Almost unrecognizable in Galatians, but very much more prevalent in Romans, Paul's Damascus Road experience plays a major background role in the content of Paul's letter to the Galatian churches.
To understand Galatians, one needs to not only look intently at the letters on the page, but also one must focus on the influence that Paul's Damascus Road experience plays in the background throughout his writings. Let’s review the biblical references in their entirety to Paul’s Damascus road experience. The following Damascus Road experience recounting is a concatenation of the events recorded in Acts 9, Acts 22, Acts 26 and Galatians chapters 1 and 2.
In this connection, he (Saul) journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. Now, as he went on his way, he approached Damascus about noon, and suddenly a great light from heaven shone around him. Saul saw the light brighter than the sun, that shone around him and those who journeyed with him. And they all fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to Saul in the Hebrew language, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” And answering Saul said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said to me, “I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.
The men who were traveling with him saw the light but seeing no one, and they heard the voice of the one who was speaking to him but not understanding, they stood speechless. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing.
And Saul said, ‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to him, “rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. Enter the city of Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for what you are to do.”
We have seen in a previous blog (Saul, The Man - His Calling on the Damascus Road) how radically life-changing Paul's experience on the Damascus Road was to his worldview and subsequent life-worship experience.
Even though Romans exhibits many more visible signs of greater influence, there still are glimpses of Paul's Damascus Road experience lying in the background of his letter to the Galatians. Understanding this background, helps us understand not only the reason Paul writes, but it also helps us understand the content of what he writes.
Three times in the very first verse of chapter 1, Paul alludes to his Damascus Road experience. In Galatians 1:1, Paul introduces himself as, “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.”
It was on the Road to Damascus that Paul was called to be an “apostle” and it was there that he was “set apart”/“appointed” by none other than “the resurrected Jesus” himself to preach to the Gentiles. In Acts 27:17, the resurrected Jesus is the very one who tells Paul that He has “appeared to him (through a revelation 1:12) for this purpose, to appoint him as a servant and witness.” “sending him to the Gentiles.” So, Paul pinpoints the origin of his apostleship, the Damascus Road. It is very important to understand how important Paul’s Damascus Road experience was to him. That event shaped his entire life- thoughts, words and deeds. Paul’s Damascus Road experience validates who he is and authenticates his entire ministry. Without that experience, Saul would still be “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Jesus” instead of “preaching him among the Gentiles, so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles.”
Not only does Paul pinpoint the origin of his apostleship, but he also pinpoints from whom he received that apostleship, the resurrected Jesus, “whom God raised from the dead.” It was on the Damascus Road that the resurrected Jesus appeared to Paul and convinced him of His authenticity as the long-awaited Messiah risen from the dead. It was that experience that revolutionized his life and turned him from persecutor to preacher, from murderer to messenger, from punisher to partner, and from opposer to offspring.
It’s as if those specifically-targeted, life-changing words of Jesus were still ringing in Paul’s ears as he sat down to write his first sentence,
“I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you…to the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
From the start of his Galatian letter, Paul is specifically placing the resurrected Jesus whom he encountered on the Damascus road in the background as the context within which the letter roots itself and rises to the surface of the page. The resurrected Jesus along with his Damascus Road apostleship is the watermark, so to speak, on the papyri, upon which Paul overlays his Galatian letter.
Paul inserts the Damascus Road experience watermark for a very good reason. Both his apostleship and his gospel are in jeopardy of being emasculated, and the legitimacy of both are in jeopardy of being undermined by self-serving hypocrites who want to make a show of their religious affairs to the detriment of the Galatian Christians.
The Galatian letter, then becomes a self-written letter of verification, so to speak, legitimizing Paul’s apostleship and the authenticity of his gospel as both his apostleship and his gospel rest upon a firm understanding of his Damascus Road experience.
The very purpose Paul begins his letter is to affirm that his apostleship originated there on the Damascus road through (a revelation of) Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.” And who specifically appears to him to appoint him and “send” him to preach to the Gentiles. This information is of the highest priority before anyone reads further. Paul’s readers must know of the authenticity of his apostleship and the legitimacy of his gospel if he is to have any influence in his letter.
Later in the letter, Paul makes mention again of his Damascus Road experience. In 1:15-16 , he refers to his experience on the Damascus Road experience. In particular he refers to God’s revelation to him of the resurrected Jesus for the specific reason of appointing him and sending him to preach him to among the Gentiles.
“But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…”
It seems clear does it not that Paul is referencing his statements to King Agrippa in Caesarea (Acts 26:16-17) when he said, "I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me."
Looking to the background of Paul’s letter to the Galatians help bring the foreground into focus and prepares us to understand the purpose for which he is writing to the Galatian churches. It will be quite evident, as we move our way through the letter, that Paul must establish his authority as an eyewitness to the resurrected Jesus from whom he received his apostleship and through whom he received his gospel, if his readers are to accept him the apostle to the Gentiles.
Both his apostleship and his gospel are in jeopardy of being emasculated, and the legitimacy of both must be defended with a clear understanding of Paul’s Damascus road experience.
Paul provides the evidence in the very first verse.
“Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead.”
His apostleship did not receive authority from a body of men as did his authority to persecute and arrest Christians.
“I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests, and the whole council of elders.” (Acts 26:12)
No group of humans, no council, no commission, no authority validated Paul’s apostleship nor his gospel message. It did not originate from an outside authoritative body.
Neither did his apostleship receive authority through hours and hours of influence at the feet of one man as did his role as a Pharisee through Gamaliel.
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. (Acts 22:3)
“My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee. (Acts 26:4)
Paul did not receive authorization of his apostleship from men, nor was his apostleship legitimized through the influence of one man, but it was solely validated through the revelation of the resurrected Jesus whom God raised from the dead and whom Paul saw with his very own eyes on the Damascus Road.
This is the most important fact Paul wants his Galatian readers to grasp before he moves on to tackling the resulting issues of a faulty impression of his authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ.
In my next blog, we will tackle the resulting issues of the Galatians’ faulty impression of Paul’s authority as an apostle of Jesus Christ. We will see that because the Galatians have so quickly been hoodwinked into believing these trouble makers and their distortion of the gospel, we will see that Paul is disturbed by the fact that he sees "Circumcision as Distortion of the Gospel."