This is the Truth Network. Forever thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119, verse 89. I'm Stu Everson. Welcome to this special Wednesday in the Word Leader podcast, where we prepare and equip our leaders of this special Bible study outreach breakfast.
Every week to teach through the scriptures. Thirteen Dario locations. There's a men's group meeting and several of the Locations host the women on Thursday morning. Stay tuned. Be encouraged as we jump into this week's Wednesday in the Word.
So what if we opened up or rather closed all of our meetings? Wednesday in the word. with a gracious invitation. at the end of the lesson this week and said, anybody? that would like to come down.
and get circumcised. We've got a special medical team, and it's free. And this is the only way you can become a Christian if you get circumcised first. What would the reaction be? I don't know if that would be good marketing for our Bible study.
Well, there were false brethren. who were bringing this thinking in. And this is... The faith of Jesus Christ came out of A Jewish background And so to us, we might be aghast and we might not come back to Bible study if they had made such an announcement, but to them, This was a big controversy. Dr.
Sam Horn? We're in chapter 2 of Galatians, the first 10 verses. And this was The essence of what was confronting that early church, the Judaizers were coming in. But we also learn a lot about Paul's personal biography too. When it comes to the faith, and how are we truly justified?
Is it by faith alone, or do we got to add some stuff like the false brethren try to do?
So it opens up a whole lot, Dr. Horn, as we jump into chapter two, doesn't it? Yeah, you know, it's interesting as you were opening up. with that really graphic illustration. Uh it may seem shocking to people.
that you know we would we would ever entertain something like that. in today's world because if if that were actually a requirement for full fellowship in the gospel. I think most churches would would be. really, really small. And yet, here we have, not because we're not circumcised, but I'm just saying when you have those kinds of.
Heavy requirements. That comes out of the Mosaic law, you really are undermining the freedom of the gospel. To people who are outside the Jewish community. You know, it's one thing when you were circumcised on the eighth day and you don't remember it. And your whole life you've been circumcised.
It's another thing when you go into a Gentile community and nobody is circumcised. And all of a sudden, in order to be fully accepted as an adult. You have to go through this unbearably painful ritual to get in. And somebody is asking that on the basis of an Old Testament requirement. that was unique to the Jewish nation.
And so the test case for this in the text is actually A man named Titus, right? Titus is coming with Paul to Jerusalem. He's brought up in the text. And there are people that are asking. and actually demanding That he be circumcised.
If the believers in Jerusalem are going to afford him or be permitted to afford him full membership and full recognition. as a Christian. And that's really what's at stake here. And so this section of Galatians, is it just Sort of a bridge to get us from chapter one to the really important stuff at the end of chapter two. It's laying out this test case.
This this issue that's going on in Galatian. is uh out in the Galatian church. isn't just a theological argument. between paul and Uh the leaders of that church And it isn't just something that Uh, you know, is a neat, uh, sort of thorny question. It had real life application for real life people, and Paul brings one of those people and says.
you're either going to accept him on the basis of the gospel. or you're going to accept him on the basis of moses but you can't do both. You can't have it both ways, and they tried to, and it could have just absolutely devastated the early church. This was a key. Stand.
That Paul made at a key time. It's like God had prepared him for such a time as this. I think about Esther 4, verse 14. Dr. Horn, and there's so much.
Biographical information. I mean, practically both chapters of chapter, you know, one and two. And I want you to set this up again. You've done a great job kind of explaining. The the the structure of this book.
You know, 20% of Galatians is Paul's Biography or his autobiography, his life, his background, his testimony. What a remarkable testimony he has. We learn a lot about that.
So, in terms of getting us, in terms of the, before we jump into the preview of these 10 verses, give us a quick review and give us the outline of the whole book. We came out of some pretty intense. Um Autobiographical information that Paul shared with us says this gospel didn't come from him. It didn't come from. It didn't come from the apostles.
He's not going to Jerusalem in chapter two to get more from the apostles. This came from God who conferred upon him the apostleship. and who downloaded revealed to him supernaturally The gospel. Will you tell us?
So, Doc, tell us a little bit about the, give us a quick review, context, and then the whole structure of the book. All right, so what's happening here, just a little background is This is probably Paul's first letter. of all the Pauline epistles This is most likely the first one.
So it's the earliest of Paul's writings. It comes on the heels of the first missionary journey. And in that journey he has come to the city of Galatia. like you went to different places in that region. preached the gospel with great power.
The Holy Spirit attended to the preaching of that gospel and People in Galatia got saved and a church was established.
Well very quickly After Paul returns. to give this amazing report of the success of this first mission. There are men from Jerusalem who show up. At the church in Galatia. and begin teaching that, you know, Paul actually got it half right.
You do need to come to Christ, and that's no problem. But you are never going to get all the way Into full fellowship with Christ and with God, apart from Moses.
So you have to add Moses. To Jesus in order to truly be saved. This is not just a preference. I think we got to be really clear here. This is not just.
uh these Judaizers coming along and saying, look A lot of us really came out of Judaism. And we feel like it's really important for the testimony. Of these Christian brothers in Jerusalem to be circumcised, and it would really help us out if you did as well. That's exactly what's going to happen to Timothy. Timothy is going to get circumcised.
So, this really, as a Greek, Timothy was a Greek.
So, for the sake of the gospel and for the sake of the testimony among people whom he's going to minister, so he doesn't offend the Jewish people who need to hear the gospel, Paul insists that he gets circumcised.
So, it's not like there are not Christians that Paul urges to get circumcised. The issue is not circumcision. The issue is that these Judaizers are coming and insisting. that you cannot be saved you cannot have fellowship with God through Christ apart from Moses. And so they've added circumcision as a requirement, as a gospel requirement.
To receive the righteousness of God. And that's what Paul is after. And Paul says: when you do that, you've changed the gospel I preached to you when I came for a very different gospel that isn't a gospel at all.
So that's the background. In chapters one and two, he is going to lay out his personal bona fides. In other words, I'm very, very disturbed by this. That's chapter one. I can't believe that this has happened.
You know, I learned this from Christ. The gospel I gave you, I learned from Christ. I spent three years in the wilderness being taught by him. I didn't get this from the apostles. I didn't twist it.
I got it directly from the mouth of Jesus, and I have the same authority. to declare to you, I am as authorized. As an apostle of This gospel as any of the ones in Jerusalem.
So that's chapter one. And he literally says, I have to please God and not men.
So even though this will cost me dearly, I'm going to speak truth to you. In chapter two, he's going to lay out Is apostolic reception.
So 14 years after um he becomes a believer He has gone to Jerusalem two times. After the first three years of being taught, he went to Jerusalem for a very brief visit, 15 days. And he had an encounter with several of the main apostles of the church. And they didn't add anything to the gospel that he presented to them.
So he walks away from that, confirmed, and wants the Galatians to know it's the same gospel. I've confirmed this. They didn't authorize me to Proclaim it, they didn't teach it to me. But the gospel that Christ taught me, and the gospel that Christ taught them. is the same.
And they would affirm it, and I'm affirming it.
So that's chapter one. Chapter 2. 14 years later, I went up again, a second time by Revelation. There was a revelation from God. And on the basis of that revelation, I went back to Jerusalem, and this time I went openly.
And I met with those who seemingly had Um status and standing in the church. And I brought people with me. I brought... a a gentile convert named titus And I wanted to see whether or not the Christians in Jerusalem would afford him full Christian recognition. That's why Paul stresses.
in chapter two, the right hand of fellowship. That's not just, hey, glad to see you. Let me shake your hand. That's the idea that we are according to somebody. Full recognition.
As a full member. of our group. And so here are the apostles. and the church in Jerusalem. And Paul brings to them A Gentile Who has been saved?
who has been traveling with him, who's not circumcised. And he sticks this guy right in the middle of them. and says to them, Are you going to give him Full recognition as a Christian. And as a member of the church, and are you going to welcome him? into gospel partnership.
That's the idea of fellowship. Are you going to welcome him into gospel partnership on the basis of his conversion, or are you going to demand that he be circumcised? And that's why in chapter two, you have this emphasis on the right hand of fellowship. And so he's going to lay all of that out. That's the personal side.
And he's going to argue that the gospel he preached. Is the gospel Christ taught him, and it's the gospel they embraced. And if you change the gospel, In any way, you have adopted a gospel that cannot save you. And so in chapters three and four, he's going to move away from the personal side of things. to the theological side so we could say that middle section is doctrinal first first section is personal His personal testimony and the personal implications of what's happening.
there in Jerusalem. To Titus and in Galatia to these Christians.
So it's all personal. In chapters three and four, it's doctrinal. Here is what is going to happen. If you embrace the wrong gospel. And he's going to lay out.
In chapter three and chapter four, What happens to people who begin by faith? and attempt to complete the journey through Moses. And it's devastating. And he's going to lay out from the Old Testament texts why we can't do that. Why that isn't just a sort of doctrinal preference.
And so chapters three and four are the heart of the book. And then in chapters five and six, it becomes really practical. Here is what life under Moses. will produce in you if you go back to living out Your life under Moses, and you embrace that as a requirement of the gospel, it is going to produce in you certain works. that it produced in the nation that first got that law.
And those works are the works of the flesh. And you can see them in the Judaizers. You can see them in the history of this nation. And if you bring Moses back to the table and you insist. that you're going to have to keep that law.
Those same works are going to show up in your life. Instead, you need to live according to the Spirit. And when you live according to the Spirit. who has freed you from the law of Moses. And you embrace the gospel that I brought to you.
That spirit will grow certain fruit in you. And the fruit that will grow in you. is a fruit that manifests The fact that you really have been converted, you have been turned from your old life. And you are now living. In the freedom of the gospel as God's true sons.
