An Epic Church Fight: Galatians 1 & 2

Ever witness or experience a church fight? Ever experience a bad church decision?

• First two chapters of Galatians addresses the leaders of Jerusalem church, then he pivots to the Galatian church in Chapter 3
• Recap Roman authority, pagans, Jewish establishment, Jewish believers, and Gentile Believers Context
  • What was the Jerusalem’s church Decision?
    • Decision: Get circumcised!
• Jerusalem Church Logic

*Its not unfair to say this decision was not made out of love, although Paul attacks the real reason in first two chapters. BUT, We can make poor decisions from poor wisdom but out of righteous intent

• • Church trying to figure out:
    • How do we make Gentile believers appear “Jewish” enough to be convincing to Roman authorities, Pagan believers, and Jewish authorities?
  • Circumcision is an extreme and outward demonstration of sincere faith (Pagans didn’t do things like that for their gods…), thus, this would ease the tensions and confusion of all outsiders
  • Theologically, if gentiles are a fulfilment of the promise God made to Abraham in Genesis 15, then circumcision is still appropriate as circumcision was the sign of the covenant/promise for Abraham’s seed (Will talk about a lot more in coming weeks)
    • Jerusalem churches view: Circumcision not inappropriate, eases tensions, and ultimately, protects gentile believers under Roman exemption and saves possible persecution
    • Paul’s View: A capital H “Heck no!”
• Paul takes this personal
  • Paul brought the gospel to these churches when the Jerusalem church was not as zealous to (Acts 13)
  • After his hard work and personal persecution, then these other teachers come in after preaching a different gospel
  • Part of their argument is that they ACCUSED Paul of being a “People-Pleaser”
    • A HUGE context for this letter is the Psalms of Solomon
      • Part of the Rabbinical library during Paul’s day
      • Spoke to the coming deliverance of Israel once they turn away from their sin and get the “New Exodus” and “New Passover”
      • Paul, and these Jewish teachers would have been well versed in these psalms
      • Three groups of people in the Psalms of Solomon:
        • Righteous
        • Sinners (but by implication, gentile sinners)
        • People Pleasers

*What mattered in Jesus and Paul’s day is not simply how to be a good Jew and understanding the precise meaning of Torah, but what it meant to be a good Jew under Roman rule. “People Pleaser” was a term to describe someone not being a good Jew under captivity

• • • • Rabbinical teaching from Pseudepigrapha, but also in Psalms of Solomon emphasis
        • Two eras

The “Present evil age” that God would deliver Israel from

The “age to come” where God rules and Abraham’s family rules over the earth

Galatians 1

1 Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— ² and all the brothers and sisters^[a] with me,

• Notice: the other teachers are “sent” by someone (Later it says by James), but Paul was not sent by anyone except Christ himself.

To the churches in Galatia:

³ Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, ⁵ to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

• Why did Christ die for us? NOT so we can go to heaven, rather, to rescue us from “the present evil age” and launch the “age to come”

⁶ I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.

• Different Gospel?
  • How you understand the Jesus’ death and resurrection determines how you understand the gospel
  • It appears that the rival message is that Jesus is the fulfillment of a different narrative, like Jesus is an add-on to the established Jewish life, expectation, and community

*Similarly, we can treat Jesus as simply an “add on” to our life, but not transformative. He is a fulfillment of what we need at the time, but not a fulfillment of what the world needs. He upsets everything and everyone because we all possess something needing upsetting.

• • Further, it seems the Jerusalem church was adopting the “Jerusalem agenda” that intended to bolster national morale against Rome, and ironically, by forcing them into a social conformism that would be in the flow of the Roman rule

*But Paul’s larger point is that the Jerusalem church seems more concerned about looking a certain way towards Rome than discipling the young, gentile church in more important matters. Hence, they are the REAL People Pleasers!

• Other possibility is that there was another “gospel” or “good news” (Greek = euangelion) being preached in southern Turkey at this time by the pagans i.e. the gospel of Caesar that celebrates Augustus Caesar’s birthday and ascension to the throne (See Acts 1 where we are to be witnesses to the euangelion of Christ i.e. good news of Caesar’s Parousia VS. good news of Christ’s parousia). Many believers may have turned to Rome’s gospel after hearing they must be circumcised as part of Jesus’ good news

 ⁸ But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! ⁹ As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

Notice the three “pleases” here: Paul is defending the personal attacks

¹¹ I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. ¹² I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.

¹³ For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it. 

• By Judaism, Paul does not mean to set-up “Judaism VS. Christianity,” but is speaking to his previous zeal within the Jewish traditions and pushing the Jewish way of life

¹⁴ I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵ But when God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son in me so that I might preach him among the Gentiles, my immediate response was not to consult any human being. ¹⁷ I did not go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles before I was, but I went into Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus.¹⁸ Then after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to get acquainted with Cephas^[b] and stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ I saw none of the other apostles—only James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ I assure you before God that what I am writing you is no lie.²¹ Then I went to Syria and Cilicia. ²² I was personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³ They only heard the report: “The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they praised God because of me.

• Paul’s Contemplation
  • Notice how he did not consult anybody, but wen to Arabia, then Damascus, then three years later finally went to Jerusalem but only stayed a couple weeks
• Paul’s theological development
  • Paul is saying that he has not been swayed, taught, or brought in any bias to this issue. EVERYTHING he teaches on the gospel comes from God’s grace, who sent him, revealed Himself to him, and gave him the gospel he now teaches from Jesus Himself.
  • He is also emphasizing that he also has no loyalty, nor required any direct discipleship on this matter

Point 1: The Church should be and in the gospel message!

