Unity In The Gospel Series

INTRODUCTION

Which way should the toilet paper goes on the holder? Should the toilet seat stay up or down? How do you squeeze the toothpaste tub? (When I was growing up, toothpaste tubes were metal and this mattered!). When the kids don’t get what they want from Mum, what do that do? Go to Dad!?

When people are trying to drive you apart, how do you stay together? When there are major differences between us, how do we stay united? Does it even matter?

These are some of the questions Paul was trying to address as he staved off an attack by false teachers in the churches he’d started in Galatia, in modern day Turkey.

CONTEXT

To understand what Paul’s doing in this passage we need to remember the situation in Galatia. Reading not too far between the lines, apparently some of the false teachers had come to the province claiming to come from the Jerusalem apostles. They accused Paul of not being a real apostle and of teaching a distorted gospel. Instead of becoming part of God’s family by faith, they said the Gentiles had to be circumcised.

At the end of chapter 1 and in this reading, Paul goes to great pains to establish the timeline of his contact with the Jerusalem apostles to prove that both his apostleship and his gospel were not of human origin but divine.

Gal 1.11-24

In Gal 1.11-24 Paul established that when he was saved, he didn’t go directly to Jerusalem but to Arabia. It wasn’t until three years later that he went to Jerusalem where he spent two weeks with Peter and also met James.

Paul’s language in this section is very precise because he has to carefully lay out a timeline and make the point that he was not instructed or authorised by the Apostles (two weeks wasn’t enough time for that) – rather, his calling and instruction came from Christ himself.

GALATIANS 2.1-10

Paul continues his account in chapter 2, our reading today. Let’s unpack these verses a little before we look at how they apply.

Paul says that after fourteen years he went back to Jerusalem. Some think this visit refers to the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, but that was his third visit and he met with the whole church on that occasion. Paul is careful to establish that this is only his second visit, prompted by some revelation, and privately with the Jerusalem apostles. Acts 11 fits better, when the Antioch church sent a donation to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas

v.2b NOT IN VAIN

In v.2 In verse 2 Paul expresses a fear that he may have been running in vain. What exactly does he mean? That somehow his gospel of grace may have been wrong?

I don’t think so. Paul had a call directly from the Lord and he makes clear he wasn’t going to let any man, even another Apostle, disqualify him. I think what he’s talking about his his radical vision for the time. Rather than separate Jewish and Gentile churches, Paul had a vision for one church comprising these two disparate peoples – Jews and Gentiles – based on God’s grace through Christ (Eph 2.11-22) rather than through Law.

Some Jewish Christians were undermining this unity, and if the Jerusalem Apostles didn’t recognise the Gentile Churches it would have undone Paul’s vision.

v.4 FALSE BROTHERS

In verse 4 Paul says that the matter arose because ‘false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ in order to enslave us.’

This is strong language but, of course, Paul isn’t just talking about history. He expects the Galatians to draw a line from the false brothers in Acts 11 to the false brothers who were now infiltrating the Galatian churches. Paul doesn’t pull punches.

JUDGING AND DISCERNING

It’s popular in nowadays to condemn judging. As soon as someone calls someone out on Facebook you might see some comment about not judging, usually because Jesus said, ‘Do not judge.’ The problem is it completely ignores the biblical admonition to discernment.

Paul had no problem judging these people, because he knew Jesus also warned us against wolves in sheep’s clothing, and shepherds don’t let the wolves run amok among the flock! Paul was compelled to make this judgment because he had a very clear standard he needed to protect – the gospel.

We don’t have to condemn people and get into culture wars but we do need to use discernment with the gospel as your guide.

v. 6 THEY ADDED NOTHING

But happily, this wasn’t the case. He says in v.6 that ‘they added nothing to me.’ Titus the Greek didn’t even have to be circumcised, which was the chief sign of entering the old covenant (v.3). The Apostles recognised God at work in Paul, his apostolic authority, his call to the Gentiles, the unity of his gospel with theirs, and that the gentiles didn’t need to become Jews to become part of God’s family.