How wonderful are those who preach the Gospel of God’s peace created out of His love for His creation. John 3:16
Galatians 4:8-9 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?
Before Christianity the masses were pagan gentiles. They followed a plethora of gods and goddesses made of stone. They had no knowledge of the God of Israel and Scripture. Paul introduced them to the God of creation. Now they were known by God and the freedom that only comes in Him. Not under the law but under grace.
Acts 15:1 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.” 2 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. 3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren. 4 And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them. 5 But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
The Jewish believers in Christ wanted to make works not grace the way to salvation. They insisted that the gentile believers become Jews and keep all of their laws in order to be saved. They voided the work of the Cross and the life given up for them as sufficient for their salvation. The hidden mystery which Paul was given by Jesus was that “ALL”, without the law, who believe in Him could be saved.
Acts 15:6-11 Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. 7 And when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them: “Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, 9 and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.”
After coming before the Apostles and telling them everything that God had done in the Gentiles they agreed that Holy Spirit was working in them. They conceded that to deny His work in them would be to go against His plan of salvation for all of His creation who accept Jesus by faith.
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
Religion and its traditions aare hard to overcome. Satan keeps a lot of good people blind to the freedom that is in salvation. We are saved in the long suffering mercy of God in the gift of Jesus who died for the sins of the world.
Galatians 2:2-10 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. 3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 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), 5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 6 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. 7 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 8 (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), 9 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. 10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
God in His love for His creation overlooked no person and showed no partiality by offering up the life of His only begotten Son, Jesus, for all who believe. No greater love exists nor is there any thing else needed for salvation. John 3:16-18 Carla
Because of a revelation attests to Paul’s motivation for traveling to Jerusalem. He was responding to God’s direction, not human invitation. He was concerned with aligning his ministry to the Gentiles with the work of the Jerusalem apostles. In essence, he was not the rogue minister that his accusers claimed he was. Paul explained the gospel he preached to the gentiles so the Jerusalem leaders could give approval of his ministry. The Greek word anethemēn (“set before” or “laid out”) means to explain or make clear.
Peter, James, and John (Galatians 2:9) were men considered influential because they were among the original apostles who ministered with Jesus during His earthly life and were key leaders in the early church. Paul went to the “most important” leaders for confirmation of his gospel message. This imagery is about faithfully living the gospel message (Philipppians 2:16; 3:12–14; 2 Timothy 4:7). In this case, Paul hoped that the Jerusalem leaders would prove him to be faithful by approving of his law-free gospel. If the leaders had required Gentiles to be circumcised, then Paul’s gospel would have been discredited. Paul’s account of his faithfulness to the gospel serves as the basis of a later appeal he makes to the Galatians (Galatians 5:7).
Since Titus was Greek, he would not have been circumcised. His presence at this meeting supports Paul’s claim that he fully disclosed his gospel message to the apostles (verse 2). The question about whether non-Jewish believers needed to be circumcised (for salvation or acceptance into the Christian community) already had been resolved; hence, the apostles would not have compelled Titus to be circumcised.
False brothers were individuals likely suspicious of Paul because of his law-free gospel. Paul refers to them in order to draw a parallel between his story and the circumstances of the Galatians. The Judaizers who have infiltrated the Galatians represent as much threat to the gospel as the false brothers Paul mentions here. That they might enslave us Indicates why the false brothers spied on the meeting between Paul and the leaders. In mentioning slavery, Paul anticipates the central theme of the following section (3:23–4:11). In contrast to the efforts of the false brothers, Paul’s gospel brings freedom from legalism (5:1).
Paul intends for his response to the false brothers to serve as a model for the Galatians in their present situation. This phrase refers to the integrity of the message of the gospel and its implications for Christian living (verse 14). In particular, Paul seems to have in mind the truth that the gospel frees believers from the law and its requirements, including dietary laws and circumcision (verses 1–10; 5:2–6).
For Paul, the truth of the gospel is more than an abstract concept; it is a new life of faith and love in Christ (5:6). Paul recognizes the authority of the Jerusalem leaders, but does not grant them special status on account of their role in the early ministry of Jesus. The false brothers may have considered the Jerusalem leaders to have great authority because of this association. Paul insists that the Jerusalem leaders approved of the gospel he preached to the Gentiles (non-Jewish people) without any objections. This statement is confirmed by the fact that they did not require Titus, a Gentile, to be circumcised.
