Galatians 2:11-19; No Going Back (Household of Faith, part 5)

Introduction: Take a second to answer this question- if someone made a movie about my life, who would play me? Who would have the lead role in a movie about your life? And just suppose that if the story of your life was played out on the big screen, if someone were to tell your story— the story of your life before and after Christ—what part of your life would most clearly show that you are different? That you are not the same person now as you were before receiving Christ.

If you could imagine both of those things, 1st, who is playing the lead role in the movie of your life, and 2nd, what is most different about you now, what would the tagline of your movie be?  E.g., Jaws- just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water; Ghostbusters- who you gonna call? I suggest that for every one of us who has been saved, who has come to know Christ as our Lord & Savior, who has believed the Gospel- our tagline should be- No Going Back. Let me show you why:

Galatians 2:11-19, 11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 17“But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.”

What do I mean when I say that believing the Gospel means there is no going back. I mean 3 things:

1. No going back to our Old WAYS, vss. 11-13

So far in our series in Galatians, we’ve learned a lot about Paul’s life. What he was like before Christ- a very religious Jewish man who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees, he was on the fast track to being somebody, he was so zealous for their religious traditions that he truly believed he was doing God a favor by persecuting & killing Christians. But then Jesus met Paul, & changed him, & Paul went from being a persecutor of Christians to a preacher & apostle of Christ.

Paul was commissioned by Jesus to be a missionary to non-Jewish people (Gentiles). His calling caused a lot of problems in the early church, which was mostly Jewish, among whom many believed that if Gentiles were going to be saved then they had to submit to the Law first and be circumcised. Paul fought hard against this idea so that the Gospel would remain a Gospel of grace & not of works.

The other Jewish apostles- Peter, James, & John, they agreed with Paul & they sent letters to the Gentile churches telling them they didn’t have to conform to the law. That’s all in the background of this text, so when we get to verse 11 & see that Paul gets in Peter’s face, what is that all about? Well, it’s about Peter backsliding, going back to the way he used to act before he knew that God had saved the Gentiles too. What we’re getting in this text is that when you have believed the true Gospel- that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, & in Christ alone; then there really is no going back on that.

Paul confronted Peter when Peter came to Antioch for a visit.Paul recounts that there were some Jewish believers who came from the Jerusalem Church. Before they came, Peter had no problem eating with Gentile believers, but after these Jewish believers came for a visit, Peter slowly but surely withdrew from the fellowship of Gentile believers, in favor of fellowshipping with Jewish believers. We might wonder, what’s the big deal, Peter was Jewish after all, maybe he was just more comfortable with them. But that’s not what’s happening here.

By OT law, Jews were not allowed to eat with Gentiles because Gentiles did not observe the same laws about food. Leviticus 11gives a long list of foods that were clean or unclean, that could or could not be eaten, & even specific ways certain foods had to be prepared.

These laws were part of their Jewish ethnic identity which Gentiles did not have. Acts 10 recounts how God came to Peter in a vision, revealing to him that whatever God calls clean, Peter better not call unclean. This statement referred to the fact that God was about to send Peter to a Gentile family to share the Gospel with them so that they could be saved. After that event, Peter adopted the custom of eating the same kinds of food as Gentiles & eating with them an act of unity in Christ.

It was common in the early church for worship gatherings to include a meal, & it’s obvious from what Paul says here that Peter participated in that meal together with Gentiles. That is, until the Jewish brothers came & Peter separated (excluded) himself from the Gentile believers out of fear of what the Jewish believers might think about him. You ever been there? Changed your behavior & gone backwards, doing the wrong thing because you feared what someone else might think about you?

That’s being a hypocrite- lit. means actor, or stage player. It’s one thing to pretend to believe something you don’t. The height of hypocrisy is to behave in a way that is inconsistent with your beliefs. We’re all guilty of that, & that’s what Peter did. His influence was so great that all the Jewish believers, even Barnabas, played the hypocrite with him. When you believe the true Gospel, there is no going back to your old ways.

2. No Going Back to our Old WORKS. Vss. 14-16

When Paul saw that Peter & the other Jewish believers were not “straightforward about the truth of the Gospel,” he confronted Peter in front of them all. Straightforward- orthopodeo, ortho- straight, podeo from foot- signifies walking; lit. walk straight, meaning to act rightly.

When Paul saw that Peter & the other Jews were not acting rightly in consistency with the true Gospel, he confronted Peter (14)- you are a Jew but don’t live like one by the law, so why are you compelling Gentiles to try to live like Jews? Compel- force, press

There is no indication from the text that Peter was teaching that Gentiles must conform to Jewish dietary laws, but his example said otherwise. As an apostle, what Peter did carried as much weight as what he said. It’s a lesson for all of us in positions of authority. The old adage- do as I say, & not as I do, that doesn’t work.

People will do what we DO, not what we SAY to do. Paul explains the apostolic- being Jews by nature & not Gentile sinners, we know that no one is justified by keeping the law but only by confessing faith in Christ. Being a Jew by nature means they were born into the family of Abraham; it was their ethnic identity to be the people of God. By Jewish standards, anyone not a Jew (i.e., Gentiles) were sinners- people who were not in right relationship with God. Justified-declared righteous.

As Paul articulates the Gospel, he helps us to understand (1)no one is born into a right relationship with God, we are all sinners;(2) no one is made right with God by the “works of the law,” not because there is something wrong with the law, but because there is something wrong with us. Romans 7:12, the law is holy, righteous, & good. The fault is ours because we are sinners, not the law because it is the standard.

Paul explains even Jews have to believe in Jesus to be justified because keeping the law cannot & will not make anyone right with God. This is what makes the Gospel Good News- it’s what God has done to save us, not what we have done to save ourselves.

This is why it made no sense to Paul for Peter & the Jews to go back to their old ways & the old works of the law.

3. No Going Back to our Old WILL. Vss. 17-19

Vs. 17- From the Jewish perspective, being without the law meant being a sinner, so, if Paul preaches that believing in Jesus makes us right with God apart from the law, but being apart from the law makes us a sinner, then does that make Christ a minister of sin? Absolutely not! Christ is not a sinner & never sinned. That’s on us! We’re the sinners!

Vs. 18- If we rebuild the things that were destroyed (thrown down, demolished) by believing in Christ, i.e., our old ways & our works, then we make ourselves transgressors. We become violators of the very law Jesus died to free us from.

Vs. 19- It’s through the law that we died to the law so that we might live to God. Romans 7:9-11, I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me.

Paul was not willing to go back to the very thing that brought him death. The law puts us to death, but Jesus makes us alive!

That’s how Paul can make his famous statement in Galatians 2:20,  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

In these first couple of chapters, we’ve really gotten to know Paul. It’s kind of like we’re watching the movie of his life, and the one playing the lead is Jesus. Christ lives in him.

In the movie of Paul’s life, the part that was most different about him is his transformation from being a person who was self-righteous because he was zealous for the law, to a person who was made righteous through Christ, & he would not go back.

Paul didn’t see how anyone could, after meeting Jesus, really go back to their old ways, their old works, and their old will.

It’s not likely that someone is going to make a movie about our life, but someone is going to play the lead in our life. Is it going to be you, or is it going to be Jesus? Who is playing the lead in your life?

In the movie of your life, what changes for you? What part of your life most clearly shows that you are different, that you are not the same person now as you were before receiving Christ?

And what would be the tagline of your movie? I suggest that if we have really been saved, if we’ve really come to know Christ as our Lord & Savior, if we have really believed the Gospel, then the tagline of our life should be- No Going Back. We’re not going back to our old ways, we’re not going back to our old works, we’re not going back to our old will.