(Episode #22): Study on Galatians: Paul vs The Leadership: A Pivotal moment: Gal 2:1-5

What is The Gospel with Prince John?

This podcast is purposefully crafted to serve as a reminder for born-again believers about our identity in Christ. It seeks to deepen our comprehension of the profound power and potential inherent in the Gospel that has been entrusted to us. In this show, we will delve into various contemporary challenges confronting believers and provide biblical insights to diagnose these issues.

[00:00:00] In Galatians chapter one, we saw Paul laying out the introduction to the masterpiece on grace.

This teaching was not popular, but he stood by it. He also gave an introduction to what he was preaching by saying grace and peace which are the key terms of his gospel.

He also mentioned that the gospel was for rescuing us from this present evil age by not taking us out of it but by letting us live victoriously in Christ Jesus. He had started this church in Galatia and not so long after that some people came into the church and said that it was not just about being saved by faith and living by faith in the finished work of Christ but rather they had to keep the law. That's the reason why Paul, when he writes this, he says they quickly deserted and he was really surprised that they would just quickly desert the gospel for some other [00:01:00] gospel.

Just a side note here.

Some people say that, look, if it is God's, will, the church will stand, but here, the Galatians accepted the wrong doctrine, even though it was not God's will. You can not just put it on the sovereignty of God as an excuse.

Paul gets really angry at the Galatians. In fact, he calls them foolish Galatians later. He writes this very passionate letter where he goes into lengths to try to explain how he got the gospel and what is the meaning of the gospel. This has some timeless truths which can help us in our day to day Christian life.

Let's start reading from Ga 2:1. He says then after an interval, 14 years, I went up to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus along also. It was because of a revelation that I went up. And I submitted it to them the gospel, [00:02:00] 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. But not even Titus who was with me though he was Greek was compelled to be circumcised.

The focus vacillates between two churches here, the church in Jerusalem and the church in Antioch. For those of you who need a little bit of context here, The church in Antioch was a Gentile church full of Gentile converts. And the church of Jerusalem was formed on the day of Pentecost when Peter preached and 3000 were added. So it was a huge church. The one Antioch was a huge church as well, but the difference was that the majority of the people who were attending the church in Jerusalem were Jewish people and the majority of the people who were attending the church in Antioch were Gentiles. So think about the [00:03:00] kind of things that these churches went through.

The church in Jerusalem. Remember that they didn't have it easy when the church was being persecuted by Saul, who became Paul later. Many of the members scattered to different places but, Peter, James, John, they stood in Jerusalem and they became the pillars of the church at that time. Everyone was growing in their understanding. So It's not like everyone understood everything.

Paul focused mainly on Gentiles while Peter focused mainly on the Jewish people. So You have two different people groups formed on two different base. There's this Jewish church, who were brought up on Jewish value system. Strict values and rules regulations. They were brought up in the mosaic law, which had the way they should live in every area of life, it touched. And then when they came into Christianity, some of [00:04:00] them still followed it, and it was going on that way. They were polished people in the sense. The Gentiles were really barbaric people. They did not have, any morality or way of life. When we think about Gentiles today, which are the non-Jewish people, we know we have a standard of life, a certain morality, a certain way of thinking of good and wrong even the most DEPRAVED of cultures, we still have a certain level of morality that is because Christianity has touched almost every culture, and has changed the way people see good and bad.

That is at least one of the reasons.

What happened here is the Gentiles were being saved. They were accepting the gospel. And to accept they just needed to have faith. Like the Bible says, justification by faith alone. They were forming churches in Antioch, galatia, [00:05:00] Thessalonica Colosse and Corinth and all these places. These were not people who were perfect already. There were divisions problems, everything. They were justified by faith, and they were saved without the law and the law, the Jewish law was not applicable to them. So this is where people got really uncomfortable. The Jewish Christians became really uncomfortable to think that these people who are, in here. And you've just got to let them be? I mean, they're Gentiles for God's sake. They don't have any law to keep what is the guarantee that they might not disgrace the name of the Lord? What is the guarantee about how they will live? They might've said, okay. We have heard reports about what happened in Corinth. This should not happen over and over again.

these people out of good intentions started to add [00:06:00] the law to the gospel. They started to say, Okay even if you are justified by faith, you should add to it the law, this is the distortion of the gospel, which Paul was referring to. This made Paul really upset. And that's why he was writing this letter.

it was a historic point or a focal point in Christianity. Because Paul, the person who understood grace goes and meets the church leaders and he knew what was at stake. In Acts 22:17-21 god tells Paul; no one is listening to you. So leave Jerusalem. And now Paul is asked by God to go back into Jerusalem, to talk to these people. He knew that things could go wrong . They could have disagreement and not have a final [00:07:00] conclusion at all. Paul and Barnabas, they do the smart thing and they have a private meeting with the leaders. Those who were of reputation.

