his reputation preceded him, so the Galatians needed only to be reminded of Paul’s life BC, that is, before Christ. He was a convert away from those who are now persecuting him and the message of grace in Jesus Christ. In fact, there had been no greater antagonist against this new movement of Christ-followers, commonly referred to as “The Way” (see Acts 9:2, 19:9, 23, 24:14, 22). He had persecuted the church prior to being a proponent of the church. In fact his reputation had been widely known among the Jews (Acts 26:4-5). The historical record shows that he “ravaged the church” (Acts 8:3). On the one hand he looked back on his BC time with shame, “ For I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God” (Acts 15:9). But his argument against the Judaizers is made more effective because he was once one of them! Converts always lend credibility to the legitimacy of a new way—they know whereof they speak.

Paul, however, had not been your run of the mill religious person, a Jew in name only. He was crazy insane with attacking the new movement, also called “the church of God,” the ekklesia, or the people gathered out by God. He was obsessed with obliterating it out of existence. Neither was he simply a fringe fanatic during his years of antagonism. He was upwardly mobile, making a name for himself among the religious elite. He was mainstream, in fact, he was the up and coming bright young star of Judaism. He was not a radical innovator of cutting edge theology. His standing was that of a firmly rooted traditionalistin the historic, accepted Jewish customs. His pedigree was solid (Phil 2:4-6). In other words, he was unparalleled in his qualification to speak on the subject of the Mosaic Law, the very thing the Judaizers were promoting.

Thus Paul begins his tense theological debate with the establishment of his credentials. He speaks as one who is a leader in the new movement of God (that is, an apostle authorized by God), and as one who had previously been a leader of the old movement of God, traditional Judaism. So Paul was not just a brain-washed lackey of the movement. His conversion was powerful testimony. Never was there a time to be more adamant and faithful to the message of Jesus Christ. Paul was both!