Galatians 2:1-5 Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run 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 brothers 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 remain with you.
As Paul describes his ministry following his conversion, he is laying out his argument against those who continued to say a male Christian needed to be circumcised to be acceptable to God. These believers asserted that without circumcision, one could not be considered a Christ follower, a part of the Christian community. When he visited the church leaders after preaching to the Gentiles, Paul indicates that the leaders of the church in Jerusalem did not compel Titus, a Greek, to be circumcised and neither did they direct Paul, an apostle to the Gentiles, to teach circumcision as part of the doctrines of Christ. The only request they made of Paul was to continue to remember the poor, the very thing he was eager to do. (Galatians 2:10) Paul wants the false teachers in the church at Galatia to realize their desire to go back to following the law does not stem from some idea of religious purity that goes back to the original followers of Christ, the apostles. He is telling the church that even when he met with the church leaders, they did not make circumcision a requirement of the faith. He goes on to explain that the only reason it was even an issue was that some false brothers infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus to make us slaves. Paul's meaning remains clear throughout his letter to the church: he is preaching a gospel of faith in Jesus Christ, not a gospel of works. As Paul wrote to the Romans: I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)
Throughout his letter to the Galatians, Paul emphasizes Christianity comes to a person only through faith in Christ and his works. Paul mentioned faith throughout his writing and comes to this conclusion: Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law. You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:25-27) There is no place in such a faith for turning back to the old covenant where the law was a constant reminder that we needed a Savior, needed a bridge to God the Father. The Holy Spirit used Paul to remind the church that the price Christ paid was too much for us to be able to earn our salvation through our own works of righteousness. As the prophet Isaiah said, our righteousness is as filthy rags compared to the righteousness of God. Only Christ could make a way for us: only He could say, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6) When we were lost sheep without a shepherd, Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, came and gave his life for us that we might have everlasting life. Is it any wonder the Bible says, Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12) Paul was upset with these Gentile believers, for they were listening to false teaching; having started out in the Spirit, they were going back to the law to try to make themselves more acceptable to God. What could ever make us more perfect, more holy, that the blood of the precious Son of God who willingly died on a cruel cross for all who would believe in him? We should never tire of singing those wonderful words: What can take away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus?
Paul knew the significance of the battle he was fighting for the believers in Galatia and elsewhere. He knew as we have written before that a little leaven affects the whole lump of dough. We cannot be Christians who put our trust in the Lord by faith and then as added insurance try to prove our worth by trying to keep laws to make us feel more holy and righteous before God. When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he said, My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. (1 Corinthians 2:4-5) Paul depended upon the Holy Spirit and not upon human knowledge. Now he wants the church at Galatia not to be led astray by the attempts of men who are teaching wrong doctrines and false ideas about the gospel, something that is not the gospel at all. He is coming to them in faith to stir up their faith. He reminds them that he is a man of faith, called by God to preach the Good News to the Gentile world, and he cares about them as a spiritual father cares about his children in the faith. He says, we did not give in to those false brothers back in Jerusalem, and we are not going to stand by silently and let you give in to false teachers now. He is sharing the truth with them, the truth of the gospel: righteousness comes by faith. Paul met Jesus on a dusty road, and his life was forever changed. He gave everything for the sake of the gospel of Jesus Christ. He told the believers in Corinth: I die daily. (1 Corinthians 15:31) When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he said all that mattered to him was that he preach Christ. He went on to say, For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21) Nothing else mattered to this soldier of the cross except the cause of Christ, his Lord and his Savior. He was crucified with Christ, saved by grace, and living by faith to share the gospel that Jesus came to save sinners. This is our inheritance, Saints of God. May we go forth by faith, with renewed strength, knowing Christ in us is our everything!
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