Paul is a forceful character. He is not the kind of person who's going to cower down. And he's not going down without a fight. Paul, knows what he got from the Lord is true. He says it over and over again. I got this directly from the Lord.

Paul is not going to say , oh, this is what I got. Dear leaders. What do you think? And if they say no, all right, I mean, I thought this was true. Okay. Since you guys don't feel that way, I'll just leave it. That's not why Paul is going there. Paul is going there so that there won't be any problems afterwards saying that Paul is teaching a heresy. And if they accept , what Paul is preaching, then, it's easy. It's easier for him to preach rather than go to another set of opposition.

So that's why he was saying " for fear that I might be running [00:08:00] or had run in vain, he's not saying the gospel that he had received was probably in vain. When you look at the Greek, it's not that way. What Paul does is very interesting. He took with him Barnabas and he took with him Titus. Now Barnabas was a lovely guy. And he was a very likable personality. . He was an encouraging person. By the looks of it, Barnabas did not want to have fights or confrontations, but Paul was more of a bullish nature. He wanted to get his point across. He wanted the Jewish Christians to stop coming after him, and create problems everywhere he preached. So if people get to know that Peter, the leader and the pillar of the Jerusalem church endorsed., gospel of Paul they would just let him go. It will all be good. So that is one of the main reasons why Paul arranged this meeting.

You can see here that Paul brings [00:09:00] Titus to Jerusalem. This is very important because it's like Paul saying enough with all your lip service and what you keep on saying. Now let's put some action into words. So he's taking an uncircumcised person to Jerusalem. This could create a big riot.

He was going to force the issue and fight for Gentile independence from Judaism and the mosaic law.

Like I said before a lot of things were in the balance during this meeting. The people involved in this were Peter, James, John and Paul. Paul was not readily accepted by everyone initially as an apostle. Everyone understood the ones who were with Jesus as the prominent apostles and Paul kept on saying that I'm also an apostle. James , the brother of Jesus was also a late comer but he rose into prominence in the Jerusalem church. He became [00:10:00] one of the key leaders. Peter and John worked together earlier, they were more simple people, but James on the other hand you read throughout that he was not a kind of person who would remain in the background. He had a forceful personality , he was more inclined to legalism and he was known for asceticism who live a very simple life who keep a set of rules and regulations and simplicity in order to help in their sanctified life. That was the kind of life that James was into. Throughout, acts of the apostles, we see that Peter started off as the head of the church and the prominent leader. And then we see it's about Paul. But at the same time, we sometimes miss to see. Is that James becomes a prominent leader in the church and he takes over the Jerusalem church. Peter then becomes more of the background person.

Now that [00:11:00] I've given a very lengthy, context here. In Gal 2, it says. You see after an interval of 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas taking Titus along also, it was to make a point there. It was because of the revelation that I went. God, sent paul there. 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. So Paul had a reason for this and he wanted, the endorsement so that these Judaizers would stop coming after him.

He explains everything. And these Jerusalem leaders are able to understand spiritually. They could have given to their flesh but they didn't. Paul says, but not even Titus was with me though. He was a Greek was compelled to be circumcised. This line was written so happily. Paul is saying that [00:12:00] they did not force Titus to be circumcised. Paul is saying, okay, so they accepted it. These reputed leaders were happy to endorse Paul and the gospel he was preaching the gospel of grace that the Gentiles do not have to keep the law. They are justified by faith and not on the basis of their works and they don't have to keep the law afterwards as well, because they are not under the law.

So let's read verse four, but it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in. Who has sneaked in to spy out our Liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus in order to bring us into bondage. So what Paul is saying here is that. He had made these agreements with the leadership in Jerusalem. But there were still the secret brethren that means Jewish Christians that the secret brethren who [00:13:00] believed that the law should be added. They snuck into these gatherings pretending to be brothers in Christ, Jesus as members of the church. They saw that the church members were not following the law and secretly added the law.

It's easy to demonize these people, but these were people who just wanted, the Church to live right. It's not like they wanted to destroy the church. I want you to relate this with what happens even today. A lot of people add rules and regulations on top of the gospel not because they want to take down the church or destroy the gospel. It's because of their lack of understanding they're deceived and then they think this is the way to do things and they add things into the church eventually creating problems and , destroying the local church there.

