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And so when they were convinced that unmerited charity [from God] had been bestowed on me, James, Cephas and John – the reputed pillars – gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship.
Dear Friends of the Nazarene,
We choose Galatians 2:9 as the theme verse of the chapter – “Unyielding Power.” Paul continues his subject from chapter one and relates his contacts with “those men of high reputation” in Jerusalem. [1-5] His point is that his Gospel was not learned from the Jewish source in Jerusalem but rather “because of a revelation.” So it was over a decade later that Paul laid his Gospel message before the Christian elders and apostles in Jerusalem. He and Titus did not yield to false-brothers who tried to spy on their freedom in Christ. The powerful Jewish influence in the Church at the time wanted to “force them into a form of slavery,” but the “true Gospel was preserved.”
Those “reputed leaders” in Jerusalem – such “pillars” as James, Peter and John – gave the right hand of fellowship to Paul and Barnabas. [6-10] They had agreed that Paul had been “entrusted with the Gospel” to the non-Jews. The only instructions Paul and his companions received was “to remember the poor” within the Nazarene community.
It was during this private conference with Jewish elders and apostles that Paul had the courage to rebuke Peter for his hypocrisy of behaving one way when among the Jews and another when among the non-Jews. Peter actually was afraid of the Jewish circumcision-class. This was really a troubling clique later to become a sect with “a different Gospel.” [11-14] This whole incident proves that the “true Gospel” is not from some human Jewish source, but from Christ Jesus himself.
The “true Gospel” teaches that a person is never justified or pronounced innocent by observing the Law of Moses. [15-21] Justification came because of deep conviction in Jesus Christ and not by works of the Law of Moses. Christians have really “died to such Law” of Moses. Christians, like Paul, have been “impaled with Christ” and now experience God’s love through His Son’s sacrifice. Like Paul, Christians should be able to say, “Christ lives in me.”
To this day there have been – and continue to be – Christian sects and schisms that preach a Jewish gospel. They insist the Law of Moses must be observed, and that Christians should continue to observe certain features of the Law. Some have gone so far as to insist on only a Hebrew New Testament, and their leaders go about dressed like Jews with prayer shawls. They observe the Jewish Sabbath, celebrate the Jewish Passover, observe certain dietary restrictions, and keep certain Jewish festivals. What was the purpose of the Law of Moses? What is the Christian’s relationship to it? Paul addresses this in the following chapters.
Abba our Father bless those who preach the “true Gospel.”
[26 June 2002
An agreement was made that Paul and Barnabas should have supervision of the work among the Gentiles, and as a pledge of that agreement their hands were given.
