You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
15 But [de] when [hote] it pleased [eudokeo] God, [theos] who [ho] separated [aphorizo] me [me] from [ek] my [mou] mother's [meter] womb, [koilia] and [kai] called [kaleo] me by [dia] his [autos] grace, [charis] KJV-Interlinear
15 But when
He who had set me apart, even from my mother's womb, and called me through His
grace, was pleased NASB
The thought of the previous two verses is that Paul did not even consider the truth of the gospel, until God presented it to him.
Then after hearing the gospel, he had no need to hear it or learn it, from any other person or source. God taught him the gospel, not man. God taught him the gospel, not the priesthood. God taught him the gospel, not some professor.
And in so doing. God made it known to Paul, in accordance with Gods timing and convenience, not Paul.
Jesus Christ controls history, not Paul, not man, not government, not the world at large, not Satan, and certainly not the pattern of chance.
When it pleases God, simply means that God has a plan, a timetable and a method to His ways. God does nothing haphazardly or spontaneously. God knows exactly what He is doing and when He will do it.
God separated me from the womb, is an expression that means God gave life, human life to Paul, who was born Saul. God knew in eternity past that Saul would be born, how he would grow up and when would be the correct time to intervene in Saul's life.
God knew for several decades all of the details of Saul's life.
And by grace, which is Gods favor, God called Saul, and the change to Paul became a historical event.
God knew it was going to happen, Saul did not.
Saul did not earn or deserve God grace. None of us do. But God has a unique ability that none of us have, and that is that He knows the future in every detail.
God knows you, who you are, what you will think and do in your life, when you will eventually change your mind, or not, what it will take to get you to change, or not, and God has known this all about you and everyone, since eternity past. You will never fool God, or take Him by surprise, never shock God, or catch Him overlooking something.
God is pretty smart.
And the point of all of this? Paul did not learn the true gospel from any earthly source. It came from God, and from God alone. And Paul had an extensive and impressive academic education and background, but that did not teach him truth.
All truth comes from God. All truth originates from God. No person in history has ever originated one letter of truth.
Jesus Christ walked in the Garden with Adam and taught Adam, and thereafter taught Adam everything that Adam knew. Adam then taught his children and throughout the Old Testament times, generation after generation handed down truth, and from time to time, God revealed a bit more and a bit more, until the Old and New Testaments were completed.
Adam changed into clothing made of animal skins. Where do you think that those skins came from? They came from sacrificed animals, teaching the prophecy of the seed of the woman, the savior. And an integral part of those sacrifices was being burned by fire. So where do you suppose Adam learned about fire.
Even Enoch was aware of the Second Advent and the final judgment in the last days, and Enoch was only the seventh generation from Adam. And Enoch was teaching others, way back then, Jude 14.
God, is the source of all truth. God reveals truth according to His timetable, which is the correct time for history, and for each individual.
And often times it is people, you, who resist hearing or accepting the truth, and thus put off the many grace blessings that God has waiting for you, until the light bulb clicks on in your head.
And for that, you and everyone should be grateful that God has the patience to wait and keep you around, for the proper time so that you will not have a worthless and wasted life.
