Welcome back to our study of the book of Galatians with the late Dr. John Gerstner. In our last session, we talked the origin and foundation of the Gospel the apostle Paul preached in all the congregations he founded or had interactions with. Since the beginning of this letter, he has been in direct opposition with the traditional Judaizers who were espousing a distorted Gospel. They were pressuring a large number of gentile believers in the Galatian church to undergo circumcision, stating that they couldn’t be saved until they were circumcised. It was a terrible perversion of the Gospel, and Paul was not about to let it infiltrate the church. As a result, he resolved to travel to Jerusalem to speak with the leaders of the Hebrew Church, namely Peter and James. He did so not to gain their approval, but to ensure that the Gospel they were teaching was in accordance with Sacred Scripture’s Truth. And we discovered last week that James, Peter and Paul were preaching the same Gospel. Galatians 2:11-21 will be our focus today. In this passage, Paul describes a situation in which he had no choice but to rebuke Peter publicly because the Gospel’s truth was in jeopardy. He also begins to explain to the Galatian believers that justification (being right in the eyes of our holy God) is based on Christ’s faithfulness rather than our own efforts.
Galatians 2:11-21, Paul Rebukes Peter’s Hypocrisy & The Basis For Our Justification
The Passage
Paul Opposes Peter
11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For 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.[a] 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But 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
15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; 16 yet we know that a person is not justified[b] 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.
17 But 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! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. 20 I 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. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness[c] were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Notes
- Verses 11-14
The problem in this account wasn’t between Paul and Peter but rather between Peter’s theology and Peter’s practice. Remember that Paul and Peter agreed on the one Gospel they both preached. Jesus commissioned Peter to be the apostle to the Hebrew believers while Paul was mainly sent to the Gentiles. But the gospel preached by both to their respective group was the same. We need to make that clear at the outset. We also need to understand that this wasn’t the first time Peter had trouble mingling with gentile believers. In the book of Acts, while praying he felt into a trance in which God gave him a vision. To make a long story short, God wanted him to preach the Gospel to Cornelius and his household. Cornelius was a Roman centurion who believed in the God of the Hebrews. So Peter reluctantly went to Cornelius to preach ; but to his amazement, God poured His Holy spirit on the gentiles the same way HE had done it with the Hebrews on the day of Pentecost. You can read the whole account in Acts 10. I’m mentioning that instance because Peter was criticized by his other fellow Jewish believers for eating at a gentile’s house. He defended himself and the event is recorded in Acts 11. As you can see from the account in Galatians 2:11-14, Peter was still fearful of the other Jewish believers. I want you to pause for a second and think about it. Peter had direct contact with Jesus, he understood the Gospel fully, yet that didn’t prevent him from being subject to the fear of Man. At this particular moment, he was allowing tradition to take precedence over Truth and that was serious matter. His aberration was public and led others astray so Paul was left with no choice but to expose Peter’s actions publicly.
Peter and James weren’t as strict in their Jewishness as Paul was. The apostle Paul gives his pedigree in 2 Corinthians 11:16-31 and in Acts 26:4-5,
4 “My manner of life from my youth, spent from the beginning among my own nation and in Jerusalem, is known by all the Jews. 5 They have known for a long time, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest party of our religion I have lived as a Pharisee.
Paul could see through Peter’s duplicity because Peter didn’t live like a strict Jew, this is why Paul was able to make the statement he made in verse 14 “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”.
- Verses 15-16
Paul understood how quickly the gentiles could be swayed when it came to spiritual truths. Pagans were known to change their minds on a regular basis. You can see how gullible gentiles were in general when it came to their belief systems if you read Acts 17. They were susceptible to new ideas, philosophies, and so on.. Jewish people especially those who called themselves real “Jews” were very strict in their practice of Judaism. There is a reason why they were referred to as being stiff- necked, because they weren’t flexible. But Paul says that even “he” came to the conclusion that one can’t be made right with God on the basis of his/her legalistic observance of the Law, but on the basis of Christ’s faithfulness to God ( His work on the Cross).. And Paul is basically arguing that everyone who properly understands the Scripture ( in this case the Old Testament ) will reach the same conclusion. Anyone who thinks otherwise has misunderstood the Scriptures. No one will be counted right before God based on their adhering to the works of the Law, because no one can actually keep the law perfectly. Jesus even said to the people that unless their righteousness exceeded that of the Pharisees, they would not enter the kingdom of God. Paul is literally paraphrasing Jesus in these verses. If there was anyone who could be declared legally righteous based on the keeping of the Law, it would be Paul. But even he came to the conclusion that his righteousness was as filthy as filthy rags.
