Day 39: Galatians 2
Passage for the Day
1 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I set before 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. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 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. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
6 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. 7On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. 8 For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 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 Jews. 10 All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain people 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.13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
14 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?
15 ”We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by observing 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 observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.
17 ”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! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19 ”For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 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. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
Points of interest:
· This letter is from Paul to a group of Gentile believers in the province of Galatia, in modern-day Turkey. Sometime after Paul left them, he was followed by a group of Jewish believers from Jerusalem who were saying, ‘Didn’t Paul mention that you needed to be circumcised in order to fully enjoy the benefits of following Jesus? Good thing we came along to tell you what Paul forgot.’ Occasions like this eventually led to the council in Jerusalem in Acts 15 (April 5th). In the meantime, Paul is responding by letter to the misinformation of these Jewish messengers. Apparently, the Galatians have been strangely receptive to their message. Paul sees this as dangerous. The Galatians are in danger of giving up a dynamic relationship with a living God, for the sake of picking up instead some external symbols of specialness.
· ‘after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem’—when this chapter begins, Paul is in the middle of giving a brief personal history. He is explaining where he got his message and the authority to preach it. This visit to Jerusalem is probably the one mentioned in Acts 11: 27-30; Paul and Barnabas go to Jerusalem to bring some famine relief money from Antioch to Jerusalem. Paul’s point is that, since he became a follower of Jesus, he has been in Jerusalem only rarely and briefly. He is not in any way dependent on Jerusalem for his authority.
· ‘some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy’—this is a bit dramatic, but I think Paul’s point is that Jewish believers came to the churches he was starting among the Gentiles, pretending to be partners, but actually building a case against him for teaching what they considered to be an unbiblical gospel.
· ‘Cephas’—Cephas is yet another name for Peter. ‘Simon’ is Peter’s given name. ‘Peter’ is a nickname Jesus gave him—it means, ‘Rock,’ in Greek. ‘Cephas’ is the same nickname, in Aramaic.
· ‘those who were held in high esteem’—Paul is keeping a careful balance here. On the one hand, he acknowledges that James and Cephas are recognized leaders of the church. On the other hand, he wants to be clear that his authority is independent of them; Paul received his commission to tell the Gentiles about Jesus directly from God.
· ‘they added nothing to my message’—as in the Council of Jerusalem, all of these leaders are in complete agreement about Paul’s message. None of them thinks that he should be telling Gentiles that they must be circumcised.
· ‘They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews’—the Gentiles and the Jews have much different cultures. Paul has been called by God to speak to the Gentiles. The others are more comfortable in—and probably much more effective within—their own Jewish culture. So, they decide to divide up the labor. It’s not entirely an even split: James, Peter, and John and many others are all concentrating on one people group; Barnabas and Paul are given responsibility for the rest of the world.
· ‘he used to eat with the Gentiles’—apparently, Peter is taking literally the vision he received on Simon’s rooftop (Acts 10, April 2nd). Paul seems to be saying that Peter is not only eating with Gentiles, but he is eating what Gentiles eat.
· ‘he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles’—Antioch seems to be a relatively tolerant place. After all, it’s in Antioch that the Jewish believers first started inviting Gentiles to join them. Peter fits in with that more inclusive atmosphere until the more conservative Jews from Jerusalem arrive.
· ‘How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?’—to paraphrase Moe the Bartender, ‘You’re kind of all over the map there, Peter.’ Peter is supposed to be concentrating on talking about Jesus with Jews, but he’s hanging out with the Gentile believers in Antioch. One day, he’s not even eating kosher himself; the next, he’s telling Gentiles that they need to be kosher. It’s easy for me to be more sympathetic with Peter than Paul is. They are, after all, trying to figure out an entire new theology on the fly. Also, Peter is, in the end, supposed to be working among the Jews; so, it’s not so surprising that when more conservative Jews are around he would be careful not to offend them. But Paul sees a great danger in Peter’s inconsistency, particularly for the vulnerable, new Gentile believers. He’s giving a confusing mixed message: is the good news really about grace through faith in Jesus, or is it about these cultural behaviors?
· ‘and not sinful Gentiles‘—I believe Paul is being ironic here. These Jews are tempted to think of themselves as knowing better, but they’re making the same mistake that they would ascribe to foolish Gentile ignorance.
· ‘if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!’—you can’t depend on both Jesus’ grace and cultural badges to save you. You have to choose one or the other.
Taking it home:
· For you: Take a moment to thank God for any people who feel like they have been ‘partners in God’—people who are journeying alongside of you as you pursue God. God doesn’t want you to go at it alone. Ask God to give you more and deeper partnership in whatever he is calling you towards. Also, pay attention today for any opportunities you have to come alongside of, partner with, and cheer someone else on in their walk with God.
· For your six: Pray that your six would have a deep sense of personal conviction. Pray that they wouldn’t be like Peter who fell prey to people pleasing, caring what others would think and following the ‘popular opinion’. Pray that your six would want to dig deep and explore truth for themselves and that God would guard them from others who might detract from their pursuit.
· For America: Customs. Cultures. People. They are all in abundance here. Pray that in their abundance there would be a deep sense of understanding and appreciation for the different ways that people live. Pray today for understanding and reconciliation across the lines of race. Pray that God would give people wisdom and compassion and enable people to actually get along well with those who are different from themselves.