Wednesday 25 January 2012

Background

Today our reading is from Galatians, not Isaiah as for the restof the week. This is because today marks the day the Church hasdesignated to remember the conversion of St Paul - a vitalmissionary leader in the early Church, who has left some of themost influential Christian writings. An account of his conversionis also given by Luke in Acts9, and again in chapters 22 and 26.Some of the details are slightly at variance with the personalaccount given by Paul here in Galatians but central thrust is thesame. Paul was a committed, zealous Jew who persecuted the earlyChristians until he received a revelation from God and a commissionto proclaim Jesus to the Gentile (non-Jewish) world. This stoppedhim in his tracks and sent him in a new direction with a newmission; and he delights in the fact that his publicly known changeof heart and life have helped to spread the good news and causedothers to glorify God (verses 23-24). 

The main burden of this passage is, however, Paul's insistencethat this revelation is not a second-hand one, learned or derivedfrom others. Rather it was personal and given to him direct fromGod. This revelation provided both his commission and the authorityto undertake it. Some of his opponents, it seems, suggested to theGalatian Christians that his views should not be taken seriously onthe basis that he was not one of the original disciples and did notreally understand the religious practices to be followed by peopleof faith. They wanted the new Gentile Christians to be circumcisedand keep the law but Paul stands by his view that God's grace meansthat the right response to the good news is faith which leads toliving in the Spirit rather than doing the works of the law (Galatians 3:2). He knows through personalexperience of God that grace and faith are the keys to God'skingdom.

To Ponder

Has God ever caused you to change direction inlife? How?

What does your experience of God make you mostconvinced about? Has this ever led you into conflict with others?What happened?

What are the strengths and weaknesses of arguingfrom one's personal experience of God?