Paul is recounting how the false teachers from Jerusalem—the Judaizers— challenged his apostolic credentials. They also believed that Jesus is the Messiah, that he died for sinners and rose from the dead. But they rejected Paul’s “faith alone” gospel, that we are to receive Christ’s life, death, and resurrection as all-sufficient to justify us before God. Instead, they taught that you must believe in Jesus and keep the law of Moses to be saved.
So next, we see how the apostle Paul’s testimony proves the heavenly origin of the gospel he preaches. In verses 15–17, we read that the true gospel converted, commissioned, and changed Paul. Notice first verses 15 and 16: “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.”
First, Paul uses language much like that of the prophet Jeremiah. What happened to him on the road to Damascus was part of God’s eternal plan for him. Likewise, the prophet Jeremiah heard the word of the Lord: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jer 1:5).
As an aside, there is good reason this verse is cited to support a pro-life ethic. And it is important to note this during the present cultural moment, with the overturning of Roe v. Wade in our nation. Notice, God formed Jeremiah in the womb—not supernaturally but by the God-appointed means of procreation. Nonetheless, God is our creator. All of us owe our lives, from conception to death, to God. Second, the Lord knew Jeremiah. The primary meaning of this is that the Lord chose Jeremiah. God foreknew him and chose him for his purposes to be his prophet. Nonetheless, a secondary point is relevant: Jeremiah is a person—from conception—known by his personal creator and Redeemer. Babies are formed by God in the womb and are persons known to him. From conception, they are image bearers of God. To intentionally kill an unborn baby is to kill a person created by God in the image of God; it is a transgression of the sixth commandment. This is the law of God, and it is bad news.
And that said, we must also say this: The grace of the gospel is freely offered to anyone who has been involved in abortion—women and men—and feels the guilt of that. This is a great sin, but there is a great Savior revealed in the glorious gospel of God’s grace. There is forgiveness for all sins in the blood of Christ for whoever believes. Jesus removes your guilt and your shame and robes you in his righteousness. And this is the good news. Whenever we talk about this issue, we must remember to speak not only the truth of the law of God but also the grace of the gospel of Christ. Prepare to be hated on both counts except by those whom God may graciously call to life and forgiveness in Christ.
Jeremiah—formed by God in the womb, foreknown by God from eternity, consecrated for God’s purpose—is appointed by God as a prophet to the nations. Notice that: not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles! And God revealed to Jeremiah the new covenant. Paul—set apart by God from his mother’s womb— is appointed by God in Christ as an apostle to the Gentiles to preach this new covenant, which is not only for the Jews but for all the nations.
How did this happen? How did Paul, the persecutor of Christ, become the apostle of Christ? God called Paul by his grace. Paul was converted to Christ as well as commissioned by Christ on the Damascus road. This is God’s life-giving call to those who are dead in their trespasses and sins, as Paul was. It is an effectual call to believe that grants the gift of faith itself.
Paul was all about pursuing the righteousness of the law. Again, he thought that persecuting the church to death proved his righteousness and his zeal for God. Then, in light of this gracious call of God in Christ, he saw how worthless it all was. All his imagined righteousness, all his misguided zeal, was now nothing but rubbish in his eyes.
Paul also wonderfully recounts his biography as a testimony to God’s grace in Philippians 3. He recounts all his Jewish credentials. And then he says in verses 8–9,
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.
This is a change that only God’s grace can make. God called Paul by his grace. God revealed his Son to Paul. And so Saul, the self-justifying Pharisee, is converted to be Paul, the apostle of Christ to the Gentiles. Imagine that! He is appointed to preach the gospel of God’s free grace, which justifies believing sinners—even Gentile sinners! This is true conversion—from one thing to another, from an unbeliever to a believer, from a sinner to a saint, from a child of wrath to a child of God, from an opponent of Christ to a witness for Christ. And it is a supernatural work of God for Paul and for anyone whom Christ saves.
The risen Christ revealed the true gospel to Paul, saved him by it, and appointed him to preach it. So what did Paul do immediately? He preached it! The rest of verses 16 and 17 say, “I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.” (The area around Damascus was also known as Arabia.)
Acts 9:19–22 tells us what Paul did right after his conversion:
For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.
