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PAUL'S LETTER TO THE GALATIANS

The Christian and the Mosaic Law

Chapter 2:1-21

 

Introduction

Continuing the subject of his apostolate and the imposition of certain Jewish laws over the gentile believers, Paul recalls the decision taken by the Church in Jerusalem and also a conversation with Peter in Antioch.

In Jerusalem - verses 1 to 10

It seems almost certain, by the time span mentioned here ("fourteen years later") that this visit to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus refers to the meeting described in Acts 15:1-29, where Paul, guided especially by the Lord ("a revelation" v. 2), consulted with the other apostles and the elders of the church in Jerusalem, first to ascertain that he and the other apostles preached the same Gospel, and also to agree with respect to the position of the gentile believers in churches in general.

1. The gentile preacher Titus, who accompanied Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem,  was not obliged to circumcise himself. Circumcision was the sign in the flesh, which forced the Jews and their proselytes to keep the Mosaic Law in its entirety (v. 1-3).
2. False teachers had infiltrated churches, wanting to put the believers under the Mosaic Law, thus nullifying the Gospel of salvation by grace, without the works of the law. Paul and the other apostles rejected the teaching of those judaizers (v. 4-5).
3. The apostolate of Paul (and of Barnabas) was not given but rather recognized gladly by other apostles who were at Jerusalem, but they acknowledged his special mission to the Gentiles without imposing the Law on these; but they asked them to remember the poor in Jerusalem, as Paul would always do (v. 6-10). VERSES 11-19

In Antioch - verses 11 to 19

This is the third time that Paul met up with Peter (see 1:18): this time in Antioch, some time after the conference in Jerusalem (see Acts 15:35) and before the second missionary journey of Paul (Acts 15:36-40).

There was also Peter, first living with the gentiles (as he was taught in Acts 10:28,34,35). However, he ceased to do so on arrival of some Jewish believers from Jerusalem, for fear of being criticized for this. This hesitation on the part of Peter was a bad example for the other Jewish believers, who also split from fellowship with the gentile believers; even the preacher Barnabas (companion of Paul on his first voyage, Acts 13 to 14) fell into this serious mistake.

Paul then rebuked them, frankly speaking to Peter in the presence of all: they (Peter, Paul and the other Jewish believers), who had been brought up under the Law, could never keep the law and had been saved by simple faith in Christ (v. 15-16). Through habit, they continued to keep certain precepts of the law, but this was not compulsory and could not save them and they had no right to criticize or to separate themselves from Gentile Christians, who had been saved by faith in Christ, just as the Jewish Christians themselves.

Freeing the Jews from the "slavery" of the law, was Christ justifying sin? (v. 17). Not at all! Neither Jews nor Gentiles kept the law; they were equally sinful, and equally saved by faith in Christ, Who atoned for their sins on the Cross. The believer, Jew or Gentile, "died with Christ" and is not subject to the Law for justification, but lives for God (v. 17-19).

3. Conclusion - verses 20 and 21

It should be noted that it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish where Paul’s talk with Peter ends and general instruction of the Epistle begins. We must recognize that the "I" of this passage represents not only Paul but also every believer in Christ.

1. The believer "died" for the Law and Christ lives in him. This life comes by faith in Christ as the Son of God the Saviour who died on the Cross for love of the sinner.
2. If it were not so, and if the believer were still under the Law, or if salvation came by fulfilling the law, then the death of Christ would be in vain and neither the Jews nor Gentiles would be saved.

Summary:

1. Paul was not inferior to the other Apostles.
2. No believer is obliged to observe the Jewish rites.
3. No believer is under the Law.

 

Richard Dawson Jones (1895-1987)

 

1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. 
2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. 
3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 
4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), 
5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 
6 But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. 
7 But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter 
8 (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), 
9 and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 
10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do. 
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 
12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 
13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 
15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 
16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 
17 "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 
18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 
19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 
20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."

Galatians chapter 2 verses 1 to 21