Hello my David!
I would encourage you to stick to a book once you've started it, rather than skipping around. If you want to read Galations, start at the beginning (did you already read the first chapter? you just didn't mention that) and read to the end, before going on to another book. If you read an entire book, you can sometimes get more out of it than if you just read one random chapter, because there are themes and connections that run throughout the book. You can go through two books at the same time, but I wouldn't recommend just reading here and there. I'm totally behind your "game plan" plan.
I read your post, then grabbed my Bible and read Galations 1 and 2 myself to see what you were talking about. I think you missed some of the context in which Paul is writing which would add richness to the passage. The "spies" that Paul talks about were not trying to derail his faith. When Paul was in Antioch, false teachers came down from Judea and started preaching that the Gentiles had to be circumcised in order to be saved, which "brought Paul and Barnabus into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question" (Acts 15:2). Paul had not been preaching the gospel cautiously; he had been sent by Christ to spread the good news to the Gentiles, and he did that boldly. Rather, when a dispute arose over the necessity of circumcision, it grew to such a fever pitch that it was wisely decided that the apostles in Jerusalem ought to be consulted.
In Galations 2, upon arriving in Jerusalem, Paul says that he "set before [the apostles] the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain" (verse 2). He was not awaiting reassurance that he was doing a good job preaching the gospel message, for he says very plainly in chapter one that "when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not consult any man nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus" (15-17, emphasis added). Paul was completely certain that he was preaching Christ's Gospel, which he "received...by revelation from Jesus Christ" (1:12). The race he is talking about running is the sharp debate he had been having with the false teachers who were preaching Christ and circumcision. He came to seek out the counsel of the apostles in the matter, to check whether in this disputable matter he was correct in his teaching. Indeed, the very next sentence says, "Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek" (verse 4).
As for how natural the language sounds, I can totally relate to your surprise, because I am constantly amazed at how accessible the Bible's language is. Growing up, I always thought the Bible was full of flowery, old language that was difficult and boring. Reading it now, I am discovering, book after book, just how wrong I was, and I love this discovery.
Today's training is all about purposes, principles, and presuppositions. I'm learning a lot of interesting stuff. Much of it I have recently read about, but it is nonetheless exciting and there are plenty of details and illustrations that are new to me, so I am very much enjoying the sessions today. Tonight at 6 we are gathering for worship, and then we've been split up to go out in dinner groups to fellowship with each other. I tried to call you between sessions, but it went to voicemail! What's up with that? :-P Maybe I will be able to talk to you tomorrow.
Love,
~Your Princess~
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