- Verse 17
I’m assuming that Paul is anticipating what his opponents are going to say- Jesus Christ must be a servant of Sin. And he answers the irreverent objection in the next verse. First let’s understand why people might be tempted to call Christ a servant of Sin. The reason why anyone would think that Jesus is a servant of Sin is because of their shallow understanding of the Holiness of God. Prior to his conversion, I’m assuming that Paul probably thought that his legalistic observance of the law was sufficient to render him just before God. That’s until we read Romans 7, where we see that Paul expresses his struggles with covetousness. Jesus Christ expanded the Law of God, He gave us the correct understanding of the Law of God. Correct external behavior wasn’t sufficient, God is also interested in the thoughts and intent of the heart. This is how Jesus Christ exposes our sinful nature, HE isn’t a servant of Sin but one who explains what true righteousness is. For the person with a shallow understanding of the law of God, Christ might appear as a servant of Sin, but for the person who has been made aware of the true demands of the Law of GOD, Christ is our righteousness, for He alone kept the law of God perfectly. So contrary some opinions, Jesus isn’t a servant of Sin but the one who truly exposes Sin.
- Verses 18-19
Paul is repudiating that false assumption about Christ in these verses. He is also explaining the sole purpose of the Law. When he truly understood the demands of the Law, he knew that only Jesus could save him so he came to die to the principles of sin and death, that he might live to God. But what does it mean? The Law of God must be kept flawlessly, under no circumstances must one fail to fulfill one element of the law of God. And the person that sins, according to the law of God must die, because sin brings death. But we also came to understand that the law of God wasn’t just interested in the external behavior but also the intent and motives behind our actions, meaning our thoughts. Looking at a woman lustfully is synonymous to committing adultery with her in our hearts, and that’s a violation of the law of God. Paul came to realize that no one could be declared just before God by keeping the law because no one could keep the law fully and flawlessly. We read in James that whoever keeps the whole Law and stumbles in one point is guilty of all. He also adds that to build up again the legalistic bondage which he destroyed, will be synonymous to making himself a transgressor.
- Verses 20-21
Paul says in these verses that when Christ was executed on the cross as a criminal, he ( meaning Paul ) was also executed on the cross in order that the sinful nature might be done away with. God crucified our old nature on the cross with Christ so that we might live according to the new nature ( that which is made after the likeness of Christ). The new nature is empowered by the Holy Spirit , this is why the believer in Christ is no longer under condemnation. For anyone led by the Spirit of God is a son of God. I like how verse 20 reads in the Complete Jewish Bible, it says:”… But the Messiah lives in me, and the life I now live in my body I live by the same trusting faithfulness that the Son of God had, who loved me and gave himself up for me”. As a result of this, it would be blasphemous for anyone to try to establish their own righteousness, that would be insulting the grace of God, basically considering as worthless the sacrificial death of Christ on the cross. And God will not tolerate that.
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PS: All the videos series from RC Sproul and Dr John Gerstner added to the website have been thoroughly listened to by myself. And I highly recommend them to anyone looking to deepen his/her faith in Christ. We live in the age of relativism and now more than ever understanding what we believe, and why believe what believe is not optional.
My name is Tayib Salami and I started Tayibs.com for the sole purpose of exploring difficult questions about the Christian faith that most of us shy away from. In 2017, I entered a very dark time in my life and it’s only by the grace of the Living God that I’m still alive today. It led me to really go deeper in my faith and consider a myriad of questions that I never thought about asking myself or others before. Welcome and enjoy the ride with me.