And so that's what's happening here. in in the book of Galatians. Outline is not unique to me, right? Personal, chapters one and two, doctrinal, chapters three and four, and practical, chapters five and six. Almost everybody, almost every commentator that you look at when they start talking about the structure of the book is going to have some version of that.
And so that's why I lay it out. That's very, very good. And we look at, so that's an excellent kind of review where we've come from and an overview of the whole book, the whole six chapters. Then we've. As we approach these ten verses of chapter two this week, Dr.
Horne. You have a lot of things going on here. You have, again, Paul coming back to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus. He's connecting with the council and these leaders, these guys. This is before the Jerusalem Council, I believe.
But it's very similar. to some of the things that were Adjudicated at the Jerusalem Council. I'd like you to speak to that, maybe a little bit to timeline, but tell us how we break down these 10 versus and why they're so important. As we get into this, because I know one of the attacks against Paul from the Judaizers when they came in is they would say, Well, he's got a different gospel than our fathers, you know, the other apostles, the real apostles. You know, they slandered his apostleship because he came later.
He was as one born late, as he says in 1 Corinthians 15. They not only slandered his authority as an apostle, they also slandered his gospel. And they said, well, he's got something different than those guys. And so they're trying to attack on that front. And so.
Th this is the record being uh I don't know, even set straight, it's just being clarified and agreed upon. But take us through these 10 verses, Dr. Horn, and how our kind of teachers should break these down.
Well, the question you asked is an important one. Is this before or after the Great Jerusalem Council? Because in Acts chapter 15, the question that Galatians is Addressing was settled definitively by the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. And you'll remember that account, right? The very question.
that Paul is going at here in chapter two. Is publicly brought to the entire church in Jerusalem, and they call a council. And Peter and James and Paul. are called to testify. And they lay out the question, they lay out the implication.
These Judaizers make the case that In order to be truly saved, you have to embrace Moses. And Paul and Peter are going to argue, actually, that's heretical. Actually, that's not the gospel. Mm-hmm. And so if that's the case, what do we do with Moses?
What does God expect of the Gentiles who come to Christ? Are there things that we would urge them to do? And so. By the end of Acts 15, there is a definitive answer to the question, and it has two parts. Part number one.
Under no circumstances are we to require the Mosaic law or its implications on the life of the Gentile converts. That would destroy the gospel.
So we we reject the idea that In order to be saved, you have to add Moses somewhere into the equation. We are not going to require circumcision because circumcision. really became sort of the one thing that represented the whole law. You know, the food laws, the fasting laws, the special days. That continued to be a part of Jewish life even after salvation in the first century in Jerusalem.
And the Judaizers went down and said, look, if you go to the churches in Jerusalem, they're all doing this. They're all being circumcised. They all eat the food, obey the food laws, and they all observe the Sabbath day and holy days. And you guys out here are rejecting that. And you're saying that's not necessary.
And so this was a real controversy. And so by the end of Acts 15, that has been settled by the church of Jerusalem. We, the church in Jerusalem, where the gospel was first established, recognize and publicly declare that Moses has no part in salvation. Moses has no part in the gospel. Number two.
What are we asking the Gentiles to do in order to live righteously? before others in their town and And they're really four things, right? Don't. Eat food offered to idols. You know, don't eat things that were strangled that have blood.
Don't eat blood. and don't commit idolatry or don't commit immorality rather.
So you have these basic minimal things for testimony's sake, with the exception of immorality.
So in essence They've settled the question. Paul doesn't bring up this council at all in Galatia, and it would be incredibly helpful to his argument if. if it had happened.
So that's one of the reasons why I personally don't think. that the Council of Jerusalem had happened yet. I think that the book of Galatians. Was so contested by these Judaizers that it occasioned the council. In other words, once Paul put it in print, As inspired writing, everybody had to deal with it.
And that is the occasion of the council.
So, I think that's what's going on with the council. I think I would look at chapter two, verses one through ten, and very quickly I would make four points. And so, what I think I'm going to do, so I don't do. all the talking here. I'll make a point and then You can react, and we can go that way.
So, I would say the first. The first, well, the big idea is this: when Paul goes to Jerusalem. Jerusalem does not correct Paul. Jerusalem recognizes Paul. And that's really important.
Paul doesn't go to Jerusalem to be corrected or instructed. He goes to Jerusalem in order to be recognized. Are you going to recognize? My authority as an apostle. And by the time we get to the end of the chapter, it's really clear that Jerusalem recognizes Paul.
Does that make sense? It makes a lot of sense, and it's very important. And it's also important to clarify that. Paul doesn't, his apostleship isn't conferred upon him. His authority isn't bestowed upon him from.
The leadership in Jerusalem. He didn't go there. to become an apostle and to sit at their feet. He went to Arabia. He sat under Jesus' feet, which we heard about in chapter in those, you know, those intermediary years.
Of ministry, preaching, and learning directly from Jesus Christ.
So it's so important, Dr. Horne, and I'm glad that you. I'm glad you're highlighting that. It's a big trip. He also went to Jerusalem.
in those times because he was helping. The folks who were poor or impoverished, or they were struck by some famine. And he was helping raise some money from the Church of Antioch. To bring money from the Gentiles for sending money to the Jews because they were, you know, so he was, so he had occasion to be there. a couple times even before the council.
Well, I would say that point number one. is in verses one and two. And I would say. that I would describe that as Paul goes to Jerusalem to make the case. That his authority and the gospel that he preached was received independent from Jerusalem.
It didn't come from Jerusalem. My authority. As an apostle, And the gospel I preached to you did not come from Jerusalem.
So he's going to establish his. independence. After 14 years, I went up to Jerusalem. With Barnabas. uh taking Titus with me.
I went up because of a revelation. And set before them the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles in order to make sure I was not running or had run in vain. And so we already talked about the 14 years, right?
So Paul has been doing this now for a long time. Remember, he goes up in chapter one after three years and he meets privately.
Well, he's been doing gospel work this whole. uh first missionary journey has happened And churches have been established and he goes to Jerusalem and the reason he goes to Jerusalem Is to set before those who were influential the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles. In other words, He's going up there. He's going to meet with the apostles and he's going to remind them. The gospel that I presented to you when I came here.
Three years after my conversion is the same one I've been preaching ever since. And I want to remind you of an important theme. If we're not unified on this gospel, Then all the work that I've been doing among the Gentiles. All of the effort I've expended among the Gentiles is going to be at risk. In other words, if there is a split.
This early on in the Christian history of the gospel. It's going to have devastating effects. If the church at Jerusalem, if the apostles in Jerusalem don't stand with Paul, And they don't back. What has been going on in his ministry and the gospel he's been preaching, especially. after their leaders.
Recognize that Early on. Remember, this is 14 years.
So it is 11 years after that first visit.
So he comes up. As a private visit. Everybody agrees, this is the same gospel that Jesus taught us. It's obvious he taught you because it's the same gospel. And for 11 years now, Paul's been preaching that gospel.
And now there are people from Jerusalem claiming to speak for the apostles, saying, actually, Paul got it wrong. And if that's the case, if the apostles don't stand with Paul and say no. Actually, Paul got it right. then the Christian mission is going to have a massive division. And it is it is going to be very, very So that's what's going on here.
Um He comes up. in order to avoid this division. That's what it means. Uh when he says In order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. In other words, he's not implying that he just wanted to make sure he didn't get it wrong.
Like, he's not doubting the gospel here. He's actually after something else. If you guys don't stand with me. And you guys, even for a moment. begin to imply that these Judaizers are correct.
And that somehow our gospels are are not the same. There's going to be a massive division in the Christian community that is Gentile and Jew. And He's going to say in Romans 14 and 15: God wants Gentiles and Jews to be one. You're all one part of one church, and there's going to be an irreparable break. If you Jerusalem apostles don't stand with me now, that's the idea.
And what better way to To demonstrate or to bring this to a real head. is uh have exhibit A is an uncircumcised A Gentile disciple named Titus.
So you have this setup that you just gave, brilliantly gave Dr. Horn in verses one and two. Then in verse three and four, He brings in an uncircumcised Disciple Titus, what are we going to do with him? And uh he actually walks in there with him.
So And this is important because this is going to force the hand of these false brethren. To because either they're going to say, well, this guy ain't saved until he gets circumcised, or this guy is truly of the faith of Abraham.
So, yeah, and that's what's next year, I guess, leading up to the conclusion. Yeah, that's the second thing. That's the second thing.
So, in verse 1. Three through five, there is this. Test case. that confirms the gospel that Paul preached and preserves the unity of the church and protects the mission. Look look at verse five.
It says to them, and we'll talk about who the them are: to them we did not yield in submission, even for a moment. And the reason that we didn't yield. Was so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you, and the you is the Galatians. Remember, Paul is writing to the Galatians. Because they have started to buy into the very doctrinal error.
that Paul went to Jerusalem to put to the test. And he's saying to them, hey, when I got to Jerusalem and I got there, I put a test case. In front of the very apostles that these Judaizers are claiming to represent. And the test case was a Greek named Titus. who was uncircumcised.
And the reason I put that test case in front of those apostles. was that I was not about to submit for a moment. to the demands the Judaizers were making way back then. You have started to submit to those demands, which is why I'm writing you, Galatians. But you need to know that I didn't submit even for a moment, and I brought Titus there on purpose.
And I put him right in front of those apostles. And they didn't submit for a moment to that demand. And the reason that we didn't submit. Was that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you? We didn't want to muddy the water for you.
And so that's what's going on. That's why, in verse 3, even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised. Though he was a Greek. But because of false brothers secretly brought in who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, what freedom is he talking about? Freedom from Moses.
