Galatians 1:15-16 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,… He was not separated from the events, as we are, by centuries of time. He was not liable to be blinded by the dazzling glamour of a victorious Christendom. He had mingled daily with men who had watched from Bethlehem to Golgotha the life of the Crucified. He had talked with the priests who had consigned Him to the cross; he had put to death the followers who had wept beside His tomb. He had to face the horror of a Messiah who "had hung upon a tree." He had heard again and again the:proofs which had satisfied an Annas and a Gamaliel that Jesus was a deceiver. The events on which the apostle relied as proof of His Divinity had taken place in the full blaze of contemporary knowledge. He had not to deal with the uncertainties of criticism or assaults on authenticity. He could question not ancient documents hut living men. He had thousands of means close at hand whereby to test truths which up to this time he had so passionately and contemptuously disbelieved. In accepting this half-crushed and wholly execrated faith he had everything in the world to lose — he had nothing conceivable to gain; and yet, in spite of all — over-whelmed by a conviction which he felt to be irresistible — Saul the Pharisee became a witness of the resurrection, a preacher of the Cross. (F. W. Farrar.) Parallel Verses KJV: But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace, |
    |