Galatians Chapter 2 Study
Galatians Chapter 2, Verses 1-10
“Paul Shares His Gospel With the Jerusalem Apostles!”
[10-4-20]
Review: “Paul Argues For the Truth of His Gospel!”
Galatians 1:10-24) [KJV] For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
Check out our Galatians Chapter 1 Study Guide here.
Paul’s 6 Arguments In Defense of His Message and Ministry:
{thanks to the Believer’s Bible Commentary}:
FIRST ARGUMENT [vs. 11-12]: His Gospel did not originate with man, but rather, was a revelation from God.
SECOND ARGUMENT [vs. 13-14]: His failure to include the Law in his Gospel was not a result of ignorance concerning the Law.
THIRD ARGUMENT [vs. 15-17]: Paul tells his readers that he was sharing this Gospel for three years [next verse] before he conferred with any other Gospel preachers. His point being, he didn’t receive his Gospel from other preachers.
FOURTH ARGUMENT [vs. 18-20]: His first trip to Jerusalem lasted only fifteen days, and he only met with Peter and James, the Lord’s brother.
NOTE: Paul spent his time in the regions of Syria and Cilicia after leaving Jerusalem. The Jewish Christian churches had never met him at that time. However, they had heard that the one who used to persecute them was now preaching the very faith he once tried to destroy. They glorified God for him.
FIFTH ARGUMENT [vs. 21-24; 2:1-2]: During this visit to Jerusalem, either fourteen years after his conversion, or fourteen years after his first trip to Jerusalem, which would have made this trip seventeen years after his conversion, the Jerusalem apostles recognized that Paul’s Gospel was the authentic Word of God.
SIXTH ARGUMENT [2:11]: His sixth argument for the authenticity of his Gospel is the fact that he rebuked Peter “to the face” when “he was to be blamed.”
This Week’s Lesson: “Paul Shares His Gospel With the Jerusalem Apostles!”
Galatians 2:1-10) [KJV] Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.
NOTE: Commentators disagree rather this fourteen years was fourteen years after his conversion, or fourteen years after his first trip to Jerusalem as a believer, which would mean that it occurred seventeen years after his conversion.
2) And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
“It is commonly supposed that Paul here refers to the visit which he made as recorded in Acts 15. The circumstances mentioned are substantially the same; and the object which he had at that time in going up was one whose mention was entirely pertinent to the argument here. He went up with Barnabas to submit a question to the assembled apostles and elders at Jerusalem, in regard to the necessity of the observance of the laws of Moses. Some persons who had come among the Gentile converts from Judea had insisted on the necessity of being circumcised in order to be saved” [Barnes].
QUESTION: What did Paul mean when he wrote, “lest by any means I should run, or had run in vain”?
**“Probably it was the fear that an unnecessary conflict with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem leaders might damage his reputation and ministry in some way” [Guzik].
ANSWER: Paul knew that God had given him this revelation of the Gospel; he dreaded the thought that perhaps the Jerusalem Apostles would disagree with him.
3) But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:
QUESTION: This is an important fact; why?
ANSWER: The Judaizers were insisting that every male Gentile who comes to Jesus absolutely had to be circumcised in order for them to get to Heaven. After the Jerusalem Apostles listened privately to Pau as he shared with them his Gospel that he preached, they agreed that Paul’s Gospel was indeed the true Gospel! Consequently, those Jerusalem Apostles didn’t believe it to be necessary for the Gentile Christian, Titus, to be circumcised.
NOTE: If the Jerusalem Apostles had agreed with the Judaizers then all Christian males around the world would have to submit to circumcision. Paul stood fast for the Truth he knew God had given him. The Jerusalem Apostles stood with Paul! God stood with them.
4) And that because of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage:
([TLB) Even that question wouldn’t have come up except for some so-called “Christians” there-false ones, really-who came to spy on us and see what freedom we enjoyed in Christ Jesus, as to whether we obeyed the Jewish laws or not. They tried to get us all tied up in their rules, like slaves in chains.
