Not From Man: Five Evidences That the Gospel Stands on Divine Authority

Have you ever had someone try to convince you that what you believed wasn’t quite enough? That you needed to add something to it? To add some extra step, some additional requirement, before it could really count?

That’s exactly what was happening to the Galatian believers. Not long before Paul wrote to them, he and Barnabas had come through their cities preaching the gospel — that Jesus was the promised Messiah, that he died for their sins according to the Scriptures, rose from the dead, and could set them free. These believers saw Paul persecuted for this message, watched him get stoned and left for dead, and then witnessed him get back up and keep going. They believed, and it changed their lives.

But then the Judaizers showed up. Using the same Old Testament source material, they told these young believers that Paul had left some things out. If they really wanted to please God, they needed circumcision. They needed the law. They needed more. And in a time before the New Testament had been written, when you couldn’t just open your Bible and check, that kind of claim created real confusion. In Galatians 1:11–2:10, Paul responds with evidence.

A Thesis Worth Proving

Paul opens with a bold claim: “The gospel which was preached by me is not according to man. For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:11–12). He’s tracing the gospel all the way back to its origin. Most of us heard the gospel from other people. A parent, a pastor, a friend. There’s nothing wrong with that. But Paul wants the Galatians to understand that the message itself didn’t start with human beings. It started with God, was proven through the person of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead, and was entrusted to witnesses who carry it forward. Not as their own message to edit, but as a divine message to faithfully proclaim.

From here, Paul builds his case with five key pieces of evidence that his original audience could have personally verified.

Evidence #1: A Life That Only God Could Change

Paul’s first appeal is to his own transformation. “You have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism,” he writes, “how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it” (Galatians 1:13). This wasn’t ancient history to the Galatians. They knew his reputation. Paul had been a rising star in Judaism, a religious celebrity who studied under famous teachers and made it his mission to imprison and even kill believers. Then he met the risen Jesus, and everything changed.

A changed life is powerful evidence, especially when the people hearing about it actually knew you before. Someone on the street might shrug off a conversion story. But the people who knew Paul before? After more than a decade of sustained, costly faithfulness? That’s a different conversation entirely.

Evidence #2: A Calling That Echoes the Prophets

In verses 15–17, Paul describes being “set apart even from my mother’s womb” and “called through His grace.” That language is intentional. It echoes Jeremiah 1:5 and Isaiah 49:1, Old Testament prophets who were divinely appointed to proclaim God’s word. Paul is placing himself in that same tradition: a man uniquely called by God to carry a message to the Gentiles.

And critically, after receiving this calling, Paul did not go to Jerusalem to consult the other apostles. He went to Arabia and Damascus. For years, he preached the gospel independently, receiving his message from Christ Himself. Not from Peter, not from James, not from John. God was attesting to the same truth through independent channels, just as He had done through prophets in the divided kingdom of Israel centuries earlier.

Evidence #3: A Meeting, Not a Mentorship

Three years after his conversion, Paul finally went to Jerusalem. But the language he uses matters. He didn’t go to sit under Peter’s teaching or to be discipled by the apostles. He went to “become acquainted with” Peter. This was essentially a meet-and-greet. He stayed fifteen days, saw no other apostle except James, and then left. “In what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying,” Paul adds, using the kind of solemn courtroom language that signals just how seriously he takes this testimony (Galatians 1:20).

The point? Paul’s gospel wasn’t derivative. He wasn’t Peter’s student. He was an apostle in his own right, carrying the same message from the same divine source.

Evidence #4: Titus Was Never Compelled

Fourteen years later, Paul returned to Jerusalem. This time with Barnabas and Titus. The visit was prompted by a revelation about a coming famine (likely the events of Acts 11), and they came to deliver relief funds to the saints. But while there, Paul submitted his gospel privately to the apostles in Jerusalem.

Here’s the crucial detail: Titus, a Greek believer, was never compelled to be circumcised. Even in Jerusalem, even with false brethren pressing the issue. Paul writes, “We did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you” (Galatians 2:5). This is devastating to the Judaizers’ argument. If the Jerusalem apostles truly required circumcision for Gentile believers, why wasn’t Titus circumcised when he was standing right there among them?

Paul could have gone along to get along. It probably would have made his life easier. But he recognized that on this issue, compromise was not a virtue. Compromise was a betrayal of the gospel itself.

Evidence #5: Full Approval, Nothing Added

The final piece of evidence is perhaps the most decisive. When Paul presented his gospel to James, Peter, and John — the recognized pillars of the Jerusalem church — they “contributed nothing” to his message (Galatians 2:6). They didn’t correct it. They didn’t supplement it. They didn’t say he was missing something. Instead, they extended to Paul and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship. This was a gesture of full agreement and partnership. The only request? Remember the poor. This was the very thing Paul was already eager to do, and the very reason he was in Jerusalem in the first place.

The gospel Paul preached to Gentiles was the same gospel Peter preached to Jews. Same source. Same message. Same salvation. Two independent streams flowing from one divine fountain.

Freedom, Not Bondage

What makes the gospel so precious isn’t just that it’s true; it’s that it sets people free. Paul describes the false brethren as those who “sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage” (Galatians 2:4). The counterfeit gospel always works the same way: it takes your eyes off of Christ’s finished work and puts them back on yourself. Have I prayed enough? Given enough? Served enough? Gone to church enough?

I spent the first nineteen years of my life in that kind of religious bondage. Going to church to appease God, hoping that when I stood before Him someday, it would all be enough. The truth is, if you’re trying to do it on your own, it never is. But what Christ did is enough. It’s sufficient for you, for me, for everyone. The gospel doesn’t free us from doing things for God, it frees us to do everything for Him. Not out of fear but out of gratitude and love.

Where Are You Tempted to Compromise?

The question this passage leaves us with isn’t just do you believe the gospel is true? Most of us sitting in church on a Sunday morning would say yes. The deeper question is: does your confidence in the gospel show up in how you live?

Where are you staying silent when you should speak?

Are there relationships or situations where you quietly set the gospel aside because it might cost you something?

Where are you trying to help the gospel along?

Are there areas where your actions suggest that grace alone isn’t quite sufficient but that you need to add something to earn God’s favor?

Where does compromise feel easier than conviction?

Paul didn’t refuse to yield for his own sake. He did it “so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.” His firmness wasn’t stubbornness; it was love. Standing firm on the gospel is one of the most loving things a Christian can do, because when we compromise, the people watching us are often the ones who pay the price.

An Uncompromising Confidence

Christ Himself revealed this gospel. The apostles confirmed it. Independent witnesses attested to it across geography and time. And not one of them added a single thing to it. You can have confidence in this message. The same confidence Paul had when he refused to yield for even an hour.

The world will tell you that compromise is always a virtue. But when it comes to the gospel, God’s word tells us otherwise. So this week, ask the Lord to show you where you might be quietly editing the gospel in your life. Ask Him for the courage to stand firm. Not because you’re stubborn. Not because you’re closed-minded. But because you love God, you love people, and the gospel is worth proclaiming without alteration.

Listen to the full sermon here: Not From Man — Galatians 1:11–2:10

Preached February 22, 2026 at Howell Bible Church