Okay, Galatians for Beginners. This is lesson number three. The title of this lesson,
Chronology of the Apostle Paul's Life.
I want to do this because a lot of times we just see snippets of his life here and there.
And somehow when you read the book of Acts you get the idea
that everything happened like in weeks or months. And when
you actually look at a chronology of his life you find out there are like big gaps between the high
points that you read about in the book of Acts. The letter to the Galatians,
as we were talking in the last couple of weeks, give a little bit of review on
that before we head into the chronology. The letter is an
appeal by Paul, excuse me, to the churches in the
Roman province of Galatia. And an appeal to them to resist
the movement to abandon the system of salvation that saves
a person by faith in Christ, expressed in repentance of baptism,
and adopt a different system of salvation - salvation by
keeping of the law, expressed in, primarily,
circumcision, rituals, food laws, and so on and so forth.
I mentioned that a certain group of individuals in the church, we referred to them, or the Bible refers
to them as Judaizers. They were Jewish
Christians who formerly were part of the Pharisees.
And they taught that the system of salvation by keeping the law in Jesus'
name was a superior way.
And they were seducing non-Jewish Christians into this idea. And I mentioned
before, a kind of a short form way of expressing this. They were basically saying
to non-Jews, like Gentiles, if you want to become a Christian you first have to become a Jew,
because the Messiah is Jewish and we're Jewish.
And the gospel came to us. If you want to be a Christian you have to
become a Jew, in the sense that you need to be circumcised and you need to keep the
food laws. Then you can be baptized. Then you can be
a Christian.
And this is the idea that Paul was
teaching against in this particular letter. And it begins -
the amazing thing is, he begins by saying how amazed he is that these
Galatians are so quickly moved by this false teaching
and he dismisses it as false. And he rebukes the teachers for having
spread this type of false notion among the members of the church there.
So the Judaizers, they claimed a kind of a special
status. And they tried to discredit Paul as an apostle.
That was one way to get their teaching in. If you discredit the teacher, it's
easy to discredit the teachings.
So Paul, in his response,
describes his early life and contacts with Peter, Peter the
Apostle, in order to establish his own credibility and his
relationship with Peter and the Apostles, that these
Judaizers accepted and respected. So these
Jewish ex-Pharisees, they respected Peter. He was like an
apostle - a famous one. And the first one to preach the gospel. Him, they respected. Paul,
not so much. Not so much. And so
this is the reason why Paul talks about his background. To kind
of lay before them his credentials as an
apostle. So in our outline we see Paul mentioning three meetings
with Peter. These occur over a period of 15 years.
That's why I said, you read it, you think well, January they met, and then they met in the spring, and then maybe in
the Fall, but, no. Over a period of 15 years. And a lot of things happen in between.
So we kind of do this in a chronological order. The three meetings he
mentions in Galatians. So the first
meeting he mentions with - that he had with Peter, was a meeting
that he had with Peter alone to share his conversion experience,
Paul's conversion experience, when he returns to Jerusalem for the first
time after becoming a Christian. And he describes that meeting in
Galatians 1:10-17. We're not going to read that now, I'm just kind of laying it out for you.
The second meeting that he had with Peter was during the Jerusalem conference, to
discuss the question of the circumcision party - the Judaizers.
And a letter is written by the leaders, by the Apostles and the
leaders in Jerusalem, and sent to the churches saying, you don't have to be
circumcised. Just carry on as you are.
Paul talks about that in Galatians chapter 2, verses 1 to 10. That's the second
meeting he had not only with Peter, but with all the Apostles. They call it the Jerusalem conference.
I believe it takes place, like you read about in the book of Acts, chapter 15.
Then the third meeting occurs in Antioch.
Antioch is famous or noted because that's the first
place, the first church, first congregation where both Jews and Gentiles
were together in the same congregation. That was something new, that was in Antioch.
And so the third meeting occurs in Antioch when Paul actually challenges
Peter for his hypocrisy.
Because Peter talked a good game - the Gentiles
should come in and, of course, they don't need to be circumcised. Peter
goes, leaves Jerusalem, goes to Antioch, visits the brethren there and is
associating with the Gentiles in the church there and all of a sudden he hears
that some of the "circumcision party" people are going to make the trip to
Antioch from Jerusalem. And when he finds out that they're heading his way, they're
about to visit Antioch,
he pulls back from the Gentile brethren, because he doesn't want to get into
trouble with the group that's coming from Jerusalem.
