In our study of Galatians chapter two, we will look at grace which is the only way that we are saved. Paul shares two of his meetings with spiritual leaders and both of them remind us that it is about the grace of God and not our works.
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Then after fourteen years I again went up to Yerushalayim, this time with Bar-Nabba; and I took with me Titus.
So, Paul traveled around sharing the gospel and fourteen years later he went back to Jerusalem. The "church" in Jerusalem was made up of Jews and Paul took with him Titus who was a Gentile convert. We notice that Paul did not get his instructions, financing, or approval from the leaders in Jerusalem during those years.
I went up in obedience to a revelation, and I explained to them the Good News as I proclaim it among the Gentiles - but privately, to the acknowledged leaders. I did this out of concern that my current or previous work might have been in vain.
Paul tells us that God told him to go there and to tell them of the gospel that he was sharing with the Gentiles. Paul wanted to be sure that the gospel that he was preaching was the same as they were sharing with the Jews in Jerusalem. Paul understood that there was only one way to be saved and he wanted to make sure that he was not misleading people.
But they didn't force my Gentile companion Titus to undergo b'rit-milah. Indeed, the question came up only because some men who pretended to be brothers had been sneaked in - they came in surreptitiously to spy out the freedom we have in the Messiah Yeshua, so that they might enslave us.
There was a controversy going on in Jerusalem over following the Mosaic Law. Paul says that Titus, a Gentile, was not forced to be circumcised even though some men were trying to make believers slaves to the law again. He even says that the controversy was started by people that had not even truly accepted Jesus Christ. Without Christ, they were slaves to the law and wanted others to be as well. What Paul is saying about being a slave is the fact that, if you trust in the law instead of grace for salvation, then the standard is absolute perfection. That means that you would have to keep all of the law all of the time with no slip-ups and that made you a slave to the law where grace makes us free in Christ.
Not even for a minute did we give in to them, so that the truth of the Good News might be preserved for you.
Paul and his companions did not compromise on the issue of grace. When you add keeping any part of the law, as a requirement for salvation, it is no longer by grace. Then, you get more and more people trying to add another rule (law) and, before you know it, the gospel is distorted into being about what we do instead of what God has done.
Moreover, those who were the acknowledged leaders-what they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by outward appearances - these leaders added nothing to me.
God does not care about the title that the world gives you. Paul tells us that the leaders of the church in Jerusalem did not have anything to add to his message.
On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the Good News for the Uncircumcised, just as Kefa had been for the Circumcised; since the One working in Kefa to make him an emissary to the Circumcised had worked in me to make me an emissary to the Gentiles.
The leaders in Jerusalem were able to see that God had given Paul his ministry to the Gentiles. It did not replace any ministry (such as Peter's) but it was also something that God had planned for Paul to do. Some people get upset or jealous over another person doing the ministry that God has laid out for them or even try to do it themselves. When the ministry is from God, it will be obvious for others to see just as it was here with Paul.
So, having perceived what grace had been given to me, Ya'akov, Kefa and Yochanan, the acknowledged pillars of the community, extended to me and Bar-Nabba the right hand of fellowship; so that we might go to the Gentiles, and they to the Circumcised.
The elders in Jerusalem simply told Paul to do what God had told him and that they would do what God had told them. When God is in control and people see it, then we should all be willing and able to yield to His will. That is what happened here and, if we would all simply trust and listen to God, it could happen with all of the ministries and groups of believers around the world today. What a beautiful sight it would be to see the Body of Christ functioning as He planned it!
Their only request was that we should remember the poor - which very thing I have spared no pains to do.
The leaders and Paul stayed focused on serving and telling people about Jesus Christ. Service to the poor is a natural thing that flows out of you because of the love of God that is in you. This is what the apostle John was talking about in his first letter to the believers (1 John 4:7).
Furthermore, when Kefa came to Antioch, I opposed him publicly, because he was clearly in the wrong.
