Monday, July 4, 2016

Freedom!!! – 2:11-21

Happy Independence Day!!! While it is the Fourth of July today, we must never proclaim political freedom as more important than our spiritual freedom in Christ. And while Paul will write in Galatians 5:1, “Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery,” Paul will introduce that concept quite clearly in today’s passage. To explain what it would be like, let me give a political example before Paul drops a spiritual example. The day is July 5, 1776, or maybe, better yet, September 4, 1783. Freedom has been declared and the victory has been officially won. However, as a country, we decided, “You know what, it’s hard being autonomous. We have way more responsibility now. Sure, we aren’t being terrorized anymore, but now we have to figure out how to run this place. Let’s ask King George to take us back.” All the lives that were lost in the cause of freedom would have been in vain, England probably would have treated us even worse, and none of the freedoms that we enjoy today would exist. Listen to Paul’s next—and final—argument from experience.
Galatians 2:11-21 says, But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.  For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.  Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.  But when I saw that they were deviating from the truth of the gospel, I told Cephas in front of everyone, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel Gentiles to live like Jews?”  We who are Jews by birth and not “Gentile sinners”  know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified.  But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not!  If I rebuild the system I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker.  For through the law I have died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ  and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
Paul wants to say once and for all a couple of things to conclude this first section (though the second one will definitely carry throughout the rest of the letter). First, that his gospel was not given to him by man. Second, that the freedom of the gospel is at stake in what the Galatians have started believing.
Verse 11 gives the situation. “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned.” Cephas is Peter. Peter is the one Paul got acquainted with for fifteen days. Fifteen days were not enough time for Paul to change his theological foundation of the previous three years. However, Paul’s point throughout this section is that even if Peter had added anything to Paul’s gospel, Paul would throw it away if it was garbage.
Now when does this account take place in the scheme of things? I mentioned last time that verses 1-10 probably occur in Acts 11:30. The next thing we see in Acts is James the brother of John being martyred by King Herod. Afterwards, Herod imprisons Peter, who is miraculously released. In Acts 12:17, “he departed and went to a different place.” That different place could very well have been Antioch. Perhaps he wanted to give a face to the name likely being reported in relation to Jesus (cf. especially the stories related in Matthew’s gospel where Peter is the obvious spokesperson; stories that would have been initially transmitted verbally). Or maybe he just wanted a vacation from Jerusalem—his life had just been threatened—because everyone wants/needs a vacation at some point. Regardless, he came up to Antioch. And when Paul says, “I opposed him to his face,” it is possible to understand the grammar of the introductory phrase as relaying the idea that “Peter may have already been there for some considerable time when the recorded incident took place.[1] In fact, as we will see, it really only makes sense to understand it this way.
But what was it that condemned Peter, that made Paul oppose him? Verses 12-13 explain, “For he regularly ate with the Gentiles before certain men came from James. However, when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision party.  Then the rest of the Jews joined his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.” Peter caused a rift in the Antioch church. The split was over race; the split was over religion; the split was serious, and Peter influenced many others to follow him.
In this day, meals were a form of fellowship. To show that someone got along with someone else, he or she would eat with the other person. Jesus is a prime example; it’s why the Pharisees had such a problem with him: “While He was reclining at the table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came as guests to eat with Jesus and His disciples.  When the Pharisees saw this, they asked His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?’” (Matthew 9:10-11). Jesus accepted them; He got along with them. Peter as well, had been eating with the Jewish believers in Antioch—showing that he fully accepted them as believers in Christ on equal footing as him—but then something happened that changed it.
Certain men came from James. Cole writes,
The words ‘from James’ are not as strong in Greek as in English, but they do express controlled indignation. Paul is not implying that James of necessity sent them (indeed, James denies this in Acts 15:24); but they were certainly men from James’ circle, James’ group, within the Jerusalem church. The implied criticism is that James should not have tolerated such views.[2]
Regardless of where specifically these men came from, they claimed to have been sent from James. They claimed his authority and his level of influence. This shook Peter to the core. MacArthur comments,
The old Peter—weak, fearful, and vacillating—had come to the fore again. Here was the same Peter who under divine inspiration declared Jesus to be “the Christ, the Son of the living God” but who a short time later rebuked his Lord for saying that He must suffer and die (Matt. 16:16, 22). Here is the same Peter who boldly declared he would rather die than deny his Lord but who, before the night was out, had denied Him three times (Mark 14:29-31, 66-72). Here was the same Peter who was called to preach but who disobediently went back to fishing even after he had encountered the resurrected Christ (John 21:3).[3]