And so Paul describes in Galatians chapter two, verses 11to 14 how he actually
called Peter on his hypocrisy and says to him, you live like a
Gentile. You're free and yet
you pull back away from the Gentiles when these trouble makers are going to
show up. That's hypocrisy. He calls him on it.
A lot of people have trouble with that passage. Well, because, in this world, in our
society, Peter, he's been raised to
Saint Peter. The St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
They've almost raised him up to a point where he's a sinless person, but remember Peter,
he's a man. He's an ordinary man. He was a fisherman, subject to
temptation and failure. Just because the Apostles became Jesus' Apostles, they
received the ability to do miracles and do things like that, doesn't mean that they
also receive the ability never to sin,
Never to make mistakes. What they wrote, yes, through the power of
the Holy Spirit.
But there's nothing in the Bible that says that these Apostles went forward after, never made any errors.
Never sinned, never got mad for nothing, never -
So here we get a glimpse in Galatians of a
moment where Peter, famous Apostle, has a moment of weakness.
And another apostle, Paul, calls him on it and it's recorded in Galatians. That's their
third meeting. So I want to take these three meetings
and fit them into the larger picture of Paul's entire life and try to reconstruct
the events in order of appearance. Now there's no
orderly chronology of Paul's life in the New Testament. It would be nice if
Chapter 5 in Acts says number one, number two, it just listed it.
No. You can't find that, but you have to kind of piece together his life from
different scripture references. And matching historical data from
that period. On the back of your sheets, there, you have a little map there with some key places.
You can kind of follow a little bit the key cities that he visited and
preached in. All right, so let's begin with his birth.
He was born in Tarsus. Tarsus is in Cilicia.
It says that he was of the tribe of Benjamin.
Philippians chapter three, verse three. Significant in the sense that there were
12 tribes. When the United Kingdom broke into two: the northern tribes, the
southern tribes. The southern kingdom had only two tribes - the tribe of Judah
and the tribe of Benjamin. And so Paul was part of the tribe of
Benjamin.
It says because of his, because of their help, rather,
to the Roman army, the citizens of the province of Cilicia were all
granted Roman citizenship.
This was a right, to be a Roman citizen, this was a right usually purchased
by military people or slaves. It carried
advantages of movement. It was almost like a passport. If you were a Roman citizen you could kind
of negotiate, go through the Roman Empire from place to place, because you were a Roman
citizen. You had special protection under the law. You had special privileges.
And so Paul, because he was born in the province of Cilicia, whose
citizens all received Roman citizenship as part of an agreement with
the Roman Empire. This gave him a tremendous ability
to move about in the Roman Empire. Now,
this occurred - this business here of Roman citizenship being
given to the people in Cilicia, this occurred about 100 years before Paul was
born. This, then, is how Paul, a Jew, could at the same
time claim Roman citizenship merely by mentioning the place of his
birth. When he said, I was born in Tarsus, immediately people say, oh you're
a Roman citizen. We know if we put together all of
the numbers and the dates that Paul was a little younger than Jesus.
Some of his training: he came
to Jerusalem at a young age and he was educated and trained by
Gamaliel. Gamaliel, sometimes
is pronounced that way. Those days they didn't have schools, high
school, they don't have that. It was a mentorship. Some rabbi took you on and
trained you. It was the school of Rabbis. They would take students.
He was trained by Gamaliel. Gamaliel was the grandson of
Rabbi Hillel. It might not mean anything to you, if you've studied the book of
Acts, you might know something about that.
Rabbi Hillel, he was the rabbi who held the more lenient
view on the issue of marriage and divorce. At the time of
Jesus there were two schools of thought. One school of thought,
represented by Rabbi Hillel, was that you could divorce your wife for any
reason. If she burned the toast, you could give her a certificate of divorce
and divorce her. Rabbi Shammai, the school of
Shammai, he held a much more strict view of this
position; and his view was yes, you could divorce your wife, but
only because of fornication. Only because of sexual
misconduct. So the idea is that Paul was trained by Gamaliel,
Gamaliel was the grandson of the great Rabbi Hillel. Hillel was a
member of the Sanhedrin,
excuse me, Gamaliel was a member of the Sanhedrin, argued in favor of the
Apostles in Acts 5:33. He was held in such high
honor by the Jews that they conferred on him the title Rabban, which
means our teacher, which was a higher title than
Rabbi. Rabbi was my teacher. Rabban was our teacher.
He was emeritus. President Emeritus. That type of thing.
