Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised. For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?
“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
“But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

• Galatians 2:1-21

Noted Biblical Scholars, Teachers, and Preachers Comments

Galatians 2:2 ‘by revelation’: “This revelation from God was the voice of the Holy Spirit (see … Acts 13:2-4). He refers to the divine commissioning of his visit in order to refute any suggestion by the Judaizers that they had sent Paul to Jerusalem to have the apostles correct his doctrine. …those who were of reputation. The three main leaders of the Jerusalem church: Peter, James (the Lord’s brother, 1:19), and John (cf. v. 9). This phrase was typically used of authorities and implied a position of honor. Paul refers to them in a similar way two other times (w. 6, 9), suggesting a hint of sarcasm directed toward the Judaizers, who claimed they had apostolic approval for their doctrine and Paul did not. They had likely made a habit of exalting these three leaders at the expense of Paul. might run … in vain. Paul hoped the Jerusalem leaders would support his ministry to the Gentiles and not soften their opposition to legalism. He did not want to see his ministry efforts wasted because of conflict with the other apostles.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:3 ‘compelled to be circumcised’: “At the core of the Judaizers’ works system was the Mosaic prescription of circumcision (see … Gen. 17:9-14; Rom. 4:9-12). They were teaching that there could be no salvation without circumcision (Acts 15:1, 5, 24). Paul and the apostles denied that, and the issue was settled at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15:1-22). See … 5:2-12; 6:15; Romans 4:10-12; cf. 1 Corinthians 7:19. As a true believer, Titus was living proof that circumcision and the Mosaic regulations were not prerequisites or necessary components of salvation. The apostles’ refusal to require Titus’ circumcision verified the church’s rejection of the Judaizers’ doctrine (cf. Timothy, Acts 16:1-3).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:4 ‘false brethren’: “The Judaizers, who pretended to be true Christians. Yet, their doctrine, because it claimed allegiance to Christ, was opposed to traditional Judaism, and because it demanded circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic Law as prerequisites for salvation, was opposed to Christianity. to spy out. This Greek word pictures spies or traitors entering by stealth into an enemy’s camp. The Judaizers were Satan’s undercover agents sent into the midst of the church to sabotage the true gospel. liberty. Christians are free from the law as a means of salvation, from its external ceremonial regulations as a way of living, and from its curse for disobedience to the law-a curse that Christ bore for all believers (3:13). This freedom is not, however, a license to sin (5:13; Rom. 6:18; 1 Pet. 2:16). bondage. Conveys the idea of absolute slavery to an impossible system of works righteousness.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:6 ‘those who seemed to be something’: “Another reference to Peter, James, and John (see note on v. 2). personal favoritism. The unique privileges of the Twelve did not make their apostleship more legitimate or authoritative than Paul’s; Christ commissioned them all (cf. Rom. 2:11). Paul never saw himself as apostolically inferior (see 2 Cor. 12:11, 12).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:10 ‘Poverty vs. Wealth’: ” Poverty is no virtue. Wealth is no sin. On the other hand, wealth is not morally good, and poverty is not morally evil. Virtue is a plant that depends not upon the atmosphere which surrounds it but upon the hand which waters it and upon the divine grace which sustains it. We draw no support for grace from our circumstances whether they are good or evil. Our circumstances may sometimes militate against the gracious work in our breast, but no position in life is a sustaining cause of the life of grace in the soul. But yet, mark you, God has been pleased, for the most part, to plant his grace in the soil of poverty. He has not chosen many great or many mighty men of this world, but he has chosen ‘the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him’ (Jms 2:5).”

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

Galatians 2:12 ‘certain men … from James’: “Peter, knowing the decision the Jerusalem Council had made (Acts 15:7-29), had been in Antioch for some time, eating with Gentiles. When Judaizers came, pretending to be sent by James, they lied, giving false claims of support from the apostles. Peter had already given up all Mosaic ceremony (Acts 10:9-22) and James had at times held only to some of it (Acts 21:18-26). withdrew. The Greek term refers to strategic military withdrawal. The verb’s form may imply that Peter’s withdrawal was gradual and deceptive. To eat with the Judaizers and decline invitations to eat with the Gentiles, which he had previously done, meant that Peter was affirming the very dietary restrictions he knew God had abolished (Acts 10:15) and thus striking a blow at the gospel of grace. fearing those … of the circumcision. This was the true motivation behind Peter’s defection. He was afraid of losing popularity with the legalistic, Judaizing segment of people in the church, even though they were self-righteous hypocrites promoting a heretical doctrine.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:15-16 ‘Paul’s rebuke of Peter’: “Paul’s rebuke of Peter serves as one of the most dynamic statements in the NT on .the absolute and unwavering necessity of the doctrine of justification by grace through faith (see … Rom. 3:24). Peter’s apparent repentance acknowledged Paul’s apostolic authority and his own submission to the truth (cf. 2 Pet. 3:15, 16).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:15 ‘sinners of the Gentiles’: “This is used in the legal sense since Gentiles were sinners by nature and they had no revealed divine written law to guide them toward salvation or living righteously.”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:16 ‘works … faith’: “Three times in this verse Paul declares that salvation is only through faith in Christ and not by law. The first is general, ‘a man is not justified’; the second is personal, ‘we might be justified’; and the third is universal, ‘no flesh shall be justified.’ justified. This basic Greek word forensically describes a judge declaring an accused person not guilty and therefore innocent before the law. Throughout Scripture, it refers to God’s declaring a sinner not guilty and fully righteous before Hirn by imputing to him the divine righteousness of Christ and imputing the person’s sin to his sinless Savior for punishment, (see … Rom. 3:24; Phil. 3:8 9). works of the law., Keeping the law is a totally unacceptable means of salvation because the root of sin­ fulness is in the fallenness of man’s heart, not his actions. The law served as a mirror to reveal sin, not a cure for it (see … 3:22-24; Rom. 7:7-13; 1 Tim. 1:8-11).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:17 ‘we … are found sinners’: “If the Judaizers’ doctrine was correct, then Paul, Peter, Barnabas, and the other Jewish believers fell back into the category of sinners because they had been eating and fellowshipping with Gentiles, who according to the Judaizers were unclean. minister of sin. If the Judaizers were right, then Christ was wrong and had been teaching people to sin because He taught that food could not contaminate a person (Mark 7:19; cf. Acts 10:13-15). He also declared that all who belong to Him are one with Him and therefore with one an­ other (John 17:21-23). Paul’s airtight logic condemned Peter, because by his actions he had in effect made it appear as if Christ was lying. This thought is utterly objectionable and caused Paul to use the strongest Greek negative (‘certainly not’; cf. 3:21; Rom. 6:1, 2; 7:13).”

• John MacArthur, John MacArthur Commentary (quoted Scripture without bold/italics)

Galatians 2:20 ‘A New Life after Death’: “God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross…
“What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life?
“Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God’s stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.
“Having done this, let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Savior, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power.
“The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ.”

• A.W. Tozer, The Old Cross and the New

Galatians 2:20 ‘God’s Instrument’: “You have leaves to rake. A steering wheel to grip. A neighbor’s hand to shake. Simply·put, you have things to do.
“So does God. Babies need hugs. Children need good-night tucks. AIDS orphans need homes. Stressed-out executives need hope. God has work to do. And he uses our hands to do it.
“What the hand is to the glove, the Spirit is to the Christian … God gets into us. At times imperceptibly. Other times, disruptively. God gets his fingers into our lives, inch by inch reclaiming the territory that is rightfully his.
“Your tongue. He claims it for his message.
“Your feet. He requisitions them for his purpose.
“Your mind? He made it and intends to use it for his glory.
“Your eyes, face, and hands? Through them he will weep, smile, and touch.“

• Max Lucado, Come Thirsty

Galatians 2:20 ‘a special Love’: “Paul speaks of it as a knowable fact and one he himself knew-that Jesus Christ loved him and gave himself for him. He is not speaking, now, of the love of benevolence that the Lord Jesus Christ has toward all people, or even of that aspect of his work that bears on every creature under heaven. He is thinking of that special love, that grace which had come to him. That is the point around which our thoughts are to gather as we meditate on Paul’s words, ’who loved me and gave himself for me.’ The apostle knew Christ had loved him and had given himself for him. And we, also, may know it.“

• Charles H. Spurgeon, from sermon notes

My Thoughts

When I read the scholarly quotes without context, this seemed to be such a hard chapter to discuss, but it is quite easy to talk about.  We all fall prey, maybe not all, to the problem Peter had in Antioch.

But first, Paul, Barnabas and Titus went to Jerusalem to check that their mission to the Gentiles was in accord with the Gospel.  They found no complaints, nor did the leaders compel Titus to become circumcised.

Paul does not take a jab at the three prominent leaders of the church in Jerusalem: Peter, James (half-brother of Jesus), and John, as the scholarly quotes hint at, at least not here.  He simply includes them as being people who examined the presentation of the Gospel by Paul.  Yet, he notes that no one is above any other person in the kingdom.  We are all sinners saved by faith.  This is not a jab at the leaders, but a wake-up call to the 2000 years of people since Paul wrote this.  Billy Graham was powerfully used by God, but he is no different than you or I, as believers when we get to Heaven.  In an interview between Mark Lowry and Will Graham, Will said that his grandfather felt that he might have to wait a long time to see Jesus because he had been the public figure while the behind-the-scenes people did a lot of the work.  We will be on equal footing in Heaven, according to the Apostle Paul.

But, Peter, James, and John agreed that Paul would take the Gospel to the Gentiles and they would take the Gospel to the circumcised.  And the key thing is that the actions of the church, outreach, if you will, should be to help the poor.

But then, Peter visits the church at Antioch, and he dines with the Gentiles.  Then, Judaizers appeared.  They may have come from James, but they lied that James told them to insist on circumcision.  Peter went to them, and he even lured Barnabas to their table, probably eating food that was acceptable to the Levitical Law.

Paul called this hypocrisy and chastised Peter for having done so, but is what Peter did not a natural reaction?  “Here come my people and I need to let them know they are welcome!”  But in welcoming them, he deserted the people he had been dining with.  This was a non-verbal signal that these new people were more important.  Then when those new people start talking about adding works to faith by circumcising people, it made Peter’s physical move from one side of the room to the other to look like an approval of what these strangers were saying.

I have had a pastor come to my table to talk and before anything was said, the pastor got distracted and moved to another table.  I checked my arm pits to see if I had used deodorant.  Why was I suddenly a social pariah?  Maybe the pastor had a more pressing reason to talk to someone else, but my reaction was that my wife and I were of lesser importance.

If the movement by Peter had not been called out as inappropriate, then this would have given the Judaizers a rubber stamp approval from Peter that Peter had never intended.  They had the lie that James had approved their reason for being there, and they had Peter dropping everything to welcome them.  The Christians at Antioch would have to obey them now.

There are a lot of ways that we use body language and positioning to mean something.  Some people read these things and understand the importance of them, while others hardly notice.  I rarely had an office where I could sit at my desk and see who was coming into the room.  Big bosses had that and when you sat at the other side of the desk from them, they were saying, “I am the boss.  You will grovel in my presence.”  They did so without saying anything.  I always wanted that kind of office so that the boss who was “light of foot” did not sneak up behind me.  I had nothing to hide, but I found myself losing productivity by stopping what I was doing and looking over my shoulder just to see that the noise that I heard was someone passing by in the hallway.

Thinking of that, with my fictional writing, I always have Pink Lady behind her desk when people come in for counselling.  I may have her move around the desk to their side, to make it more comfortable for the visitor. Showing that they are equals as humans and believers.

But after this rebuke, Paul is giving the reason for his adamant refusal to allow circumcision to be required for all believers.  It adds something to Sola Fide (Faith Alone).  If we are saved by faith alone, nothing we add to that requirement of faith is necessary.  If not necessary, then the added thing, whatever it is, would be an unneeded burden.  It distracts us from “Faith Alone.”  It confuses the issue.

But worst of all, adding something that we must do means we can achieve salvation by works.  Faith then becomes secondary to the works.  Whenever we get started in a new activity, we naturally want to know “What do I have to do?”  You join a club, and you must learn the secret handshake, as an example.  When we focus on what we must do, we forget that God gives us the gift of faith, and salvation becomes something that is earned by one little work – an uncomfortable and painful thing, but still little in the overall scheme of things.

Then Paul made a couple of quotable quotes.  Paul is crucified with Christ.  He no longer lives, but Christ lives in him.  He lives by faith.  We cannot set aside Grace (which is getting something that we do not deserve – especially when given without us doing anything).  And if we can obtain righteousness by any other means through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Christianity must be personal.  While some people love saying that they were saved 2000 years ago, they use that to obscure their lack of a personal testimony.  No matter how you slice it, something that happened 2000 years ago cannot be that personal unless something happened within us during our lifetime.  I think it is very important to quote those last verses on Galatians 2 personally.

Read these verses with the mental focus on you saying it about yourself rather than quoting what Paul had said.  “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:19-21)

I have heard a lot of people get so bent out of shape that Paul was making a mountain out of a mole hill, but that mole was digging his hill beneath the bedrock of our faith.  Christ died so that we could live, really meaning that Christ lives within us.  And all because God loves us.  God had Mercy on us.  God gifted us Faith through Grace.  We have nothing that we did that could accomplish that.

Some Serendipitous Reflections

Galatians 2:1-10 Paul Accepted by the Apostles 1. How do you feel when your beliefs are contrary to popular opinion? What would you have done in Paul’s place? Would it matter to you if Paul’s argument had failed? Why or why not?
Galatians 1:11-21 Paul Opposes Peter 1. What difference would it make to you if you had to earn your way to God by keeping the Jewish laws? Conversely, if you are a self-made person who likes to see everyone ‘pay their own way’ or ‘earn their fair share,’ how does this gospel of unmerited favor strike you?
“2. What ‘additions’ to faith might outsiders sense in your Christian circles, regarding what they should do to be approved? How can you help break down these barriers and avoid the performance trap?”

• Lyman Coleman, et al, The NIV Serendipity Bible for Study Groups

Galatians 2 is divided into two sets of questions.

Substitute whatever group for any reference to a small group or ask who could come to your aid.

If you like these Thursday morning Bible studies, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Thursday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.