Back in India where I come from in India. There are many [00:14:00] denominations, especially Pentecostals that insist that in order to live a holy life, you have to wear white in church. And they insist that you remove your jewelry. So if someone wears a different color, it's an unwritten rule, but you will be looked down as someone who is not living a holy life. If you're wearing a flashy color, then you will be looked down as someone who's not living a holy life. And if you're wearing jewelry, you will not be allowed to be baptized. Trust me. I know it sounds crazy, but I've been part of these churches. You see, this is the kind of legalism that has been introduced into these churches in the name of holy life.

I've had conversations with friends who came from legalistic churches. They come over here and they see the Liberty that is available in Christ. Jesus. They see that the people are [00:15:00] not wearing white. They're not doing things the way we do. So they say, it's an unholy church. There's no presence of God. Why. Because they have been brought up under legalistic standard. That, this is how holiness looks like.

This is what I'm saying here, that there were things that were added in also in the church in Colossae that it was about do not eat this do not do this, do not do that. And the reason why they added these things, were so that you will seem holy. This is your holiness.

There are several more examples of legalism that you can see. MANY THINK The more holier you are, the more fasting that you do on a Sunday morning. I don't fast on a Sunday morning and I've seen the looks of people, when I tell them that I don't fast on a Sunday morning. A lot of people fast on a Sunday morning, because it's part of the expression of their holiness. And also they want to feel closer to God. Why? Like we discussed [00:16:00] in first. Episode that you do something, you feel that you earned something to come into the presence of God. So as a result, , you fast and you feel closer to God, , but the point is that you cannot get closer than you actually are in the spirit. If you walk in that, understand, you don't need to fast before you go to church on a Sunday morning. You can be in the realization of who you are in Christ jesus.

I lead worship in the local church that I attend. And what happens is I hear people saying, oh, don't say anything funny or crack jokes before the service starts, because you just need to wait for the presence of God. You need to wait in holiness, you need to sit still. I don't do that. It's not out of lack of reverence for God, but it's in the understanding that my God is my father. I call him Abba father. I joke with my dad. I joke with my [00:17:00] parents. And why should it be any different with my Abba father who was in heaven? , it's not that I'm waiting for his presence to come. I am living out the presence of God that is already in me. I'm never without his presence. Legalism is you do this, you do more, you wear white, you wear a tux, you wear this, you stop wearing ornaments, you stop wearing makeup. You stop wearing a tie.

If there ever was someone who tried to live the most, most perfect life, it was. Apart from Jesus. It was John, the Baptist and John the Baptist was probably a part of a group which even left every sort of comfort for God. They left everything. They sacrificed everything. And yet. What did Jesus say? Whoever is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John, the Baptist and and he said, the John, the Baptist was the greatest [00:18:00] of men born of women. You see any one of you who's born again is greater than Elijah. Any one of you is greater than Elijah. Any one of you is greater than Moses. But people still want the anointing of Samuel. They want the anointing of Issachar. They want the anointing of Elisha. It surprises me. Why do you have to go for something lesser when you have the anointing of Jesus Christ in you? So you see the false brethren were there. They were not there because they wanted to destroy the church, but rather they were there because they wanted to have things better. They didn't want to have Mr. Alexander in the church a recently converted Gentile walking around. And he has led a very adulterous, lifestyle and he has just been born again. I better give him some set of rules that , you shall not do this. You shall not do that [00:19:00] because who knows if he doesn't have these rules and he might end up trying to flirt with someone . In grace there was a possibility of chaos in the minds of these legalistic people.

In 2 Cor 3:17, where the spirit of the Lord is there is Liberty. There is Liberty in the gospel, no matter what people say. It makes people uncomfortable. They want laws to make sure that everything is right.

Reading verse six, it says from those who were of high reputation, What they were makes no difference to me. God shows no partiality. those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me. Paul is saying here that these big apostles, amazing, awesome men of God. And that's not the reason why he went to them. He was saying it didn't mean anything to them and he makes a point here that God doesn't show partiality. I've seen from [00:20:00] church to church, how people show partiality. I've seen people who preach thing don't say anything against the man of god And Because if you say anything against a man of god god's wrath shall come upon you The point is yeah don't say anything against a man of god but don't say anything against ANYONE Who is a child of god Because the same spirit that is in this man of god is in this child of god.

Any person sitting at the back without doing any pulpit ministry is the same as any person there . When i see pastors being put on a pedestal it disappoints me because i see people going after pastors, people leaving states and leaving countries going to be under a pastor why Because this is a man of god. No one gets a special quota no one gets the special man of god status and [00:21:00] that's what paul is saying here God shows no partiality. Stop showing partiality. Yes please honor them i'm not saying to dishonor them. You can honor people at the same time you can consider them as equals . You can show respect towards what god has achieved through them. i've seen people taking these pastors into restaurants saying bless me Because if you like the food i will get blessed Obviously they haven't understood about Eph 1:3 where it says you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.