Untitled Sermon

Maintaining the One, True Gospel

The One True Gospel

Is Christ Alone For all People Produces One People Promotes Unity

Intro

In the book of Galatians, Paul is defending the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ from false teachers. The Good news Paul is defending is that Jesus Christ gave himself for our sins. Last week, we saw that Paul argued that the Galatians should listen to him because he received the Gospel directly from Jesus and because his testimony of a transformed. Receiving the Gospel of Jesus directly from Jesus seems like a pretty solid foundation to me. Further, as the the false teachers are arguing that Christians need to follow the Old Testament Law to be saved, Paul’s previous life of meticulously following the law is a prime example that following the law can save no one.

Now in Galatians 2:1-14 Paul argues that He is qualified to share the truth of the Gospel because the Gospel he preaches matches the Gospel the Apostles preached and even when Peter was out of step with the Gospel, Paul’s rebuke brought him back to the Gospel.

Read: Galatians 2:1-14

If you found Paul a little hard to follow, do not worry, you are not the only one. This passage is full of littler interjections and side notes to add detail to the account and the argument he is making. The emotion with which Paul is writing can be seen by the awkward sentences and interjections that he makes.

While Paul is making an argument for why the Galatians should listen to him, he is also exposing the truths of the Gospel in the narrative he relates. Paul is arguing that the Apostles agreed with Him about the Gospel and that He was in the right when Peter lived contrary to the Gospel. But Underlying this argument are 4 key truths of the Gospel that Paul desires the Galatians to hear. The 2 narratives in Galatians were not picked because they best argue Paul’s authority, but because they best argue the One, True Gospel. The question that the Galatians are wrestling with is, “does the Gospel require you to follow the Old Testament law?” Paul had already dealt with in his ministry. So Paul answers with four points from two accounts of his ministry.

The One True Gospel is Christ Alone

Paul goes up to Jerusalem after 14 years of preaching the Gospel. Paul gives us two reasons why he went up. He received a revelation and to make sure He was not running in vain. What the revelation was that he received we do not know, but the result of that revelation was him going to Jerusalem to present the Gospel before the Apostles that he had been preaching to the Gentiles. He also goes up “in order to make sure He was not running or had not run in vain.” Because of Paul’s surety that his Gospel had come directly from Jesus Christ, it would be inane to believe that after 14 years of preaching the Gospel, that now he was unsure if he was preaching the true Gospel. No, it appears Paul was concerned that the Apostles would believe that circumcision was required to be saved. That to be a follower of Jesus required one to become a follower of the Old Testament law. Had Paul “run in vain,” preaching the gospel of salvation by the faith in Jesus alone, only to have the other Apostles preach a gospel that all believers in Jesus need to follow the law as well.

So had Paul run in vain? The answer is verse 3, “even Titus, who was with me was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.” Titus was a live example that the Gospel is salvation by Christ alone. The Apostles and church leaders did not require Titus to be circumcised. The false teachers who secretly slipped in, thought all Christians were required to keep the Old Testament law, including circumcision.

Why circumcision? Circumcision is best understood in the context of God’s redemptive plan in history. When God created the world, he created everything good, he created people to live in relationship with him. But the first humans sinned against God, they disobeyed God’s command and broke their relationship with him. The result was sin infiltrating the world causing suffering and sickness, but also causing us to be bent against God. The penalty for the wrong we commit is death. But God desired to restore the relationship with people that we broke, by sending one who would perfectly obey God, who would live in right relationship with God and people. He promised that this Saviour would come through the nation of Israel, a people that God set apart by commanding them to be circumcised and to follow the law that he would give them. Just as the people before them though, the nation of Israel could not follow the law. But God had promised through this people would come a Saviour. God sent His only Son, Jesus, to become a human, fully God and fully man. He was circumcised like all the other Israelites, but unlike the other Israelites, He was able to keep the whole law. Not only did he keep the law for himself, but he died the death penalty, on a Roman cross, that we deserved for our disobedience against God. But Jesus did not stay dead, He rose from the grave, proving that he had conquered sin and death. Now all who repent of their sin, their disobedience against God and believe in Jesus’s death for them are brought into right relationship with God. This is the Gospel, the Good news: That Jesus has brought restoration to our relationship with God.

So why circumcision? Circumcision was the mark of the people of Israel through whom the promised Saviour would come. But after this promised Saviour had come, did those who followed God need to be circumcised? No, circumcision marked the physical nation of Israel through whom the promised Saviour would come. Circumcision and the keeping of the law could save no one, but they pointed to the promised Saviour who could save all. Did Titus need to be circumcised? No, the Gospel that Paul preached, the Gospel that the apostles agreed with did not require Titus to be circumcised because salvation comes through faith in Christ alone.

