Galatians 1:17
17 Neither [oude] went I up [anerchomai] to [eis] Jerusalem [Hierosoluma] to [pros] them which were
apostles [apostolos] before [pro] me; [emou] but [alla] I went [aperchomai] into [eis] Arabia, [Arabia] and [kai] returned [hupostrepho]
again [palin] unto [eis] Damascus. [Damaskos] KJV-Interlinear
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned
once more to Damascus. NASB
Paul continues his explanation of not receiving any
doctrinal instruction from any human or worldly source.
After his conversion, he went to Arabia. Where exactly he went, does not say.
Arabia is the general region south and east and
around Damascus and it extends a long way and covers a pretty large area which
we know today as Syria, Jordan and Iraq.
In Pauls day, there were likely villages, and certainly nomadic peoples
living in and moving in and through the region along the trade routes.
The where, is not so important, as to the why.
The context of these several verses, is the source
of truth from which Paul received that same truth.
In the next verse he states that he returned to
Damascus and then returned to Jerusalem after three years. How much time was spent in Damascus and how
much time was spent in the desert is again, not specified. So the time in each place is irrelevant. What matters is that during the course of
about three years, Paul went away from the city and into a rural region and
there received the gospel and doctrine from God.
He states clearly that he did not go immediately to
the other apostles, before me. That,
before me, comment indicates that Paul even at this early stage in his
spiritual life, after his dramatic meeting on the road with Jesus, considered
himself as an apostle. And even if not
then, certainly by the time he wrote this book, he considered himself an
apostle. He certainly mentions that fact
in several of his books in the opening verses.
Since Paul is making it clear that he did not seek
out or receive any human instruction with regard to the gospel, which is a
general term for doctrine, in its truest sense.
As a Pharisee, he certainly had many years of training
in the Old Testament scriptures, as well as the Judaism regulatory body of
teaching.
Therefore, he most likely spent most of this three
year period, learning, or rather re-learning the true meaning and purpose of
the scriptures, and thus unlearning the miss-information that he had been
exposed to during his former years.
And how this helps us all, is clear that even if
you have had repeated exposure to teaching or ritual from whatever group or
organization you have been associated with, or with no group at all, you cannot
learn doctrine, unless it is taught to you.
Paul is known as the greatest of the New Testament writers, and he had
to re-learn everything.
He did not go into the desert and smoke incense and
just have truth settle into his skin cells.
He went there to learn, and he spent a concentrated amount of time doing
just that, dedicating himself to learning truth.
Paul had the opportunity to go away to learn. Most of us do not have that luxury.
But we all have the opportunity to learn day by
day, a little now and a little tomorrow, and over time, we can assimilate
volumes of truth into our soul. Our dedication
takes our lifetime, just as Paul spent the remainder of his life to learning and
teaching.
