Gal 1:10  "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." 


If I were trying to gain people's approval I wouldn't give my life to Jesus Christ. People are opposed to His claim of sovereignty over their lives. You cannot please God in His Absolute Love and peddle to people's desires.
So what I am telling you about the good news of repentance and forgiveness through the obedience that comes from faith is not something I received from men. (Not even from the great Gamaliel my Rabbi!) I received this in a direct revelation from Jesus Christ, Isa Al Masih, Yeshua Messiah. He is Yahweh. He is Absolute Love.


Gal 1:11  "For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel. For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ." liel was 


So you know how learned and zealous for the Law of God I was, far beyond in knowledge of the law than anyone else that Gamaliel was teaching. I persecuted Christ followers severely, violently- I tried to destroy the message of Jesus Christ. 
God had a different purpose for my love of the law. God chose me before I was even born to see the true meaning of obedience, humble loving obedience. He did this in and for me through His Son, Jesus. My eyes were opened literally and figuratively to change from preaching dead works in conforming to outward ritual; turning to Absolute Love and grace that transforms the heart to love God's ways. Preaching grace and peace through repentance and forgiveness. 


Gal 1:13-17  "For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;  nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus." 


I began preaching and didn't even consult with other leaders in the movement of grace, following after Christ Jesus. After three years I stayed with Peter and only spent time with James the earthly sibling of Jesus. 
I didn't preach at all in Judea, but they heard of me and my work for the Gospel and they glorified God because of what I was doing and who I had become.


Gal 1:18-24  "Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother. (In what I am writing to you, before God, I do not lie!)  Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.  They only were hearing it said, "He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."  And they glorified God because of me." 


Act 15:1-19  "But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.  When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.  But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses." The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.  And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.  And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,  and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?  But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."  And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.  After they finished speaking, James replied, "Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.   And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,  "'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins,  and I will restore it,  that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,  says the Lord, who makes these things  known from of old.' Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues."   Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,  with the following letter: "The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.  Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,  it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.  For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:  that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell." 

So the ceremonial law and outward circumcision don't represent faith for forgiveness through Christ is a inward heart change that comes as a gift of faith. The heart is the key not the outward ritual. Keeping yourself inwardly pure through the knowledge of God's Absolute Love is what is important. A love that cares for others who are in need. 



Gal 2:1-10  "Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.  I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek."
Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in--who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery-- to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)--those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles),  and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do."


I had to fight this out with Peter himself. He and others began acting differently toward believers who had come from outside of Judaism. Their hypocritical actions were clearly against the good news that Christ revealed to me, they knew that working to gain God's favor would never do anyone any good. It was a vain and worthless activity. Obeying the law of love through faith in God's Absolute Love and forgiveness was the message Christ Jesus personally taught to them. Birth into a certain race or religion was meaningless walking by faith in the commands of God that is what matters. 


Gal 2:11-16  "But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.  But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified."