Galatians 1:13
13 For [gar] ye have heard [akouo] of my [emos] conversation [anastrophe] in time past [pote] in [en] the Jews' religion, [Ioudaismos] how that [hoti] beyond [kata] measure [huperbole] I
persecuted [dioko] the church [ekklesia] of God, [theos] and [kai] wasted [portheo] it: [autos] KJV-Interlinear
13 For you have heard of my
former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God
beyond measure, and tried to destroy it; NASB
Paul continues with his explanation of how he
acquired his scholarly knowledge in Bible doctrine. And here he explains that it was not from
anything he did or acquired in his former, pre-Christian life.
Quite the contrary.
Paul was raised up and educated in the tradition of Judaism of his day.
This is not the religion or faith of Moses, to whom
they look as the foundation of their teachings.
The faith of Moses day, was one of grace and instruction. This was accomplished through the teaching
aids of the various sacrifices.
We learn the same spiritual principles in our
current day, through the instruction of our daily studies from the written
word. These principles namely salvation
through the sacrifice of the Lord, salvation through faith, confession for known
and unknown and forgotten sins, and the principle of grace. And all of this repeated through repetitive
studies, day after day, week after week, year after year.
The belief system of Pauls day had changed
dramatically since the time of Moses.
Wherein Moses wrote just five books, the system of Judaism compiled
volume after volume of rules for daily life conduct. Human works became the priority and
prerequisite for salvation and the spiritual life.
These volumes of regulations accumulated after the
time of Solomon and had reached gargantuan proportions over the centuries by
the time Jesus birth.
Paul was raised up and educated in this system.
And as such he explains here that he was more than enthusiastic
in destroying the Christian belief and Christians, in an outright rejection of Christ
as the savior as well as grace as Gods policy.
The phrase persecuted and wasted, refer to the
attempt to totally destroy Christianity.
And Paul was at the top of his class in that effort. He persecuted the Church with great enthusiasm.
The point of this is that he did not learn anything
of the nature of Gods grace, or of the true gospel from his previous education
or learnings. It simply was not taught.
And this is how far off, Judaism had departed from the
fundamental teachings of Moses, as well as the writings of the prophets. Judaism had developed its own system of works
leaving the scriptures on the sidelines as forgotten.
