Galatians 2:11-21

My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook. (join if you’d like to get these in fb!)

Galatians 1:1-10
Galatians 1:11-24 & 2:1-10

Galatians 2:11-14
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
12 For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.[a]
13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Paul had been preaching to the Gentiles.
Because of the freedom from the law – as he explains in Romans and Hebrews, he never required circumcision for Titus, or any of the Greeks that were with him.

Apparently, based on this passage, Peter was fine with the Greeks, until the Jews were watching, and then he reverted to the Jewish clean and unclean practices, and avoided these brothers.

Jesus made clear directions on how to address a brother or sister that was sinning – Matthew 18:15 – 16

If I had better Biblical history Knowledge, I could tell you if the sheet of unclean animals was before or after this – but here is what I think:

• Acts 9 – Saul’s Conversion
• Acts 10, God sends Peter to Cornelius, the vision of the sheet of unclean animals
• Acts 11 – Peter defends preaching to the gentiles, and they send Barnabas after Saul/Paul in Tarsus
• Now, in the beginning of Chapter 12, Herod kills James, the brother of Jesus.
  In Galatians, in Paul’s first visit to Jerusalem, 3 years after his conversion, he met James, the brother of Jesus. (Galatians 1:19)
• Acts 12 – Peter is jailed, Herod is smitten, Paul, Barnabas and JohnMark continue.
• Acts 13 – Paul and Barnabas commissioned
• Acts 14 ministry, and Paul stoned, first time
• Acts 15 – here we have the dispute about circumcision.

5 chapters after Peter had been shown that the Gentiles were to be received.
Also, after Paul had been commissioned, based upon his sharing of what he had been preaching.
Chapter 15 is where Peter has a great speech!

Acts 15:7-11
7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

James(the Apostle, not the brother of Jesus), after listening to Paul and Barnabas says this:

Acts 15:19-21
19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

The council then wrote a letter – and sent it out

Acts 15:22-29
22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,
23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.
24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,
25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.
28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:
29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

I don’t know where the confrontation between Paul and Peter landed – but the main issue is that the doctrine of grace, not works was confirmed. And it’s the doctrine of works that started this whole dispute in the beginning of Acts 15!
And it’s the very doctrine of works that Paul is trying to undo in this letter to Galatia!

Back to Galatians:
In 2:15-21, Paul writes,

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners;
16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!
18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Romans 3 discusses this in much detail.
Galatians 3 goes into more detail, and we will get there.

The basic take home here, for me is this:

Galatians 2:20
I am crucified with Christ
Nevertheless I live,
Yet not I
But Christ
Lives in me:
And the life that I now live in the flesh
I live by the faith of the Son of God
Who loved me
And gave himself for me.

If that isn’t clear enough – Paul drives it home:

Galatians 2:21
I do not frustrate the grace of God:
For if righteousness come by the law,
THEN CHRIST IS DEAD IN VAIN!

Basically, Romans 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 all explain this more fully!
It makes sense – Paul wrote Romans!

Today, we are flooded with a lukewarm gospel, not one of adding legalistic bondage.
Of course, there are those versions of Christianity that do hold to variations of the law.

James wrote, in light of favoritism, to explain the dangers of holding to the law:

James 2:8-13
8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.
9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
12 So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty.
13 For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

That explains the danger of getting pulled back into the law!
James also addresses the faith without works position in James 2:14-26 (James is going to be one of the Itty Bitty Bible Studies!)

It is such a fine line…and yet, it had the power to potentially destroy the early church. It still does.
Even today, in Amish communities, there are approved shawl patterns and non approved. Approved fabric and non approved. Where there is a difference, there is a split in fellowship!
Look at all the denominations we have.
Look at all the different types of Baptists we have?

We have ONE Lord – Jesus Christ.
Let’s get back to sharing the gospel, and not our own applications!
Applications of the gospel are quite often personal in nature.
And if we are making decisions based upon the fear of man’s opinion, the we have missed the boat!

Blast from the Past Itty Bitty Bible Study from 2009 Galatians 2
Galatians 3 goes more into depth about Faith and Works. I’ll try to go into more detail there.

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

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