How did people respond to Paul as he preached the good news of the crucified and risen Christ? Some wanted to kill him! He had to escape Damascus by being lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall. Hardly a man-pleasing gospel! Paul preached the true gospel he received from the risen Jesus—right away. And he learned as we do that the true gospel may not win you friends in this world, but it will win you a new family: brothers and sisters in Christ who believe and follow the same Jesus you do.
The apostle Paul’s testimony proves the heavenly origin of the gospel he preaches. And the true gospel causes God to be glorified among His people. Paul wraps this part of his biography in verses 18–24:
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!) Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” And they glorified God because of me.
Paul relates all this to show that the true gospel was not taught to him—not by Peter or any other apostle or any other prominent leader in the church in Jerusalem, like James, the Lord’s brother. Instead, the risen Christ revealed it to him. Nonetheless, Paul preached the same gospel as Peter and James.
No doubt Paul benefited from his brief visit with Peter. He was surely delighted to hear firsthand eyewitness details about Jesus’s life and ministry and miracles. But Paul did not learn anything new about the gospel. He certainly did not hear a different gospel from Peter.
This is why Paul gives a careful account of this sequence of events. He even swears an oath to God to confirm the truthfulness of it. Why? Because the false teachers are claiming that Paul is out of step with the apostles, James, and the important people in Jerusalem, that he is departing from the gospel he learned from others. No, Paul insists, I received the gospel from Jesus himself, the same gospel Peter and James preach.
Paul did not visit the predominately Jewish churches in Judea. They did not meet Paul face-to-face. But they were greatly encouraged by what they heard about him. Notice, these churches are “in Christ”; they are united to the same Christ Paul is, by the same Spirit, believing the same gospel. The same Paul who once tried to destroy the faith—the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified and risen—now believes and preaches that same faith.
“And they glorified God because of me.” Why? Because only God could do something so wonderful and convert this man from an enemy of Christ to an apostle of Christ. Paul is “exhibit A” of the power of God’s sovereign and almighty grace to save and transform sinners in Christ.
There is only one gospel that can do this. It is the gospel that calls, justifies, and changes sinners like Paul—like you and me. It is not man’s gospel. It is God’s gospel. It is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes—for Jew or Gentile. Why is Paul so eager to defend it, even by means of his personal biography? Because the true gospel is hard for us to believe and is therefore an easy thing to lose. The Galatians are on the verge of losing it—thus Paul’s adamant apostolic intervention. Are we eager to hold fast to the gospel of justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone? As we close, consider the sobering words of Martin Luther in his commentary on the epistle to the Galatians:
The article of justification is fragile. Not in itself, of course, but in us. I know how quickly a person can forfeit the joy of the Gospel. I know in what slippery places even those stand who seem to have a good footing in the matters of faith. In the midst of the conflict when we should be consoling ourselves with the Gospel, the Law rears up and begins to rage all over our conscience. I say the Gospel is frail because we are frail.1
As Luther likewise made clear, it is the gospel alone that comforts us and strengthens us to hold fast to Christ alone.
Note
- Martin Luther, Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, trans. Theodore Graebner (Zondervan Publishing House, 1949), 21, Kindle.
©Tony Phelps. All Rights Reserved.
RESOURCES
- Subscribe To The Heidelblog!
- Download the HeidelApp on Apple App Store or Google Play
- Browse the Heidelshop!
- The Heidelblog Resource Page
- Heidelmedia Resources
- The Ecumenical Creeds
- The Reformed Confessions
- The Heidelberg Catechism
- The Heidelberg Catechism: A Historical, Theological, & Pastoral Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2025)
- Recovering the Reformed Confession (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 2008)
- Why I Am A Christian
- What Must A Christian Believe?
- Heidelblog Contributors
- Support Heidelmedia: use the donate button or send a check to
Heidelberg Reformation Association
1637 E. Valley Parkway #391
Escondido CA 92027
USA
The HRA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization
Tony Phelps
Tony grew up in Rhode Island. He was educated at University of Rhode Island (BA) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He worked in the insurance industry for ten years. He planted a PCA church in Wakefield, RI where he served for eleven years. He has pastored Covenant Reformed Church (URCNA) in Colorado Springs (2015–18), and Living Hope Presbyterian Church (OPC) in Allentown PA (2019–25). He is currently pastor of Christ Our Hope Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Charlestown, RI. Tony is married to Donna and together they have three children.
More by Tony Phelps ›