The One, True Gospel Paul preached was Christ Alone. The Apostles preached the same Gospel, evident by them not requiring Titus to be circumcised. This is further evidenced in verse 6, when Paul says that the Apostles had added nothing to me, they had nothing to add to the Gospel Paul preached of Salvation through Christ Alone. Paul and the apostles did not submit to the false teachers by adding the Old Testament law and circumcision to the Gospel, and in the same way, the Galatians should not allow the false teachers amongst them to add to the Gospel. The Gospel that Paul upheld in his narrative, the Gospel for the Galatians, and the Gospel for us today is the same One True Gospel, Christ Alone.

For us today, it can be easy to take a passage like this, and point fingers at other churches, other denominations, and say look how they add to the Gospel. But I am not preaching to them, I am preaching to you. We affirm that we are saved by the grace of Jesus Christ alone, but then we turn around and try to earn the salvation we have been given. Look God, I did more good this week then bad. Look God, I didn’t look at pornography today. Look God, I did not gossip to my neighbour today. We are not called to a life of just sin management. We are called to a gospel of outpouring the grace we have received from Jesus Christ. We live in response to the gospel, not in an attempt to earn the gospel. We don’t look at pornography, not because we are under the law that commands us not to, but because Jesus has transformed our hearts to desire him and the well-being of others over our own selfish desires. We do not gossip, not because we are under the law that commands us not to gossip, but because Jesus has died for our sin and now we live in obedience in thankfulness of his saving work. The freedom of Christ, is not the freedom to do whatever we want, but the freedom to live in the new life of Christ. If you are struggling with this, with living out of grace instead of in debt to the law, I encourage you this afternoon to read Romans 5-8.

“Do I call myself a Christian because I have a list of morals that I follow? Or because I have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus and that causes me to live differently?”

The One True Gospel is for All People

This One True Gospel of Christ alone is for all people, both circumcised and uncircumcised. Whether you are a Jew or a Gentile (an umbrella term for anyone who is not Jewish) the Gospel is for you. All are in need of the saving work of Jesus to restore them to right relationship with God. If you are a Gentile, there is not an addition to the Gospel, “you are saved through Jesus Christ and circumcision.” The Gospel Paul preached of faith alone was the same Gospel that Apostles preached to the Jews.

The Apostles saw that Paul had been entrusted with the Gospel to the Gentiles while the Apostles were entrusted with the Gospel to the circumcised. The same Gospel for two different people groups. What was the evidence of this? God had been working in both Paul’s and Peter’s ministries. Both were seeing people understand their sin, both were seeing people trust in Jesus for forgiveness, and both were seeing people transformed by the Holy Spirit. The Same God was empowering the One, True Gospel in two different contexts. Paul and the Apostles were in agreement and were united by the One Gospel for all people.

Peter was called to preach to the Jews, and Paul was called to preach to the Gentiles. The question for us is not, “Is there a people I am called to witness to?” But “which people am I called to witness to?” The answer is likely those who God has placed around you, family, friends, co-workers. “How do I contextualize the Gospel for those around me?” There can be a lot of fear in sharing the Gospel, that I won’t know the right thing to say. Don’t be afraid to not know all the answers, you do not need to have an answer to every question. You know the gospel and you know how it has changed your life. I am convinced that the reason we are not bold in sharing the gospel is because we have not reflected on the work of Christ in our hearts. When you remember the person you were before meeting Christ, when you remember the sin he has saved you from, when you remember the struggle he has walked with you in, when you remember the sickness he has healed you from, how can you not be compelled to share the life of Christ with others so they can experience the same freedom?

There is one thing that the apostles asked Paul to remember. Remember the poor, which Paul was already eager to do. The result of the gospel working in one’s heart, the transformation of the Spirit within you is action. Action towards others for the glory of God. The purpose of the gospel is not just to give people a better life on earth, however, if the gospel of the good work that Jesus has done for you does not spill over into doing good for others, than you need to check your heart. The call to care for the poor is all throughout Scripture. Why? Because God is a compassionate God. He does not desire the suffering of anyone. The primary way that He cares for the suffering of people, is through the sending of Jesus, to die for their sins, that they may be saved. Peoples greatest need is to be rich spiritually not physically, to be healed spiritually, not physically. Yet, at the same point, God does not ignore physical poverty. God demonstrates his care for the poor not only in Jesus helping the poor, but in Jesus himself becoming poor. Thus, the result of the gospel in both the Jewish and Gentile believers should be the care for the poor, should be compassion. Why? Because the transformation of the heart of a believer is the transformation into the image of Christ, who cared for the poverty of those around Him. But we must get the order right. Peoples greatest need is spiritual. That is the first priority. But understanding that peoples greatest need is spiritual should never lead us to proclaim the gospel from our mansions to starving people. Caring for people’s physical needs points them to God’s care for their spiritual needs. This can be one of our greatest witnesses. The true gospel acts.

Ben Gillingham

The One True Gospel Produces One People

At the end of the episode in Jerusalem, it may be easy to think that everything has been sorted out, Jews and Gentiles are both saved by the same gospel, and circumcision is not required of the gentiles in order to be saved. However, after Paul’s trip to Jerusalem, Peter makes a trip to Antioch, Paul’s “home-base” as it were. When Peter first arrived, he was eating with Gentiles, but after men came from James, Peter stopped eating with the Gentiles.

