Greetings to you,
and welcome back to Daily Bread. When we left off, Paul was recounting to
the Galatians how the Gospel was brought to him by revelation from Jesus. We
know he spent three years in Arabia and Damascus, then he went to Jerusalem.
He saw only Peter and James the Lord’s brother, then went to Syria and
Cilicia, still being unknown by sight to the churches of Judæa,
and the other Apostles, but they had heard about his reputation..
Paul continues,
Then fourteen years later, I went to Jerusalem again, with Barnabas, and
took Titus with me too. I went up by revelation (guided by the
Holy Spirit)
and told them the Gospel that I preach to the Gentiles, privately to those
with honorable reputation, lest my work be for no use.
But Titus, who was
with me, being a Gentile, wasn’t required to be circumcised, and the reason
why he wasn’t forced was because impostors, pretending to be brethren were
secretly brought in, who came in without our knowing to spy out our liberty
(freedom) which we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might put us in jail.
(In other words, they didn’t know who Paul was and spies were sent in to try
and catch them in something unlawful so they could throw them in jail.) We
brought them to obedience, for a lengthy time, so the Truth of the Gospel
might continue with you.
But of these
people who seemed to be important (whether they were, it doesn’t matter to
me, to God, one is not more important than another) in their group, they
didn’t esteem me to be important. But on the contrary, when they saw that
the Gospel of the Gentiles was appointed to me just as the Gospel of the
Jewish people was appointed to Peter, (for He [God] who worked completely in
Peter to the apostleship of the Jewish, the same [God] was mighty in me
toward the Gentiles) and when James, Peter and John, who seemed to be
pillars (leaders), recognized the
Grace that God had
given to me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship
(approval and respect) that we should go to the Gentiles and that they
should go to the Jewish, with the Gospel. Only they asked that we should
remember the poor, which I was very willing to do.
But when Peter
came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was wrong about
something. Because before that, truth came from James that Peter did eat
with the Gentiles, but when they came to Antioch, he would not, fearing the
Jewish people. And the other Jewish people dissembled (to hide under a false
appearance) the same way with him, so much that Barnabas also was carried
away (influenced, followed) with their dissimulation (hypocrisy).
To understand this
clearer, let me explain a couple of things. In the Old Testament, it was
unlawful for the Jewish people to associate with the Gentiles, let alone eat
with them, a fact that Paul was clearly aware of, as he just mentioned in
the last chapter that he was very well versed (better even than his peers)
in the traditions (laws) of his ancestors. Now, Paul is also aware that
Peter knows from experience (Acts
10:28) that this is not the case in the New Testament and that all
should be treated as God’s people. This is also a perfect example of how
nobody should ever feel unworthy of God’s Grace when they stumble. Even
“pillars” like Peter, as Paul refers to them, can have something as life
changing as seeing visions from God and then turn around and fall again. The
important thing is, first, never use God’s Grace as justification or as an
excuse to fall, and also, don’t let your tumbles keep you down. Get up,
admit your faults and carry on just as the Apostles did. They repented and
accepted God’s Grace, then pushed forwarding their Faith, probably with more
determination than before.
Back to Paul’s
story. He says, But when I saw that they didn’t act honorably, according to
the Truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in front of everyone, If you, being
Jewish, live after the manner of the Gentiles (if you believe that none of
God’s people are common or unclean) and not as the Jewish people believe,
why do you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jewish people (giving the
example that they are different)?
We who are Jewish
by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a person isn’t
cleared of guilt by obeying the law, but by Faith in Jesus Christ, even we
have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the Faith of
Christ, and not by the works of the law, because by following the law shall
no person be justified. But if, while we hope to be justified (put right) by
Christ, we ourselves also are found to be sinners, is Christ then the
minister of sin? God forbid (certainly not).
Because if I build again the
things which I destroyed (the Old Testament), I make myself a transgressor.
Because I, through the law am dead to the law, so that I might be alive for
God.
Remember that the
law is for the lawless, or, sinners. So according to the law, which God saw
that man could not comply with, the fate of man is death. If you live by
faith in Christ, God’s law (the New Testament) is written in your heart and
you live in God.
Paul could really
sum up a matter brilliantly, and to make his point clear about the Galatians
having been led back to the belief that law and works were to be lived by
instead of the TRUTH of the Gospel of Faith and God’s Grace, he tells them
confidently, I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but
Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the Faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me. I do not
frustrate (nullify) the Grace of God, for if righteousness is achieved by
the law, then Christ died for nothing.
You can’t really
say that any clearer in today’s terms than what Paul wrote right there. He
was so insightful, we should all pray for a little measure of his spirit in
our own lives.
More great study
of this letter to the Galatians ahead, so be sure to come back and share a
while again, right here at Daily Bread.
