SCRIPTURE: GALATIANS 2
BIBLE VERSES:
“When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter 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? “We who are Jews by birth and not sinners 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 Christ and not by observing the law, because by the the law no one will be justified.” (Galatians 2:14-16)
“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 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. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:19-21)
PAUL ACCEPTED BY APOSTLES (vs. 1-10)
Paul continued to preach the gospel as of racing a race. He kept himself in the right track by refusing to be infiltrated by some false teachers on the freedom in Christ. The apostles had agreed that Paul’s message and ministry were of God and that he should minister to the Gentiles while Peter and the twelve minister to the Jews. They asked them to continue remembering the poor.
PAUL OPPOSES PETER (vs. 11-20)
When Peter came to Antioch, he used to eat with the gentiles. But when ministers from the circumcision group arrived, he began to withdraw from the Gentiles. Barnabas and other Jews also joined him. When Paul saw what Peter did, he opposed him to the face because he was not acting in line of the truth of the gospel. He argued that since Jesus had destroyed the law, his death had tore the temple veil and removed the wall between Jews and the Gentiles. By going back to the Law is dto rebuild that Jesus had tore down. He made this argument. Salvation did not mean that Gentiles had to become like Jews nor the Jews had to go to the level of the condemned Gentiles. We are justified by faith in Christ. The work of the law will never justify a man.
THOUGHTS:
- Salvation is by faith in Christ. To go back to the Law is to frustrate the grace of God. If the law is God’s way of salvation, then Christ died in vain.
- When Paul saw Peter was withdrawing from the Gentiles, he opposed him publicly. If you see someone is doing harm to himself or to the church, try the direct approach instead of back stabbing.