The Glad Tidings

Personal History

From the twelfth verse of the first chapter till the middle of the second, we have a narrative of personal history, told for a definite purpose. In Paul’s experience we see the truth of the Gospel, and how it has nothing to gain from men, but everything to give. The apostle shows that all his early life was against his being influenced by the Gospel, for he studied that which was opposed to it, and he bitterly opposed it. Then he was converted when there was no Christian near him, and he had next to no association with Christians for years afterward. All this of which the Galatians had been previously informed, it was necessary to repeat in order that it might be clear to all that Paul was not bringing them another human invention. GTI 36.1

Note, in passing, the word “conversation,” which occurs several times in the Bible in a sense that is not now common. Compare the Revised Version, and we find that it means “manner of life.” Paul’s “conversation in time past” was his early life. See the old and the Revised Version of 1 Peter 1:18. GTI 36.2