The Book Of Galatians – Chapter 2:1-10 - Message 4 – Paul’s Strategic Position As Apostle To The Gentiles Series

THE BOOK OF GALATIANS – CHAPTER 2:1-10 - MESSAGE 4 – PAUL’S STRATEGIC POSITION AS APOSTLE TO THE GENTILES

[A]. INTRODUCTION TO THIS MESSAGE

(a). Let’s look at the background so far we have covered in the previous messages. Paul had been commissioned by God to preach to the Gentiles the gospel of grace and God gave much fruit among the churches of Galatia. All the time while spreading the gospel he was dogged by false teachers trying to overturn his work which was the work of the Holy Spirit.

(b). The Galatian churches were being troubled and diverted from the truth by these same false teachers who were trying to force the believers into adopting certain facets of the law of Moses. These men were known as Judaisers and they seemed to be of mixed origins. The ones most troubling to the churches were those who probably had been saved initially from among the Pharisees and scribes and priests and notable men of Israel, but were the false teachers trying to marry Law and Grace. That can not be done and the books of Romans and Galatians absolutely refute that idea.

(c). They were zealot Jews and had been circumcised as was every Jewish male. They kept the Law as they best could. That was the keeping of the Sabbaths and certain Rituals, especially circumcision. It perhaps included the Feasts. Most probably it did not include the sacrificial Law.

(d). These Jews saw it their duty to impose those Jewish practices upon the Gentile Christians as an addition to faith to make it perfect in their eyes. By doing so they were bringing the Gentiles into bondage under the Law. They could see no separation between Law and Grace. They tried to merge the two.

(e). They opposed Paul and Barnabas at every opportunity. They claimed Paul was not a true apostle, that he had never seen the risen Christ and was not called by God. They claimed he had no authority from the apostles in Jerusalem for what he was preaching and that he had not been sent from the Apostles.

[B]. PAUL IN THE SPOTLIGHT IN JERUSALEM

We will look at the first three verses to begin this account.

{{Galatians 2:1 “Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also, Galatians 2:2 and 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, Galatians 2:3 but not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”}}

The timeline of Paul’s visits to Jerusalem is a bit confusing but this seems to have happened after one or two missionary journeys by Paul and Barnabas. This visit to Jerusalem was the time of the Council in Jerusalem to discuss the problem that had arisen because certain ones were teaching that the Gentiles could not be saved unless they were baptised according to the Law of Moses and kept circumcision. It is covered in Acts 15 and we take it up later on here.

When that had been resolved, Paul and Barnabas journeyed to Antioch for a while. After that the split came between these two great Apostles, Paul and Barnabas went their separate ways. The expression is this {{Acts 15:39 “and there arose such A SHARP DISAGREEMENT that they separated from one another, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.”}}

It is tragic when brethren disagree and a split comes. Churches are affected by this sort of thing all the time. Could Paul and Barnabas have resolved it satisfactorily? Was one of them at more fault than the other one? We don’t know. However in the grace of God He sometimes takes divisions and uses them for extended ministry and I think that was so here (I hope so). That would not be the case though if a split occurred, say, over the matter of homosexuality. God will never support those who support that perversion.

We notice in verse 2 that Paul went to Jerusalem by revelation (not by invitation or by a church agreement). These were Apostolic times and God communicated directly with this tiny handful of chosen Apostles.

While Paul was there he had private meetings with the disciples – those he called “those who were of reputation” and I assume that meant several of the Apostles who were still in Jerusalem. This was done privately because many did not understand Paul’s gospel to the Gentiles. Maybe the gospel to the Jews and that to the Gentiles though basically the same, had differences that might have caused misunderstanding had Paul shared with a lot of mixed people. It was all done privately.