Galatians 2:1–10 (ESV) — 1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 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. 3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.
4 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— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.
6 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. 7 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 8 (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 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. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
A Second Jerusalem Visit
This text details Paul's second time Paul visited Jerusalem as a Christian, fourteen years after his conversion (1). In our previous passage, Paul said it took him three years from the time of his conversion to finally make his first trip to Jerusalem to meet Peter and James (1:18-19). But after that visit, it took another eleven years or so for him to go back.
Why did Paul go to Jerusalem fourteen years into his new life in Jesus? Not to report for duty or gain a verification of his gospel, but because of a revelation (2). For over a decade, Paul had been preaching all throughout his hometown region of Syria and Cilicia (1:21). Acts tells us that, eventually, a church leader named Barnabas needed Paul's help with the church in Antioch, so he recruited Paul for a year of ministry there (Acts 11:25-26). Eventually, some prophets from the Jerusalem church went north to visit the church in Antioch, and one of them, a man named Agabus, "foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine all over the world" (Acts 11:28). Agabus's prophecy might be part of the revelation Paul wrote about here (1). After some prayer, the Antioch church decided to take a collection and send Paul and Barnabas with a financial gift to the church in the Jerusalem area (Acts 11:29-30).
But, while there, Paul took the opportunity to privately set the gospel he proclaimed among the Gentile world to the apostles (2). Please don't misunderstand Paul's motives for doing so; he was not worried that he might've been preaching the wrong message all those years. He only went to Jerusalem because God told him to, likely to deliver a financial aid package to an impoverished church.
But while in Jerusalem, Paul became worried that the apostles there weren't confronting legalists who added the Old Testament law to the beautiful gospel of Christ. And if the apostles didn't renounce the legalists, then Paul's work among the Gentiles would suffer. He didn't want to run in vain and do all this work to get the gospel of grace to the nations if those same nations were then going to get hijacked by a perversion of the gospel (2). He was concerned that all his work among the Gentiles would be undone by the false teaching of the Judaizers, so he set his gospel before the apostles.
Paul happened to bring the perfect ministry companions for a meeting that would ask if Gentile Christians needed to become Jewish. On one side, Barnabas was a Jewish Levite. He would be a persuasive witness when he testified that Judaism was not necessary for the new Gentile converts. On the other side, Titus was a Gentile convert Paul was training for ministry. Though he's not mentioned in Acts, he often appears in Paul's letters and is even the recipient of a letter all about how to organize and lead the church. Titus had never before been compelled to become culturally Jewish (or embrace Judaism and its customs) after he became a Christian. But in Jerusalem, Titus would be the ultimate test case, a lab rat for the gospel. Was the gospel enough, or would the Jerusalem church pressure a man like Titus to submit to Jewish religious practices?
Circumcision Issue?
Thankfully, the gospel was enough, and Titus, Paul said, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek (3). This is the first time circumcision is broached in Galatians, and it will become a recurring subject throughout the book. It might seem like an alien or awkward subject to you, but it was of central importance to the legalists who followed Paul around.
The origin of this subject in the Bible is found all the way back in Genesis when God chose to bless Abraham. God promised to make Abraham into a great nation that would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth (Genesis 12:1-3). It was a promise that the nation of Israel would come from Abraham but also that Jesus Christ would come from Israel. Through Jesus, who is from Israel, who is from Abraham, all the nations of the earth can be blessed.
But as a way to mark Abraham and his family line as blessed by God, set apart for his purposes on earth, God gave Abraham and his descendants the sign of circumcision. And since it affected the male reproductive system, it should have served as a reminder that God would help them reproduce, making them into a numerous and great nation who would bless all the nations.
Over the years, however, many stopped seeing circumcision as a reminder of God's promise and started seeing it as a key to righteousness. If men didn't submit to circumcision, they said, they could not earn God's approval. With circumcision, however, they were received by God. Soon, real and inward holiness was replaced with this outward ceremonial rite.
So when Paul began blasting the gospel throughout the nations, there were some in the Jerusalem area who thought he should add circumcision to the message. And attached to circumcision would have been a host of other requirements—dietary restrictions, religious feasts, fasting days, and Sabbaths—that these legalists would've insisted on. But circumcision and all the religious regulations God gave Israel were not meant as means of earning God's approval, but reminders of and paths to enjoy the approval God had already given them.
And this was the issue at stake when Titus went to Jerusalem with Paul. Is God's acceptance something we earn or something we receive? And—praise God!—Titus was not forced to add anything to the message of the cross (3).
It's Received, Not Earned (1-3)
This leads me to my first point about the beautiful, acceptable gospel: it is received, not earned. Titus could remain as he was. He could not earn God's favor. He could only receive it through the gospel of grace—the message of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection.
