The Book of Galatians #5
The Book of Galatians #5
Galatians 2:1-10
 
Tonight we will move to chapter two in our study of Galatians.  In this chapter, Paul is continuing the defense of his apostleship. 
 
False teachers have accused him of being an imposter with a message originating with men in an attempt to discredit his theology. 
 
So to refute that, he writes this letter and begins by sharing his claim to be an apostle and then begins his defense by sharing his personal testimony. 
 
And to be honest with you, as I study this section of Galatians, I get a little bit impatient and want to skip on to the “good stuff”. 
 
Why all the details about Paul's apostleship? But it's really very important for us because we must find somewhere in the Scripture the establishment of New Testament authority. And the whole issue is important for us today because both Paul and the gospel of grace are still under attack.
 
The primary target of attack is salvation by grace through faith.  So I think it important to hear what Paul says about his right and authority to speak on behalf of Jesus Christ so we can know the truth about salvation. 
 
Now, he goes at his defense three ways. First, he gives his credentials as an apostle in verses 10 to 24.  And he does it by sharing his personal testimony.
Then in 1 to 10 of chapter 2, which we'll look at tonight, he gives his commendation as an apostle.  The other apostles who knew him commended him. So he didn't just stand on the testimony of his own life. There were others who saw it and agreed.
 
Then thirdly, he defends his apostleship by showing his confidence as an apostle.  And we’ll see that in verses 11 to 21.
 
So in chapters 1 and 2 he is nailing down his right to speak for God as an apostle. And then in chapters 3 to 6 he speaks for God and doesn't bother to defend it anymore.
 
Now, remember, he’s said, verse 11, Jesus Christ gave me what I’m sharing with others. It wasn’t taught and learned; it wasn’t given by man; it is direct revelation from God. 
 
And really, the whole point of verses 10-24 is to show his independence.  He didn't need to be taught by the other apostles because God gave him his message and that's an airtight convincing argument.
 
However, that does leave him open to some criticism. Because as sure as he really goes on and on about his independence, somebody's going to come along and say, Yeah, Paul, and that's just your problem. You weren't taught by the apostles. That's why you're so goofed up. And so they find in the loophole of his independence the possibility of another angle in which to undermine him.
 
Your teaching is different from Peter's and the other apostles, and a result there was the possibility of confusion over doctrine. 
In fact, he had bragged about not going to Jerusalem and not learning from the others and how he only spent 15 days there and just visited with Peter and James. 
 
So he wants to answer that issue. Yes, he's independent. He got his revelation from God, but don't twist that. He's not just independent.
 
So in chapter two, he tells about a longer visit to Jerusalem 14 years later when he talked with the apostles and they confirmed him and commended him.  The rest of the apostles who were there, the leaders, talked to him, heard what he preached, patted him on the back, gave him the right hand of fellowship and said, Go to it, brother; you're preaching the same thing we're preaching.
 
 
Now this section divides pretty easily into four parts.  First of all, we see
 
1. His Coming
 
Verses 1 and 2
 
So first of all, notice the timeline he establishes. 
 
“Then after 14 years”.  That links back to verse 18 of chapter 1.
 
So here’s the order:  He was saved, three years later he went to Jerusalem, 14 years later, he went back again.
 
On the first trip he stayed 15 days.  Now, 14 years later he goes back.
So it’s obvious he didn't go back to get his message. He's been preaching it for 17 years.  So why did he go to Jerusalem at this time?
 
His enemies are going to say, “You had to go and get all of your messed up doctrine straightened out” implying that he went under pressure from the apostels or the mother church. 
 
Notice in verse 2 he clears it up.
 
God told him to go.  That's why he went.
 
He went to Jerusalem by revelation and that is a really important statement for Paul to make because he wants them to know that he didn't go under pressure from the apostles to get his doctrine straightened out. And he didn't go because he was at the end of his rope and didn't know the truth and he wanted to get down there to learn it.
 
Notice how he continues:
 
he "communicated to them that gospel", then he talks about speaking to “those” privately.
 
Apparently, “them” and “those” are two different groups.  "Them" would be the church in general and if you go to Acts 15, you'll find out that when he got there, he told everybody what was going on.
 
Verses 4 and 5 of that chapter say, "When they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and elders and they declared all things that God had done with them." So when they got there, there was a time when they met with the whole church.
But it says, also, the gospel which he preached to the Gentiles, he privately communicated to those who were of reputation. So he had a private meeting with the leaders of the church.
 
