“I wonder/marvel”. This Greek word “thaumazo” precedes criticism or correction. The Galatians would have no doubts to realize that Paul is angry (see 3:1–16; 4:8–11).
Now, Paul builds a contrast between their calling coming from God as “the grace of God”, and their own decision to embrace another gospel. That is the main problem of the letter and that is also the reason behind Paul’s pain and anger. The question is: could there be another gospel beside the one preached to them by Paul? No! There is no other Gospel, but there are those, who want to pervert the true Gospel of Christ.
Paul goes as far as to state that anyone who would dare to preach a different Gospel opposes God and His saving mission. The phrase “anathema esto” - “let him be accursed” - has connection with a Hebrew word “herem”. The Hebrew word herem is translated variously as “proscribed,” “devoted to destruction” and later as “excommunication" (see Ex 22:19; Num 21:2). Why so serious? By perverting the Gospel, those people endangered the salvation of their listeners.
Since the situation was very serious - the Galatians were in real danger of abandoning the true Gospel and exchange it for perverted one - Paul had to show that:
By stating that Paul does not care about pleasing men, the apostle makes it clear that for the truth of the Gospel he is ready to challenge anyone, including Peter (2:11–14). Perhaps before his Damascus experience, Paul wanted to please men, particularly the leadership of the temple (Acts 9:1–2) and his own fellow Pharisees (Gal 1:14). Yet, since he became the “slave of Christ”, his main objective is to please God. He can do it only by faithfully preaching the Gospel and confronting those, who pervert it. Here, Paul stands in the line of the prophets, who by faithful preaching of the word of God had to confront, challenge and even condemned their own people. There is no compromise in preaching the Gospel. A slave of Christ has only Christ as his/her Lord and Master.
Paul argues in the following manner:
Paul had one problem. Everybody knew that he did not know the historical Jesus, he was not one among the Twelve, and he could not even aspire to be one of them (see Acts 1:21–22). Thus, in view of those judaizantes, he could only learn the Gospel from others. Paul has already argued against it in the first verse of the letter (1:1). Now, he again insists that the Gospel he preached came to him “by the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:12), and not through some people. How did it happen? The process is outlined as followed:
Paul, as a zealous persecutor of the Church. By referring to Judaism as past thing, Paul indicates that his zeal for Judaism and ancestral tradition belongs to the past. The word “ekklesia” - church - has its root in the Hebrew word “kahal” of God (see Deut 23:2–3). By calling Christians, the Church of God, Paul sees in it the true, eschatological, and messianic congregation - the people of God (see 1 Peter 2:9–10).
Paul’s election. Although Paul was zealous for his ancestral tradition to the point of violence, yet it was not God’s plan for his life. God’s plan for his life, since the moment of his conception, was to know Christ and preached him among the Gentiles. Yet, Paul grasped that plan of God for his life only after the Damascus experience. The phrase “from my mother’s womb” brings to mind the call of Jeremiah (1:5) and the call of the servant of God in Isaiah (Is 49:1). Thus, Paul’s call is a prophetic call. It is worth noting that Paul does not tell us where his call happened. We know about Damascus from Luke (Acts 9:1–9).
First missionary attempts. “I conferred with no flesh and blood” (1:16) meant human thinking, reasoning, judgments, and opinions. In his decision of going to Arabia, Paul did not rely on human thinking. It seems that Arabia was his first missionary field, followed by Damascus (see 2 Cor 11:32–33). We do not know how successful was that expedition, but we know from history that Nabateans hated the Jews for what Herod Antipas did to the daughter of their king Aretas. Herod Antipas was married to the daughter of king Aretas, but then once in Rome he met Herodias the wife of his half-brother Herod Philip. They fell in love, Antipas talked her over for divorce and she agreed. Then, Antipas sent the daughter of king Aretas back to her father - a terrible insult that caused a war between Antipas and Aretas, lost by Antipas - and married Herodias (see Mark 6:17–18).
Short visit to Jerusalem. The aim of that visit was to met Cephas - Paul prefers to use this Aramaic name then its Greek equivalent Petros. Was it meant to pay a visit of respect to Peter? The Acts of the Apostles presents more dramatic version of the visit (Acts 9:26–30). During that visit, Paul also met with James, the brother of the Lord, another pillar of the Church in Jerusalem. He is usually identified as James the son of Alphaeus (see Mark 3:18. 15:40).
Missions in Syria and Cilicia. The short visit in Jerusalem was followed by another mission in “the regions of Syria and Cilicia” (1:21; see Acts 9:30). Paul does not mention that the main reason for leaving Jerusalem were the Hellenistic Jews who wanted to kill him (Acts 9:29). Paul presents this new mission as independent mission from that of being done by the churches in Christ in Judea. It seems to be quite successful mission, because it reached the ears of the brethren in Judea. Here, the apostle indicates that the churches in Judea did not know him personally. Yet, Paul’s radical change in life - from persecutor of the Church to an apostle of Christ for building the Church - was for them a cause for rejoicing and praising God.