Fighting for the Gospel, Part 1--Galatians 2:1-10

Introduction

Galatians chapter 2 this morning. Galatians chapter 2. Beginning in verse 1. If you would, let us stand as we read the word of God. Gal2:1-10

Galatians 2:1–10 KJV 1900

1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also. 2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain. 3 But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised: 4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage: 5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 6 But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me: 7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter; 8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:) 9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision. 10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you, and worthily magnify your holy Name; through Christ our Lord. Amen

Thank you, you can be seated.

Review

We are continuing our series through the book of Galatians this morning. I want to remind us where we have been in our study. We started looking at Galatians 1:1-5. Those verses served as the introduction to Paul’s letter.

Galatians 1:1-5—Introduction

We saw how he was The Apostle of Christ writing to the Audience of Galatia with an Announcement of Deliverance.

Then we looked at verses 6-10 of Galatians 1. We called that section “First Century Hate Speech

Galatians 1:6-10—First Century Hate Speech

We saw the Fact of False Gospels, the Judgment on False Teachers, and the Pleasure of God.

Last time I was with you, we finished out chapter 1. We answered a very serious question then.

Galatians 1:11-24—Who Is In Charge?

The answer was straight from our text: Paul. What he says to us is the words of Jesus. Paul gave us his proposition of Apostleship and the proof of his apostleship.

That brings us to where we are today in chapter 2. I remind you again that Paul is building an argument. He is writing to the churches of Galatia who have come under attack from the Judaizers. These Judaizers desire to overthrow Paul’s authority and proclaim a different Gospel: one that will save no one.

We can understand Paul’s agitation here. We understand how serious a matter we are dealing with. The very salvation of souls is at stake. We will gladly grab our sword and charge to the battlefield with Paul. And if you know anything about Christians on social media, you will see plenty who think they are doing just that. They have a degree in being keyboard warriors.

Whether or not we should be doing that anyways is an different sermon. Let me start by saying this:

before we jump to it and start attacking the liberals on our cousin’s Facebook feed, we need to attack the lies in our hearts.

Before we type out 23 paragraphs about why Jesus is the only way to heaven (he is), and why those who do not believe in Him go to Hell (they do), we need to make sure our heart is fixed on Him alone.

Before we can defend the Gospel outside of us, we must first defend the Gospel in us. That is our first step. Before you throw up your defense and tell me how much you love the Gospel, I want to show you how easy it is to slip into an anti-Gospel mindset.

The moment you think that because you prayed extra hard this morning God will be extra happy with you, you are thinking against the Gospel.

The moment you think that because you witnessed to your boss on Friday Jesus will love you more, you are thinking against the Gospel.

The moment you think that because you dragged yourself to church on Sunday morning the Holy Spirit is so much happier with you, you are thinking against the Gospel.

If we think that that what WE DO changes God’s attitude towards us, we are thinking against the Gospel.

If do not make sure there is grace is our hearts, there will be no grace on our fingertips. Before we fight for the Gospel outside, we must fight inside.

This is part 1 of our two-step process for defending the Gospel. This is phase 1 of our battle-plan. Here is what I want us to see this week:

Before we fight for the Gospel among others, we must have no tolerance in our heart for anything other than God’s approved Gospel.

We are going to take these things in reverse order. First, I want us to see

I. No Tolerance for Judaizers (2:1-5)

Look with me now at Gal.2:1 “1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.”

Galatians 2:1 KJV 1900

1 Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

After—Fourteen years after his conversion. This makes contextual sense. Galatians 1:18 starts the pattern of “so many years after.” This places us in Acts 15 for the Jerusalem counsel.

“18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days.”

Titus—note him. Titus will be key in Paul’s argument.

Galatians 2:2 KJV 1900

2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.

By revelation--It is unclear exactly what Paul meant by this. What is key is that, when he travels to Jerusalem, it was not because he was ordered to go there by some Apostle. He went because he was directly commanded to by God.

NIVAC—what we are seeing here is Paul’s willingness to use both sides of an argument for his own case. In chapter 1 Paul argued that the source of his gospel was independent of Jerusalem. He got his gospel directly from Jesus Christ. Therefore, the Judaizers could not argue that he had to submit everything to Jerusalem. In chapter 2, however, he argues that while his gospel was independent in source, it was also endorsed by the Jerusalem pillars. That endorsement, for Paul, was not necessary, but as long as it worked out that way, he decides to use that endorsement as part of his case against the Judaizers.

Them—The Jerusalem leaders, whom we will meet later

Lest…in vain--

“In vain” = > κενός: without purpose or result.

