Galatians
Chapter 2
Vs. 1-3 Paul tells how 14 years later he went to Jerusalem again.
Paul had been traveling and preaching to the Gentiles all this time.
He felt that God had shown him that he should go back to Jerusalem to talk with the leaders of the Christian church. So he went.
He took with him a man named Titus who was a Gentile (non-Jew). Also, Barnabas a Jewish believer who had been traveling with Paul as a helper/preacher.
In Jerusalem, Paul talked with the Christian church leaders and told them what he had been teaching as he went around. They agreed with him that what he was teaching was the right thing.
Titus being a Gentile had not been circumcised. The leaders at Jerusalem did not say that he had to be.
Vs. 4, 5
Paul said that all of this talk would not have been needed except that
Jewish believers had begun to go around telling other believers that they had to be circumcised to please God and be a Christian.
Paul said this was not right. The Old Testament or Old Covenant was now a New Testament or New Covenant with Jesus Christ.
Forgiveness of sin was by grace and mercy of what Jesus did by dying on the cross. Nothing more had to be done to be forgiven. It was a “gift” Jesus gave to a person because they trusted and believed in Jesus.
Doing something to be forgiven or doing something to get God’s forgiveness would mean that Jesus’ death on the cross was not enough.
It would mean that Jesus’ death by itself could not save a person. That a person would have to do something more to be forgiven.
That is not true. Jesus’ death on the cross was enough to save us. Nothing more needs to be done except believe it and receive it.
Paul said he would not give those people any attention. He thought they were wrong.
Vs. 6 Paul said: These leaders in Jerusalem felt that I was teaching what was right.
These leaders in Jerusalem are highly respected. That makes no difference to me—–because God does not hold more respect for one person more than another.
However, these respected leaders understood that I had been called to preach to the Gentiles just as Peter was called to preach to the Jews.
(We can remember here that Peter had a special vision of animals and God told him to get up and eat them. And God told Peter to go to a Gentile man’s house and stay with him and teach him about God. Acts chp. 10
That had never happened before. Jews did not eat with the Gentiles. They would not have eaten from the same cooking pans and dishes. The Jews would have felt all the Gentiles dishes were “dirty” because of the kinds of meat they ate.)
So Peter was the first one to go to the Gentiles to be with them and teach them.
Many of the Jews had a hard time understanding that, but in the end they began to see this was God’s will.
Peter did not continue to preach to the Gentiles he mostly preached to the Jews.
Paul has been preaching and living with the Gentiles for years now.)
Vs. 8
Just as God uses Peter to preach to the Jews God uses Paul to preach to the Gentiles.
Vs. 9 Peter, James, and John the main leaders saw that Paul was doing a good work with the Gentiles. They accepted what he was doing. They felt it was good for Paul to keep preaching to the Gentiles, and for Peter to preach to the Jews.
Vs. 10 The leaders only asked that I remember the poor, as I was already doing.
(That meant that they would take up offerings for the poor.)
Vs. 11 Paul explains something that happened when Peter came to the city of Antioch.
When Peter first came to the city, he sat and ate with the Gentiles.
But later, when some Jewish believer friends of James’ came to visit Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles. He was afraid of what these Jewish believers would say.
Because these Jewish believers thought that Gentile believers should have to be circumcised.
Paul called them “legalist”. Meaning legal/law keeping the law. Keeping Moses’ law of circumcision.
Even Barnabas was influenced by Peter. He stopped eating with the Gentiles, too.
Paul was upset by this. He felt that they should have stayed with what they believed about the Gentiles. He felt that Peter should not have been afraid of these Jewish believers and Peter should have done what he knew was right.
Peter was the first one to have a vision from God about eating with the Gentiles. And now he was giving into fear of what these men would say.
All those years ago, Peter had not been afraid of what the Jews would say. The Jews had said a lot back then. But Peter had obeyed God.
Now all these years later Peter is afraid of what these Jews will say. Paul was so upset about it.
He told Peter what he thought. He thought Peter was wrong.
(Indeed, Peter was wrong. It just shows us that Peter was a human like us. In our Christian walk, we sometimes fail to do the right thing. We often let fear rule over our decisions.)
Paul talks to Peter and says: You are a Jew. But you gave up obeying the old laws. You having been eating and living with the Gentiles. So why are you going along with those who try to make the Gentiles keep the laws that you gave up?
(The Jews always felt they were “special” to God and above Gentiles. So Paul uses this idea to continue his talk.)
Paul said: Peter, you and I are Jews. We are not “sinners’ like these Gentiles. Yet as Jews (favored by God) we know and understand that we are accepted by God not because we keep the “laws”.
We are accepted by God because of our faith and trust in Jesus Christ. We will never be accepted by obeying the “law”.
Vs. 17 Are we to have faith in Jesus Christ and then find out that we are still “sinners” and not forgiven?
I would be guilty if I go back to the old laws that I said we do not need to follow because of our faith in Jesus.
When we tried to follow all of God’s laws we could not. We were always failing and coming short of doing all the law.
In Jesus’ death I, too, died to the “law”. Christ lives in me. Christ’s life is in me.
I live this life by trusting in Jesus—-who loved me, and gave his life for me.
I do not think that the “grace” of God has no value.
If I could have saved myself by keeping the law then Jesus would not need to have died.”
So Paul finished his talk to Peter. Paul does not say what Peter answered, or what Peter did after that.
I would think that Peter would have been ashamed. After all, he was the first one to go to the Gentiles. Now, he has given into fear and let himself go along with those Jewish believers who want to keep the old laws.
Not because Peter believed that the Gentiles needed to be circumcised, he was just not wanting to face the anger, and talk, of the Jewish believers. He was hiding his real beliefs from them, so as not to anger them and have them start criticizing him.
I would like to think that Peter saw what he was doing was wrong. And I hope he stopped being afraid. Then did what was right no matter what those men said.
We all have our weak places. Even leaders. When we realize we have been wrong, we ask God to forgive us and begin to do right.