A friend recently told me about a cruise he took his family on many years ago. His son was just a little boy at the time. When they arrived on board, he pointed out an ice cream station to his boy and, knowing it was all-inclusive, told his son to go get an ice cream whenever he wanted. The boy immediately stood in line while the family continued strolling on. Soon, they began looking around, wondering if he'd caught up to them. When they looked back, they saw him standing next to the ice cream line, bawling his eyes out. When they asked him what was wrong, he said, "I don't have any money! I can't buy any ice cream." That's when his dad showed him the bracelet on his wrist: "See this bracelet? It means you can go up to ice cream carts like this one and get anything you want any time you want." All-access!
This is often our attitude toward the blessings of God on our lives—I can't afford it! I haven't earned it! I don't have anything to contribute to get it! But that's the point. We don't, but the Son does, so when we receive the gift of Jesus' substitutional death for us, we receive a radical position before God. But it isn't something that is earned, only received.
Christianity is essentially news that tells us what Christ has done. Other religious systems—even the secular system many operate by—are advice on how to live and prove yourself. Do this, do that, and you will be approved, either by the divine or by society. But the gospel announces a historical event, happy news of what Christ has done on our behalf.
When we place our faith in Christ, we become "blessed in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 1:3). All the spiritual blessings are ours because they all belong to Jesus, and the Father has bestowed Jesus' righteousness onto us through the gospel.
But the temptation to earn God's acceptance through our actions is difficult to resist. We live every day with examples that say good things are earned. People go to school for many years, get good grades and the highest degrees, and then enter into impressive and well-paying fields. We don't let people who didn't finish high school perform brain surgery—they didn't earn the position (or the income that comes with it). And once we embrace works-righteousness before God, we will begin believing we can earn more for certain behaviors.
There is a WikiHow webpage on how to receive gifts. Apparently, some of us struggle to know how to do this, so the article is filled with many tips—smile, sincerely thank the giver, don't refuse, etc.—but the last tip is "do not compete with the giver."[^1] Don't get into a giving contest where you have to try to one-up them because you don't want to be in their debt. But some of us do this with God—we try to earn the gift of acceptance (and so much more) that God has given us. So, daily, we must remember that the gospel and its benefits are received, not earned.
It Brings Divine Freedom, Not Human Control (4-5)
A Challenge From False Brothers
The second movement of this passage reminds us that the beautiful, acceptable gospel brings divine freedom, not human control. While Paul was in Jerusalem, false brothers were secretly brought in, perhaps even into his meeting with the apostles! (4) Paul describes these men with spy language—they came in secretly and spied out Paul and his team's freedom in Christ (4). Something about the way Paul, Barnabas, and Titus lived annoyed these legalists. They hated the sweet freedom Paul's team had. It is reminiscent of the way the religious leaders treated Jesus' disciples—Why are they allowed to pick grain on the Sabbath? Why don't they ceremonially wash before meals? Why do you all eat with tax collectors and sinners?
But, for all the legalist's sly manipulation, Titus would not yield submission for even a moment (5). Not even for a moment. The preservation of the gospel was at stake, so they didn't feel compelled at all to obey these Judaizers (5).
The Gospel Brings Divine Freedom, Not Human Control
But notice what these religionists saw in Paul and his team: freedom in Christ (4). And notice what Paul knew they wanted to do to his team: bring them into slavery (4).
For many of us, the word freedom contains the idea that we can do whatever we want. No one restricts us. We have complete freedom in what we see, hear, or say, but this version of freedom is often paralyzing and destructive.[^2] But there is a better version of freedom that the gospel gives us. John Ortberg explains it well:
"Think of freedom coming in two flavors, two kinds of freedom. There is freedom from external constraints, somebody telling me what to do. This is freedom from. But there is another kind of freedom that might be called freedom for. There’s the freedom for living the kind of life I was made to live, freedom for becoming that man I most want to be — freedom for."[^3]
This is the case Paul will build in Galatians; that we should use our freedom to fly up into a life of love and goodness with God.
For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1, ESV)
For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13, ESV)
And it is through the gospel that we can come into this beautiful version of divine liberty—a freedom to love and serve and lay down our lives for others.
But because the gospel brings us into divine freedom, it also sets us free from human control. I don't mean total liberty, as if we will never need to submit to any authority. But what I do mean is that the gospel sets us free from the need to obey humans who tell us to behave in certain ways because they said so. Titus did not have to obey the religiously zealous pressure to succumb to circumcision, and we don't have to obey legalists in our time.
This pressure can come from various directions. One side tells us to dress humbly enough, don't enjoy entertainment too much, engage in enough religious activity, distance ourselves from the world enough, etc. Another side tells us to dress sustainably enough, approve of (not just accept) people enough, enjoy the arts and entertainment enough, engage in enough community service, distance ourselves from religious people enough, etc.
But the gospel sets us free from human controls like these and places us in divine freedom and a relationship with God. Rather than tell us to do this or do that, it gives us a broader and higher standard of loving God and our neighbor.