In his commentary on Galatians, DeSilva helpfully points out, that our tendency would be to think of a potluck in a fellowship hall or in our church gym. We can imagine the Jews not eating with the Gentiles as two rows of tables, with the Jewish Christians on one side and the Gentile Christians on the other. However, we need to remember that the early church was made up of house churches. Likely, there would have been both Jewish and Gentile church hosts who would have held the gathering in their houses. When Peter first began visiting the house churches in Antioch, he would went freely to gatherings with both Jews and Gentiles, eating together with them a shared meal and participating in the Lord’s supper. But when men from James came to Antioch, Peter conveniently had to use the washroom right as the congregation was about to start eating. Within a couple weeks, there was 4-5 Jewish Christians leaving right before the meal. It quickly became obvious that Jewish Christians, Peter and Barnabas included, were not eating with Gentile believers.

Eating with Gentiles did not go against the Torah, against the law given to Israel through Moses. However, in the Intertestamental period (the 400 years between the last Old Testament book and the birth of Jesus), there were several Jewish writings that expanded upon and interpreted the Torah to say that a Jew should not eat with Gentiles. Examples can be found in the book of Jubilees, the Letter of Aristeas, and the additions to Esther, amongst others. These writings argued that by Jews limiting interactions with Gentiles, like eating with them, that they would keep themselves pure. They believed to be “set apart” was to physically set oneself apart from anyone else, so that they could not be “contaminated” by the sins and the idolatry of the Gentiles.

This teaching that Jews needed to remain separate from Gentiles, especially when eating was brought into the early church. Paul opposed this vehemently, because it contrasted the truth that the One, True Gospel produces one people of God. The Jews were not required to become like Gentiles and the Gentiles were not required to become like Jews, but the result was a singular people, with all their diversity, centred around the Salvation of Christ. For Jewish Christians to refuse to eat with Gentile Christians went against the truth of the the Gospel that all are sinners and are saved only by Christ’s death. The Jewish Christians could not separate themselves as a different people, they were now one people in Christ. They could not separate themselves as a holier people, they had the same standing as sinners only redeemed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Because the way that Peter, Barnabas and the other Jewish Christians was acting went against the truth of the Gospel, Paul calls them out.

The One True Gospel Promotes Unity

Paul calls out Peter for living differently than the Gospel that they both preach. Peter had seen first-hand through the conversion of Cornelius and his household that Gentiles were saved by the same Gospel, were restored to the same relationship with God, and were indwell by the Holy Spirit in the same way as the Jewish Christians. Peter was even the one who told the Apostles about the conversion of Cornelius and that could not withhold baptizing Gentile believers.

If Peter had already preached to Gentiles, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and he baptized them, why after all that, would Peter now stop eating with Gentile believers?

Men from James had come to Antioch, and out of fear, Peter began to separate himself from the Jewish believers. Perhaps Peter even thought he had a good reason for separating himself from the Gentiles. As the apostle to the circumcised, the preacher of the Gospel to the Jews, should he not separate himself from Gentiles in order to maintain standing amongst the Jews? If he “contaminated” himself amongst the Gentiles would the Jews still listen to his preaching? Or because there were Jewish Christians who believed it was wrong to eat with Gentiles, should he not separate himself for the sake of the weaker brother? What if he caused a brother or sister to sin by eating with Gentile believers?

Despite Peter’s motives, his action were in opposition to the truth of the Gospel that he preached. Paul sums up his argument against Peter in saying, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?” Or we can paraphrase it, “ If you, though a Jew, cannot keep the law, how can you force the Gentiles to try and keep the law?” Both Jew and Gentiles are sinners saved only by the death of Jesus Christ, therefore, it is counter to the Gospel to separate Jewish Christians from Gentile Christians.

The gospel may require us to enter into conflict for its defence and we can learn a couple important truths about handling conflict from this passage. The goal of entering conflict is for the sake of unity, not separation. Our tendency is to divide as a result of conflict. Church history is riddled with conflicts that resulted in separation. The goal of conflict should always be restoration and unity. Paul called Peter out because he was perverting the gospel, causing division between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. The fear that we might cause division or things to become uncomfortable can cause us to stay silent, but when it is a Gospel issue, we cannot let it slip by.

On the other hand, there may be some of us who can make mountains out of molehills. Taking a small issue, and blowing it up to the weight of the Gospel. Be careful to not cause unnecessary conflict over an issue of preference.

Or maybe their is something in our life that is contrary to the Gospel we preach. Do we have the humility to listen to our brothers and sisters in Christ call us to live in accord with the Gospel? Do we have the humility, like Peter, to believe that maybe we are wrong?

The One True Gospel promotes unity, so we need to enter disagreements graciously.

The One True Gospel is Christ Alone, for all people and it produces one people and promotes unity amongst that people.