Galatians 1:23,24 – They glorified God in me.

Yet only they were hearing that “He who was persecuting us, now is evangelizing the faith which once het ravaged”. And they glorified God in me.

Even though Paul hadn’t been to Judea for many years, rumors got through about his evangelizing work in Jerusalem (Acts 9) and in Syria and Cilicia. Saul’s name was notorious for his destructive activities at the time, so how startling it was that this very man is now evangelizing! The phrase “…yet only they were hearing…” indicates that what was known about Paul was only ‘hearsay’. Also from the ecclesias in Judea Paul was in no way influenced.

In Judea, Paul was said to be now “evangelizing the faith.” Remarkable! “Faith” here is the content of the Evangel and this is opposed to “works of the law” (see 3:2, 5,23 and 24). This means that also in Judea (where people only knew “the Gospel of the circumcision”), it was confessed that a person is only saved by grace (Acts 15:11). There is nothing to work (= earn) than just to believe good news. Surely it should make the Galatians think that while Judaizers in their own midst impeached Paul, the believers in Judea were glorifying God for the faith he evangelized!

Delen: