The Fight for Faith. A Journey through Galatians (Chapter 2 b)

Galatians Chapter 2

Paul’s experience in Antioch

The church in Antioch was different from the one in Jerusalem in that it was a mainly a Gentile church. I want to explain something before we move forward that I think is important. It was the tradition of many churches in this day to have a feast before they celebrated the Lord’s Supper. (You might remember that Paul had to fuss at the church in Corinth because of the way they were acting at this feast.)

In any case these people would get together and eat. It seems that there were two tables at the feast. One was the Gentile table and the other was the Jewish table. The difference being that the Gentile table had things on it like meat that had been offered to idols. It also had things like pork and other animals that Jews did not eat. The Jewish table would be kosher.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with the things that these Gentiles were eating. In Jesus Christ they had the liberty to eat what they pleased. The Jews however were not able to break away from the days when they were in bondage to the Law of Moses, and because of this weakness they could not enjoy their liberty. The reason I know that the Gentile table was okay was because that is where Paul ate.

Well one day Peter comes to visit the church in Antioch. At the feast Peter is presented with something that he has never really had before, Gentile food. I believe Peter was one of those who were still living in a certain amount of bondage.

In my mind I can picture Peter trying pork chops and bacon for the first time in his life. I bet he loved them. Who doesn’t love bacon? Everything is better with bacon. Peter is really enjoying himself eating with Paul and the Gentiles.

The problem is that one day some of the Jews came down to visit, and when they showed up Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles and returned to the Jewish table. He was ashamed of the liberty he had been enjoying thereby setting a double standard before these believers.

By returning to the Jewish table he was saying that living in the liberty of Christ was wrong. When this happened Paul says that he confronted him face to face.

Before I move on and we beat up on Peter too much let me ask you a question. How many of us are truly living examples of what we know as bible doctrines? Peter stood up for this type of living in Acts 15. After his experience in Acts 11 at the house of Cornelius he was called on the carpet before the Jews and he defended himself. The problem here is that Peter’s freedom was threatened by Peter’s fear.

Peter was a very impulsive man. One moment he is cutting off a soldier’s ear for trying to arrest Jesus and the next he is denying he even knows Jesus. Peter could walk on water one moment and be drowning the next.

For Peter to fear was one thing but for his fear to be brought out in the public was another. If Paul had not confronted him these false teachers could have used this as an example of proof for their false teaching.

It is funny how people teach and preach that a man or woman must keep the law or live without sin in order to maintain their salvation. The reason this is funny is because outside of Christ no one has ever been able to keep the law. These Jews were teaching a works salvation, but they were not able to keep the law themselves.

“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law.”

This includes the Law of Moses as well as any other legal system. If a person says that you have to join a certain church, speak in tongues, be baptized or any other work in order to obtain salvation they are preaching a false doctrine.

In Hebrews we are given a record of Christ offering his own blood upon the mercy seat in heaven. Let me point out a verse to you.

“When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;”  Hebrews 1:3

The fact that Jesus sat down after presenting his blood tells us that the work was finished. If there was more work to be done then Jesus would not have sat down, he would have kept working. When Jesus died for you He did everything necessary to purchase your salvation.

Paul even says that “we” had to leave the law in order to be justified by Christ. The “we” in this verse are the Jews. The Jews had to turn from their works to faith so that they could be saved.

The Paul finishes with a pretty clear statement.

“for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.”

The word “justified” means to declare a person right. Let me give you a definition of this word. “Justification is the act of God whereby He declares the believing sinner righteous in Jesus Christ.”

We are declared right by Jesus Christ. The wonderful thing about Christ is that when He saves us He not only removes our sin, but He also adds His righteousness to our account.

If God could have saved us by any other means then He would have done so. The fact is that the death of Christ was the only way for us to be justified.

In the garden Jesus prayed “if it be possible let this cup pass from me.” There was no other way therefore He willingly laid down his life so that you can live. That was enough for God and it should be enough for us.

In the next chapter we will be given a biblical example of a man who was saved apart from the works of the Law. This man simply placed his trust in God. By doing so God placed righteousness on his account.

The Fight for Faith. A Journey through Galatians (Chapter 2 a)

Galatians 2

Paul in Jerusalem

In chapter two the main theme is the oneness of the gospel. Today there seems to be different teachings when it comes to the gospel. One church will preach one gospel with one way to Christ, and the church down the street will preach another gospel with another way to Christ. The trouble with this is that there can only be one gospel, and there is only one way to Christ. Someone must be right and someone must be wrong.

This controversy is something that Paul had to deal with in this early church. Was Paul’s gospel right or was these legalistic Jews gospel right? We will see in this chapter that the gospel Paul preached was right, and he was willing to confront those that opposed it.

Beginning in verse one Paul retells the story of Acts chapter 15. In Acts 15 we see a council taking place in Jerusalem. At this council the apostles meet together with one topic on their mind. They wanted to determine if all of them were preaching the same message, and if God was saving in other area by faith in Christ.

Paul tells us that when he attended this council he took Titus with him. The reason this is so important is because Titus was a Greek. At this council Titus was “exhibit A” and became an example of a person saved apart from keeping the Law.

From the way this chapter progresses it would seem that there were some false believers coming into the churches where Paul preached and spying on him. They had noticed that this young man Titus had professed Christ, but Paul at no time after his conversion compelled him to be circumcised. This was a topic these false believers brought up over and over trying to discredit Paul.

Circumcision was a rite of passage under the Mosaic system. Circumcision actually began with Abraham in Genesis 17. For a person to submit to circumcision meant that they were submitting to the entire Jewish law. What the Jews forgot was the circumcision was an outward expression of an inward experience. The same is true today with baptism.

Paul states that when he took Titus to the apostles in Jerusalem they did not compel Titus to be circumcised. They did not listen to these false believers. Under the leadership of the Holy Spirit these men rightly decided that they had no right to place someone under the bondage of the Law. In Jesus Christ there was liberty and they were not going to take that away from Titus.

If a person had to be circumcised to be saved then that meant Titus was lost. The fact is however that Titus had been saved by the grace of God, and by grace alone. There was no need to impose on him, or any other believer for that matter, something that Christ had delivered him from.

You may not see the importance of all of this. Let me bring it out in this light. These men were living in the very early days of the church. They did not have a complete copy of the New Testament. They were preaching things that were not only new to the congregation, but new to them as well. God was revealing new things to his men, and those men in turn were revealing these new things to the people. The reason that these men got together was to confirm that what they were being revealed to was the same as what everyone else had been revealed.

Today we don’t need a revelation from God. We have a bible that teaches us completely the will of God. If we want to know the mind, will, or plans of God we simply have to read His word. These men did not have this luxury.

No doubt it was a time of great rejoicing when they compared notes and saw that they were preaching the exact same thing and that God was blessing their works.

In the end of chapter three we see this principal put into action through an experience in Antioch. In our next blog we will look at an experience that took place between Peter and Paul. 

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