The following constitutes a part of Paul’s greeting to the Galatians: “For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.” Paul is referring to the Gospel when he utters those indeed bold words. The gospel he was sharing was not given him by any man; it came as a revelation of Jesus Christ. It should then be clear that the good news that Paul preached was something quite different from what he previously had been taught by the men of the law.
In verse 16 Paul makes a most astounding observation: “God revealed His Son in me”. Some translations have made this into; “….revealed His Son to me”, which is something quite different. The Greek preposition used in this context is “in”. What we can infer from this and what also align with our own experiences as Christ is formed in us is that Paul and we go from outer reality to inner reality and we realize that we are inner people.
The inner life is governed by utterly different principles than the outer life. Contrary to attempting to follow outer ordinances and regulations the inner life endows us with the opportunity to be whole persons and not least true to ourselves and those around us. Following outer principles is a sure path to dishonesty and hypocrisy. We are a sick and tired of being pretenders, and as the outer pressures mount the cry in our hearts is: “I want to be real! There must be someone out there who loves me and accepts me as I am!”
That was Paul’s prime discovery! This was the foundation for his gospel. God is love and He loves you beyond your wildest imaginations. In fact you cannot imagine His love. You can, however, under those limitations we now are subject to to a certain degree experience His love, but more importantly you can by faith be fixed in your consciousness that He is love, and hence in everything you can count on this fact. In weakness, in darkness, in misery, in confusion, in affliction you can count on one thing: God is for you!
As this amazing fact begins to settle in our minds outer circumstances begin to lose their power in how we perceive ourselves and life in general. No matter what happens we are safe in Him. Of course, this unfetters those inner potentials we a period believed were against His will and good pleasure. For some it means that they can play card with their friends, for others they are now free to exercise the music someone told them was from the devil.
You have your history, and I have mine. What we have in common is this: We suddenly blossom in the light and love of our Father and can finally be who we were created to be without any inhibiting outer fences. Our motivation comes from within, from Christ in us and He was as you perhaps remember accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!
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