Galatians 1:11-12 But I certify you, brothers, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.… The greater part of our knowledge must always rest on the authority of others. No single man is able to ascertain for himself the innumerable facts, in all the various fields of human investigation, out of which alone a personal conviction can grow. Nor can we always reason out the conclusions that we accept on others' testimony. We must take them on faith. False teachers in Galatia attempted to weaken Paul's authority by asserting that he, having never been a personal disciple of Jesus, and not therefore included in the original commission, was to be looked on as no more than a self-appointed proclaimer of a self-invented doctrine, or as the agent only of other persons who employed his zeal and talents to diffuse their error, or perhaps as the ignorant perverter of the truths which he had at first been taught by the apostles at Jerusalem, and from which he had gone aside. St. Paul here refutes these accusations and insinuations. I. HIS PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITY WERE NOT DERIVED FROM HUMAN AUTHORITY. He was not the retailer of other men's notions, and proclaimer of what others had invented for him and enjoined on him. He had not been drilled in any human school, and then sent forth to talk — to distribute the materials which had been put into his hands, and to hawk about the goods which others had manufactured for him. Far higher than this was his authority; far deeper his knowledge and convictions. II. NOR THROUGH HUMAN INSTRUCTION. Not merely conviction arrived at by self-study of others' opinions. III. BUT FROM DIVINE DISCLOSURE. God unveiled His hidden things to the mental vision of the apostle. His inspiration is a revelation, disclosure, communication from God. Therefore he speaks with authority. (Prebendary Griffith.) Parallel Verses KJV: But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. |
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