Paul rose in influence, himself, having been taught by such a man.
He's the one holding the coats, perhaps in an official capacity, when Stephen is
martyred, he's stoned to death. We read about that in Acts 7:54.
Saul begins to persecute the church following the death of Stephen. Read about that in Acts 9:1-2.
He wanted to return to the area where he came from
in Tarsus to persecute the church there and bring Christians back to
Jerusalem for trial and punishment. So he was a nasty guy.
I mean people were tortured. People were hurt. Families were divided. Men and women put into prison by Saul.
Perhaps that might explain why he had such fervor as a Christian, because he had
opposed the church previously.
His conversion, Acts Chapter 9, beginning in verse three, we'll read
this part. It says, "As he," meaning Saul, as he was
known at the time, "As he was traveling it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light
from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why
are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are you, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are
persecuting, but get up and enter the city and it will be told you what you must do."
The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one. Saul got
up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they
brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.
Now there was a disciple of Damascus named Ananias; the Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias."
And he said, "Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, "Get up and go to the Street called
Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for
he is praying. And he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands
on him, so that he might regain his sight." But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have
heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to your saints in Jerusalem;
And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call
on your name.
But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is the chosen instrument of Mine, to bear my name before the
Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must
suffer for My name's sake. So Ananias departed and entered the house, and after laying his
hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road by which
you were coming, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy
Spirit." And immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he regained
his sight, and he got up and was baptized."
Note that he heard the voice of Jesus.
He was blinded, and then he regained his sight. He learned through
prophecy what the Lord was calling him to do, and that was to preach
to the Gentiles. So there was his calling. There is his calling.
Nevertheless, he was baptized in order to wash away his sins. The point I'm making here is,
here's a person who sees the Lord, hears the Lord, blinded
by the Lord, miraculously receives his sight,
miraculously or through prophecy receives a calling from the
Lord with specific instructions as to what he must do.
And yet, what was the first thing he did? He got up and he
was baptized.
So having seen a vision, having heard the Lord, having had this
supernatural experience, didn't replace the need
to obey the Gospel. The simple gospel - repent and be baptized.
He had to do this very same thing that all of us
had to do. The difference is none of us were called miraculously,
but he was. And yet he still had to do what we have to do.
Some say we focus a little too much on baptism
sometimes, but in Acts chapter 22, verse 16, look what it
says, Ananias says to Saul, "Now why do you delay?
Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name."
I spoke to a person recently who had,
not a vision, but an epiphany, a deep insight into God and they were
thrilled with the knowledge that they had received. They were excited about the
spiritual experience that they had. And that person was sharing that and they were saying
is that a legitimate thing? Sure, it's a legitimate thing.
You saw something from the Word, you came to a
greater understanding that God exists.
It's like this person said to me, I get it now. I get it. God
exists, Jesus is His son. Like, I heard the words, but it's
like I've connected the dots. What should I do now?
And I said, repent and be baptized,
because that person had not yet
been baptized. And I've known this person for years and years and years.
And I explained to this person, your experience does not eliminate
your need to obey the gospel.
Same thing with Paul. Same thing with you. Same thing with this
person. Next, his escape from Damascus. Remember, he's on his way to
Damascus to persecute the church and then he's converted.
Right. And so in First Corinthians - Second Corinthians, rather, it says, "In
Damascus the ethnarch under Aretas the king was guarding the city of the
Damascenes in order to seize me."
King Aretas died in 40 AD. He was the one
who ruled the region during this time. Died in 40 AD. So we know
approximately the time that Paul was converted. He was converted
roughly in 40 - in and around 40 AD, because we know
that this king that he mentions here, ruled
at that particular time. So he's on his way to Damascus
to punish the church. What does he do? He goes into Damascus and now he starts preaching the
gospel. He starts debating with them, because remember, he knows the Scriptures and he's
not a newbie, but the missing piece.
Jesus is the son of God, Jesus is the Messiah. That missing piece
snapped into place and he got the complete picture. So he - right away he goes out and preaches.
And what happens then? He nearly gets killed, that's what happens. He has to escape.
They put him in a basket and they lower him on the outside of the city
wall so that he can escape with his life.
So now there's a period when he goes to Arabia. It says, "Nor did I go
up to Jerusalem to those who were Apostles before me, but I went away to Arabia." In other words, I wasn't
converted and took off straight to Jerusalem.
I went to Arabia. Arabia's a desert region.
He went there to meditate, to pray, to be taught.
