Galatians 2:11-13 When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. 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.
In today's passage, Paul reveals a deadly hypocrisy permeating the church in Jerusalem. These Jewish Christians were propagating the idea that those who follow Christ must be circumcised to be part of the Christian fellowship. We see in Paul's account that people who came from James to Antioch were persuading the Gentile Christians to be circumcised. Paul confronts them, reminding them that righteousness comes by faith in Christ, and nothing else can be added to this message of redemption. He was particularly disappointed with Peter because Peter had previously eaten with the Gentiles, but when the circumcision group arrived, he drew back from the Gentiles in fear of displeasing those who wanted to impose the law. The followers of this aberration of the faith were very convincing, for they were able to lead astray Paul's closest ministerial companion, Barnabas, along with other Antioch Christians, convincing them that circumcision was a necessary step in pleasing God. Paul understood this kind of apostasy from the Jewish church in Jerusalem would hinder the message of Christ to the Gentiles. He knew this ethnicity-based doctrine would become a stumbling block for many of those in the church who were not Jews. Jesus Christ came to save all people and not just the Jews. Paul knew that these men of God understood that Jesus came into the world to save sinners and that because God loved the world He gave his only Son as a sin offering for whoever would believe upon his Son as Savior. Now Paul was reminding them that they were all part of the body of Christ. They were sinning against that body when they tried to make one part of that body less than another. As he wrote to the church at Corinth: The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up only one body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into Christ’s body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12: 12-13 NLT) No part of that body was superior and no part was lacking--all were saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
Paul states clearly in his letter to the Philippians about his previous religious convictions and customs and his former zealousness for the law, I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:8-9) He understood that adding any other requirement to be acceptable to God was heresy. Faith in Christ's works alone brings salvation to men. If we add another card on the table of life, we lose the hand: we do not have eternal life with God. On the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter told Jesus they should put up a shelter to Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5) We who are IN CHRIST are alive forevermore because He is alive in us forevermore! We have total faith in his works, not ours. If we plant one work of our own in our understanding of pleasing God, we are in error. Even if you view your whole life as being pleasing to God, you are in error: Christ alone pleases God. The prophet Isaiah understood this when he said, all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. (Isaiah 64:6) Without Christ's covering, his blessing, you are naked before a righteous God, a God who will not accept any imperfection. Who is perfect? Jesus! Jesus said at the end of his message on the mount: Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48) How can you be perfect outside of the one and only perfect person, Jesus Christ? Only through the shed blood of Christ our Savior do we find perfection. Only through the way of the cross do we enter into the holy presence of God.
Today and always, man will add his elements to Christ's perfect work. Yes, there will be signs following our ministries here on Earth. But, we often judge others based on what we determine is necessary to please a perfect God. We sometimes confuse the world by our additions to the message of Christ. We talk about good things, a "right" way to live, about the imaging of God through our lives. But how often does this message of correct living confuse the voice of God to a dying world. Even with our children, we cloister them in environments that sometimes lessen the true and simple message that "Jesus saves." We can be like our Mormon friends: the lifestyle saves us, the lifestyle proves we are God's own. But dear friends, such an idea is as deadly as the circumcision message in Antioch. There is only one message: Jesus Christ and his life in us. When we talk to people about Christianity, we should talk to them about Christ and his finished work at the cross, not about the residue or product of serving him. People should know Christ alone is our salvation and that we are NEW CREATURES, distinct, because of Christ in us. Dad recently approached a man on the street so drunk he could hardly navigate. Of course he wanted money. Dad held his hand and told him, "I will give you money, but first I want you, even in your stupor, to remember a name above all names: Jesus." He looked at Dad through his slit eyes and mumbled. Dad thought, "How can this man understand anything I say?" But he said it again: "Remember the name, Jesus, no matter where you are or how bad things get: JESUS, JESUS, JESUS!" Then he prayed with the man about remembering the name of Jesus and about God's love for him. This man is as we are, without hope if Jesus is not in our lives. Nothing else matters, nothing else makes us new creatures, heavenly bound. Paul wrote: And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (1 Corinthians 2:1-2) Nothing else matters: not circumcision, not our good works or religious acts, only Jesus our Lord!
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