Free Bible Commentary
“Galatians 2:1-5”
Categories: Galatians“Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain. But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage. But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.”
---End of Scripture Verses---
In today’s reading I believe Paul is adding more detail to what took place at the “Jerusalem Conference” that is recorded in Acts 15:1-35. In that text it was settled once and for all that a person did not need to be circumcised or keep any part of the Law of Moses in order to be a Christian. Paul points out in his letter to the Galatians that this meeting was actually God’s doing—that he “went up” to Jerusalem “because of a revelation” (verse 2). God put this issue to rest once and for all. Even though the matter had already been settled in heaven, there was enough question and disturbance surrounding it that the conclusion needed to be decreed by apostolic authority.
The “false brethren” who were secretly brought in (verse 4), were “some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed.” They said, referring to Gentile converts, that ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the Law of Moses’” (Acts 15:5). Titus was taken with Paul and Barnabas as a “test case”. It was determined that he did not need to be circumcised as a matter of custom or command (verse 3). The “liberty” that the false brethren had “spied out” was a Christian’s freedom from keeping a defunct law that only served to place them in “bondage” (verse 5).
The Apostle Peter stood up in the private meeting of Apostles and leaders in that conference in Jerusalem and put it this way: “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are." (Acts 15:10-11) Both Jews and Gentiles were and are saved in the same way—by God’s grace and not adherence to a law that was too cumbersome to keep, and that only condemned and did not save. Once you break the Law of Moses you are condemned by it, no matter how many “good works” you perform in an attempt to try and reverse the condemnation.
The reason why Paul brings this meeting up in his epistle to the Galatians is twofold. Firstly, he made mention that he “submitted to them the gospel” which he preached (verse 1), and it was not challenged by the other Apostles gathered in that meeting. Paul is still defending the legitimacy of his apostleship and the authenticity of “his” gospel. Secondly, the results of bringing Titus with him and the determination that he did not need to be circumcised, also worked in Paul’s favor. The false teachers that Paul was defending himself against in Galatia were the same types of “Judaizers” that were thwarted in the Jerusalem Counsel. Win. Win.
Please read Galatians 2:6-10 for tomorrow.
Happy Lord's Day!
-Louie Taylor