Freedom from the law. That's what he's going to talk about in chapters three and four. Because of these false brothers. Who slipped in secretly to spy out our freedom? That we have.
Through Christ.
So that they could bring us back into slavery. They wanted to bring us back to Moses. To them we did not yield even for. An hour.
Now, we need to talk about these false brothers. Because sometimes people would present them. As mistaken, untaught Christians. And the idea is: well, Paul says the word brother, he uses the word brother. But don't forget, he adds an adjective to that word.
These aren't true, brothers. These are false brothers. These are people. who are coming in claiming to be Christ followers. but they're actually false.
They're actually not. And the reason we know that's true is because of the decision that was rendered when I put the test case. in front of the true apostles back in Jerusalem. Right. These people wanted to come in.
And bring you back to Moses. I'm an apostle of Christ. Peter and James, and the other apostles in Jerusalem are apostles of Christ. These men are apostles of Moses. And they are false brothers.
In other words, Paul is acknowledging something really harsh here. They're not even believers. They look like believers. They talk like believers. They have a nice pattern about Jesus.
But they are not believers.
Now, think about it in our day. Can you think of people who have nice talk about Jesus, but they bring an entirely false gospel to the table? Yeah. I mean a whole pile of them out in Utah. Yeah, and they have they check the right a lot of the right boxes and there's a there's a sense of uh the joining and say hey look at all that we have in common But when it comes down to the gospel, how is a man justified before God?
That's where Just a little bit of leaven ruins the whole loaf. Exactly right. I mean, just think about they talk so beautifully about Jesus. They want you to have a good family. They want you to honor God.
They want you to be moral and upright. But the gospel they preach is not the gospel Paul delivered. to the Galatians, to the Philippians, to the Ephesians, to the Thessalonians, and to the Romans. And he's really clear about this, right? Think about another group.
I was, you know, in the parks where I go to workout or to ride, you know, my bike. I often see some really nice people dressed very nicely, and they have. Beautiful little stands, and there's a big sign that says, Are you interested in a Bible study? And so, you know, you go over there and you engage people, and pretty soon they tell you: well, we are here as witnesses. We are the witnesses of Jehovah.
And you listen to them, and it isn't too long if you understand and know the scriptures before you realize: hey, these people. are teaching a gospel that is not Paul's. And that's exactly what's going on in Galatians. You know, some people will get really offended if you start talking about Mormons or Jehovah's Witnesses and say they're really not Christians. And people look at you and say, say that.
They talk about Jesus. They love Jesus. They may not agree with everything you agree. They may not see everything the way you see it, but how in the world, what right do you have to say they're not Jesus? Followers.
And the answer is: I'm just doing what Paul told me to do in Galatians. Your argument is not with me, it's actually with Paul. And Paul is putting chapters. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 10, to actually say, and your argument isn't just with me, it's with the entire apostolic company. Because we put a test case in front of the whole church.
And that test case was this: this Greek convert was not compelled. to be circumcised, and that was done on purpose. And the reason that it was so purposeful is we wanted to preserve the gospel for you.
Well, and it also points back to verses eight and nine. You know, these anathemas. I mean, we're. You know, you think about if you compel someone to be baptized in order to be saved, to do uh mass, communion, to crawl up the Andes Mountains and pray to the to uh the the Virgin of Guatemala, who whatever you if you if there's anything that someone must do to be saved. That is another gospel.
What does Paul say? He says, if any angel... Glorious angelic being, or even if we or anyone. preaches a different gospel. Then they are to be anathema.
I mean, he uses the strongest language. He summons the most heightened vocabulary to condemn. That person. And so this is dangerous, these false brethren. Were dangerous.
They were insidious. But the devil, as we see in Corinthians 11, he's always. He's always regaled as an angel of light. He doesn't come in. There's some ugly, nefarious I'm taking you to hell with me.
Let's go. It's never that way. It's always, hey, this is going to get you to heaven, but you got to do, do, do. And so So Paul has no tolerance for it. He has no stomach for it.
And it's interesting how the language is even going to intensify more as we get into the next few weeks, Dr. Horn, but. But it's also encouraging to see how These uh These great church fathers, you know, Peter, James, and John. Supported him and they gave, you know, and I don't want to steal your thunder, jump on into these next verses because this is the result. Of what happened.
You know, first of all, they put these guys back who were false brethren and they. They confirmed and and they, you know, this became. An issue of it's not a different gospel, but you know, God's. Built us to go to a different audience with the same gospel, you know, with the circumcised. And uncircumcised.
So, if I were to look at verses one and we use the word independence, you know, I am an independent authorized. messenger just like they are. And then in verses 3 through 5, I would use the word preservation. Everybody agreed that what was important was to preserve the gospel and the purity of that gospel. For the sake of the Gentiles.
And that's what happens in three and five, three through five.
