Paul’s awkward new-Christian years. (1.15-24)

by Kent Leslie ✉️

I did not immediately consult with anyone. [1.16] If all you read about Paul comes from Acts, you might get the idea all this stuff happened in weeks, not years. Paul’s putting some years in here.

In Acts after Jesus appears to Paul, you can get the idea Paul immediately starts preaching. No; Acts says he immediately starts confessing Jesus is the son of God. Preaching probably happens after his Arabia trip. There were Jewish communities in Arabia, in the Nabatean Empire (the Nabateans are the folks who built Petra, Jordan) which Paul likely stayed with. Learned to hear the Holy Spirit. Learned from Jesus.

Then Paul went back to Damascus for three years. Then preached Jesus—till the Damascene Jews could stand no more, and decided to kill him, and Paul’s fellow Christians had to sneak him over the wall in a basket. [Ac 9.23-25]

Once Paul switched from being antichrist to Christian, every bit of his Pharisee education became repurposed to support Jesus instead of fight him. The scriptures already point to Jesus; [Jn 5.39] it’s just if you don’t wanna see Jesus in them, you won’t. But Paul’s eyes were now open. Literally, if you remember Jesus had blinded him for a few days. [Ac 9.9]

Likely Paul preached Jesus with the same zeal he had previously opposed him. That is to say, deficient in fruit—as new Christians often will be. We have to grow fruit, y’know. All the more reason people would want to kill Paul. Not for nothing did Paul need several more years before he was ready for evangelism: He still had growing up to do!

Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem. [1.18] In Acts, Luke tells how Paul wanted to join the Christians in Jerusalem right after fleeing Damascus:

Acts 9.26-27: When he arrived in Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, since they did not believe he was a disciple. 27 Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

Paul doesn’t mention Barnabas in Galatians; he says the only apostles he met were Cephas and James. And that’s true; Barnabas wasn’t an apostle yet!

To get to know Cephas. [1.18] In Greek, Κηφᾶς/Kifás. It’s a Greek form of ܟ݂ܺܐܦ݂ܳܐ/Kifá, which is Simon Peter’s nickname in Aramaic. [Jn 1.42] Kifá is Aramaic for “stone,” and our English name “Peter” comes from πέτρος/pétros, “stone”—same thing, different language. In the middle ages, translators had the bad habit of turning the Greek letter K (“kappa”) into the Latin letter C, which is why so many Greek and Roman names that should be pronounced with a K, aren’t.

And I stayed with him fifteen days. [1.18] Various Christians like to imagine Peter giving the young Pharisee a condensed course in Jesus’s teachings—as if he could do it in two weeks! But that’s not how Paul describes it in Galatians. He examined Peter. The Greek has ἱστορῆσαι Κηφᾶν/istoríse Kifán, “to interview Kifa.” Paul wanted to confirm everything he got from Jesus, was exactly the same as what Peter got from Jesus. Did Paul actually get discipled by Jesus himself? Did they both listen to the same Holy Spirit? Were they both on solid footing? Seems so.

But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother. [1.19] After the first persecution—the one Paul was part of—the Christians had fled Jerusalem, including the Twelve. Jesus’s brother James had stayed to take care of any Christians left behind. It’s why James is often called the first bishop (Greek ἐπίσκοπος/epískopos, “supervisor”) of Jerusalem; he ran the church after the Twelve left.

Though neither Luke (in Acts) nor Paul get into it, bear in mind a lot of the Christians still had hard feelings about Paul. Three years ago, Paul viciously persecuted them. Not all of them were ready to forgive Paul. It took the bigger Christians among them, like Barnabas, to put aside their anger and hate, and forgive the kid.

And not first make Paul jump through extra hoops to be saved—much like the “Judaizers” among the Galatians were trying to teach. You know how Christians get when they don’t wanna forgive a sinner: They put them on probation, or make them perform acts of penance. But either Jesus saves us or he doesn’t, and we don’t earn salvation. It’s free. That’s grace.

So either the other Christians had to recognize what our Lord did to Paul and get with his program… or stop calling themselves Christ-followers, 'cause they weren't really following him anymore. Who’s in charge of making apostles? Jesus or us?

Anyway, James and Peter soon decided to ship Paul home to Tarsus, ’cause Paul was getting into the same sort of trouble as he had in Damascus.

Acts 9.28-30: Saul was coming and going with them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. 29 He conversed and debated with the Hellenistic Jews, but they tried to kill him. 30 When the brothers found out, they took him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Or as Paul puts it, “Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.” [Ga 1.21] But not entirely on his own volition, it seems.

So Paul was out of the way for the next decade or so, with nothing but a good story left behind—a reminder of how Jesus can turn anyone around. So… why pray for our enemies’ destruction, when their salvation can be way more productive?