Apostles refers to the Twelve, but the term as used here could include others such as James the Lord’s brother (verse 19). Paul mentions them here as a special group who would naturally be the first to be consulted by anyone aspiring to become an apostle. In not going to see the apostles, Paul was doing something contrary to natural expectation (compare Phillips “I did not even go to Jerusalem”). When Paul describes the apostles in Jerusalem as apostles before me, he was asserting not only that he recognized the apostleship of the Twelve but that he regarded his own apostleship as being of the same character as that of the Jerusalem apostles. The phrase before me may refer either to time or to status (or precedence), but the temporal interpretation is preferable.
In this context the verb see implies more than merely looking at someone. The equivalent in some languages would be “I did not go to Jerusalem to pay a visit to those who were apostles before me,” “… to talk with those who were apostles before me,” or “… who had been apostles before I became one.”
Having mentioned what he did not do, Paul now asserts two things that he did: (1) He went at once to Arabia, and (2) he returned to Damascus. The purpose of the visit to Arabia is not stated, but apparently it was to seek through meditation a fuller understanding of the meaning of his call. The phrase at once in the Greek comes right before I did not go to anyone for advice. It seems better to take it as modifying, not simply what immediately follows, but the whole sentence; and since the expression itself calls for a positive affirmation, it should be connected with Paul’s going to Arabia, rather than with the two prior negative statements (for example, Good News Translation, Jerusalem Bible; compare New English Bible, New American Bible, where the negative statements are made into dependent clauses: “Immediately, without seeking human advisers, or even going to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before me, I went off to Arabia”). It may be useful to stipulate Arabia as being a country, for example, “I went off to the country of Arabia,” or “… to the region called Arabia.”
The mention of “returning to Damascus” is an indirect assertion that the experience of Paul’s conversion occurred in Damascus (see Acts 9.1-19 and parallels Acts 22.4-16 and 26.9-18). One may wish to employ a classifier with the word Damascus and translate, for example, “I went back to the city of Damascus.”
Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .