Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them who were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.
All Commentaries on Galatians 1:17 Go To Galatians 1
Cornelius a Lapide
AD 1637
Neither went I up to Jerusalem. But Acts ix26 represents Paul as flying directly after his conversion from Damascus to Jerusalem. Jerome and Lorinus, when commenting on that passage, say that he went to Jerusalem directly after his conversion, because compelled to seek safety in flight, not that he might see Peter and confer with him about the Gospel, for this latter is all that is denied here. Baronius replies differently, that Paul is not said directly after his conversion to have gone to Jerusalem, but after many days, i.e, after three years, spent partly in Arabia, partly in Damascus. After that he came to see Peter, as is said here (ver18), and afterwards went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia (Ver21). With this agrees Acts ix30 , where it is said that the brethren brought him down to Cæsarea and sent him forth to Tarsus, which is the metropolis of Cilicia. If this be the true explanation, then S. Luke , in Acts 9, passes over the journey of Paul into Arabia, because in it nothing calling for mention had happened.
Both explanations are tenable. But the fear of the Apostles and the sponsorship of Barnabas ( Acts 9:26-27) favour the former. It is not likely that the miraculous conversion of Paul could for three years have remained unknown to the Apostles and the rest of the faithful at Jerusalem. If this be correct, then we must, with S. Chrysostom, marvel at the grace of God which so suddenly changed so bitter a persecutor as S. Paul was into a public teacher and a disputer with the Jews.