The second example takes place in Antioch which was a mixed church as it had both Jewish and Gentile believers that met together. This is a clear lesson for us about unity versus purity of the gospel. Paul did not just let Peter go on doing what he knew was wrong but instead he confronted him about his actions.
For prior to the arrival of certain people from [the community headed by] Ya'akov, he had been eating with the Gentile believers; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he was afraid of the faction who favored circumcising Gentile believers.
Now, Paul describes the problem that he had with Peter and is was simply that he was acting one way around the brothers in Antioch but another way when others showed up. In this church at Antioch, the Gentiles would eat all kinds of food that the Jews were forbidden to eat by the Mosaic Law. Peter, a Jew, knew that he was no longer under the law and that he could eat anything (because of his vision in Acts 10) and so he joined the Gentiles at the table and ate as they did. But, when the Jews from the church in Jerusalem showed up, he would not eat with the Gentiles. We, as Christians, need to be consistent in our walk and in our freedom. When someone tries to put us back under the law, we need to stand up and proclaim our freedom in Jesus Christ.
And the other Jewish believers became hypocrites along with him, so that even Bar-Nabba was led astray by their hypocrisy.
It was bad enough that Peter was saying one thing and doing another but, by being a bad example, he had an impact on those around him. He was known to be an apostle and so was given respect and authority which caused others to do the same thing including Barnabas. That is one of the reasons why we, as Christians, should strive to be like Jesus and not any man. Jesus (the Good Shepherd) will never lead His sheep astray.
But when I saw that they were not walking a straight path, keeping in line with the truth of the Good News, I said to Kefa, right in front of everyone, "If you, who are a Jew, live like a Goy and not like a Jew, why are you forcing the Goyim to live like Jews?
Paul publicly corrected Peter with a question. Basically, Paul asked how Peter could enjoy the freedom that he has in Jesus Christ and yet deny that freedom and in fact try to put the Gentiles back to bondage of the law. This may seem harsh but the same question could and should be asked to many "religious leaders" today.
We are Jews by birth, not so-called 'Goyishe sinners'; even so, we have come to realize that a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands, but through the Messiah Yeshua's trusting faithfulness. Therefore, we too have put our trust in Messiah Yeshua and become faithful to him, in order that we might be declared righteous on the ground of the Messiah's trusting faithfulness and not on the ground of our legalistic observance of Torah commands. For on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, no one will be declared righteous.
Three times, in this passage, Paul reminds Peter and us as well that it is only by faith in Jesus that we are made right with God. There is only one way for anyone to be saved and that always was and always will be through the blood of Jesus. There are no exceptions as all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is the same message that Paul shared in his letter to the Romans.
But if, in seeking to be declared righteous by God through our union with the Messiah, we ourselves are indeed found to be sinners, then is the Messiah an aider and abettor of sin? Heaven forbid!
We are made right with God through the blood of Christ but we still live in sinful world. Jesus loves us but He does not promote sin and wants us to live free from the effects of sin. This process is called sanctification and is a work of the Holy Spirit.
Indeed, if I build up again the legalistic bondage which I destroyed, I really do make myself a transgressor. For it was through letting the Torah speak for itself that I died to its traditional legalistic misinterpretation, so that I might live in direct relationship with God. When the Messiah was executed on the stake as a criminal, I was too; so that my proud ego no longer lives.
Jesus kept the law perfectly and was therefore the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Through Him, we die to the law and are no longer under law but are under grace. When we accept that gift of grace, the old self is crucified and we are a new creation with Christ living in us.
But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me.
After we are crucified with Christ, He lives in us, through the Holy Spirit, and that life is by faith. That new life is trusting Him in every situation and following His guidance.
I do not reject God's gracious gift; for if the way in which one attains righteousness is through legalism, then the Messiah's death was pointless.
When you try to add anything to grace then it stops being grace which is a gift. If there would have been any other way for us to be fully restored in our relationship with God, then there would have been no reason for Jesus to go to the cross.
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