He has acknowledge that God called him through the resurrected Christ, and he still humble goes and submits himself and his message to the very people the Judaizers said would hate it: the Jerusalem Church.

Galatians 2:3 KJV 1900

3 But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:

That is huge. Note this verse. Titus, a Greek who was a Christian, was not forced to be circumcised. He was not asked to do anything else other than have faith in the risen Jesus.

Then Paul reminds the readers why this whole argument even started in verse 4.

Galatians 2:4 KJV 1900

4 And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:

Paul is clear. This entire argument about circumcision being necessary was started by those people who were false brethren. It was clear that they were false because of their conduct.

“False brethren” => ψευδάδελφος—who pretends to be a fellow-believer, but whose claim is denied by conduct toward fellow-believers.

“Privily

Circumcision is representative of the entire Old Testament Law. Paul later argues that those who say “we must be circumcised to be saved by Jesus” are binding themselves to keep the entire Law. It is nothing but a broken reed.

This is why Paul says that these false brethren were trying to use circumcision to bring Christians “into bondage.” They were trying, through circumcision, to require obedience to Moses’ Law. We will deal with how we are supposed to use the Law later on. Right now, this is key: the Law cannot used for salvation through obedience.

The Judaizers wanted to make the Christians submit to circumcision and abandon their freedom from the crushing weight of the law: they wanted to enslave them again.

And look how firm Paul is in his stance in verse 5.

Galatians 2:5 KJV 1900

5 To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Paul drew out his cannons. He leveled his rifle. He dug in his heels. He gave no ground.

He was willing to go to Jerusalem and have the apostles examine his teachings. He was willing to submit to those who had apostolic authority; he was not willing to submit to these false brothers who had no authority to distort the saving message.

Paul had no tolerance for Judaizers. He would not allow them to add one thing to the Gospel of Christ. He fought.

We must fight, daily, for the Gospel. You must fight. Because this temptation to be a Judaizer is in every Christian’s heart. It’s in yours. It’s the urge to base your standing before God on your actions, to base Jesus’ love on your performance. That is not the Gospel. And we must fight it. We must face God’s love and forgiveness every day, every morning.

Transition: We must have no tolerance for the Judaizers. Thankfully, we are not in this fight alone. Our King fights with us. God’s Spirit helps us. And here’s how we know. Because this Gospel is, secondly,

II. God’s Approved Gospel (2:6-10)

Paul now goes on to detail how his message was received by the Jerusalem leaders.

Galatians 2:6 KJV 1900

6 But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:

John Stott: “Although he [Paul] accepts their office as apostles, he is not overawed by their person as it was being inflated by the Judaizers.”

Added nothing to me--They changed nothing about Paul’s message.

Galatians 2:7 KJV 1900

7 But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;

This is not telling us that there were two different Gospel messages. There was two different ministries. One message, two groups. These men saw that Peter was to go to the Jews, and Paul was to go the Gentiles. Verse 8 shows us the evidence these leaders saw.

Galatians 2:8 KJV 1900

8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)

He—clearly God the Holy Ghost. The God who worked powerfully in Peter for Jews also worked in Paul toward the Gentiles. That was the first line of evidence that these men saw for Paul’s Gospel. Verse 9 tells us the other one.

Galatians 2:9 KJV 1900

9 And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.

Grace given to me--Grace is not a liquid that is poured into us. Grace is an attribute of God: it is His love to those who do not deserve it. That love is shown to us by God’s action. That is why Christians talk about God’s grace.

We must emphasize, however, that grace is not our liquid spiritual energy. It is God’s love that He shows us primarily in Christ.

Paul uses this phrase often to speak about his own conversion.

Romans 1:5 (KJV 1900)

5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name:

1 Corinthians 3:10 (KJV 1900)

10 According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

Right hand of fellowship—This not a high-five, how you doing buddy. This is a formal action.

John MacArthur: “In the Near East, this represented a solemn vow of friendship and a mark of partnership. This act signified the apostles’ recognition of Paul as a teacher of the true gospel and a partner in ministry.”

These leaders, the three key figures of the Jerusalem church, three representatives of Jesus Christ, heard Paul’s message and said, “we approve.” We approve. In fact, all they said to Paul is found in verse 10.

Galatians 2:10 KJV 1900

10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.

Take care of the Poor. Paul says, “I got it.”

This message is God’s message. God approves it.

We must have no tolerance in our heart for anything other than God’s approved Gospel.

So what: how does this help us? We know that it is God’s will we fight in ourselves for the Gospel. What do we know about God’s will? We know this.

1 John 5:14 KJV 1900

14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us:

Now what: We fight for the Gospel. We fight against legalism in ourselves. And we know that God approves this in us. Let’s pray.