([NLT) Even that question wouldn’t have come up except for some so-called Christians there — false ones, really — who came to spy on us and see our freedom in Christ Jesus. They wanted to force us, like slaves, to follow their Jewish regulations.
QUESTION: What did Paul call these Judaizers?
ANSWER: He called them “false brethren” [KJV], “so called Christians” [TLB, NLT].
QUESTION: What were these Judaizers trying to do?
ANSWER: They were trying to do what all legalists try to do; they were trying to get us to marry Law to Grace. Paul insists it has to be either one or the other [Rom. 11:6].
5) To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
QUESTION: Why did Paul travel to Jerusalem to share the Gospel he preached with the Jerusalem Apostles?
ANSWER: If he were to succeed at keeping the Gospel God delivered to him pure, then he needed the Jerusalem Apostles on board with him.
QUESTION: What was the Good News Paul discovered on that trip?
ANSWER: He didn’t have to convince the Apostles in Jerusalem; they listened, they readily agreed! It certainly helped that God had shared this Truth with Peter also [Acts 10:9-20].
6) But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man’s person:) for they who seemed to be somewhat in conference added nothing to me:
([NIV) As for those who seemed to be important-whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance-those men added nothing to my message.
“But from those who seemed to be something: Paul knew that in his day, there were leaders of high reputation – “famous” Christians, if you will. But they did not overly impress or intimidate Paul; whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man” [Guzik].
7) But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
8) (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
QUESTION: What is the point here?
ANSWER: These discerning Apostles in Jerusalem recognized that God was at work in Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles to the same measure that He was at work in Peter’s ministry to the Jews.
9) And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
10) Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
QUESTION: They wanted Paul to remember those suffering in poverty?
“Paul certainly did remember the poor in Jerusalem; he put a lot of effort towards gathering a contribution among the Gentile churches for the sake of the saints in Jerusalem” [Guzik].
Galatians Chapter 2, Verses 11-16
“If You Believe It, Then Walk It!”
[10-11-20]
Review: “Paul Shares His Gospel With the Jerusalem Apostles!”
Galatians 2:1-10) [KJV] Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.
2) And I went up by revelation, and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.
NOTE: Paul knew that God had given him this revelation of the Gospel; he dreaded the thought that perhaps the Jerusalem Apostles would disagree with him.
3) But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised:
NOTE: The Judaizers were insisting that every male Gentile who comes to Jesus absolutely had to be circumcised in order for them to get to Heaven. After the Jerusalem Apostles listened privately to Pau as he shared with them his Gospel that he preached, they agreed that Paul’s Gospel was indeed the true Gospel! Consequently, those Jerusalem Apostles didn’t believe it to be necessary for the Gentile Christian, Titus, to be circumcised.
4) ([NLT) Even that question wouldn’t have come up except for some so-called Christians there — false ones, really — who came to spy on us and see our freedom in Christ Jesus. They wanted to force us, like slaves, to follow their Jewish regulations.
NOTE: Paul called these Judaizers “false brethren” [KJV], “so called Christians” [TLB, NLT]. They were trying to do what all legalists try to do; they were trying to get us to marry Law to Grace. Paul insists it has to be either one or the other [Rom. 11:6].
5) To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.
6) ([NIV) As for those who seemed to be important-whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not judge by external appearance-those men added nothing to my message.
7) But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;
8) (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
NOTE: These discerning Apostles in Jerusalem recognized that God was at work in Paul’s ministry to the Gentiles to the same measure that He was at work in Peter’s ministry to the Jews.
9) And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.
10) Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same which I also was forward to do.
NOTE: They wanted Paul to remember those suffering in poverty.
“Paul certainly did remember the poor in Jerusalem; he put a lot of effort towards gathering a contribution among the Gentile churches for the sake of the saints in Jerusalem” [Guzik].
This Week’s Lesson: “If You Believe It, Then Walk It!”
