Opening Up
Member testimony: have one member share his or her two-minute story of faith.
In Galatians 1, Paul asserts the gospel and his authority to proclaim it. The gospel is independent of human authority and is not to be altered or replaced in any way. It comes from God, not human sources, and if we want to be servants of Christ, we cannot be people pleasers.
In Galatians 2, Paul recounts two different battles to defend the gospel, one in Jerusalem, one in Antioch.
Read
Galatians 2:1–21
Paul Accepted by the Apostles
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, just as Peter had been to the 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 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.
Paul Opposes Cephas
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.
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?
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 Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
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.
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!”
Digging In
How do Paul and his group preserve the truth of the gospel in Jerusalem (v.1-5)?
In a letter deeply concerned with our freedom, what does Paul mean by “the freedom we have in Christ Jesus” (v.4)? In what sense did the ‘spies’ seek to enslave them?
Critics sometimes claim that there are different gospels, e.g., Paul’s, Peter’s, John’s. While these men had their own writing styles and emphases in ministry, how does Paul counter such claims (v.6- 10)?
In 2:11-16, Paul recounts the second battle to defend the gospel in Antioch. In what way were Peter and others not acting “in line with the truth of the gospel” (v.14)?
Justification is a legal term meaning ‘to be made right’ or ‘to be acquitted’. What is the attraction of law-keeping as a way of getting right with God?
a. Why doesn’t it work?
b. How can we be justified through faith in Jesus Christ (v.14-16)?
In 2:17-18, Paul forcefully denies the classic charge that because Christians still sin and have abandoned the law, then Jesus must promote sin! But the real sin lies in trying to re-institute the law.In 2:19-20, Paul speaks of dying and living. When we consider the cross, in what sense can each of us say, ‘I have been crucified with Christ’? What life or way of living has died?
What characterises the new life we now live (v.19- 21)?
Taking it with you
Nominate someone to give a two-minute testimony at the next study.
Share one thing from this study that you can share with someone at home or elsewhere.
Pray that we, as a church and as individuals, would have the courage to fight for the true gospel when others follow a false one.