What Does Galatians 1:17 Mean?
Nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were sent ones before me, but I went away into Arabia, and turned back again to Damascus.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.THE KEY
Paul’s route does not begin with Jerusalem’s earlier “sent ones”: it moves through Arabia and turns back to Damascus.
THE MEANING
The people who came before you can carry a real commission without setting the first turn of your route. Your path can move elsewhere and still turn back toward familiar ground. The verse names Arabia and Damascus while leaving the interval between them open.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that a genuine calling must first be confirmed by the people who came before you.
THE ROOT
ἀποστόλους
apostolous
GROWS FROM
στελλ
Send, dispatch; this Greek stem appears in στέλλω (stellō), “to send.”
“apostles” in this verse is apostolous. ἀπόστολος (apostolos, “sent one”) is formed from ἀποστέλλω (apostellō, “send out”), whose stem is στελλ-. The verse names the Jerusalem predecessors by their relation to being sent, while placing Paul’s route through Arabia and back to Damascus.
ALSO GROWS
stellō: send, dispatch
στέλλω
This base verb supplies the sending sense in the stem carried by ἀπόστολος.
apostellō: send out, dispatch
ἀποστέλλω
This compound verb shares the στελλ stem and makes the act of sending explicit.
יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Yerushalayim
GROWS FROM
שלם
Wholeness, completeness; שָׁלוֹם (shalom) carries the meaning of wholeness.
Yerushalayim bears shalom with the dual ending: the two wholenesses. The route first moves away from this named image of wholeness, giving the verse’s departure from Jerusalem an added resonance.
ALSO GROWS
shalom: wholeness
שָׁלוֹם
This branch carries the wholeness heard in the name Yerushalayim.
shalem: whole, complete
שָׁלֵם
This form shares the שלם root and makes its sense of completeness visible.
ὑπέστρεψα
hypestrepsa
GROWS FROM
στρεφ
Turn, turn around; the base verb is στρέφω (strephō).
“turned back” in this verse is hypestrepsa. The verb carries the sense of turning back, a shade that English “returned again” can leave quiet. Paul turns back toward Damascus after the Arabia leg of the route.
ALSO GROWS
strephō: turn, twist
στρέφω
This base verb shares the στρεφ stem in ὑπέστρεψα.
epistrephō: turn toward, return
ἐπιστρέφω
This compound uses the same στρεφ family; Luke uses it for turning toward the Lord in Luke 1:16.
THE PATTERN
A commission can come from its sender without first passing through earlier human messengers.
But the LORD said to me, Do not say, I am a youth, for to all that I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak.And the LORD took me from behind the flock, and the LORD said to me, Go, prophesy to my people Israel.And he called the twelve to himself, and began to send them out two by two, and gave them power over the unclean breaths.THE THREAD
Paul, a sent one, not from humans, nor through a human, but through Jesus, the Anointed One, and through God the Father, who raised him from the dead.Galatians 1:1 calls Paul an ἀπόστολος (apostolos, “sent one”) and names Jesus Christ and God the Father, “not of men, neither by man,” as the source. That makes the route in 1:17 part of the same claim: earlier apostles are present, while Paul’s commission is not sourced in human appointment.
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