Ministry of Grace Church

Galatians 1:21

Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

Truth to Learn

Every Christian can benefit from encouragement and guidance given by an older, more mature saint.

Meaning Explained

In the previous verses Paul has been writing about the early years of his Christianity and his ministry. Immediately after his conversion he began to witness to the Jews in Damascus then he went to Arabia to continue his years of learning through experience. Three years after his conversion, as we saw in the previous two verses, he went up to Jerusalem to spend some time with Peter. After spending 15 days with Peter, Paul now tells us that he went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.

First of all, let’s look at why he left Jerusalem, then we’ll look at where he went from there. He had come to Jerusalem because there was so much opposition to his powerful message in Damascus. Barnabas brought him to Jerusalem and introduced him to the apostles (Peter and James) where he shared his conversion testimony and the boldness of his preaching in Damascus. While spending time with Peter, Paul was not a silent witness, for he regularly disputed with the Hellenist. Hellenists are Jews who have been brought up reading the Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint). With Paul’s understanding of the Hebrew and the Jewish traditions from his schooling by Rabbi Gamaliel and his thorough understanding of Greek (the language commonly spoken in Tarsus where he grew up), he was able to argue the deeper meanings of the Scriptures. The Hellenists didn’t like Paul’s powerful arguments and they couldn’t refute them so they plotted to kill Paul. This is revealed to us in Acts 9:27-29.

Then, according to Acts 9:30, members of the church in Jerusalem escorted him out of Jerusalem to Caesarea, and from there to Tarsus. Tarsus is in the region that was, at that time, called Cilicia. Tarsus was Paul’s home town, and he continued doing there what the Lord had called him to, witnessing about Jesus being the Christ. It was in Tarsus that Barnabas later met up with him again and brought him to Antioch (in Syria) where he spent at least a year.

Acts 11:25, 26a  Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people.

We know very little about Barnabas except what is in the passages above and later verses in the book of Acts describing the joint mission that Paul and Barnabas embarked on to spread the gospel message. What is significant is that Barnabas seemed to take Paul under his wing to guide him and help bring out the best in Paul’s obvious skills in preaching the word.

Application

Is there a younger person (spiritually speaking) in your church who needs a little encouragement and guidance to help him or her grow in their Christian walk and witness? Perhaps God wants you to be a Barnabas for that person.

Is God calling you to be a spiritual mentor for someone else?

If so, are you spiritually mature enough yourself to be a mentor? Are you willing?

In God’s service, for His glory,

Copyright © 2007 Will Krause. All rights reserved.

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