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.
