Texts in Conversation
Galatians presents Paul’s calling as a prophetic mission, drawing on Isaiah 49 where the servant is set apart from the womb for the nations, grounding his authority in continuity with the Hebrew Bible.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Isaiah 49:3
Septuagint
1 Listen to me, you islands; and attend, you Gentiles; after a long time it will happen, says the Lord: from my mother's womb he has called my name: 2 and he has made my mouth as a sharp sword, and he has hidden me under the shadow of his hand; he has made me as a choice shaft, and he has hidden me in his quiver; 3 and said to me, You are my servant, Israel, and in you I will be glorified. 4 Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have given my strength for vanity and for nothing: therefore is my judgment with the Lord, and my labor before my God. 5 And now, thus says the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his own servant, to gather Jacob to him and Israel. I shall be gathered and glorified before the Lord, and my God shall be my strength.
Date: 100–1 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Galatians 1:15
New Testament
13 For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I was savagely persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my nation, and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when the one who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not go to ask advice from any human being, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, but right away I departed to Arabia, and then returned to Damascus.
Date: 54–55 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... It can hardly be doubted that in Galatians 1:15–16 the apostle is alluding to Jeremiah 1:5 (“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you came out of the womb, I sanctified you; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations”) and Isaiah 49:1-6 (“Pay attention, you Gentiles ... from my mother’s womb he called my name”). In the latter passage the Servant is further told, “I have made you a covenant for a race, a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth” (49:6 LXX, quoted in Acts 13:47). In the view of some scholars, the allusion to Isaiah indicates that Paul was selected to continue the work of the Servant (compare Romans 15:21). In any case, Paul must have seen his own ministry as integrally related to the work of the Old Testament prophets, and in some sense even as its culmination ..."
Moisés Silva, "Galatians" in Beale, G. K., and D. A. Carson, editors. Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 1810.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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