In my last post, I wrote about how Paul marveled that the Galatians had so soon turned aside from the grace of Christ to another Gospel. Paul had received a direct revelation of the Gospel from Jesus Christ, and was personally taught it by the Lord. In this chapter Paul continues his history lesson to aid in proving his point.
The setting here is at the Jerusalem council that we find record of in Acts 15. While Paul was still in Antioch, certain Jews from Judaea came down and taught that they must be circumcised in order to be saved. Paul and Barnabas sharply contended with them, and rightfully so. If this false teaching had been allowed to take root, it could have caused untold damage to the Church (Jew and Gentile alike). As a result of this Paul, Barnabas, and others went up to Jerusalem to discuss this with the apostles and elders. While there, certain of the Pharisees that believed also stated the Gentiles must be circumcised and keep the Law in order to be saved. After much debate, it was Peter who first stood up to speak, and reminded them how the Lord had saved the first Gentile converts through his preaching. The Lord had purified their hearts by faith and given them the Holy Ghost just as He had done with the Jews. Peter then asked them why were they tempting God by putting a yoke on the Gentiles that even they as Jews were unable to bear? He went on to state that both are saved through the grace of Jesus Christ. To this the rest of the apostles and elders agreed. Paul stated to the Galatians that these Pharisees were actually false converts whose desire was to bring them into bondage. Paul and Barnabas again did not tolerate this teaching even temporarily. The apostles and elders concluded that Paul had been called by the Lord to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles, and that Peter had been called by the same Lord to preach the Gospel to the Jews. Both were equally valid. None of them was more important than the other, for the Lord is no respecter of persons (all must approach the Lord through faith).
Apparently this sense that the Jews had of somehow being superior to the Gentiles was so strong that even Peter and Barnabas were carried away to a certain degree in this sense of elitism. While in Antioch, Peter ate with the Gentiles, but when some of the Jews came down from Jerusalem he separated himself from them for fear of what the Jews might think. Paul then withstood Peter to the face in front of everyone, and asked him why he expected the Gentiles to act like the Jews if he being a Jew was acting like a Gentile? This prejudice was unfounded, since no man can be justified by the keeping of the Law. As Paul wrote to the Romans, Just as a woman is free to re-marry whose husband dies, we are dead to the Law by the body of Christ so that we can be alive unto God through Jesus Christ. No matter our nationality or religious up-bringing, the way to God is the same for all: We are justified by faith because of what Jesus did on the cross for us. We have been crucified with Christ, meaning our old man is dead. We are made alive again spiritually because Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead lives inside of us. This life is imparted to us through faith in Him who loved us so much that he willingly gave up His own life for us. To say that righteousness can come any other way than through faith in Jesus Christ is to actually frustrate (to do away with or set aside) the grace of God. If we can be righteous by our own good works, then Jesus died in vain. This is quite a statement: Jesus’ death is meaningless if you and I must obtain our salvation or keep it through good works or religious rituals. To believe and teach we can be righteous on our own merits is to attack the very nature of God Himself. It says that God the Father allowed His Son to suffer and die needlessly, and that He is not powerful enough to save us on His own. It all comes back to the person of Jesus Christ, the work he did on the cross, and that He is alive and inside those who believe on Him.
In the next chapter Paul will shift from his own personal experience to giving them doctrinal instruction on grace.
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