1:15-17 (B) What does Paul mean that he did not confer with flesh and blood after he was saved?
1:15-17 (B) What does Paul mean that he did not confer with flesh and blood after he was saved?
Conferred means consulted with.
Paul did not seek instruction or clarification from Ananias or any of the other disciples in Damascus concerning the revelation he had received of Jesus when he got saved on the Damascus road (cp Ac 9:3-6, 10-20).
Neither did Paul go up to Jerusalem to consult with any of the apostles there. He stayed in Damascus for a short time after his conversion and then went into Arabia, obviously alone, to learn from God direct.
Scriptures do not teach how long Paul was in Arabia, but it was not until three years after he was saved that he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter (cp Ga 1:18-19 with Ac 9:26-30). What Paul is stressing in Ga 1:16-17 is his complete apostolic independence of the Jerusalem apostles.
Even when he went back to Jerusalem again fourteen years later, Paul was still most careful to maintain his independence of the apostles there.
His fellowship with them was on terms of equality. He was not indebted to them for anything (cp Ga 2:1-10 with Ac 15:1-29).