Peter was recognized as the apostle to the Jews. The leaders of the church in Jerusalem recognized that Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles was just as valid as Peter’s ministry to the Jews. Nonetheless, Peter did preach the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10). Some people had problems with Peter’s ministry to a Gentile named Cornelius—Luke calls them “those of the circumcision” (Acts 11:2). But once Peter presented the reasons for his ministry to them, they recognized that God likewise granted the Gentiles repentance leading to life (Acts 11:18). This metaphor indicates the supportive and integral roles that James, Peter, and John fulfilled as apostles in the early church.
The right hand of fellowship is an act that indicates the acceptance of Paul’s apostleship and gospel message by the apostles in Jerusalem, as well as the recognition of their partnership as ministers. If the Galatians were formerly concerned that Paul might be a rogue apostle, they no longer needed to be. Paul had full support of the “pillars” of Jerusalem all along—the Jerusalem apostles came to recognize that every apostle has their own area of ministry.
The leaders likely encouraged Paul to help the economically impoverished believers in Jerusalem. As Paul continued to focus on his role as the apostle to the Gentiles, they did not want him to forget the Jewish believers in need. The thing that I was eager to do expresses Paul’s shared desire to contribute to the poor in the Jerusalem church. Paul frequently mentions in his letters his effort to raise funds among the Gentiles to support the poor Jewish believers in Jerusalem (Romans 15:25–28; 1 Corinthians 16:1–4; 2 Cor 8:1–6). Paul also knew that remembering the poor represented a further opportunity to unite Gentile and Jewish believers (2 Corinthians 8:6). Faithlife Study Bible
Paul to have communicated with these leaders privately does not mean he considered altering his gospel, as the following section clearly shows (verses 3–10). In vain does not reflect on the effectiveness of Paul’s gospel, but rather on his efforts to maintain a unity in the church without sacrificing “the truth of the gospel” (verse 5).
Titus was a “test-case” Gentile. The term circumcised introduces a central topic of the Jewish false teachers, one which Paul addresses repeatedly in Galatians (5:2, 3, 6). Unlike Timothy, whom Paul had circumcised because Timothy’s mother was Jewish, Titus was not circumcised. Circumcising him would have been a sign to all other Gentiles that following Jewish law was required for a person to become a Christian. As Paul explains in this letter, that would be a rejection of the Good News that salvation is God’s gift to those who believe in His Son.
False brethren apparently indicates that although these people passed themselves off convincingly as Christians, there was reason to view their profession as a sham. These pseudo-Christians did not announce their purpose, which was to curtail Christian liberty (5:1, 13) and to bring Paul and his converts into the bondage of Jewish legalism (6:12–15). These false brethren maintained that one had to keep the Jewish law in order to be saved. They refused to confess that salvation was God’s gift through faith alone. For this reason, Paul would not recognize them as genuine Christians.
Paul’s message about the truth of the gospel had never given way to the message of the false teachers, whether in Jerusalem (verses 1–10), Syrian Antioch (verses 11–14), or Galatia. The Galatian Christians could trust Paul’s consistent advocacy of his gospel, which was revealed by God (1:11, 12).
While Paul recognized the leadership roles of James, Cephas (Peter), and John (verse 9) as “pillars” of the Jerusalem church, he pointed out that they were in no way superior to him in their understanding of the gospel. The other apostles were satisfied with Paul’s understanding of the gospel. The NKJV Study Bible
Galatians 2:11–14 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…
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
Galatians 2:1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me.
2 Corinthians 12:11 I have become a fool in boasting; you have compelled me. For I ought to have been commended by you; for in nothing was I behind the most eminent apostles, though I am nothing.
Galatians 1:16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
Each one of us carries within us that divine spark. The image of our Creator.
And to take heart in the good news: love (like light), always spills to the world around us.
“When we reach out in compassion and love to other people, we are filling the space that surrounds them—and us—with love. We are creating a space of love. We are rooting ourselves in love and hospitality.” (Thank you, Macrina Wiederkehr)
So, if someone asks this week, “What do you do?”
You can answer, “I make space.”
We make space to see.
We make space to remember.
We make space to be seen.
We make space to give wholeheartedly.
We make space to welcome.
We make space to offer comfort or reprieve or hope.
We make space to be Sabbath (sanctuary—self-care and self-love), in a world of disquiet, disruption and misgiving. Sabbath Moments
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