FALSELY ACCUSED?

Have you ever been falsely accused? Someone has impugned your integrity or questioned your veracity? Perhaps others have circulated stories about you that painted a negative picture. Guilt by association or statements taken out of context were used to undermine your credibility. The stories went viral through social media. Your ministry is threatened because people wonder if you can be trusted to tell the truth. How should you respond? Should you defend yourself? Paul did, repeatedly!

"Now in what I am writing to you, I assure you before God that I am not lying" (Gal. 1:20).

THE BACK STORY

Church leaders from the mother church in Jerusalem had arrived among the churches in Galatia attacking Paul's integrity. These church leaders claimed to represent the apostles in Jerusalem, and they falsely accused Paul of five failures in his ministry. 1) He did not possess the authority to preach independently, as he claimed. He was under the authority of the apostles in the Jerusalem church. 2) The apostles in Jerusalem were the only ones who had the authority to define the true gospel of Jesus Christ. 3) Paul had gone to Jerusalem to learn the gospel from the mother church, and the apostles authorized him to preach the gospel they taught to him. He learned his gospel second-hand from them. Later in Antioch, Peter and the apostles had rebuked Paul for preaching error. 4) Paul had agreed to follow what they said but then adapted his message to preach his own watered-down version of the gospel designed to be acceptable to the Gentiles by minimizing the importance of God's law. 5) Paul was deceiving the Galatians about the gospel and misleading them about himself and his authority. The Galatians should not trust him or his message (Longenecker, Galatians, xcvi-c).

A SOLEMN OATH

How it must have galled Paul to defend himself against these false accusations. He refutes the false allegations in his letter to the Galatians (Gal. 1:16ff). Contrary to what these leaders claimed, Paul's first visit to Jerusalem was a social call. He retells the story of meeting Peter and James (Gal. 1:18-19) and later explains what really happened with Peter in Antioch (Gal. 2:11ff). Paul corrects the twisted, upside-down version of the story being told by his false accusers to defend his trustworthiness in ministry. He vehemently takes an oath before God that he is telling the truth (Gal. 1:20).

Paul says, "See before God that I am not lying." The opening particle "see," "behold," or "listen" (ἰδοὺ) emphasizes what follows. "Before God" (ἐνώπιον τοῖ θεοῦ) introduces a common oath formula and "I am not lying" (οὐ ψεύδομαι) implies that there is another wrong account of events. The story Paul is telling is the truth. All other stories are false. No matter how believable their story or unbelievable his story, Paul takes a solemn oath that what he is telling them is the "honest to God" truth. The formula Paul uses to deny that he is lying is a typical formula used in Roman legal proceedings (Rienecker and Rogers, Linguistic Key, 503). Generally, the Roman courts discouraged the offering of oaths unless it was absolutely necessary. Paul apparently felt it was absolutely necessary to use a courtroom oath to defend his version of the story (Bruce, Galatians, 102) although Paul did not believe Christians should go to court to settle their differences (1 Cor. 6:1-8)!

ANOTHER OATH IN SELF DEFENSE

Interestingly, Paul uses the same oath in a later context when defending his integrity before similar attacks (2 Cor. 11:31). God knows that I am not lying (οὐ ψεύδομαι), Paul argued when explaining in more detail the events surrounding King Aretas and his escape from Damascus. Apparently, the false stories about Paul continued as other church leaders attacked his integrity, and he once again took another oath about his trustworthiness. Paul stressed that he would only boast in his weakness when he tells about his escape in a basket through a window in the wall. By boasting only in his weakness and making God the hero, Paul's veracity is demonstrated in contrast to the self-adulation of his false accusers.

Paul's defense was in stark contrast to one of the highest awards that the Roman army could confer on a soldier. The "wall crown" honored the soldier who scaled the wall of an enemy city first. The honor was still being awarded in Paul's day (Witherington, Conflict & Community in Corinth, 458). The worldly hero scales the wall first, Paul claims. The servant of Christ is the first down the wall in defeat. Why? God's power is perfected in weakness. His false accusers may claim high honors and attack his weakness. Paul's account is true because he claims no honor for himself but gives God the glory for using him in his weakness and defeat. Paul's oath rings true because it is not self-glorifying. When we defend ourselves, we must avoid self-adulation in our defense.

The sting of unjust criticism is hard to take as pastors, especially when stories are circulated about us that are not true. Often we find it hard to defend ourselves because we can't divulge confidential information. However, we can and must defend our integrity when the ministry is compromised by false accusations. Sometimes we even have to assert that we are not lying just like Paul even though the assertion itself is painfully frustrating. When the gospel is compromised because our credibility is undermined, we defend the Lord when we defend ourselves.