Galatians Chapter 2

In Galatians chapter 2, Paul discussed two separate incidents. The first incident included the trip to Jerusalem and whether Titus, being a Gentile, needed to be circumcised to be saved.  This deals with whether we need to keep the Old Testament law to be saved.  The second incident involved Peter and whether we need to keep the Old Testament law to be spiritual.  Unfortunately, these two questions still arise 2000 years later.  It seems the most difficult idea for people to grasp is that there are two different covenants in the Bible and they are not the same.  It is also difficult to convince people that the Old Testament is obsolete.  The writer of Hebrews said that the Old Testament is obsolete. We can learn from the Old Testament.  But we are now living under the New Testament of grace in Christ Jesus. The journey to Jerusalem spoken of in Galatians 2:1-10 is most likely the trip to the council in Jerusalem in Acts 15.   

Galatians 2:1-5 “Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. ² And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. ³ Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. ⁴ And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), ⁵ to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.”

It is not completely clear whether this trip to Jerusalem was 14 or 17 years after Paul’s conversion to Christ.  This most likely is the trip referenced in Acts 15.  Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and took Titus with them.  They communicated the gospel that they had been preaching among the Gentiles privately to the elders in Jerusalem.  Titus, who was not a Jew but a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised like Jews were required to be under the Old Testament law.  This arose because Jewish Christians from Judea had come down to Antioch and taught that unless the Gentiles were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, they could not be saved.  Paul and Barnabas disputed this idea strongly.  This is what caused them to go to Jerusalem to discuss this with the elders in Jerusalem.

 

The truth of the gospel is that we are saved by grace apart from the works of the Old Testament law.  Circumcision today is common mostly for medical reasons.  Under the Old Testament it was a sign of the covenant.  But it is no longer valid to be accepted under grace.  There is little controversy to circumcision anymore.  The major controversy now is whether Christians are still under the Old Testament law and the commandments.  Paul states in Romans 3 that by the law is the knowledge of sin.  The law shows us we have a problem with sin and need a Savior.  When a person receives this knowledge, the law has done its job.  When we accept Christ, we are no longer under the Old Testament law.  We have a new law: the law of love.  We are to love others as He has loved us.   

   

Galatians 2:6-10 “But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. ⁷ But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter ⁸ (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), ⁹ and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.”

The elders in the Jerusalem church, James, Peter and John, saw the grace that was upon Paul and Barnabas.  They agreed in Acts 15 that the Gentiles did not need to be subject to the Old Testament laws and customs.  Again, what goes almost unsaid is that the Jews who had become Christians would continue to be subject to the Old Testament law and customs.  This conclusion seemed to be pushed by James.  In Acts 15, Peter called the Old Testament law a yoke that not even the Jewish people were able to bear.  Peter said in Acts 15:11 that through the grace of our Lord Jesus the Jews would be saved in the same manner as the Gentiles.  Oddly, this is the last reference to Peter in the book of Acts.  He seemed to be overruled by James and the other Jewish elders at Jerusalem.  

This set up a division in the early church that would be unsustainable unless the church was going to be divided between Jewish Christian congregations and Gentile Christian congregations.  This was obviously never God’s intention.  But it shows the extremely difficult time that the early church had in letting go of the Old Testament law, either as a requirement for salvation or as a means of being spiritual.  Nevertheless, the issue was resolved that Gentiles did not have to keep the Old Testament law to be saved. 

Galatians 2:11-16 “Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; ¹² for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. ¹³ And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.  ¹⁴ But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? ¹⁵ We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, ¹⁶ knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”

Paul used the same phrasing here about being straightforward about the truth of the gospel that he did in Galatians 2:5.  This incident was not about being saved by grace.  This incident in Antioch was more about whether we should follow the customs of the Old Testament law to be spiritual.  Peter had come to Antioch to visit.  In Antioch, there was no division between Jewish and Gentile Christians.  Paul had taught them that they were saved by grace apart from the Old Testament law and customs.  Peter seemed to accept this and ate and mingled freely with the Gentile believers, which was contrary to the Old Testament customs.  When Jewish Christians from Jerusalem came to Antioch, Peter was afraid and stopped eating with the Gentile believers and separated himself from them.  The rest of the Jewish believers including Barnabas followed Peter in this hypocrisy.  They were trying to show they were more spiritual by keeping the Old Testament dietary customs and not eating or mingling with the Gentile believers.  Paul said this is not being straightforward about the truth of the gospel.

We are saved by grace through Jesus Christ, apart from the works of the law.  We are spiritual because we recognize that Christ lives within us, not by trying to keep outward ordinances from the Old Testament. 

Paul rebuked Peter before the whole congregation because the Jews had followed in his hypocrisy.  Paul told the group that Peter, as a Jew, had been living in the manner of the Gentiles, so why compel the Gentiles to live as Jews?  

Verse 15 is a reference to a saying the Jews had.  “We are Jews by birth and not sinners of the Gentiles.”  They trusted in their natural birth as Jews and looked down upon Gentiles.  Paul said that we are Jews by our inward nature where Christ has come to live within us at the new birth.  Paul stated clearly that we, whether Jew or Gentile, are not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.  Paul said that by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.  Keeping the works of the law is not a requirement to be saved.  Keeping the law is not a means to be spiritual either.  

    

Galatians 2:17-21 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸ For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. ¹⁹ For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which 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 set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”  

When we are born again by faith in Christ Jesus, we are made righteous by faith apart from our works.  The Old Testament law shows us that we are sinners.  When we accept Christ, we are dead to the law and alive to God.  After we are born again, if we go back to the law, it will just cause us to sin even more.  That is what Paul meant about building those things which I destroyed.  

I identify myself with Christ being alive in me.  I have been crucified with Christ.  Christ did not have a sin nature or any sin of His own.  He died to the penalty and condemnation and judgment of sin for all of us.  Therefore, I no longer receive any condemnation, even when I fail.  I trust that Jesus bore my punishment and took my guilt and shame before God. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.  If He is to live His life in me, it begins with recognizing that there is no longer any guilt and shame for me, even when I fail.  I will not set aside the grace of God in Christ Jesus.  Righteousness apart from our works comes by faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on my behalf.  This allows me to be conscious of Christ living in me, which leads me into holiness.

Keith Oliver