Galatians 1:17
"Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; (Paul never takes away the authority of Peter and the other eleven apostles, so far as their position as apostles to Israel, is concerned. But on the other hand he's also not going to let them usurp his authority as the Apostle of the Gentiles.) but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus, Now the first thing we like to do when we see that word `Arabia' in verse 17 is take us to chapter 4 here in Galatians.
Galatians 4:25a
"For this Agar (Paul is making an allegory here for bondage, the law (of sin and death the ministration of the first covenant which is to lead to our need for God's righteousness and holiness, just as it was for Israel. And the Levitical Law and answers to Jerusalem and her children, the religious system of legalism ) is mount Sinai in Arabia,..." Now, from that little statement of Paul, we have to feel that, since this man is going to be delegated to receive a whole new Body of Truth from the ascended Lord, and he is going to be given the responsibly to take it out to the whole Gentile world, God did much the same thing with Moses at that same Mount Sinai. When the Lord spoke to Moses there at Mount Sinai and gave him the ten commandments and then the Levitical Law, Moses took the Law down to Israel. And only Israel received the ramifications of both ten commandments and the Law, although the commandments certainly affected the whole human race. So don't get them confused as many do. Know this that the first commandment given was not to “eat” of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and then when it was broken it became a law of bondage over all man-kinds head, a cruel slave master of sin and death. The next commandment was the ten given through Moses as a moral code of conduct which spread over all man-kind as well. Then Moses was given the Levitical Law which was meant as a tutor and corral for the Hebrews only to keep them in check or in alignment until Christ. But never loose sight of the fact God expected all to HEAR His Voice and DO what He wanted them to, period. It, the Law could only teach or convict man of his utter sinfulness and need of righteousness and holiness which leads to salvation. It required a priesthood which was based on the external workings, the material realm and slavery or bondage to its requirements, within which there was no wiggle room provided. Now here's the secret when we through conversion enter the process of redemption God places us within the limitation of the first covenant which is to bring us to Christ just as it was meant to do with Israel. Now when we through/with the work of the Holy Spirit who is given us when we enter this operation He begins the ministration which leads to us to the knowledge of our undoing and need for both righteousness and holiness which brings on the ministration of a death in order to have right of entry into the New Covenant of promise wherein lies our salvation. God then doing all both in us and through us.
But here we are at the time of Paul some 1500 years later, and God hasn't changed. God is still the same, as He never changes. But now He's dealing with a different individual. He now gives to Paul this doctrine of Grace, the secret things or mysteries, which are imbedded in what Paul is always referring to as the mysteries. And then this Apostle is instructed to take the doctrines of Grace to the Gentiles, and for the ones who will listen to him in the Nation of Israel. That, we think, just answers all of our questions as to what part of the Scriptures we are to depend on and trust. For us we're to be concentrating on the New Covenant or Testament and the hearing of the Holy Spirit. Now it's all God's Word, don't ever take that away from it. Every word in this Book is the inspired Word of God, but He has made it so plain that this man is the Apostle of the Gentiles. Go back to the Book of Romans chapter 11:13. And this says it so plainly. There's no arguing over it. The only thing that gets in mans way is his intellect and false reasoning skills taught him in his school system.
Romans 11:13
"For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:"
In other words Paul is not going to back down form anything that has to do with his role of the Apostle of the Gentiles. Why can't people adhere to that? That's Paul's authority. He and Moses had a mission given them but Paul's is of greater importance for the world. Its the, "greater works than these shall you do because I go to the Father" as stated by Christ (John 14:12). That's why, as we saw in the Corinthian letters, he was always defending that authority. Now come back to Galatians. So evidently he went down to Arabia, to Mount Sinai, and, of course, there's a difference of opinion among Bible scholars and theologians whether he spent the whole three years at Sinai. Or, did he spend a portion of time at Sinai and then go back to Damascus, and then at the end of the three years begin his ministry. We feel that the Lord took 40 days to one year of dealing with this man all by himself down there in the desert wilderness at Mount Sinai. Christ unveiled the mysteries of God which He could only allude to while here during His earthly ministry to the Hebrews because of their forefathers who had received the promises. For Christ knew that the parenthetical period was coming of Psalm 2 and we know that because when He was in the synagogue and read from the book of Isaiah He did not finish the thought from which He was quoting (Luke 4:17-22).
Now the reason we take that approach is that, when we understand all the trials and tribulations that this man went through, most men would have given up long, long ago. Unless like Paul they have the rest of the story or inspiration of revelation, the Light infused into them, of New Life after death (not a physical death but rather one that reconnects us with God). But the Apostle Paul always kept pressing on. Why? Because we think this 40 days to one year experience was so imbedded in the man's makeup that he could do nothing less (just as the revelation of all this and more is imbeded within us). This is why he says what he does and why we do what we do. Then, on top of that, there were several times that the Lord Jesus conferred with him face to face. Paul says that He appeared to me. So all of these things contributed to his constant pushing forward against all opposition. That is also the warning he states in Hebrews. So, after a that stint, which we think was down at Arabia, for this area was called or known as the wilderness in scripture, he finally gets up to Jerusalem to meet Peter face-to-face for the first time. Now we imagine that was quite a meeting, because, after all, they're coming from two totally different backgrounds, one of works (bond by the legalism of religion) and the other of Grace without works (one separated from those same religious works and entry into the New Covenant of promise).
Galatians 1:18
"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days."
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