CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES
Galatians 1:24. They glorified God in me.—He does not say, adds Chrysostom, they marvelled at me, they praised me, they were struck with admiration of me, but he attributes all to grace. They glorified God in me. How different, he implies to the Galatians, their spirit from yours.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Galatians 1:20-24
God glorified in His Servant—
I. By the undoubted truthfulness of his statements.—“Now the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not” (Galatians 1:20). The assertions of the apostle flatly contradicted the allegations of his enemies. They insinuated that Paul was but a messenger of the authorities of the Church at Jerusalem, and that all he knew of the gospel had been learned from the twelve. So far from this being the case it is evident that for several years he had been preaching the gospel, and had not seen any of the twelve, except Peter and James, and that only for a fortnight at Jerusalem about three years after his conversion. “In the present case,” remarks Professor Jowett, “it is a matter of life and death to the apostle to prove his independence of the twelve.” Having said all he can to substantiate his point, he concludes by a solemn appeal to God as to his veracity: “Behold, before God, I lie not.” The apostle never makes an appeal like this lightly, but only in support of a vital truth he is specially anxious to enforce (Romans 9:1; 2 Corinthians 1:17-18; 2 Corinthians 1:23; 1 Thessalonians 2:5).
“When fiction rises pleasing to the eye,
Men will believe, because they love the lie;
But truth herself, if clouded with a frown,
Must have some solemn proof to pass her down.”
Churchill.
The vigorous and faithful maintenance of the truth brings glory to God.
II. By his evangelistic activity.—“Afterwards I came into the regions of Syria and Cilicia” (Galatians 1:21). During this tour very probably the Churches were founded, referred to in Acts 15:23; Acts 15:41. “A man’s work,” says George Macdonald, “does not fall upon him by chance, but it is given him to do; and everything well done belongs to God’s kingdom, and everything ill done to the kingdom of darkness.” God is the sublime end of all human activity, and our powers can never be more nobly employed than in expounding His will, unfolding His gracious character, advancing the interests of His kingdom, and striving to promote His glory among the children of men. Man is never so great, so luminous, so grand as when he is doing work for God with the light and help of God; and all such work is a revelation of the character and purposes of God open to the eyes of all who will see.
III. By the reputation of his changed life.—“And was unknown by face unto the Churches: … they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preached the faith which once he destroyed” (Galatians 1:22-23). The conversion of Saul of Tarsus was one of the most striking events in the early history of the Church. It was a marvel to all who had known his previous life. It was an unanswerable testimony to the power of the gospel, and an argument that has been used in all ages to illustrate the possibility of the salvation of the worst of sinners. It is said the Duke of Burgundy was born terrible. He would indulge in such paroxysms of rage that those who were standing by would tremble for his life. He was hard-hearted, passionate, incapable of bearing the least opposition to his wishes, fond of gambling, violent hunting, the gratifications of the table, abandoned to his pleasures, barbarous, and born to cruelty. With this was united a genius of the most extraordinary kind; quickness of humour, depth and justice of thought, versatility and acuteness of mind. The prodigy was, that in a short space of time the grace of God made him a new man. He became a prince, affable, gentle, moderate, patient, modest, humble, austere only to himself, attentive to his duties, and sensible of their extent. If we could lay a hand on the fly-wheel of the Scotch express, running fifty or sixty miles an hour, and stop it, we should perform an astounding miracle. But this is what God does in His miracles of conversion. He laid His mighty hand on the fly-wheel of Paul’s life, and not only stopped its mad career, but turned it right round in the opposite direction. The persecutor becomes a preacher.
IV. By the recognition of His divine call.—“And they glorified God in me” (Galatians 1:24). The attempt to disparage the authority of Paul was the work of a few malcontents, who sought to ruin his influence in order to extend their own. The Churches of Jerusalem and Judea, though many of them had not seen the apostle, acknowledged and praised God for the divine work done in him and by him. A few false teachers may work much mischief, but they cannot overturn the work of God, nor prevent its full recognition. The faithful servant may safely leave his reputation in the hands of God. It lifts humanity, especially Christianised humanity, into special dignity, when it is discovered that God is glorified in man.
Lessons.—
1. The gospel elevates man by transforming him.
2. The conscientious worker has God on his side.
3. God is glorified by obedient toil.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
Galatians 1:20. Self-conscious Truth.—
1. The choicest servants of Christ may be looked upon as liars and unworthy to be trusted, even by those to whom they are sent, and yet they must not give over to preach as knowing that the word spoken by them doth still get credit from some, and will beget trust to itself from others, and for the rest it will seal up their condemnation and make them inexcusable.
2. It is not unlawful for Christians to take an oath, providing it be with these conditions:
(1) That the thing we swear be truth.
(2) That there be weighty reasons for taking an oath.
(3) That we swear only by the name of God, and not by the creatures, seeing none but God can bear witness to the secrets of the heart.—Fergusson.
Galatians 1:21-24. The Self-evidencing Proof of a divinely commissioned Messenger.—
1. Seen in disinterested labours and travels (Galatians 1:21-22).
2. Seen in a remarkable change of character and conduct (Galatians 1:23).
3. Seen in that the glory of his work is ascribed to God (Galatians 1:24).
Practical Proofs of Apostleship.
I. Paul went from Jerusalem into Syria and Cilicia.—
1. Because he was ordained specially to be the apostle of the Gentiles.
2. Because Cilicia was his own country, and his love to his country was great. If any apostle above the rest be the pastor and universal bishop of the Church over the whole world, it is Paul and not Peter.
II. Paul was known to the Christian Jews only by hearsay, because it is the office of an apostle not to build on the foundation of another or to succeed any man in his labour, but to plant and found the Church of the New Testament.
III. Seeing the intent of the devil and wicked men is to destroy the faith, we must have a special care of our faith.—
1. We must look that our faith be a true faith.
2. We must keep and lock up our faith in some safe and sure place—in the storehouse or treasury of a good conscience.
3. Our care must be to increase in faith that our hearts may be rooted and grounded in the love of God.
IV. Our duty is to sanctify and glorify the name of God in every work of His.—Neglect in glorifying and praising God is a great sin.—Perkins.
Galatians 1:24. God glorified in Good Men.—We are taught to honour God in man and man in God. We are taught to avoid, on the one hand, all creature idolatry, and, on the other, that cynical severity, or ungrateful indifference to the Author of all good in man, which undervalues or neglects the excellencies which ought to be held up to admiration that they may be imitated by ourselves and others. Each of these extremes robs God of His just revenue of grateful praise. In what does creature idolatry consist but in honouring and trusting in the natural and acquired excellencies of creatures to the exclusion of God? But is there then no wisdom, no might, no excellence, in man? As it were absurd to deny this, it would be affectation to pretend to overlook it. Admire and deny not this wisdom, acknowledge this efficiency, and affect not to lower its estimate; only glorify God who worketh all in all. If He has chosen any of them to be more eminently His instruments for the furtherance of His purposes of mercy to mankind, He does it by virtue of His sovereignty. If he continues their useful lives, whilst you have their light rejoice in the light and glorify Him from whom it comes as its original and source; and when He chooses to quench these stars of His right hand in the darkness of death, still glorify Him. As to us, this is to remind us of our dependence on Him, who appointed their orbit and invested them with their different degrees of glory; and as to them, though their lustre fades from these visible skies, it is that it may be rekindled in superior glory in the kingdom of their Father.—R. Watson.