And also for safety sake, because he was a hunted man.
And then he returns to Damascus.
Galatians 1:17b, it says, "And returned once more to Damascus."
So he goes to persecute, he's converted, he goes to the city, starts
preaching, he's nearly killed, he escapes, he spends time in the desert
meditating, and learning. Where does he go? Well, he goes back home?
He goes back home. And he works there.
All right.
So all of this happens and then the first meeting with Peter takes place
after all of this has happened.
Now you get the first meeting with Peter. It says, "Then three years later. I went up
to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas," that's Peter. "And stayed with him
15 days. Three years. Three years. We know
nothing about the three years, just that he was in the desert for three
years.
Three years after his conversion however, he spends two weeks in Jerusalem. He met
only with Peter and James to share his experience, but not to receive instructions from them.
He already had his instructions from the Lord. After meeting with Peter
he spends time preaching in the area and debating with the Hellenists.
The Hellenists were Jews who were reared among
Greeks in other lands. Or they were Greeks
who had been converted to Judaism.
It was the same group, the Hellenists, who had debated with Stephen
the deacon, and eventually brought him
up before the Sanhedrin, and had him
killed. So the ones that Paul had plotted with before,
remember Paul was in with these guys before - these Hellenists - to
kill Stephen, because he was holding the coats while they were stoning Stephen. So the ones he had plotted
with before his conversion, he now debates with
them concerning Christ. And they were none too happy
about it. And so these Hellenists begin to plot to
murder Saul in the same way that they plotted to get rid of Stephen.
And what happened? Well, they bring him out of the city, they sneak him out of the city, of
Jerusalem this time, and he goes to Cesaria, near the
coast. You've probably got that on your map. And then makes his way back to where?
Tarsus. Where do you go when you've lost your job, and your car falls apart, and
you've got no money?
You go home to mom and dad. That's what you do. Nothing new.
All right. First meeting with Peter.
And then he goes back to Syria. And Syria, which is in Cilicia, Galatians chapter 1, verse 21
says, "Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia."
He preaches there and he stays there for about
10 years. Ten years.
He preaches in Tarsus, then in
Second Corinthians chapter 11 we read, and he's talking about
himself in Second Corinthians again, about his background, and he says, "Are they Hebrews
so am I. Are they Israelites?" These people he's talking about are false
teachers and troublemakers. This time in Corinth. And he's comparing himself
to them.
He's saying, "Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they
descendants of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I speak
as if insane. I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments,
beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I receive from the Jews
thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times
I was shipwrecked, a night and a the day I have spent
in the deep.
I have been on frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my
countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the
sea, dangers among false brethren. I have been in labor and hardship through many
sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold
and exposure." When do you think this happened?
The ten years he was in Tarsus, a decade. We know nothing about
no information except this kind of third
person information. This was
a period of maturing and preparation for his
great work among the Gentiles.
He hasn't preached to any Gentiles yet. You ever notice, he's converted. He said I'm going to send you to the
Gentiles. So what's the first thing he does while he starts preaching in his hometown,
he gets kicked out, he goes to Jerusalem, preaches to the Greeks, converted to Jews
who converted. What happens if he gets kicked out of there?
He goes back and preaches in his hometown. To Jews there.
He still hasn't started his main ministry.
Thirteen years have gone by. Thirteen years to prepare.
I tell young guys, when they want to go into ministry, you can take your time. It takes
time to prepare. Say while I have a calling. Good. You have a calling, but you
also need a time of preparation. Nowadays, preaching school,
college internships, things like that. That's how we do it. In those days. None of
that. There was no structure for that.
So God provided Paul's training in these ways.
Now something happens it says, "So then those who were scattered because of the persecution
that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch,
speaking the word to no one except Jews alone."
But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene who came to
Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks also preaching the Lord Jesus and the hand of the
Lord was with them and a large number who believed turned to the Lord. The news about them
reached the ears of the church at Jerusalem and they sent Barnabas off to Antioch.
Then when he arrived and witnessed the grace of God he rejoiced and began to encourage them all with
resolute heart to remain true to the Lord for he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of
faith. And considerable numbers were brought to the Lord. And he
left for Tarsus to look for Saul and when he had found him he brought him
to Antioch and for an entire year they met with the church and taught
considerable numbers and the disciples were first called Christians
in Antioch."
They were called disciples of Jesus. They were called members of the way.
But for the first time - how many years now? Fourteen years now.
fourteen years have gone by since Paul's conversion.