Now, he had been preaching this particular gospel to the Gentiles, and he simply stated what it was. It was the gospel of grace. It wasn't any different than what they had been preaching. But you know what had happened, don't you? The circumcision party had come along and they said in Acts 15:1 that if somebody doesn't get circumcised, they can't get saved. And it became such a big issue that it had to be resolved.
 
And so the Holy Spirit says, Paul, you pack up Exhibit A, which happened to be Titus, one saved, converted, uncircumcised Gentile, and you and Barnabas haul him down to Jerusalem and let's get this thing settled. It's amazing how the presence of one uncircumcised, saved Gentile has a tremendous weight against the argument.
 
And so it wasn't just going to be academic; it was going to be personal because they had a living, breathing Gentile right in front of them to deal with. If they were going to say you have to be circumcised to be saved, they're going to have to talk Titus out of his salvation. Pretty dynamic illustration.
 
So he mspoke to the whole church about how Gentiles were being saved without being circumcise, and then met with leadership privately.  Why didn’t he say what he had to say to the whole church?  It hink it was probably because the whole church didn’t have a problem with it. 
 
Just the “educated” leadership had the problem.  In fact, I think we hear a little of the sarcasm of Paul in that statement about those of reputation. 
 
Four times he references the leadership in sarcastic terms.  You hear it in verse 2, verse 6 and verse 9.
 
And his sarcasm is not aimed at Peter and James and John so much as it is the Judaizers who are accusing him. 
 
Apparently, these false teachers want to use the credentials of the leaders in the church at Jerusalem to make Paul look bad.  So they keep referencing the big-shots as oppose to Paul.  So Paul says, let me tell you about the big-shots, the pillars of the church, those of reputation.  Here’s what they said about my message of grace. 
 
Now, he says, the reason I had this private meeting with them was "lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain." That is a very interesting statement. 
 
He said, I met with them because I didn't want to spend my whole life doing something that was going to wind up as a big waste. You say, Paul, what do you mean? I mean this. If I'm going around preaching Christ, and I'm going around preaching the gospel of justification by grace through faith without works, and the other apostles, though in principle agreeing with me, don't come out and stand strong with me, then the Judaizers are going to have something to hold onto and they're going to undermine everything I do.
 
He didn't come down there to get his doctrine straightened out; he came down there to decide are we going to be Southern Baptists or independent Baptists. 
 
He wanted to see where he stood with the other apostles, not to authenticate his message, but to see if they were men of conviction or not. 
 
He wanted to make sure they were agreed on their position so he wouldn't have these Judaizers chasing him all over the world undermining everything he did and saying, The apostles agree with us, not Paul.
 
So God snet him to Jerusalmet to ge the issue settled, and now as he writes to Galatia, he can say, here’s where we stand, and all of the apostles in Jerusalem agree with me.
 
That was the reason for his coming to Jerusalem.
 
Secondly, let’s look at
 
2.  His Companion
 
verse 3
 
Now get this picture:  the church is gathered; the tension is thick; according to the Judaizers, you've got to get circumcised before you can get saved. And Paul says, You know what? Titus came with me. He's a Gentile. They didn't make him get circumcised. See?
 
Now maybe you’ve got it figured out, but to me, verses 3 to 5 are a difficult passage of scripture. 
One commentator calls it a shipwreck of Greek grammar. Many experts in the language say it is a disaster to try to interpret. Some say it is almost untranslatable.
 
Paul gets emotional. And this is where you can't get this in the English. Paul is so emotional here that he has a whole bunch of sentences which he never finishes. He just why you, and off he goes somewhere else and I-I-str-en, you know, and it's all...and what you wind up doing is trying to slap parentheses in everywhere to try to piece it together.
 
And the best we can do with it is just to do the best we can. And what have is a guy who's just getting emotional and excited. That is not uncommon for Paul.  In fact, I am encouraged by this aspect of his personality.  There are times when my emotions overcome my ability to speak.  That is something of what we have here. 
 
Sometimes just the opposite is true.  For instance at the beginning of Ephesians, he starts talking about the blessings of God and he has the longest sentence in the whole Bible. Fourteen verses and he never puts a period. He just keeps going and going and going and going.
 
Here it is just little short, unfinished thoughts, so let’s see if we can figure out what he’s saying. 
 
Verse 3
 
 
 
Now that’s really important.  Because now it’s not just theology and argument; it effects real people.   Here's Titus. Paul walks in and says, I want you to meet my brother in the Lord, Titus.  Share your testimony with us Titus. 
 
And old Titus steps up to the mic and talks about his salvation, and how are those who say circumcision is essential going to respond?  He’s not saved? 
 
