A return Visit

Galatians 2:1-6

Fourteen years between visits, and things were very different on the return visit to Jerusalem.  This first visit he was known as Saul, the man who hunted down Christians, and on the second visit he was Paul the apostle.  On the second visit we have this account from Galatians 2:1-2,“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.”

A wise person will always seek council, and it seems that Paul, Barnabas, and Titus met first with James, Peter and John, before the Jerusalem Council, in that it would have been a larger group and more public.  Now the issue at hand was that some men came down from Judea to the churches of Galatia and this is Paul’s account of it in Acts 15:1-2, “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.”  This is best described as religion at it’s best, or “Jesus plus” and the plus, makes a statement, Jesus dying for “Sin” was not sufficient, it requires action on man’s part.  I’ve heard there is a term for that kind of theology; it is called baloney, hogwash, and nonsense.

As we look verses 3-9, “But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery—to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”

Understand that some false brothers hear of the Council and crashed the party, trying to add the Jesus plus.  You will also notice that none of the leaders required Titus to be circumcised, one writer calls that Paul’s test case.  We also see Paul and Barnabas taking on these false brothers at the Jerusalem Council and Paul was not showing disrespect to James, Peter, and John, but he was making a point that at every turn the Judaizers had used their names trying to promote the Jesus plus doctrine.  Nor do we have Paul saying there is one gospel for the Gentiles and another for the Jews, but he is proclaiming that, like Peter being call to the Jews, he has been called to the Gentiles.  And the last thing we should see is the right-hand of fellowship, very common sign of agreement. 

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice