Galatians 2

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Galatians 2 (ESV)

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ²I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ⁴Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. ¹³And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

¹⁷But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. ²⁰I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Soli Deo Gloria!

We know that Christ was sent to earth to die for sinners. The Bible is clear on that matter: For God so loved the world that he gave his only son (John 3:16)… But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under Law, so that he might redeem those who were under the Law (Gal 4:4-5)…In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that Godsent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him (1 John 4:9).

However, have you ever stopped to think about this fact: Long before Christ came and died on the cross, the law was sent with a similar terminal mission. The law which points to Christ (John 5:39; Luke 24:27), was fulfilled by Christ (Matt 5:17), and which was in some sense terminated with Christ (Rom 10:4; Gal 2:18-20), had a similar self-sacrificial purpose.

Granted, the law is impersonal, but it is God’s very word–holy, true, and inspired. For centuries, it was God’s abiding revelation among his covenant people. The people of Israel prized it, protected it (most of the time), and passed it down from one generation to the next, because of its centrality in knowing and worshiping YHWH.

The Law, in and of itself, was never designed to save. It does offer life upon the condition of perfect obedience (Lev 18:5), but as the prophets, and even the law itself indicates, perfection for Adam’s race and Abraham’s offspring is impossible. Nevertheless, within the confines of redemptive history, it serves a necessary role to prepare the way for Jesus. But from the beginning this role was restricted and designed to be temporary. The law was sent to die!

Hear Richard Longenecker’s fourfold explanation of the laws ‘temporal’ function as he comments on Galatians 2:20:

(1) [I]t was the law’s purpose to bring about its own demise in legislating the lives of God’s people; (2) that such a jurisdictional demise was necessary in order that believers in Christ might live more fully in relationship with God; (3) that freedom from the law’s jurisdiction is demanded by the death of Christ on the cross; and (4) that by identification with Christ we experience the freedom from the law that [Christ] accomplished (Galatians in The Word Biblical Commentary [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990], 92).

It is amazing that in his sublime wisdom, God’s eternal word has a pre-engineered expiration date on the law. An expiration date that does not make the law go bad like spoiled milk, but one that renders its function as covenantally inoperable. Why? Because Jesus Christ has fulfilled all the law and issued a new law–a law of faith and love (Rom 3:27 and Gal 5:4)– according to a superior covenant (Heb 8:6). There is so much more to be said and savored on this matter, but let us with Paul offer praise to God for his inscrutible wisdom that upholds the law, all the while offering a better set of promises through the gospel of Christ.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

Amen, dss