“Many people believe that Saul, after his vision on the road to Damascus, began to preach Body truth. But in Galatians 1:23 the Scriptures clearly state that Saul now preached the faith which he once destroyed (Peter’s message).”

As we know, Paul spent the first two chapters in Galatians distinguishing his apostleship and message from the apostleship and message of the Twelve. In fact, he clearly states that the gospel he preached was “not after man,” that is, the Twelve or any other man for that matter. Rather, his message was a direct revelation from the Lord of glory (Gal. 1:11-12). With this in mind, verse 23 must be interpreted in light of the context that precedes it.

“But they [churches of Judea] had heard only, that he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me” (Gal. 1:23-24).

We must remember that there was a point in Paul’s life when he rejected Christ and the seemingly ridiculous notion that He had risen from the dead. He believed Him to be nothing more than an imposter. But when the Lord of glory appeared to Paul on the dusty road leading to Damascus, his stony heart of flesh melted within him. He could not deny his senses; he believed Christ was Who He claimed to be! You see, the fact that Christ was the Son of God Who had risen from the dead was common ground between the two programs of God. So it is in this sense the apostle preached the faith that he once sought to destroy.

This is further confirmed by Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 15:11: “Therefore whether it were I [the apostle of the Gentiles] or they [the twelve apostles of the kingdom], so we preach, and so ye believed.” Preached what? Clearly in this context the resurrection of Christ—true, it may have been for completely different purposes; nevertheless, it was a common denominator.

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