Galatians 2:11-16) [KJV] But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12) For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
QUESTION: What is the reason that Paul rebukes Peter to his face?
ANSWER: Peter was the first disciple to preach to the Gentiles. In Acts, chapter 10, Peter falls into a trance and God shows him a vision. He sees what looks like a giant sheet being lowered by its four corners, and that sheet is full of unclean, according to Jewish Law, animals. God told Peter to rise up to kill and eat those animals. Peter, being the good Jew he was, replied, “Never, God, I have never eaten unclean animals. God responded to him, “Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean” [GNB]. Then God used that vision to prepare Peter to go to preach to Cornelius and his household. They were Gentiles. They became the first Gentile Christians.
QUESTION: Why am I sharing this story from Acts?
ANSWER: Peter knew better than to react the way that he reacted when he heard that some men sent by James down to Antioch to see how he was doing were in town.
QUESTION: What did he do?
ANSWER: He hurried and separated himself from those Gentiles who he had been eating with because Jews were not supposed to eat with non-Jews.
NOTE: For some reason Peter feared what these men would report to James.
13) And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
QUESTION: What does this show us?
ANSWER: When we react badly we can affect other Christians to follow in our stupidity.
14) [TLB] When I saw what was happening and that they weren’t being honest about what they really believed and weren’t following the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Though you are a Jew by birth, you have long since discarded the Jewish laws; so why, all of a sudden, are you trying to make these Gentiles obey them?”
QUESTION: What hypocrisy does Peter show in this passage?
ANSWER: When he joins Paul in Antioch, like Paul, he eats with the believing Gentiles, excepting them as fellow children of God. But when men sent by James, the head of the Jerusalem church, come down to join them Peter separates himself from the Gentile believers.
15) We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
16) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
QUESTION: Why did Paul mention to Peter, and to his readers, that Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and the other Jews who followed Peter’s example, were born Jews, not Gentiles?
ANSWER: Jews felt that they were special because they had the Law. Paul taught in the first 3 chapters of Romans:
- That the Jews were right about the Gentiles; they were sinners.
- That having the Law didn’t make anyone righteous; obeying it did.
- That the Jews didn’t obey the Law, and were, therefore convicted by the Law to be sinners.
- That, consequently, all were sinners, Jew and Gentile alike.
NOTE: The Law didn’t make them right with God, or they would have never turned to Christ for their justification. And, if the Law couldn’t justify them, then why would they want the non-Jews to seek justification from the Law?
NOTE: Peter had forgotten the very things he said in Jerusalem when Paul’s doctrine was being examined:
Acts 15:7-11) [KJV] And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men [and] brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8) And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as [he did] unto us;
9) And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10) Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon 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, even as they.
Galatians Chapter 2, Verses 17-21
“If The Law Could Save Us Then Jesus Died For Nothing!”
[10-18-20]
Review: “If You Believe It, Then Walk It!”
Galatians 2:11-16) [KJV] But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
12) For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
NOTE: Peter was the first disciple to preach to the Gentiles. In Acts, chapter 10, Peter falls into a trance and God shows him a vision. He sees what looks like a giant sheet being lowered by its four corners, and that sheet is full of unclean, according to Jewish Law, animals. God told Peter to rise up to kill and eat those animals. Peter, being the good Jew he was, replied, “Never, God, I have never eaten unclean animals. God responded to him, “Do not consider anything unclean that God has declared clean” [GNB]. Then God used that vision to prepare Peter to go to preach to Cornelius and his household. They were Gentiles. They became the first Gentile Christians.
NOTE: Now, in Antioch Peter hurried and separated himself from those Gentiles who he had been eating with because Jews were not supposed to eat with non-Jews.
NOTE: For some reason Peter feared what these men would report to James.
13) And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
NOTE: When we react badly we can affect other Christians to follow in our stupidity.
