Part XIII on Galatians Study

Galatians 1:12
"For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ."   Who is now in glory so it had to be through some kind of a communication process between the Lord and this apostle. Remember the words revelation and inspiration as they are the key which unlocks the gate or door of the cross which is our alter of sacrifice. They are also the foundation upon which Jesus said that He would build His Church and that is divine illumination which gives us inspiration from within our heart and this then becomes revelation of Him. All inspiration is given by the Holy Spirit who is present within the receptive ones. And which alter the others are not allowed to eat of its meat or fruits or partake of. Now verse 13: 

Galatians 1:13a
"For ye have heard of my conversation (now that word `conversation' is always translated throughout the New Testament, as manner of lifestyle, how we think, act and respond to God) in time past in the Jews' religion,..."   Why did the Holy Spirit inspire the Apostle Paul to use that term for Judaism? Because that was what it had become. It had become watered down over the last 1500 years from the giving of the ten commandments and Levitical Law on Mt. Sinai, now know this that this Mt. equates to Agar or bondage under the Law, and the establishing of the priesthood of Israel, and all of the sacrificial worship now it had become idolatry (as we shared earlier from Jeremiah, Isaiah and Ezekiel). In the beginning, that was pure, that was Law, but oh, as Israel progressed up through those 1500 years, what happened to it? It just got polluted and corrupt, and degenerated, and finally, after that, it had become 613 rules and regulations (one of which was that they could only walk so far on the Sabbath day). That's what the Law had become and it is now a religion with a yoke of heavy bondage.

There was no saving power in the Judaism of Christ's day nor even to-day. Oh, there were a few bonified believers, we know there were. Zacharias, and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist. Joseph and Mary no doubt were, but oh, it was precious few Hebrews that were true believers when Christ came to Israel. The majority were not true believers but they were very religious. Oh, you bet they were religious. They kept the feast days, they practiced the sacrifices. You know, Josephus claimed that, at the time of Christ, one million animals were sacrificed every year. Now that means that a bunch of animals had to be sacrificed every day. But whether it was that many or something less than that, don't ever lose sight of the fact that the Hebrew religion of Christ's day was, to the hilt, a practicing of those 613 rules and regulations added by men. What a yoke of slavery for any one to have to carry on his own sufficiency of works. No Grace found there.
 
The Galatian churches were probably in the Southern half of Turkey. They were being bombarded by false teachers who were claiming that they couldn't be saved by trust and faith alone, but they also had to be circumcised, and they had to keep the Law of Moses, the Hebrew corral, or they couldn't be saved. Does that ring a bell? Well, we don't have circumcision as such, but we've got a lot of other things that are required that are in the same category. It's that which you can do and that which is of works and it does nothing but bring down the anathema of God Himself. Now verse 13.

Galatians 1:13a
"For ye have heard of my conversation (manner of living) in time past in the Jews' religion,..."
He was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he says in the Book of Philippians. We're positive that he was a member of the Sanhedrin, and, as such, he must have been a husband and father or he wouldn't have been a member. We feel that way because he says, in Acts chapter 26, that when they were persecuting these Jewish believers, and they were brought before the religious counsels, he, along with others, voted to have them put to death or have them thrown in prison. So that tells us quite a bit right there. The then Saul of Tarsus was high up in the echelons of Judaism as it was known at the time of Christ with the Temple worship. Now reading on: