The Battle for Freedom

Introduction

Paul was around in an age where they didn’t have the Bible, but everything was unfolding for them real time.

Naturally, disagreements about what is true and what is untrue was invading the church. Now, we should be a little more lenient with some of these churches then that we are with current churches. We have the Scripture, and we know what God has commanded of us…but where we are in the Bible is at the origin of the New Testament church, and satan is doing everything he can to stop it from blossoming the way that God wants it to blossom.

But don’t think that satan doesn’t do that today. Satan still uses people to get in the way of what God is so obviously doing. But to prevent from happening in this age what took place in the church of Galatia, we are going to have to Battle for Freedom just as Paul did.

Paul was dealing with people that were coming in to the Gentile churches that he planted for the purpose of creating another sect of Judaism. Not for getting the right doctrine, not for implementing the best gospel growth strategies, but for keeping the people oppressed and ignorant of the freedom that they had in Jesus.

If the church was going to continue to grow as Jesus commissioned it, it was going to need to thrive in the freedom of Jesus Christ; there are three things that are necessary to preserve the freedom we have in Jesus.

I. Submissive Cooperation

God set the standard for this. He is the Triune God that exists in three persons; each of those persons working in harmony, never violating themselves by getting out of order or failing to be in submission to one another.

Paul has not met with the Twelve disciples during the first fourteen years of his Christian life. Instead, he was personally being discipled by Jesus in Arabia.

Galatians 1:16–17 NKJV

to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

After this was done, the only disciples that he met were Peter. It just so happened that he met James while he was there.

Galatians 1:18–19 NKJV

Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.

Fourteen years after this meeting, we land here in the first verse of Galatians 2, and Paul has returned to Jerusalem to address some disputes about the Gospel message.

Why couldn’t Paul just point them to book, chapter, verse?

Simple! Because book, chapter, and verse was not available yet, and the decisions made were done by the authority of the Apostles under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. Thus, we find this cooperation between Paul and these other Apostles unfolding here.

When it comes to the strength of the Church, there must be cooperation according to how God has established things.

A. Cooperating Individually

Galatians 2:1–2 NKJV

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.

There was an impression out there that Paul was subject to the authority of the other Apostles, and so he gives the timeframe of fourteen years to show that his ministry and his calling was something given to him by God and not something granted to him by men - the rumor was that Paul had to go back to Jerusalem to get approval

The reason that Paul returned wasn’t to get approval, but it was to address this issue of legalism by having the Apostles to the Jews settle this debate. The debate was, “Do Christians have to be circumcised to be saved?” Paul’s answer was obviously, “no!”. But there were false teachers there arguing with him and demanding to meet with the Apostles in Jerusalem.

Acts 15:1–2 NKJV

And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.

Paul was under no obligation to go…but he did for one reason.

1. “I went up by revelation” (v. 2)

He didn’t concede to the complaints of those people trying to preach a false gospel and stir up trouble, he simply did was God commanded him, because God is the ultimate authority.

When it comes to cooperation, we are to cooperate individually to the will of God in every area.

2. “I might have run in vain” (v. 2)

Paul’s mission assigned to him by God was to preach the grace of God. This means the gospel was to be free from the requirement of the Jewish traditions to people who weren’t Jews.

Paul, in his mind, was concerned about the cooperation of these other Apostles in the will of God. The will of God was that we be free from things like circumcision and having to abstain from certain foods.

Not that it would have changed his message that we are free from the law, but that it would have hindered this message and the church would have still been divided between Jew and Gentile. Paul preached a message of reconciliation. So, not only did he desire to reconcile the lost to the Lord, he desired to reconcile the Jew and the Gentile. A major blow could have been dealt here that would have been damaging to the church.

In every potentially damaging situation, the people must be in submissive cooperation to God’s will.

B. Cooperating Sacrificially

Galatians 2:3–5 NKJV

Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage), to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

Here is Titus, and he is Paul’s evidence that the Holy Spirit has filled those who are not totally embracing Jewish traditions. Since Titus was a Gentile, he would not have been circumcised.

It seems from v. 4 that some of the false teachers wormed their way into the Jerusalem council and demanded that Titus follow through on this ritual, which didn’t happen according to v. 5. Paul says that he would have never subjected Titus to this kind of bullying and intimidation. (1) because we cannot operate based on fear. (2) It was the will of God that we be totally free from the law.

Who sacrificed then?

It was Timothy that made the sacrifice to be circumcised so that he could effectively minister to the Jewish people. Timothy took on the unnecessary burden of living like a Jew so that people could come to know Jesus.

It was the Twelve Apostles that sacrificed their pride to say, “We are going to submit to the will of God even if it goes against our desires.”

Peter stood and testified that the Gentiles were saved, not by circumcision, but by grace through faith.

And Titus, well, he just had to stand there while people berated him while he’s thinking, “Paul, is this really worth it? Why don’t I just be circumcised and lay this burden to rest?” But there are some battles worth sacrificing popularity for, and this was one of them.

C. Cooperating Collectively

Galatians 2:6–10 NKJV

But from those who seemed to be something—whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man—for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.

When Paul was obviously called to the Gentile nations, the Twelve Apostles didn’t see it as an us versus them scenario, even when Paul ministered to the Jews. What they did is they respected the calling that God placed on the life of Paul, and they let him continue his work without interference.

When the Holy Spirit of God is obviously moving, when people are coming to know Jesus Christ as their savior, when the saints are growing deeper in their faith, we shouldn’t stand in the way of God, but we should cooperate with Him instead.

1. Paul’s Disagreement

We can know that Paul stood on his own authority from God and wasn’t swayed by the demands of men because of what James says the Gentiles ought to be doing versus what Paul accepted.

Acts 15:19–20 NKJV

Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

In v. 10 he recounts that they wanted him to remember the poor which he agreed to; that the Gentiles should not be sexually immoral, which he agreed to; but when it comes to things strangled, meat that still contains blood, or meat sacrificed to idols, Paul says that we have freedom to do that.

Our obligation to cooperate with the directions of man only goes as far as Scripture commands. Anything beyond Scripture is opinion and doesn’t align with the will of God.

II. Healthy Confrontation

Conflict and confrontation can be the end of things if it is not addressed correctly. Hence the term “healthy conflict”. Not all conflict is bad, but some conflict is necessary if there is ever going to be true freedom. How that conflict and confrontation is managed and recieved makes all the difference in the life of the church.

What we see in this section is the retelling of a conflict and confrontation between Peter and Paul. What was this confrontation about?

Paul was confronting decisions made out of fear, he was confronting decisions made out of favoritism, and he was confronting Peter so that Peter would return to an embrace of the gospel.

A. Confront Decisions Based on Fear

Galatians 2:11–13 NKJV

Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; for 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. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.

Paul was a minister to the Gentile people and assured them that there was no racism that existed in the church. He assured them that the Apostles to the Jews were ready to accept them just as they accepted the Jews. He probably even mentioned that Peter was actually the first one to bring the gospel to the Gentiles!

And, for a while, things were going great! There was Peter and he was eating with these Gentiles just like Paul said…until the Jews arrived. Then all of a sudden Peter began to give them the cold shoulder, and he didn’t want anything to do with them!

Why did he do that?

The Bible says that he did it because he feared those who were of the circumcision.

Decisions based on fear are decisions not made in the will of God; And, when leaders make fear based decisions, other people are pulled into their hypocrisy.

2 Timothy 1:7 NKJV

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

What does fear cause?

1. Fear Causes a Lack of Power

When we base our decisions on fear, we neglect the power of God.

2. Fear Causes a Lack of Love

When we fear man more than God, we stop loving those that need love the most and we start catering to people who are void of the Holy Spirit.

Instead of extending the warm hand of fellowship to the new Christians and those who need salvation, we return to the place where everything becomes about our desires and our self-image.

3. Fear Causes a Lack of Reason

Decisions based on fear always end in disaster because they are made in haste and not with any meaning or purpose.