Well, in verses six through nine, There is a recognition or there is an affirmation. And so, what happens is, Paul is going to say, now let me tell you the kind of reception I had. When I got there, they added nothing to me. He says to them, and from those who seem to be influential, and then he's going to say, Now it doesn't make any difference to me. God doesn't show any partiality.
But those I say who seemed influential added nothing to me. 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. And when James and Cephas and John, who were pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me. In other words, they recognized publicly what they had. recognized privately 11 years earlier.
Eleven years earlier, I had a very private meeting. And at the end of that private meeting, we all... stood together. As recognized, authorized, independent messengers of the gospel I've been preaching for 11 years. But that was never made public.
And now, when I went up there, they didn't correct even one iota of what. Yeah. Been preaching. They didn't adjust it, they didn't correct it, they didn't nuance it. Instead, on the contrary, they publicly recognized What Peter And James had privately Recognized 11 years earlier, except now they did it in front of the whole church.
and they extended to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship. And they recognized not a division or a difference in the gospel. But they recognized that God was at work in different spheres. God was at work among the Jews in Jerusalem, and he had entrusted that mission to Peter. And God was at work among the Gentiles, and he had entrusted that mission to Paul.
And there were going to be things that were going to be necessary. In order for the gospel to gain a hearing in both of those spheres. And those things were going to be different.
So Peter, if you're going to. um really reach Yeah. Regenerated Jews in Jerusalem. then you really need to be circumcised. And you probably need to be very careful while the temple is standing.
about how you handle holy days. And how you handle temple observance. You need to be careful about. How you observe Sabbath days. And so when Paul comes into that arena.
He doesn't jeopardize the testimony that Peter and the other apostles. have been building in Jerusalem. He observes a vow. He shaves his head. He pays.
The temple tax. He goes to the temple. In other words, when he comes back to Jerusalem, as much as he can, he lives as a Jew, just like Peter and James were living.
However, when Peter and the other apostles come into Gentile cities, They didn't bring Moses with them. There was only one time where that happened. And sadly, it was Peter in this very city. Peter had come. And he noted that when Peter came initially, he didn't worry about food laws, he didn't worry about anything.
But as soon as the Judaizer showed up, he's like, uh-oh. If the word gets back that I'm hanging out and eating the uncircumcised food. With uncircumcised people I'm going to lose my testimony back in. It's going to affect me back in Jerusalem. And the problem was that as soon as he sat with The Judaizers at that table made it seem like their gospel message was the right one, and that's why Paul rebuked him to his face.
So there is a recognized division. of labor. Paul, you're going to go to the Gentiles. And we don't want you to feel any compulsion to bring Moses and the things that some of us are doing here for testimony's sake with you to the Gentiles. And Peter, you're going to be, we recognize God has called you to the Jewish people here in Jerusalem.
And so there's a division of labor. But there is one unified Fellowship, there's one unified partnership. In other words, Peter and Paul are not on different teams. They're on the same team. They don't have different gospels or different nuances of the gospel.
They have the exact same gospel. They're just taking it to two different cultures. And there is appropriate cultural sensitivity. that is going on, and yet at the same time, in that cultural sensitivity. You have to protect the purity of the gospel, so Peter.
you don't get to acknowledge even even a little bit that the judiiters might have a point And if you do, Paul is going to rebuke you to your face, and he did there in Galatia. In fact, Paul is going to bring that up later.
So there is this division of labor, there is this division of ministry spears, but there is one gospel and one partnership. And the gospel partners are all standing together looking at this Greek. You're standing in their midst as a test case, and the GDIsers are expecting the Jerusalem apostles to say, Paul, this dude's got to get circumcised. And to their shock. They all say, absolutely not.
We refuse for a moment to consider that. And it's not just Paul, it's all of the apostles say. Say that, right? And they extend. The right hand of fellowship to Titus.
By implication, but specifically to Barnabas and to Paul, who are the leaders of this mission. And then there's one final thing before we close, but I'll let you make some comments here. I love that. I love the right-handed fellowship. I love the this is where we get that, by the way.
So, this is significant, you know, for. For centuries, we've been extending the right hand of fellowship.
Now we know why. It's not just a, hey, a casual greeting or some kind of coy. service level. Hello, this is uh a Confirmation of the gospel, the purity of the gospel. And this is what happened here.
And I want Dr. Horne, I want people to. Also understand The Judaizers Not only got justification by faith wrong by contaminating it with works, in this specific case, circumcision. But they got circumcision wrong. Because if you go back to circumcision, I hope folks will read Genesis 12.
It comes before Genesis 17. Why is that important? Because Abraham was justified before God by faith alone. in Genesis 12.
So, justification by faith wasn't originated with Paul or James. It was originated with. God, and that's how he's saved. His people, and through Abraham, who was an unclean. Idolatrous Gentile.
You heard me say it. Abraham was a Gentile. He was a pagan Gentile. And God saved him. God justified him by faith.
