Albert Barnes Commentary Galatians 1:20

"Now touching the things which I write unto you, behold, before God, I lie not." — Galatians 1:20 (ASV)

Behold, before God, I lie not. This is an oath, or a solemn appeal to God (See Note, Romans 9:1). The purpose of this oath here is to prevent any suspicion of falsehood. It may seem remarkable that Paul would make this solemn appeal to God in this argument, and in the narrative of a plain fact, when his statement could hardly be questioned by anyone. But we may remark:

1. The oath here refers not only to the fact that he was with Peter and James for only fifteen days, but also to the entire group of facts to which he had referred in this chapter. The things which I write unto you. It included, therefore, the narrative about his conversion and the direct revelation he received from the Lord Jesus.

2. There were no witnesses to whom he could appeal in this case, and he could therefore only appeal to God. It was probably not practicable for him to appeal to Peter or James, as neither of them was in Galatia, and a considerable part of the transactions referred to here occurred where there were no witnesses. It pertained to the direct revelation of truth from the Lord Jesus. The only way, therefore, was for Paul to appeal directly to God for the truth of what he said.

3. The importance of the truth affirmed here was such as to justify this solemn appeal to God. It was an extraordinary and miraculous revelation of the truth by Jesus Christ himself. He received information about the truth of Christianity from no human being. He had consulted no one regarding its nature. That fact was so extraordinary, and it was so remarkable that the system thus communicated to him should harmonize so entirely with that taught by the other apostles (with whom he had had no communication), that it was not improper to appeal to God in this solemn manner. It was, therefore, no trivial matter in which Paul appealed to God; and a solemn appeal of the same nature, and in the same circumstances, can never be improper.