Don’t we have to obey God immediately? Yes! But God doesn’t make decisions in haste, we can trust His instruction. It’s just that when we make fear based decisions instead of decisions of a sound mind, those decisions will fail.

Proverbs 21:5 NKJV

The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.

Peter made a decision based on fear, not on the power of God, love for the lost, or in a sound mind, and Paul confronted him.

B. Confront Decisions Based on Favoritism

Galatians 2:14 NKJV

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?

Not only did Peter allow his fear to drive him and others into hypocrisy, he committed another sin by allowing favoritism to get in the way of the advancement of the gospel.

Because Peter showed favoritism towards certain men, he was unable to be straightforward about the truth of the gospel.

The truth of the gospel was that people weren’t bound by the Laws of Moses, and even Peter lived that way, which is what Paul is talking about.

“If you are a Jew who lives like a Gentile and not like a Jew, then why are you saying to the Gentiles that they need to live like Jews?”

James 2:1–4 NKJV

My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, “You sit here in a good place,” and say to the poor man, “You stand there,” or, “Sit here at my footstool,” have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

James 2:8–9 NKJV

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Favoritism in the church always leads to hypocrisy and the hinderance of the Gospel.

C. Embrace the Gospel

Galatians 2:15–16 NKJV

We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 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.

Confrontation in the church is healthy and it is necessary when it is a gospel issue. This is why we see Paul confronting Peter.

He didn’t confront Peter for any other quirks that Peter may have had, but he confronted Peter when he played the hypocrite, and ignored the truth of the gospel out of fear and favoritism.

III. Bold Consecration

The word sanctification means to “make holy”. Sanctification is primarily the inner work of the Holy Spirit. It’s not something that we can do, but something that God has done for us. Heb 10:10

Hebrews 10:10 NKJV

We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

We know that God has done His part in sanctification! But we must do our part in consecration!

What should we be consecrate “set apart” ourselves for?

A. Consecrated for Freedom

Galatians 2:17–18 NKJV

“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! For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.

1. Christ is Superior (v. 17)

The Jews were making this case: “To break the Law of Moses is sinful. If Jesus’s grace gives the excuse to break the Law of Moses; then Jesus is a minister of sin.”

But Jesus is not someone who came to do away with the Law of Moses, but He simply fulfilled the Law of Moses.

Matthew 5:17 NKJV

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

When Jesus says “fulfill”, it means that He came as the propitiation for sin. He came to complete in us what we could never complete in ourselves. What could we not complete in ourselves? Perfection.

Therefore, Christ is not a law breaker, but He is the Law and superior to the Law.

2. The Law is Powerless (v. 18)

Paul is saying here that this entire ministry of grace is based on freedom from being under God’s law. But, he says, “If I do my part in building that up again, I am a transgressor.” - I am a hypocrite.

B. Consecrated for Truth

Galatians 2:19–20 NKJV

For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 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.

We are to live, not according to our own desires which are sinful, but we are live as people set apart for the truth in dedication and in honor to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wuest’s Word Studies in the Greek New Testament 3. The Exegesis of the Letter

When Paul says that he has died to a thing he means that he has ceased to have any relation to it, so that it has no further claim upon or control over him

When we live by the power of legalism, and we live by the power of favoritism and fear, it brings a double punishment to us.

Legalism calls us a sinner because we cannot live up to its standard, and it punishes us for being a sinner because all legalism can do is condemn, it cannot build.

In our lives, we are either going to be enslaved to sin, to the law which causes sin, to our own selfish ambition which is sin, or to Christ, which is where freedom is found.

John 8:36 NKJV

Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.

C. Consecrated for Christ

Galatians 2:21 NKJV

I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”

If righteousness and spiritual blessings are reduced to man made traditions, then Jesus Christ died for nothing.

Conclusion

The bottom line is that we have a world of sinners to reach:

(1) We cannot be distracted by pride but we must cooperate in the way that God has orchestrated.

(2) We cannot base our decisions on fear or on favoritism but out of allegiance to the gospel.

(3) We must respond to God by embracing freedom, truth, and the gospel of Jesus Christ.