Click here for Galatians 1:13-14 Podcast
13 For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. (Galatians 1:13-14)
In our text today, the Apostle reflects on his way of life before he came into a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus. Before his eyes were opened to the truth, Paul terrorized the church, throwing men and women into prison for being believers in Christ. And, think of it, Paul was one of the most accomplished religious leaders of his day. Being religious and knowing God are not congruent.
Notice that v.13 reads "For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it." These words clearly point out that Paul was very religious. Yet, there obviously, came a point in time when he was intercepted by the Lord Jesus Himself.
Before becoming a believer in the Lord Jesus, Paul was a persecutor, one ready to kill Christians. To Paul, the Christian message was a threat to everything he stood for. In fact, it was such a threat to him that he wanted to stamp Christianity out of existence. That should have been his first clue that he didn't have the answer yet. Had he, he would not have been defined by that which he feared.
As pointed out in our text, Paul was, in his former life, " extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers." Paul admits that he was not zealous for God, he was zealous for the traditions of his fathers. This made him legalistic. And, due to the fact that Paul himself was a Legalist he was harsh like the law which can only curse man. (see Romans 2-3). Wherever grace is denied and the legal principle is made prominent, harshness and intolerance result.
I find Paul's words in v.14 " I was advancing in Judaism." Paul was advancing, yet he was regressing. All who knew Paul, saw him as a success, yet he was breathing out threats against Christians. When the Lord Jesus met Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, Paul was in need of conversion. And, conversion is a change from thinking that you can run your own life, to an acknowledgment that God calls your shots. Don't you find it interesting that with God, we progress by regressing. Or, as John the Baptist put it, "may I decrease and may He increase."
We have all known religious people. Perhaps, you have been religious. Religion is man's attempts to earn God's favor. The problem with this approach is that the chasm between us and God is way too wide. It takes a god-like effort to bridge such an chasm that our sinful condition has created. Such a divide has created hopelessness, that is until the Lord Jesus came to solve our hopelessness problem. He solved this problem by laying down His very life, becoming THE bridge to get us back to God.
I trust you have trusted in His finished work which earned for you the forgiveness of your sin. If you have not trusted in Him, click here to go through the steps which will usher you into a personal relationship with God.
