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Galatians: Passion For the Gospel (4 of 18)
Paul & The Apostles in Jerusalem
Galatians 2:1-10
The question: How can a pagan Greek (a Gentile) become a Christian? This question is vitally important because the heart of it is how to correctly and consistently apply the Gospel.
Galatians 2:1-5 (ESV) –
“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”
1. In Jerusalem Paul, Barnabas and Titus had to boldly defend the truth of the Gospel.
The Apostle Paul wasn’t always Paul, he was Saul. Saul was a violent persecutor bent on destroying the church but on the way to Damascus, where he was traveling to persecute Christians, Saul was confronted by the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
Galatians 1:23 (ESV) –
“He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”
Acts 11:25-26 (ESV) –
“So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.”
Acts 11:27-30 (ESV) –
“Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.”
Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem and delivered a famine relief offering. I’m convinced this is the background of the meeting described here.
Galatians 2:2 (ESV) –
“I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.”
Galatians 2:2 (ESV) –
“...running or had not run in vain.”
Galatians 1:9 (ESV) –
“…let him be accursed.”
Paul didn’t doubt the Gospel. His concern regarded how his preaching among the Gentile (non-Jew) populations was going to be received by the church in Jerusalem.
Acts 15:1 (ESV) –
“But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’”
Some were teaching that to be a Christian you also had to observe the Mosaic Law and especially circumcision. In verse 4, Paul calls these people false brothers, they were not true followers of Jesus and against this challenge Paul and Barnabas insisted that adding any additional works-based requirements to the Gospel constituted a denial of the Gospel.
How serious an issue was this? It couldn’t be more serious!
Galatians 2:5 (ESV, emphasis mine)–
“...to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”
This was and is a matter of the truth of the Gospel – Are we saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone? Or are we saved by grace through faith in Jesus plus (+) a few extra things?
Ask – Jesus alone or Jesus plus (+)? The moment we move from Jesus alone to Jesus plus (+) we’ve begun to deny the Gospel. This is denying grace. During the protestant reformation (500 years ago) it was said that on the doctrine of justification by faith alone the church stands or falls.
Galatians 5:4 (ESV) –
“You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.”
Getting the Gospel right is a matter of eternal consequence.
Galatians 2:6-10 (ESV) –
“And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
2. Paul and Barnabas were fully accepted by the Jerusalem apostles and they added nothing to Paul’s message.
James, Cephas (or Peter) and John recognized Paul and Barnabas’ calling as missionaries to the Gentiles. The Jerusalem Apostles focused largely (but not exclusively) on Jewish (circumcised) audiences and Paul focused largely (but not exclusively) on Gentile (uncircumcised) audiences.
They had different specific callings but they preached the same Gospel! James, Peter and John didn’t find anything to be missing or defective in Paul’s preaching. They shared the Gospel and there was unity!
They also agreed that concern for the poor should characterize their ministries and the very reason Paul and Barnabas were in Jerusalem, was to deliver a famine relief offering.
• Consider the question: Jesus alone or Jesus plus (+)? The issue behind this question is with us today as it was for the Galatians.
Do we believe that we are we saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone? Or – Do we wrongly believe that we’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus plus (+) some additional things that we contribute – whatever they happen to be?
All attempts to supplement grace with our works is an abandonment of grace and a denial of the Gospel. We need to ask ourselves – Who (or what) am I pleading before God? Am I pleading my works? We can’t earn our salvation! Pleading our religious activities and works or falsely pleading that I’m a good person leads to hell.
The only way to be accepted is not because of our contributions but because Jesus died on the cross as our substitute and rose victoriously from the dead, paying the penalty for our sin.
• We see when to celebrate Christian unity and when we must not!
Galatians 2:5 (ESV) –
“...to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.”
1 John 5:12 (ESV) –
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
There is no unity without the Gospel. When the Gospel is shared, we must celebrate Christian unity. We must not give up on Christian unity when different backgrounds and opinions are uncomfortable. We also mustn’t maintain false unity at the expense of being truly Christian.
• This provides a motivating reminder of God’s heart for the poor.
True faith produces the fruit of good works not to merit favor with God but out of a heart set free and overflowing with joyful gratitude. Remembering the poor is one such fruit.
Galatians 2:10 (ESV) –
“Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.”
We’re proclaiming that Christ died for our sins opening the door for us to receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life. The only way is to be saved is through His blood shed on the cross.
Romans 5:8-9 (ESV) –
“...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”
1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (ESV) –
“For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.”