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Evidence for the Apostle's independence is to be found at the very threshold of his
written ministry, in the epistle to the Galatians. The first chapter opens with the
challenging statement:
"Paul, an apostle (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father,
Who raised Him from the dead);" (Gal. 1: 1).
Later in the same chapter the challenge is carried over from Paul's apostleship to his
gospel:
"I certify you brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man, for
I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ"
(Gal. 1: 11, 12).
The Apostle then passes on from his message to speak, in similar terms, of the
commission he received:
"When it pleased God . . . . . to reveal His Son in me . . . . . I conferred not with flesh
and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them which were apostles before me, but I
went into Arabia" (Gal. 1: 15-17).
It will be readily seen that the whole of the first chapter of Galatians is written round
these three items which speak of the Apostle's independence. We observe, however, that
there is no pride here. Paul's apostleship is from God, and all that he is, all that he has to
say, and all the authority he possesses are of the Lord and by His grace. If he sets aside
man, he also acknowledges that the gospel was his by the revelation of Jesus Christ. If he
speaks of "conferring not with flesh and blood", we know that it was because it was God
Who had separated him, God Who had called him, and it was with God alone, in
"Arabia", that he would spend those opening hours of new life and lofty vision.
So important does the Lord deem this question of the Apostle's independence that the
subject is pursued into the second chapter of the epistle. There is the spirit of true
independence in almost every line here. In the first verse we read:
"Fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem" (Gal. 2: 1).
Who but an independent minister could stay away from the normal seat of authority
for fourteen years without loss or condemnation?
The words: "I went up by revelation" in verse 2 set aside any idea of a command
coming either from Jerusalem or Galatia. Moreover, in the first verse we read that the
Apostle took Titus with him, although Titus was a Greek.
In the second verse we read:
"I communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles" (Gal. 2: 2).