Galatians 1:10-12
The missionaries accuse Paul of being a sophist, a person who makes good points which at first you assume are based on truth and then its found that these statements are false. The missionaries claim that Paul gives the Galatians a soupy version of the Gospel and that he leaves out the obedience requirements found in Mosaic law, which include circumcision. They say that his reasoning for this is because he is a people pleaser. They say that Paul has told them Mosaic law is null so they will not have to do the hard work of obedience.
It angers Paul– both, that the missionary gospel is presented as truth and that his Church folk would believe them. The missionaries have mislead them. Paul is not a people pleaser. Paul is a God pleaser. He receives the Gospel by the Power of the Holy Spirit to preach, teach, and live. And the Gospel did not come to him through a human source for Paul received it directly through a Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Paul humbly seeks God’s approval, which is the opposite of human approval. He says, “If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10). The Greek word for servant really means slave. Paul professes he is Christ’s slave with the identifying scars of persecution (2 Corinthians 6:4-5, 11:23-25); he has the branding scars of a slave. He has suffered for Christ. Suffering like Paul is a part of being a Christian servant. Paul is accountable to proclaim the Truth in Jesus Christ.
And the calling he has willingly chosen does not make him popular. He writes, ‘If I were still pleasing people…’ (v. 10) indicating that he had been pleasing people before Christ knocked him off his high horse.
Paul is working fully for God with conviction to: (1) make sure that believers understand that the Gospel is made by God (2) Gospel is the rescue-initiative of God in giving us Jesus Christ as our Savior (God’s Grace) though we are undeserving, (3) that Christ’s died on the Cross for our sins, (4) Christ’s death on the Cross proves God’s love for us, (5) God has liberated us and is now God our Father (6) when God raised Jesus from the dead God showed us His Power over death, evil is defeated, and we are set free, (7) and, Gospel bursts our hopelessness and lifts us out of hopeless situations. Now we are God’s new creation in Jesus Christ through water Baptism and Holy Spirit New Birth.
10 Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the Gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a Revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:10-12