And there are thousands of legalists in our time, from the religious and the non-religious. Even those who believe this life is all there is and reject the existence of God, zealously preach a version of righteous living to society. Rather than embrace the alleged accidental and, therefore, meaningless nature of life, they tell the world to do good and be good, merely because they said so.[^4]
One version of human control or legalism I'd like to address today affects all the parents. We are swimming in a psychologized culture where it seems almost every failure or sadness is blamed on our childhoods. I don't mean to minimize anyone's past trauma—it can effect us greatly—but all this talk of parents damaging their children can paralyze parents from parenting. But you are the only one for the job! If God wanted someone else to parent your kid, he would have given them different parents. Don't let human controls shackle you from taking the responsibility—kids need parents because kids need to be parented.
We have been set free from human control and can now live in divine freedom—a simple allegiance to Christ where he operates as the Lord of our lives, directing our steps. Sometimes he will exercise his lordship through others—governmental leaders, a spiritual leader, an employer, a parent, a spouse—but his leadership is ultimately what we are responding to. And this life is free in Christ from odd human constraints the religiously zealous love to place on us.
It Is Versatile, Not Rigid (6-10)
The Details Of The Apostolic Meeting
In the final movement of our passage, we learn that the beautiful, acceptable gospel is versatile, not rigid. In this section, Paul detailed his private interactions with three of the most significant apostles in Jerusalem, James, Peter (or Cephas), and John (9). Three times in our text, Paul highlights how these apostles seemed to be influential or seemed to be pillars (2, 6, 9). He almost sounds condescending in his description of them, saying, "What they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality" (6).
Paul was not being disrespectful of the apostles when he said these things, but respectful of God while challenging the legalists. Paul knew God and his gospel were superior to the apostles—he'd even said he himself should be cursed if he contradicted the gospel (1:8-9). But he also knew the legalists had appealed to the apostles, saying they approved of adding the law onto the gospel. So, now, here he describes their meeting by saying, "They seemed like a big deal. And what did they say? They said my gospel was legit. The same gospel they—especially Peter—preached to the Jewish world, I preached to the Gentile world. It has different points of emphasis because it reaches different types of people with different beliefs, but it is the same gospel! And I would think the apostles would know! And the only real request the apostles wanted to make sure what part of our message was to care for the poor—and I was already about that!"
The Gospel Is Versatile, Not Rigid
This part of the story reminds us of the versatility of the gospel. It is not a message that changes, but it has something for every culture that has ever or will ever exist. It is versatile. In the classic children's book Charlotte's Web, Charlotte the spider tells Wilbur the pig that she is versatile. "What does 'versatile' mean — full of eggs?" Wilbur asks. "Certainly not," Charlotte replies. "'Versatile' means I can turn with ease from one thing to another."[^5]
And the gospel message is versatile—it can turn to address one thing or another. It can target the abuser or the abused. It can target highly conservative or religious societies (Iran) or very lax and liberal ones (France). It can target the poor or the rich. It can target people on both extremes of the political spectrum. It can target every tribe and nation and tongue. It can impact a teenager who is battling anxiety or an octogenarian who is battling aging. It can go into the the jungles of South America or the concrete jungles of modern society and reach people right where they are at. It has a versatility to it that allows it to survive and thrive in any environment.
It is not like a factory line, forcing people to come out the other side looking a specific way. It is more like a garden, causing individuals to flourish as God intended them, bearing all sorts of fruit. But legalism makes people rigid. Soon, everyone must look and act the same way. Conformity.
Jesus said,
"No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins." (Luke 5:37–38)
Conclusion
So this passage tells us Paul's story of presenting this unearnable, freeing, and versatile gospel to the apostles in Jerusalem nearly 2,000 years ago. They considered it, and though they may have been quietly tolerating some who distorted the gospel by adding the Old Testament law to it, they stood up and recognized the gospel of grace as the gospel transmitted from Christ to them.
We have a similar decision before us today. Our decision does not impact church history as much as theirs did, but it greatly influences us and the people around us, even subsequent generations.
- Will we think of acceptance by God as something we can earn through good works or religious ceremonies? If so, we have destroyed the gospel.
- Will we allow ourselves to come under human controls that tell us we must add this or that behavior to the gospel to be approved by God? If so, we have destroyed the gospel.
- And will we preach a message that forces everyone into a particular mold? If so, we have destroyed the gospel.
Instead, we must accept this unearnable, freeing, and versatile gospel message just like the apostles did.
[^1]: Guttman, Jennifer. 2015. “How to Receive.” WikiHow. February 3, 2015. https://www.wikihow.com/Receive. [^2]: Willard, Dallas, and Randy Frazee. 2005. Renovation of the Heart: Putting on the Character of Christ. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress. [^3]: Ortberg, John. 2014. Soul Keeping: Caring for the Most Important Part of You. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan. [^4]:Keller, Timothy. 2016. Making Sense of God: An Invitation to the Skeptical. Viking. [^5]: White, E. B. 2013. Charlotte’s Web. London, England: Puffin.