A Personal Relationship With Christ
But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:11,12)
What did Paul do soon after his conversion while on the road to Damascus?
Although it is not mentioned in the ninth chapter of Acts, it appears that Paul went into a wilderness area of Arabia for a season in order to think about what had taken place on the way to Damascus.
We can only imagine the turmoil in Paul's mind. One moment he is a leader in Judaism, torturing and killing Christian saints. The next moment he is the Apostle of Christ to the Gentiles. Can you imagine the mental and emotional adjustment Paul had to make?
Paul did not go to other Christian people in order to learn the meaning of the revelation of Christ given to him. Paul went alone into the wilderness. There he communed with the Lord. He established his personal relationship with Christ. He did not go immediately to the central assembly in Jerusalem and apprentice himself to the leading Apostles and elders.
Every Christian person must have his or her personal relationship with Christ. We are built up in Christ by the ministries that the Holy Spirit has set in the Body of Christ; but there must come an instance in each saint's life when he comes into the Presence of the Lord by himself.
It is not enough to be raised in a Christian family or to attend a fervent assembly. We must know the Lord for ourselves.
We can see this one-to-one relationship in the lives of Moses, Jeremiah, Abraham, Daniel, Peter, and others of the Scriptures. There is a time for us to learn of Christ from other people, and then there is a time for us to learn of Christ from Christ Himself. Have you ever met the Lord?
It appears that the Judaizing teachers in Galatia were attempting to discredit Paul because Paul was the one apostle who came out steadfastly against circumcision. It appears that their main argument against Paul's authority was that he was not one of the Twelve, and that what he knew he had learned from Peter and the other Apostles.
Paul is telling the Galatians that he was not a student of the original Apostles of the Lamb. Rather, he had been called to be an apostle, "not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead."
Paul did not go to Jerusalem and learn the Gospel there. He went into the Arabian desert and received the Gospel from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and then returned to Damascus.
It often is helpful to be taught in seminary or Bible school. It is profitable also to search the Scriptures and discover the promises that are contained therein. But the churches of today need men and women, boys and girls, who have met Christ Himself. We must hear from the Lord what it is that He wants announced and done in the days in which we are living. (from A Study Guide for the Book of Galatians)