You read that in Romans 4. Paul confirms it in his writings. And in it's later. In 17 that Abraham is circumcised as a sign.
So, circumcision is a sign similar to what baptism is a sign, or it's a demonstration. Of the transformed heart that we're his people. We're identifying with Christ in the waters of baptism. The waters of baptism don't save you, but they sure enough show. A watching world that you've been transformed.
You've been buried with him and raised with him to new life and such. And so circumcision was a powerful sign. But even the Jews, the Judaizers. Even throughout the Old Testament, and the Pharisees, They they put it at a higher level. Than faith.
In fact, they said you gotta, Paul believed in faith plus circumcision, you know, but his faith was obviously misplaced in Moses.
So when you contaminate, when you conflate Abraham with Moses, the Abrahamic covenant, which is by faith, with the Mosaic covenant, which is do this and live, you know, Deuteronomy, you gotta do, do, do, do, do. You get into all kinds of trouble, and this is the freight train of false teaching that was trying to run its way through Jerusalem. Paul takes a very important stand in the first of his 13 epistles in Galatians against it. And this is the basis of the right-handed fellowship.
Well, that brings us to the very last verse in our section today, and it's verse 10. You know, you read it and it's like, oh, well, what's that doing there? And it's simply this: the only thing they ask us. was to remember the poor. And that was the very thing I was eager to do.
So, what is going on with that verse?
So, we have independence in verses one and two. We have Protection of the gospel or confirmation of the gospel in verses three through five. And then we have this recognition of Paul and Barnabas in. Verses six through nine, but what's going on here? with this request.
And the answer is the true gospel is going to produce something. It's going to produce unity of heart. It's going to produce unity. Among divergent people who are made one in Christ. Paul is going to say to the Ephesians.
He brings people out of the Gentile world and he brings people out of the Jewish world and he makes them into one new man.
So there is a unity that has been established by the gospel.
So that the church with the big C. Has an expression in Jerusalem and it has an expression in the Gentile cities, but it's the same church. It may look a little bit different in Jerusalem than it does in Galatia, but it's one and the same church. And there needs to be a unity. In that church, that goes beyond theology.
In other words, this isn't just. Theological agreement that the gospel is what it is. It's a unity of heart, it's a unity of mission, and it is a unity. of of life. And so when one part of the body of Christ hurts.
All of it hurts. And there is something that is going on in Jerusalem. that was the occasion for paul's trip remember he said he went up by revelation Something had been revealed. And what had been revealed was a famine. And you can read about this in Paul's writings elsewhere.
He talks about the. extreme poverty. That had come upon the people in Jerusalem, the believers in Jerusalem, because of this famine. You know, when you think about famine in our day and age, we have very little understanding of famine. You know, most of us, even when we're short on money, most of us hardly ever miss a meal.
We just are not in an age or a day. When shortages affect us like that, like, okay, there's a gas crisis, and every once in a while we got to stay in line for 45 minutes to get gas. But but we've never been in a scenario where for 12 months there hasn't been any gas anywhere. Or there hasn't been any eggs anywhere, or there hasn't been any grain anywhere. and for 12 months we've been going to the store and there's no food on the shelves.
And this was a regular occurrence. Every once in a while, we see something so ferocious in nature. that it stuns us. Recently, the flooding in Nepal. And you see All of that ravaging that took place.
on a single day and you realize Those people in the path of that flood. Are going to have a very difficult next 24 to 36 months. Their whole lives are going to be affected. Where are they going to live? How are they going to eat?
Where are they going to get money to buy things? Where are they gonna how are they gonna get electrical power reestablished? What are they going to do with all the crops that were wiped out? What are they going to do with all the goods? And the perishable goods that were destroyed that were in warehouses or in stores.
All of that is gone in an instant. and it isn't going to come back in a week. It's not like you can load up a bunch of trucks. And in a week, it's all back. These people are going to be impoverished.
Many of them for years to come.
Well, this kind of a thing had happened in Jerusalem.
So when Paul says, remember the poor, he's not talking about the poor in Galatians. He's not talking about the poor in Ephesus. He's not talking about the poor at Rome. He's talking about the devastation that has come upon Israel because of a famine. And the apostles are saying: if the gospel makes us one, and we're standing with you on that point.
Paul then let's be one. And as you go to the churches that are part of the big church that we're all part of, encourage them to remember us. The word remember isn't just talking about praying for them. It's not just talking about keeping them in mind. It's talking about actually helping them.
Paul, as you go to the Gentile Christians around this empire. remind them of the devastation that is happening here. and remind them to remember us. Just like God remembered you. And just like God remembered me, and he got involved and engaged and he helped, Paul is saying to.
The Galatians, the only thing that the apostles asked me was: just as God has remembered you in the gospel, would you remember his people in Jerusalem? And so the gospel actually has uh a a a tangible effect. That is very different from the one that the Judaizers were saying. The Judaizers were saying. The effect the gospel should have, that we're preaching to you, should have, is that it should make you run out and get circumcised.
