Galatians 2:1-10

1 "Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. 2 "I went up according to a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those recognized as leaders. I wanted to be sure I was not running, and had not been running, in vain. 3 "But not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 "This matter arose because some false brothers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us. 5 "But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you. 6 "Now from those recognized as important (what they once were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism)—they added nothing to me. 7 "On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was for the circumcised, 8 "since the one at work in Peter for an apostleship to the circumcised was also at work in me for the Gentiles. 9 "When James, Cephas, and John—those recognized as pillars—acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 "They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I had made every effort to do.” ()

Last time we saw that Paul was taught the gospel by the risen Christ, who called Paul to be an Apostle.

This chapter is still the telling of his autobiography.

Paul did not return to Jerusalem for many years.

When he did, the church leaders recognized his apostleship and

acknowledged the truth of his message.

Paul knew how precious spiritual freedom is.

He knew the price that Jesus paid on the cross to gain it.

He also knew how easy it is to squander that freedom and return to spiritual bondage.

This is why Paul wrote to the Galatians with such urgency.

They believed the gospel of the cross and the empty tomb.

They had gained true spiritual freedom by putting their faith in Christ crucified and Christ risen.

But now they were under the spell of teachers who wanted to add the law of Moses to the gospel of Christ (see ).

As a result, they were in danger of becoming enslaved all over again (see ).

In our text, Paul is recalling a time when these Judaizers secretly entered the church, false brothers, “... had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus in order to enslave us.” ()

Here Paul borrows his vocabulary from the world of espionage.

His opponents were conducting covert operations in the church.

Like undercover agents, they had sneaked into the church to see what the Gentile Christians were up to.

But they were more than informants; they were slave-traders.

They were conspiring to hold the church hostage to the law.

These men are sometimes called “the Judaizers” because they confused Judaism with Christianity.

They taught that Gentiles had to become Jews in order to become Christians.

Their slogan was, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” ().

Since they opposed Paul’s law-free gospel, one might call them “the Torah police.”

But Paul knew them for what they really were: “false brothers” ()—“brothers”

because they claimed to be Christians, but “false”

because they did not follow Christ after all.

Whatever we call these men, they were enemies of freedom, which is why Paul took such a strong stand against them:

5 "But we did not give up and submit to these people for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would be preserved for you.” ()

Paul was a freedom fighter. He knew that people who want to keep their freedom in Christ have to fight for it.

Notice that the gospel he was fighting for is not a truth; it is the truth.

It is the truth that Jesus had in mind when he said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” ().

It is the same truth that Jesus was talking about when He said that He was the truth ().

There is only

one Christ,

one truth, and

one gospel.

Therefore, there is only one ultimate freedom worth fighting to preserve.

From Paul’s example we learn that the price of spiritual freedom is constant vigilance.

It is not enough to share the gospel or even to preach it.

The gospel has to be defended.

It is not easy to defend the truth in an age of lies.

These days people want to make up their own good news.

hey do not want to be told that there is one and only one way of salvation.

They will put up with Christianity only as long as it minds its own business.

Therefore, the church is under great pressure to compromise its message.

But there is one thing we will not give up, and that is the freedom we have in Christ.

Salvation comes only by His death and resurrection.

We will not let anyone add to or subtract anything from his cross and empty tomb.

With Martin Luther, we say that “we can stand the loss of our possessions, our name, our life, and everything else; but we will not let ourselves be deprived of the Gospel, our faith, and Jesus Christ. And that is that.”

The Scriptures teach us that salvation is by faith in Christ alone.

Turn back to Romans with me...

28 "For we conclude that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.” ()

Acts of moral righteousness do not contribute to our standing with God.

Look in chapter 4, 4 "Now to the one who works, pay is not credited as a gift, but as something owed. 5 "But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who declares the ungodly to be righteous, his faith is credited for righteousness.” ()

The problem, therefore, is that faith and works cannot be mixed as means to obtain righteousness and acceptance with God.

They are mutually exclusive. Salvation is a gift from God; that is, salvation is by grace.

It cannot be earned by religious or moral activity because, being sinners by nature, we are incapable of any act which is morally perfect.

Even if we could perform such acts, our failure to do so consistently

would be sufficient to condemn us in the eyes of a holy God.

To teach, therefore, that faith in Christ must be improved by works (of whatever kind) is actually to reject faith as the means of salvation.

To see why this should be, we have to understand what faith is.

It is not a capacity that resides in fallen human nature.

It cannot, therefore, be a response of the natural man to the gospel, as many seem to think.

14 "But the person without the Spirit does not receive what comes from God’s Spirit, because it is foolishness to him; he is not able to understand it since it is evaluated spiritually.” ()

If faith were merely a natural response to the gospel, then faith itself would be a work

(since a ‘work’ is anything than can be done by the natural man without the power of God).

Genuine faith is the capacity to see (or understand) the invisible realities of God. "Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.

It is imparted to a man or woman by the Spirit of God as part of the process of regeneration. ‘By grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God’ ().

Read together .

What was obtained? (v12)

What a mediator? (v15a) What’s Christ the mediator of? (New Covenant).

What for? “so that those who are called might receive the promise of the eternal inheritance...” (v15b)

The teaching of the Judaizers threatened the gospel at its foundations.

Paul’s opponents were not just adding human works to the work of Christ as means of salvation, though that was serious enough.

They were denying the very existence of the new covenant in Christ.

Seeing only the old covenant of works, they believed that salvation could only be found under that covenant.

Hence it was logical for them to demand that Gentile believers be brought within the Mosaic covenant,

by circumcision and obedience to its requirements.

This, Paul tells us, is to deny Christ and sweep aside the gospel of God’s grace.

Those who embrace this teaching, therefore, are estranged from Christ and fallen from grace.

The apostle will not yield an inch to such teaching.