And more years than that have gone by since Jesus has risen from the
dead. A decade and a half has gone by
and they haven't called the followers of Jesus Christians yet. It took
that much time to come up with that name.
So the Gentiles receive Christ in the area,
in the northern area there, and the Apostles say, man, we've got to send an experienced
man up there to teach them. It's like a new work that's going on.
So they sent Barnabas. He's trusted, trustworthy, and what does
Barnabas do? He says, I know a guy.
I know a guy. Not only a good teacher, but a Roman
citizen. Someone who can relate to these gentiles, someone who has
experience. Been at it now for 13, 14 years.
So he goes and he finds Paul. And
brings Paul to Antioch.
And Paul, as I say, used to working with people in the area understands
the culture of that area. And Barnabas serves as Paul's
mentor. So the next thing that happens is a
relief trip for the Jerusalem church. This is a time of persecution.
Peter is in hiding. We read about that in Acts Chapter 12, the church in
Jerusalem needs help, needs finances. They gather some money together
and Paul along with others traveled to collect this money to bring it
to Jerusalem for their brethren their.
Next step, return to Antioch. Paul
finds John Mark in Jerusalem and brings John Mark
up to Antioch with him. Notice, all of this is
still happening. Has he begun his mission yet?
No.
Ten years in Tarsus, brings him over to Antioch to help with the work there. Another year
goes by. After that, we'll collect money, and we're going to go to Jerusalem on a benevolent
mission, and goes on a benevolent mission. Still has not started his ministry yet.
Goes back to Antioch after they are all finished. Brings back a young guy - potential.
Notice Barnabas is mentoring Paul for a while. Now, Paul finds a young guy, starts that.
You, you come with me. Starts to mentor this guy.
Now, finally.
Fourteen plus years later the first missionary journey.
Acts Chapter 13, what happens? The Spirit of God through the prophets that were
there say separate Saul or Paul and
Barnabas put, separate them for a special work.
And what happens? The elders pray about this. They lay hands on Paul and Barnabas.
And they send them off
to the first missionary journey. And even there, they're not really sent out to
preach specifically to Gentiles, because they're going to Jewish synagogues to preach to Jews.
It still hasn't happened yet. The point I want to make here about this,
even though Paul was called in a miraculous way, in a vision, and told you're going to be the
apostle to the Gentiles, even though Paul will do all
kinds of great works and risk his life -
you'll notice that in the Bible he does not leave on his mission
until the church sends him on his mission.
And the point I want to make here is that God always works through His
church.
No such thing as a self-appointed elder. No such thing as a self-appointed
deacon. No such thing as a self-appointed evangelist.
If the Spirit of God works through the church to appoint elders
and deacons and evangelists and ministers - if the Spirit of God
does it, then surely we have to do it.
And I say that maybe not for this group here, but a lot of times I've seen people, they have a gift,
they have an ability, and they decide, I'm appointing myself
as the evangelist to this place, or I appoint myself as the leader of this
group. That's not the way it's done in the Bible. God works through
His church.
Acts 13. First missionary journey, the church in
Galatia, churches in Galatia are established. Remember I told you Galatia isn't
just a place, it's a province. Several churches are established. The letter to the Galatians,
these are the first churches. This is almost 14 years after his calling.
All right, next thing, going to move a little faster. The second meeting with Peter
occurs here, Galatians chapter two, verses 1-10. I don't have time to
read all of this here, because we're losing time, but it's in Galatians chapter 2,
verse 1-10. Let me just, there we go, 1-10.
This is the second meeting with Peter, 14 years after his original two week
visit in Jerusalem with Peter, Paul returns again to share this time,
not his conversion story, but the results of his work with the church,
including Peter. In other words,
he goes back to report on his missionary journey.
This was the occasion of the meeting that was talked about in Acts 15, where the
Apostles send a letter out concerning the Judaizers
third meeting with Peter. Galatians chapter 2:11-14. I'll
read this, it says, "But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he
stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James," those were the
Judaizers, "he used to eat with the Gentiles, but when they came he began to
withdraw and hold himself aloof fearing the party of the
circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy with the
result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they
were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all,
if you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the
Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?"
So Paul returns to Antioch and at the same time visits with them
there and we see that there is this conflict over Peter's hypocrisy
concerning the Gentiles and the Judiazers.
So that's the third meeting with Peter. After this, second missionary
journey and the things that take place during that journey, his conflict with Barnabas
over Mark. Second time around. The first time they bring Mark,
Mark, he leaves them just as they're
making their way into the mainland. And so Barnabas wants to bring Mark again on the second
journey and they have a conflict. Him and Barnabas don't agree.
