Galatians 2:1-10
Three men were being chased. Suddenly, they
came to a cliff top with the ocean waters far below.
Seeing the moon shining brightly in the night sky,
they agreed that if they could jump to the moon,
they would be safe. The first man, a cripple,
hobbled as fast as he could and leapt from the cliff.
He jumped less than a meter before he fell
screaming to the jagged rocks below.
The other two men agreed that he hadn’t jumped
far enough. So the second man, of average fitness,
took a running leap. He flew out five meters before
he, too, plummeted to the jagged rocks far below.
The last man, the strongest of the three, decided he
should take an extra long run-up to reach the
moon. So, at great speed he leapt from the cliff.
He soared through the air with outstretched arms
in order to reach the moon, but he, too, fell short
and plummeted screaming to the jagged rocks
below. He had leapt an impressive eight meters;
however, he didn’t realize that the distance to the
moon was 221,463 miles.
The distance between our righteousness and God’s
righteousness is greater than the distance between
the earth and the moon.
It is the distance between imperfection and
perfection; the finite and the infinite; the east and
the west. It would be easier for us to jump to the
moon than work our way into Heaven. No matter
how moral or how many good deeds we have done,
we will always fall short.
If we could earn our own salvation, Christ died
needlessly on the cross. We are only saved
through faith in Christ not by our meager good
deeds. As Ephesians 2:8-9 states: ‘For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest
anyone should boast’. The big question now is do
we accept God’s gift of salvation or try to leap into
Heaven by our own merit?
Last week we talked about Paul’s testimony and how his
new life in Christ showed a huge transformation.
His transformation came from Christ, it was not his own
doing.
Paul’s testimony included a description of his life before
Christ, his encounter with Christ and his life since
his encounter with Christ.
All believers have a testimony, it’s your story of when
your life was transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ,
the gospel of grace.
This morning we are going to talk about Paul’s
acceptance by the apostles. Our text is Galatians 2:1-10.
Let’s start off by asking God to speak powerfully this
morning and to remove any distractions that could take
away from our understanding of His word.
Galatians 2:1-2
There is much disagreement among commentators
around the timeline here and how it corresponds to Acts.
Some believe the 14 years is the time since his
conversion, others believe the 14 years were after his
first visit to Jerusalem. More important than the timeline
is the gospel that Paul is defending here against the false
brothers.
Paul mentions two ministry partners here – Barnabas and
Titus.
Paul’s Ministry Partners
Barnabas is a Jew like Paul and was circumcised
according to the law. He also went with Paul on his first
missionary journey.
The name Barnabas means Son of Encouragement.
He was definitely an encouragement to Paul.
We read in Acts 9 about how Barnabas reassured the
apostles that Paul’s conversion was real and they were
preaching the same gospel.
Paul also mentions bringing Titus along with him to
Jerusalem.
Titus was a Gentile, he was not circumcised.
Titus was one of Paul’s converts.
We know this because Paul calls him his true child in
common faith.
Titus was appointed by Paul to lead the church at Crete.
Paul writes that he went to Jerusalem because of a
revelation he received. No details are given here about
the revelation, just that he knew he was supposed to go
to Jerusalem and he went.
When he arrived he sought out privately those who
seemed influential – we know from reading verse 9 Paul is
referring to James, Peter and John.
When he met with them he presented the gospel to them
that he had been preaching to the Gentiles. He wasn’t
doing it because he was afraid he got something wrong,
he wanted to make sure they were in agreement about
the one true gospel – that man is saved by grace through
faith.
Circumcision of the flesh is merely external.
Circumcision of the heart is what matters.
Galatians 2:3
Paul Defends Titus’ Uncircumcision
Paul mentions that Titus was not forced to be circumcised
even though he was a Greek.
You may recall how Paul circumcised Timothy in Acts 16
and you may be thinking Paul is being inconsistent in his
actions.
That is not true. Timothy’s dad was a Greek and his mom
was a Jew. Timothy was half Jewish but he was never
circumcised.
Paul knew that Timothy needed to be circumcised if he
was going to serve with Paul and share the gospel to
Jews.
Titus didn’t need to be circumcised because he was not a
Jew.
There is no need for someone to become a Jew to receive
Christ.
But, that is exactly what the false brothers were arguing
for in Galatia.
Galatians 2:4-6
Paul Stands Firm Against the False Brothers
The word brothers indicates fellow believers, but the
adjective false means that they were not true believers.
They were legalist Judaizers who were trying to steal the
freedom in Christ that the Gentiles had received.
Isn’t that exactly what satan tries to do today?
He feeds you one lie after another to try to keep you in
bondage.
But we must remember Paul’s words to the church at
Rome.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those
who are in Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
Christ has set us free and we are free indeed.
Paul writes that they did not yield even for a moment
to the false brothers. They held fast to the one true
gospel.
Let’s talk for a moment about the one true gospel.
We are sinners and our sin separates us from God.
Sin has to be punished by death.
God, in His infinite love for us, sent His only Son to die in
our place. And on the 3rd day He raised Him from the
dead.
Jesus’ blood that was shed on Calvary cleanses those
who believe in Him from their sin.
That belief is called faith.
We are saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus.
It’s the same gospel that saved Moses, Noah, Abraham,
David, and it’s the same gospel that saves us today.
Salvation is by grace through faith.
No works, no circumcision.
After Paul presented the gospel to the 3 apostles they
added nothing to it.
Paul had preached the complete gospel. They were all in
agreement.
Galatians 2:7-9
Paul was Given the Right Hand of Fellowship
The apostles saw that Paul had been entrusted with the
gospel, the same gospel that Peter had been entrusted
with.
The Holy Spirit called both men into His service.
The apostles extended the right hand of fellowship to
Paul.
They were basically saying, we trust you, we can serve
with you, God has given us each our own mission field.
It’s similar today in how different Christians are able to
reach different unbelievers because of our background
and other factors. But we all must be faithful to share.
The King James translation words it the gospel of the
uncircumcision and the gospel of the circumcision.
This is misleading because it makes it sound like there
are two gospels.
Like we just talked about, there is only one gospel.
But there were two audiences, Jews and Gentiles.
Later on in this same letter to the Galatians churches
Paul writes,
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither slave nor free, there is no male and female,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28
There is one gospel. The gospel of the grace of Jesus that
we receive by faith.
Galatians 2:10
The Gospel in Action
The gospel that saves is a gospel that must be
shared.
Jesus’ last words to His disciples was for them to go into
all the world and preach the gospel.
Paul mentions that the apostles advised him to do one
thing – remember the poor.
The poor are often neglected and forgotten.
Paul writes that this was the very thing he was eager to
do.
In his letter to Corinth, Paul encouraged the church to
give generously to the church in Jerusalem who were
struggling.
APPLICATION
Are you ready to defend the gospel?
The Bible tells us to always be ready to give a defense for
the hope that is in us, with gentleness and respect.
This is what Paul has been doing in these first two
chapters.
And it is what we also need to be ready to do.
There is only one gospel. Will you speak out when
someone speaks in error about the gospel?
There is only one way to God and His name is Jesus.
He is the way, the truth and the life – no one comes to
the Father apart from Him.