It should make you run out and adopt the Jewish way of life, and it should make you despise Gentiles. And the apostles in Jerusalem are saying, no, no, no, the true gospels yet have a very different effect. It should produce grace and mercy in your heart, and love and unity in your heart. And instead of despising the Jews. who in many cases are the ones persecuting you in the city that you're at.
It it makes you want to get involved in helping. Your Christian brothers who are Jews in Jerusalem, don't forget. Those of us who have been impoverished. And that's a good way to end this because the gospel makes a difference. It makes a real difference in the lives of other people.
Yeah. Amen. It shows that it's an active faith. Faith that uh faith it's faith alone that justifies, but faith that justifies is never alone. It always It always shows itself, and we'll see that fruit with this big fruit of loving the poor, helping those who can't do anything for you in return, which is a beautiful picture of God's grace to us.
Dr. Horn, pray us out here, will you, brother?
Well, let me end with this practical illustration.
Some years ago, I was a part of a Christian. ministry that had been around for a long time. And this ministry focused in on things like doctrinal purity, on certain aspects of cultural identification, and we really want to be separate from the world around us and all of those things that certainly do have a place in our life and should be given some consideration. But I was sitting in a room with the marketing team, and we had a consultant. who had surveyed 1500 or so people that had been associated with that ministry over a lengthy, lengthy period of time.
and uh and had given descriptions of uh of of of their involvement or their engagement with that ministry. And the more a repeated term would show up, it would show up in bold on this word map that was up on the screen. And so there were the screen, you know, was typically like one of those big word maps. You know, let's say you did this at your church and you polled, you know, 500 members and, you know, 100 of them said preaching, we love the preaching.
Somebody else said, hey, we love the music here.
Somebody else said, we love the youth ministry or we love the children's ministry or we really appreciate. You know, the choir robes or whatever, or they didn't like something. And we really don't like the fact that we don't use, our pastor doesn't allow PowerPoint or we only use the King James or whatever. And so all of these words, then, depending on how many times they're repeated. Show up.
Well, we were sitting in this room. And they had surveyed 1,500 people who had been involved in some way or another with this ministry over a lengthy period of time. And all these words were up there. And I won't say the words. But they were all words, just things that people had experienced.
positive and negative. And the guy leading the session looked at me and said. Um What word is it up here? And I couldn't figure it out. I mean, I was just kind of getting to know what was going on.
And he said to me, look for the word love. Look for the word love. And it wasn't there. And I sat in that room absolutely stunned. Here was a ministry.
Where 1,500 people over a very lengthy period of time that had an association with that ministry were asked to describe it, and not one of them, not one of them used the word love. And it struck me. Jesus said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples. By the position you take on this cultural issue. By the pureness of your theology, which is important.
By How well you stand up and you boldly Thunder against all the evils of the day around you. By how well you separate from the music you think is worldly or the dress you think is worldly. or the version of the Bible you don't like, you name it. That's how men are going to know you're my disciple. Jesus didn't use any of those things.
What he said is, by this shall all men know you're my disciple, if you have love. for one another. That's what Paul is talking about here in Galatians 2:10. It doesn't matter what else I'm known for. If nobody knows me as a person who loves them.
They're never really going to conclude properly that I'm a true follower of Jesus Christ. And that's the point. I let that room with two Really sobering thoughts. One. How can a ministry that's been here this long?
With these many people over this length of time, and nobody, nobody. Thinks of the word love. How is that possible? What has gone wrong here? And secondly.
even more convictingly was Lord Yep.
Somebody had surveyed 1,500 people that have had involvement in my life over the last 40 years. Would any of them Use the word love. to describe my relationship to them. And that was way more convicting. than what was going through my mind about the institution.
or the ministry. It was. would what would people say if they were asked the very same question about your your relationship to them And I can just remember going back and saying, Lord, whatever else you have to do in my life. Help me to become A person who loves. And I think that's what's going on here.
Paul is saying, listen, in all of my urgency to protect the purity of the gospel, and in all of my urgency to identify the false teachers who are destroying the gospel and are wanting to remove your freedom, let's not forget the main thing, and that is this: the gospel. turns us into lovers of God. And when we love God, the outflow of that is we love others. And so, I don't want to miss that as we look at a text like this. Lord, thank you for.
Our time together, I pray that what we have said together would do a deep and transforming work in us. Lord, may it start with me and Stu and our leaders and may it bleed out into the hundreds of people who will be looking at this incredible passage. In the weeks ahead, in Jesus' name, amen. Thank you, Dr. Horne, and thank you for joining us for this Wednesday in the Word podcast.
Learn more at wedintheword.com. Follow us on YouTube. Facebook and all social media, including in Stu Graham, and be encouraged, stay in the word. Read it. Share it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on God's Word.
Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him. Proverbs 30, verse 5.
