovereign hand of my heavenly Father. You notice again in verse 15, when he who had set me apart before I was born and who called me by his grace. There's that word grace again. We saw it in the first lesson and here it is again.
As he thinks about who he is and what he is, It's a story of grace from beginning to end. Who called me by His grace. I want to pause there. When we think of who we are as Christians, we tend to use John 3. We tend to use Jesus' words to Nicodemus about being born again. I was born again again. I was regenerated. I was given a new heart. You must be born again, Jesus said to Nicodemus.
But there's a sense, and that's a John way of seeing it, if I can put it that way. But for Paul, Paul sees it using a different metaphor. It's not being born again. It's being called. When he writes to the Corinthians, the very opening verses, He refers to the Christians in Corinth as called to be saints. They were called to be saints. Or you can also translate that the holy called ones.
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