Galatians 2

Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. ² I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. ³ Yet 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 believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. ⁵ We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶ As for those who were held in high esteem—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—they added nothing to my message. ⁷ On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised,^[a] just as Peter had been to the circumcised.^[b] 

• Paul’s Theological Confirmation
  • Paul says he developed this gospel through direct revelation from Christ, and with a lot of mediation and prayer. Now, he states it was AFFIRMED by the esteemed leaders of the day- Peter, James, John
  • He says this is not a new issue, and he raised to the other apostles before and they affirmed his gospel. They ADDED NOTHING TO MY MESSAGE, rather, they RECOGNIZED and ENTRUSTED him to the gentiles and were CONTENT with it
  • Further, he states that in that time, he brought Titus who was uncircumcised and he was not compelled by any of the church leaders to be circumcised

⁸ For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles. ⁹ James, Cephas^[c] and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.

• Maybe, amidst any church fight, or decision, we should pause and ask, “Have we forgotten about the poor in this?”
• The central focus of the Jerusalem church despite the current fight, was taking care of the poor

Point 2: The Church should be unified in people!

¹¹ When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. ¹³ The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

• Barnabas was with Paul when they first brought the gospel to the church in Galatia

Point 3: The Church should be

¹⁴ When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

Point 4: The Church should be united in

¹⁵ “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in^[d] Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

• Here is the big sola…”Sola Fide”…Faith Alone
  • The Greek word Pristis does not simply mean “faith” as in “belief” in something, but carries a heavier annotation of faithfulness
  • More reads, “not justified by the works of the law, but by the faithfulness in Jesus Christ. So we too, have put our faithfulness in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by works of the law…”
• It is no longer about Jew or gentile or circumcised and uncircumcised, its about those who has been crucified and resurrected with Jesus and those who have not
  • These crucified-resurrected people are the children of Abraham. They are family. It is no longer about ethnically based, but Messiah based

*In other words, Paul says if the Messiah has come you should expect everything to be different, if nothing is different than your denying the Messiah has actually come

*Here it is to Paul.. Israel failed to remain Pristis to God and Torah which is why they are in exile. But God promised an inheritance to Abraham, thus, through God’s pristis through Jesus, God’s promise remains steadfast. Thus, we are “justified through Christ’s Pristis and not our own, or by any works of the law or otherwise. Justified by Christ’s faithfulness, and in return, we put our faithfulness to Christ.

¹⁷ “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! ¹⁸ If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.

• Jesus not only re-defined the “family,” but he redefined sin. Jews thought Gentile automatically equals sin. Now, God has shown that if you want to be a messiah-person, you must eat with ALL Messiah-people (poor, odd people, different races, cultures, etc.

¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

• Vs. 19: “For through the fulfillment of the Law I died to the Law”
  • Christ fulfilled the Law, and was cursed and died under the law
  • If Jesus died and rose again, but you must still abide by Torah, then Jesus is not greater than Torah, rather Torah is greater than Jesus
  • Thus, To live for Christ is to live Torah, but where the Torah enslaves Christ frees!
    • Since Christ is greater than Torah, my aim of who and what I follow is Jesus, not Torah. So, when I fall short of Torah, we are no longer under Torah but under God’s grace (See Romans 6 as well)
• I do not set aside the grace of God
  • To suggest we need to “rebuild what God’s grace destroyed” then offends the very grace that saved us!

*If righteousness could be gained through the [ fill with your thing], then Christ died for nothing!

Questions for Guided Discussion

1. The driving force behind Galatians is church unity. Share any examples of church fights or bad church decisions that have divided or destroyed church unity. Was the fight worth it?
2. Most of chapter 1 emphasizes that the church should be united in message. Where is the church united in message? Where is the church not united? What have been those impacts?
3. The “judaizers” seemed to have treated Jesus as an addition to their current Jewish culture, life, and faith. Similarly, many believers treat Jesus as an “add on” to their personal identity but not the summation of their new identity. What does a full understanding of the gospel do to your identity? Is that your identity now?
4. In Vs. 14-24, Paul discusses how he wrestled and contemplated the impacts of the gospel for himself and did not simply adopt someone else’s gospel before going on mission. Have you contemplated the gospel in the same manner, or have you simply adopted and memorized what others have told you?
5. In Galatians 2:10, Paul reflects that the supreme concern for the Jerusalem church was that the poor were not forgotten. Simply, the church should be united in what, who, and how we love. Is that our supreme concern in church, and if not, what concerns do we elevate more? Why?
6. The church should be consistent. In Galatians 2:14, Paul states he directly confronted Peter in his hypocrisy because he was not consistent in his attitude towards gentile believers. What is the difference between changing conviction and hypocrisy? How can you tell the difference?
7. Paul concludes Galatians 1-2 with an emphasis for unity in Christ. What unites the church and Abraham’s family is Jesus and not the Jewish law, race, gender, ethnicity, or any other identity. What identities do we hold onto for ourselves, or do we hold against other people that hinders church unity?
8. Ultimately, Paul communicates that if Jesus really is who He says He is, then we should expect everything to be different. To resist or deny that change means to resist or deny Jesus Himself. In what ways do we resist the radical change Jesus brings? In our personal life? In the church? In society?