Peter was often afraid of people, and here it almost caused a disaster; in fact it had already caused a church split—Jew vs. Gentile. And this is where Paul comes in with verse 14, in the spirit of Titus 3:9-10: “But avoid foolish debates, genealogies, quarrels, and disputes about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless.  Reject a divisive person after a first and second warning,  knowing that such a person is perverted and sins, being self-condemned.” Thankfully, Peter was corrected on his first warning, because when we see him next—Acts 15—he’s on Paul’s side.
Galatians 2:14-21 contain Paul’s speech to Peter, though in the Greek it is hard to tell exactly where the quotation ends. Some translations end it in verse 14; some end it in verse 16; some end it in verse 21. The HCSB, which I normally follow, ends it in verse 14. However, I think it is best to understand it as going all the way through verse 21. The NASB reads, “But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?  We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;  nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.  "I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.’ ”
Paul’s reason for confronting Peter publicly was to show him that, ultimately, his decision to separate from the Gentile Christians was basically to say that Christ’s death didn’t need to happen. Just like if we told England that we wanted back under them after the Revolutionary War had ended, all the soldiers who had shed their blood for our freedom would have died in vain, so if we want to return to living under the Law Christ would have died in vain.
Peter was a Jew, who lived like a Gentile for a while after his experience in Acts 10. People knew this. They also knew that he had stopped living like a Gentile, and was now expecting Gentiles to live like Jews. Paul called this hypocrisy in verse 13, and explains his meaning explicitly to Peter in verse 14.
In verses 15-16, Paul drops a theological bomb. He says, “We’re Jews; they’re Gentiles; so what? The only way to be right with God is to believe in Jesus and trust His faithfulness in keeping the Law for the 33 years He lived on earth. It is the faithfulness of Christ that makes us righteous, not our own righteous deeds, or even our faith in Jesus; it is all of grace.” The phrase that occurs twice in Galatians 2:16, translated “faith in [Christ Jesus]”could also be translated “faithfulness of [Christ Jesus].” I think, to keep the conversation as simple as possible, it is best to render it “faithfulness of Christ Jesus” because Paul’s point here is to prove that we as a human race are not faithful to keep the Law, and that only Jesus will ever fit that bill perfectly.
Verse 17 solidifies this point. If seeking to be justified in Christ, as Paul teaches, really is just an excuse to break the Law, and thus leaves people guilty of sin, then Christ is leading people into sin. Cole helpfully explains it just a little more clearly by paraphrasing Paul, “If, at the very moment when we say that we ourselves are justified by faith alone, we turn out to be preaching to others that ‘faith alone’ is inadequate, but that they must keep the law as well, does that not mean that trusting in Christ is only leading them into sin? for it is teaching them not to trust the law.”[4] Paul exclaims, “That’s blasphemous to even think!” Therefore, Christ’s faithful law-keeping is the only hope we have for salvation.
Paul explains what conversion means in verses 18-20. Paul says that he tore down living a life under the law, but that if he then decided—like Peter had done—to return to living under the law, he would be guilty of sin. Living under the Law had been Paul’s sin of choice before being saved. Paul says that that is no more. He now lives to God. He was crucified with Christ—living under the Law was crucified with Christ—and he now lives by faith in Jesus Christ. It’s the same with our sins of choice prior to salvation—and, in context, for Peter’s as well. Paul wants us to know that whatever held us back from totally committed service to God was crucified with Christ, and that since we no longer live, that thing was crucified when Christ was crucified, and Christ is now the one who lives through us. Since Christ lives through us, we never have to return to cowering before people, we never have to return to yelling and fighting and anger at those we are supposed to be closest to, we never have to return to gazing at images on a screen. Christ died and the old me died with Him. It’s the same for you if you are in Him. Don’t be found a transgressor because you are rebuilding the things you tore down!
I say, “if you are in Him,” because someone here may be reading and not be in Him. Look at the end of Galatians 2:20: “who loved me and gave Himself for me.” The giving of Himself was the physical example of His love for you. He loved you so much He didn’t even consider His life worth keeping so long as He could have you for eternity. Think about that, believe that, and let thoughts of worthlessness, depression, and loneliness die. Jesus loved you. He gave Himself up for you. Put your trust in Him today. Tear down the strongholds that are being rebuilt in your life. He is powerful.
Paul concludes his message to Peter by summing up his first argument. Experientially, he says, “I don’t set aside God’s grace, because if I do, Christ’s death was in vain.” Christ died for our freedom. Run to Him. Don’t run to the Law. Don’t run to sin. RUN TO HIM. Everything else is slavery. On this Independence Day, celebrate spiritual freedom!
Til next time.
Soli Deo Gloria



[1] R. Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Galatians, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 114.
[2] R. Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Galatians, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 117.
[3] John MacArthur, Galatians (Chicago, IL: Moody, 1987), 51.
[4] R. Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Galatians, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 123.

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