And so Barnabas takes John Mark and goes one way and
Paul takes
Silas. Thank you very much. Takes Silas and they go on the second
missionary journey. During this journey Timothy is recruited. He
hears the Macedonian call. He wants to go east, he wants to go to
Asia because no one's been there, but he can't go for some reason
and he gets a vision and he goes west. And good thing he goes west, because that's -
because the Christian faith was established in the
Western Hemisphere because of that. The church at Philippi is established, the
jailer is converted.
Paul visits and establishes the church in Thessalonica and Barea and
Athens and Corinth and then they all come back to Antioch to
make a report. The third missionary journey begins after
that. This is where he goes back to these churches
in Galatia. Visits the church at Ephesus, Miletus, where
he gives his farewell address to the elders from Ephesus.
Goes to Cesaria and then eventually goes to
Jerusalem. I'm going over quickly here because I think we're familiar with this
material. And then his imprisonment. He gets in trouble in Jerusalem. Right? There is a riot,
because they think that he's brought a Gentile into the temple area and so he's arrested
by the Romans. The Jews have a plot trying to kill him.
And so he's kept in prison, he's sent to Cesaria. He appears before
three different kings: Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. Remember Jesus said to him,
I'm going to send you to the Gentiles you're going to appear before leaders, Gentiles, kings.
You're going to appear before kings - Felix, Festus, Agrippa. Those
are the kings.
Then they say, what we'll send you back to Jerusalem for trial. You want to go there. He doesn't want to go
because he
knows there's a plot to kill him. He says no. I'm a Roman citizen. I appeal to Caesar and they say,
fine, you want to go to Caesar to have a trial? You'll go to Caesar.
And so they send him to Rome. Let's see,
he goes to Rome. Eventually,
he goes before Caesar, wins his case. He's released from
prison.
He has about two years of freedom during 64-66 A.D.
And he was in some of his letters, he said I want to go to Spain.
He wanted to kind of really reach out. I want to go to Spain. And he said to the Roman brethren, you can
how I'm going to go visit you, strengthen you, and you're going to help me - financially.
And you're going to send me to Spain.
But then he's arrested, he's in jail.
And so when he gets out he realizes better nix the Spain trip. I need to
go back, retrace my steps here, to strengthen and encourage the churches. All these
small churches that he had established. I need to go back and teach them, and encourage them, and build them up.
them up. So for two years that's what he does. He revisits, strengthens many other
congregations. Read about that. Crete,
Ephesus, Corinth, Miletus, Troas. Those are some of the churches that
he goes to. And then, his final imprisonment and death. Read
about that in Second Timothy 4:6 says, "For I am already being poured out as a drink offering in the
time of my departure has come." He writes that in Second Timothy 4:6.
His last letter to Timothy, his final imprisonment. Historians
record that the Emperor Nero was responsible for starting the fire - the great fire that
destroyed the city of Rome. And what did he do? He blamed Christians for it. We know that
because Tacitus, who was a Roman historian, wrote of that time
what took place. Interesting thing. Tacitus, the Roman historian, was eventually
converted to Christianity.
So in order to divert blame from himself, Nero accused Christians of setting the fire
to the city; because, of course, that was an easy thing to do, because people hated
Christians, because Christians considered Rome a sinful place.
It was during the following years of persecution that Paul, a
visible Christian leader, was re-arrested second time and then eventually
beheaded 66 or 70, 66 or 67 A.D. He was
beheaded in the city of Rome, martyred there.
An interesting thing I mention, we know that Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem was
destroyed completely in 70 A.D. by the Roman army and that's the reason why you don't
read anything about the destruction of the city of Jerusalem in any of
Paul's writings. So how do you know it happened before 70 A.D.?
Well, that's how we know before 70 A.D., because had he lived beyond 70 A.D. he would
surely have referenced the destruction of the city of Jerusalem. So he died
66 to 67 A.D. So what did I want to say about all of that?
When you read it, it looks like it happened in nine months, but it took a long time.
Fourteen years to prepare him to go on his missionary journeys and then
another 12, 13, 14 years to do all the missionary journeys and then
another bunch of years in jail. So he had a long, long, long,
career. Next week we'll get back into the text. Now that we have this kind of little
background material, we'll get back into the text, into Galatians. All right. Thank you for your attention I appreciate it.