The truth covers all.....
Galatians 2:1-10 Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. [2] I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately to those who seemed to be leaders, for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain. [3] Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. [4] {This matter arose} because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. [5] We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
[6] As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message. [7] On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. [8] For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. [9] James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognised the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. [10] All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
Sometimes you forget that the events we read in the Bible happened over time. Now Paul points out that it was 14 years between these two visits to Jerusalem. This reminds us that a lot can happen over time, and that we need to make good use of it. It may seem to us that Paul has just jumped over 14 years as if nothing of consequence happened – but in that time he had toured through Asia and founded a number of churches. There were people all over the ancient world who were believers now because of the mission undertaken by Paul and his friends.
It’s now that Paul starts to develop his argument about being saved by grace through faith. When we read one of Paul’s letters we are very often getting only one side of the conversation – from what he’s writing we have to guess what the other half is. In Galatians we believe Paul is writing because some people, Paul calls them false brothers, are trying to convince the Church to adopt Jewish customs. They want to make all Christians, even those who were not from Jewish backgrounds, the people Paul was taking the good news of Jesus to, adopt the Jewish Laws….. and boys, this meant circumsion, even if you were a man when you became a Christian…..
Paul believes you are a Christian if you believe in what Jesus, by dying on the cross to save you fom your sins and by rising from the dead to be your Lord, has done, not in the things we do. We are free from the regulations of the old Law. For Paul adopting Jewish customs and rules was a waste of time at best, and at worse would make others feel excluded – a problem when Paul believed the Gospel was for all who believed…..
So in this passage he reminds the Galatians that he went to Jerusalem, visited with the early leaders of the Church, checked with them that they agreed with his message (that they added nothing, v6, doesn’t mean Paul thinks they are numpties, but that Paul’s message was sound and they didn’t need to correct him). What Paul is keen to do here, is remind the Galatians that the message he preached to them was the same gospel that their brothers and sisters in Jeruslaem believed, the same good news that was brought by Jesus.
In your walk with God are there rules and customs that you follow which are actually worthless? Do these rules detract from the message that the Gospel is for everyone? Are there attitudes that you have which mean that you exclude people that Jesus would want you to include?
[6] As for those who seemed to be important—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance—those men added nothing to my message. [7] On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. [8] For God, who was at work in the ministry of Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles. [9] James, Peter and John, those reputed to be pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognised the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the Jews. [10] All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
Sometimes you forget that the events we read in the Bible happened over time. Now Paul points out that it was 14 years between these two visits to Jerusalem. This reminds us that a lot can happen over time, and that we need to make good use of it. It may seem to us that Paul has just jumped over 14 years as if nothing of consequence happened – but in that time he had toured through Asia and founded a number of churches. There were people all over the ancient world who were believers now because of the mission undertaken by Paul and his friends.
It’s now that Paul starts to develop his argument about being saved by grace through faith. When we read one of Paul’s letters we are very often getting only one side of the conversation – from what he’s writing we have to guess what the other half is. In Galatians we believe Paul is writing because some people, Paul calls them false brothers, are trying to convince the Church to adopt Jewish customs. They want to make all Christians, even those who were not from Jewish backgrounds, the people Paul was taking the good news of Jesus to, adopt the Jewish Laws….. and boys, this meant circumsion, even if you were a man when you became a Christian…..
Paul believes you are a Christian if you believe in what Jesus, by dying on the cross to save you fom your sins and by rising from the dead to be your Lord, has done, not in the things we do. We are free from the regulations of the old Law. For Paul adopting Jewish customs and rules was a waste of time at best, and at worse would make others feel excluded – a problem when Paul believed the Gospel was for all who believed…..
So in this passage he reminds the Galatians that he went to Jerusalem, visited with the early leaders of the Church, checked with them that they agreed with his message (that they added nothing, v6, doesn’t mean Paul thinks they are numpties, but that Paul’s message was sound and they didn’t need to correct him). What Paul is keen to do here, is remind the Galatians that the message he preached to them was the same gospel that their brothers and sisters in Jeruslaem believed, the same good news that was brought by Jesus.
In your walk with God are there rules and customs that you follow which are actually worthless? Do these rules detract from the message that the Gospel is for everyone? Are there attitudes that you have which mean that you exclude people that Jesus would want you to include?
posted by Gordon at
8:59 am
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