<p>1:10 <i>For am I now seeking the favour of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still pleasing men, I should not be a servant of Christ</i>- Cultured, educated people in the first century presented themselves to others by means of an 'encomium'. This was a document or major speech which included five sections, clearly defined in the various manuals of rhetoric which survive, and which surely Paul would have been taught. The purpose of the encomium was to demonstrate how the person was an upright member of the community and worthy of honour within it. Students of the letter to the Galatians have detected these five sections of the encomium followed in an almost classic manner by Paul in Galatians 1:10-2:21:<br />1. Opening (<em>prooimion</em>) 1:10-12: Paul's Gospel<br />2. Lifestyle (<em>anastrophe</em>) 1:13-17: Paul as persecutor of the church and preacher of the Gospel. Gal. 1:13 uses the very word <em>anastrophe</em> (&quot;way of life&quot;)<br />3. Achievements (<em>praxeis</em>) or &quot;deeds of the body&quot; 1:18-2:10- Paul's work in Jerusalem, Syria and again in Jerusalem<br />4. Comparison with others (<em>synkrisis</em>) 2:11-21- Paul and Peter; Paul and the Jews<br />5. Conclusion (<em>epilogos</em>)- 2:21 Paul and grace.</p><p>The encomium was essentially self-praise and self-justification within society. Paul almost mocks the encomium, by using its elements to show how radically different are the standards of thinking and behaviour for the Christian. In Gal. 1:15 Paul speaks of his birth (<em>genesis</em>), which in the usual encomiums would've been a reference to his family of origin, which as we've shown was all important in a collectivist society. Paul never speaks of his parents, as would've been normal in an encomium- and seeing he was born as a free man, he could've made an impressive point at this stage had he wished. But the birth he speaks of is that which came from God, who gave Paul birth by grace. His place in God's invisible household was all important, rather than what family he belonged to naturally. An encomium would typically have a reference to a man's education- and Paul could've made an impressive case for himself here. But rather he speaks of how God Himself revealed Christ to him, and how his spiritual education was not through interaction with any other men of standing in the Christian community, but rather in his three years alone in Arabia (Gal. 1:18). It has been suggested that Paul actually coined a new Greek term in 1 Thess. 4:9, when he spoke of how he had been taught-by-God (<em>theodidaktos</em>). To claim an education 'not by flesh and blood' (Gal. 1:16) was foolishness to 1st century society. In the description of his &quot;deeds&quot;, Paul could've made a fair case both as a Jew and as a Christian. But instead he spends Gal. 2:1-10 speaking of how he had laboured so hard to avoid division in the church of Christ, to teach grace, avoid legalistic obedience to the norms of Jewish society, and to help the poor. <em>These</em> were the works he counted as significant. It was usual in an encomium to speak of your courage (<em>andreia</em>) and fortitude. Paul uses the word <em>andreia</em>, again in conscious imitation of an encomium, but he relates it to how he courageously refused to &quot;yield submission even for a moment&quot; to the pressures to conform to Jewish societal expectations (Gal. 2:5). When it comes to the <em>synkrisis</em>, the comparison with others, he chooses to compare himself with Peter, who caved in to the pressures from the Jews, agreeing to act smart before men rather than God, whereas Paul says he withstood this and insisted upon a life of radical grace which paid no attention to what others thought of his appearances.</p>