God with us - Week 26: Galatians 2:20
42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.
Acts 2:42
Doesn’t it sound lovely?
The early church gathered together, sharing meals, praying, and devoting themselves to each other. It’s such an idyllic vision of what church should be. Fast forward a few years, and Paul’s letters reveal that things weren’t quite so tickety boo in the early church. (That’s probably the only time I’ll use the phrase “tickety boo” in a blog. You’re welcome!)
Each of Paul’s letters addresses a range of issues relating to the church, but the Galatians really cop for it as it’s clear he is not impressed by their “Jesus and” mentality. In this letter, we also see Paul take on the big guns as he challenges Peter’s behaviour concerning the Gentile believers.
Here’s a quick catch-up!
When the Christian church began, it mainly consisted of Jewish believers who still attended the synagogue and largely followed Jewish traditions. Paul came along, and God called him to preach to the Gentiles. As the population of non-Jewish believers increased, things got a little tricky as they didn’t follow Jewish law. Paul maintained that all were saved by grace and pushed back against those who called for the Gentile believers to follow Jewish traditions (including circumcision. Ouch!). There was a big showdown in Acts 15 where Peter confirmed that following Jewish law was not required for salvation. Peter asked the council:
10-11 “So why are you now trying to out-god God, loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors and crushed us, too? Don’t we believe that we are saved because the Master Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he did those from beyond our nation?
Acts 15:10-11 (MSG)
It all sounds great, but we find in Galatians 2 that Peter’s actions don’t match up with his words.
Paul wrote:
11-13 Later, when Peter came to Antioch, I had a face-to-face confrontation with him because he was clearly out of line. Here’s the situation. Earlier, before certain persons had come from James, Peter regularly ate with the non-Jews. But when that conservative group came from Jerusalem, he cautiously pulled back and put as much distance as he could manage between himself and his non-Jewish friends. That’s how fearful he was of the conservative Jewish clique that’s been pushing the old system of circumcision. Unfortunately, the rest of the Jews in the Antioch church joined in that hypocrisy so that even Barnabas was swept along in the charade.
Galatians 2:11-13
This wasn’t the first time Paul was outspoken, but you can hear the passion and frustration throughout this letter. He couldn’t see sense in Christians rejecting the freedom offered by Jesus through his sacrifice for a life of bondage following the law. Even today, it’s so easily done as we create man-made rules to follow on top of what Jesus has done for us.
As a leader, Peter fell into the trap of saying one thing and living another as he felt pressured by certain voices within the church. Even Barnabas, the encourager, got caught up in this faulty way of thinking.
This way of living sent mixed messages to the new believers:
“You are saved by grace alone, but you also need to (fill in the blank) to be part of the body of Christ, to pray with us, to share with us, to belong.”
In our verse for this week, Paul took a stand.
19-21 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.
Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.
Galatians 2:19-21 (MSG)
I’m saved by grace through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Nothing more, nothing less.
Jesus is enough.
There’s no and!
Kay Moorby
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