How did they respond?  They accepted him; no othere requirements.  They believed his testimony. 
 
That was important for the Galatians to hear.  Because here is proof that the Judaizers wer the ones who were wrong. 
 
They had said, we represent the Jerusalem church. But they didn’t. And if the Jerusalem apostles didn't require this Gentile to get circumcised, then how could the Judaizers require it of Gentiles outside Jerusalem?
 
So at the Jerusalem council, Paul won a great victory according to verse 3. They didn't make Titus get circumcised, but it didn't come easy.
 
Verses 4-5
 
So these people who claimed to be part of the church, sham Christians, mingled in, spying out the liberty of the believers like scouts searching out the weak points of the enemy, preparing the attack tried to intervene. 
 
 
But we held our ground, and they were not allowed to win, and we did it for the sake of the gospel. 
 
There is a whole lot more there, but we’ve got hurry on. 
 
Thirdly, we see
 
3. His Commission
 
verse 6
 
Here’s where we really begin to see those dangling sentences. 
 
First of all, he goes back to the hot-shots that the Judaizers wanted to use for ammunition.  Whoever they were and whatever they were, it didn’t matter to Paul, he was unimpressed, and by the way it didn’t matter to God either, he wasn’t impressed either,  but whoever they were, when they heard the testimony and saw the evidence, they were convinced that Paul was right on target. 
 
Then notice verse 7
 
That is not two gospels, but rather two ministries of the same gospel. 
 
Paul gave it to the Gentiles; Peter gave it to the Jews, that's all. In fact, if you go back into verses 6 through 9 you'll see that Paul says if anybody comes with another gospel let him be anathema.
 
 
 
 
Verse 8
 
The same Holy Spirit empowered both of them. They had the same message, they had the same Spirit, it was just a question of two whom they went.
 
verse 9
 
Now he names those “somebodies” in the church; these pillars and men of reputation.  They saw Paul and they knew right away that God had graciously called him. His commission was clear. They didn't have any question about it. They saw him and they said, The same gospel he's directed to the uncircumcision, we to the circumcision, and they recognized that it was by the grace of God. 
 
And Paul is simply saying, “There's no other explanation. I had nothing to do with it. Before I was born, God had already planned by His grace that I would be here. This is His will. It's grace. I didn't earn it. I don't deserve it. It's grace.”
 
 And these guys looked at Paul and they said, it's grace. It's obvious. Look at him. Look at the power. Look at the message...same message, same power. And so the argument by this time is so overwhelming that the Judaizers have nothing to stand on.
 
One final thing:
 
As a result of his coming, his companion and his commission, when they saw all these things, they wrapped it up with
 
 
 
4.  His Commendation
 
verse 9
 
“they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship..." That's an interesting phrase, isn't it?
 
What is the right hands of fellowship? We shake hands with everybody. It doesn't mean anything. But in those days, the right hand clasped was a sign of promise and trust and friendship and vows were made like that.
 
Now they were given the right hand of “fellowship”.  That means “partner”. 
 
Can you imagine what the Judaizers are thinking when they read Galatians? Paul says, “The Jerusalem apostles took our hands and said, We’re partners in the work of God.”
 
And there was only one caveat.
 
Verse 10
 
In other words, send us an offering once in awhile. Down here in Jerusalem we got some needs. There was a very difficult situation in the church at Jerusalem because of the tremendous amount of poor people in the city. And pilgrims would come to Jerusalem and they'd get saved when they were there and they wouldn't want to go home. So they were piling up converts who had no means of support. And so there needed to be funds coming in from other sources.
 
And many times in the life of Paul he did this.  In fact, it was his heart to do it according to what he says in verse 10.
 
That's what he wanted to do.
 
So what’s the point of this section?  I don't know what it says to you specifically, but I can wrap up a few things it says to me.
 
First, it tells me about Paul and his ministry. And just from a historical standpoint, I enjoyed the study; just to know a little more about the man, just to know a little more about his heart and about the conflicts of his life helps me as a minister to see life in the real perspective that it is.
 
Secondly, it helps me to establish in my own mind the absolute authority that the apostles had. And believe me, if our faith isn't based on authority, then our faith isn't based on anything.
 
And thirdly, I see another look at New Testament unity. It is not a hodgepodge of the theology of Paul and the theology of Peter and the theology of John; it is the unity. It is the theology of God represented by all these men. I see a beautiful unity in Scripture.
 
And lastly, I see that the gospel of grace must be defended to the nth degree. And I trust and pray that God has spoken to you through these and other lessons.
 
Let's pray.