14) [TLB] When I saw what was happening and that they weren’t being honest about what they really believed and weren’t following the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter in front of all the others, “Though you are a Jew by birth, you have long since discarded the Jewish laws; so why, all of a sudden, are you trying to make these Gentiles obey them?”
15) We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
16) Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
NOTE: When Peter joins Paul in Antioch, like Paul, he eats with the believing Gentiles, excepting them as fellow children of God. But when men sent by James, the head of the Jerusalem church, come down to join them Peter separates himself from the Gentile believers.
NOTE: The Law didn’t make the Jews right with God because they couldn’t keep it perfectly. If it had then they would have never turned to Christ for their justification. And, if the Law couldn’t justify them, then why would they want the non-Jews to seek justification from the Law?
NOTE: Peter had forgotten the very things he said in Jerusalem when Paul’s doctrine was being examined [Acts 15:7-11].
This Week’s Lesson: “If The Law Could Save Us Then Jesus Died For Nothing!”
Galatians 2:17-21) [KJV] But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, [is] therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
(NLT) But what if we seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then find out that we are still sinners? Has Christ led us into sin? Of course not!
18) For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
(TLB) Rather, we are sinners if we start rebuilding the old systems I have been destroying of trying to be saved by keeping Jewish laws,
QUESTION: What is Paul talking about in verse 17?
ANSWER: Peter, and the others who followed his example, sought justification with God through coming to Christ. The very fact that they understood their need for salvation was a confession that they were sinners, just like the Gentile sinners.
NOTE: As Jews they understood, through the Law, that they were sinners; so they left the Law, as a means to save them, and came to Jesus to be justified. Now if they’re still sinners does that make the Christ Who justified them a party of their sin? Of course not! That could never be!
QUESTION: What is Paul talking about in verse 18?
ANSWER: If we, as Jews, [or, you and I as Gentiles] leave grace and turn again to Law, then the very Law we turn to will once again show us that we are Lawbreakers. There is no justification in any system that teaches if we keep the rules then we are right with God; because we humans are incapable of keeping the rules all of the time.
19) For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
(GNB) So far as the Law is concerned, however, I am dead — killed by the Law itself — in order that I might live for God. I have been put to death with Christ on his cross,
QUESTION: What is Paul talking about in verse 19?
Romans 7:1-4) [KJV] Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
2) For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
3) So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
4) Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
ANSWER: In Paul’s analogy there is a sense in which we were married to the Law, being therefore bound to keep all of its commandments. Unable to do so, we died in our sins, killed by the very Law we were married to. Our death separated us from the demands of the Law; so we were free to marry another; that other is the risen Son of God!
QUESTION: What else is He saying?
ANSWER: When you put your faith in Christ the Holy Spirit baptized you, that is totally immersed you into the body of Christ [1 Cor. 12:13]; and that union with Christ was retro-active. That means that when Christ died on the cross we died with Him, or in Him! We died to the Law when He died for the sins we committed that broke that Law. Since we died to the Law we became free from the demands of the Law; and we were free to marry, that is, become one with Jesus!
20) I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
QUESTION: How is it possible that I died with Christ and yet “I live”?
Romans 6:3-5) [KJV] Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
ANSWER: We haven’t just, in our identification of being “in Christ,” died with Him; we have also resurrected with Him! So, even as this is true of Jesus, He died, yet He lives: so it is true of us, in Christ we died, yet in Christ we live!
QUESTION: How do we live in our resurrected state?
ANSWER: We now live our lives by putting our faith in Christ, and then walking out that faith! Abraham was justified by faith, by believing what God told him; we, too, are justified by faith, by believing what He tells us!
21) I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
(NLT) I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.
QUESTION: There was approximately 1473 years between Moses giving the Jews the Law and the resurrection of Christ. How many people got saved in those 1473 years?
ANSWER: Absolutely no one! The Law doesn’t justify anyone; it accuses us all of sin!
QUESTION: What is Paul’s final point in this morning’s lesson?
ANSWER: If the Law had been able to save anyone then Jesus would not have had to die!
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