Galatians 1:22
And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.
Truth to Learn
The truth about God comes only from the Bible. We all need to be reading and studying it daily.
Behind the Words
The words “I was unknown” are from the Greek ēmēn agnooumenos. This latter word, agnooumenos, literally means “to not recognize.” The word ēmēn is the imperfect form of the first person pronoun. It could be translated as “I was” but in this case it is better translated as “I was still.”
Meaning Explained
Paul is writing this letter to the churches in Galatia because they have strayed from the simplicity of the true gospel, which Paul had most likely delivered to churches in that area on his first or second missionary journey. Since that time, however, there had crept in false teachers who taught that obeying the Law of Moses was a requirement for believers in Christ. These false teachers apparently had claimed that they were also apostles or that they had received their message from angelic beings. And, these teachers also claimed that Paul taught this same doctrine, having received it from the other apostles.
He has spent most of the first chapter of this letter admonishing the Christians in the Galatian churches for being so easily swayed from the true gospel and explaining to them that the gospel that he delivered to them did not come from other men, including the other apostles. Paul received his apostleship, his mission, and his message directly from Jesus Christ. Immediately after his conversion, he began proclaiming the good news, first in the synagogues in Damascus, then in Arabia, and then back in Damascus. During this time he did not talk to other apostles until 3 years after his conversion and then he met only with Peter and even then only for 15 days.
During the time of his visit with Peter he met up briefly with the apostle James (the younger) and spent hours reasoning with the Hellenistic Jews. Since Paul is refuting the notion that he received the gospel message from the apostles and other adherents to Judaism he now tells the Galatians that he did not spend any time with any of the churches in Judah. He spent time reasoning with the Jews, but he did not spend time with the church members in Judea.
In the current verse Paul declares that even three years after his conversion the churches in Judea still did recognize him. This is evidence that he did not spend any time with the apostles and, therefore, could not have received his message from them.
His reason for making this statement is that he is demonstrating convincingly that his message did not come from any human source as some of the false teachers were apparently claiming. Paul’s only source of his message was from the Word of God Himself.
Application
As was pointed out in the discussion of verse 18, we should be getting our spiritual instruction directly from the Word of God, the Bible. God has ordained preachers as one way of helping us know what the Bible says, but there is no substitute for personal study. If we are not reading and studying daily, then we are missing out on blessings from God and we can be easily misled, just as the Galatians had been.
In God’s service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2007 Will Krause. All rights reserved.
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