Divisions
and Interpretations in the Early Church
[Galatians
2, verses 11-21]
Today
we will be finishing up the second half of chapter two of the Book of
Galatians. As we open our study, we find the apostle Paul continuing
his letter to the church at Galatia. As we begin at verse 11, we find
Paul moving on to another related subject as he continues writing.
“When
Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was
clearly in the wrong. 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. The other Jews joined him in
his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led
astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth
of the Gospel, I said to Peter 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?' We who are Jews by
birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is not justified by
observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put
our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by our faith in
Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no
one would be justified.” (Galatians 2, verses 11-16, NIV)
At first glance, it appears the apostle Paul is writing
about some long-forgotten disagreement between Jewish and non-Jewish
believers, but that is not the case. As I pointed out in a previous
study of Second Corinthians, there has been a longstanding Jewish
custom of staying among themselves and being separate from the rest
of the Christian world. This is yet another example of that very
thing, with Paul being on one side of the argument and Peter on the
other. Paul, after he was converted on the road to Damascus in Acts
chapter nine, turned away from the Jewish customs, teachings and
traditions of his fathers. Peter, the first apostle called by Jesus,
was also a Jewish man, but one who walked and talked with Christ.
Evidently, he chose to retain and honor at least some of his Jewish
traditions for whatever reason he had. I strongly believe that this
was the main substance of their argument.
Just
as evidently, Paul's followers and supporters followed in his
footsteps and took Paul's teachings to heart just as Peter's
followers undoubtedly followed Peter. This is another documented case
of schisms and offshoots within the early Church that grew into the
wide variety of Christian denominations as we know them today (at
last check, there are over 4000 denominations in the United States
alone). Was either one right or wrong? Actually, neither as far as
God is concerned. Man-made arguments, theories, postulations,
deductions and conclusions are mere child's play to Almighty God. But
I think the apostle Paul made his point very well when he wrote, “We
who are Jews by birth and not 'Gentile sinners' know that a man is
not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ”.
Whether one is Jewish or not – and by extension any race, religion
or nationality – whether one is Protestant or Catholic, Christian
or Muslim, black, white or whatever, it's all completely besides the
point! It's an intellectual and emotional trap from which there is no
escape, like an enigma wrapped in an unsolvable riddle. Strip it all
away and the only thing left underneath the surface is Jesus Christ,
the Savior himself. He was, and still is and always will be, the
basis for all things! He is, always has been and always will be the
center of my universe and my reason for living! Having established
these facts while hopefully motivating others to do the same, let's
continue our study starting at verse seventeen.
“If,
while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident that we
ourselves are sinners, does that mean Christ promotes sin? Absolutely
not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, I prove that I am a lawbreaker.
For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I
have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ
lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the
grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law,
Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2. verses 17-21,NIV)
Through the cross and resurrection Jesus died and yet
lived. Through our unwavering faith, even though we were born dead as
sinners, we yet live for Christ, having hung our old selves on the
cross to die so that we can be truly “born again”. Aside from
Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus in the third chapter of John's
gospel, this is one of the best explanations I can find throughout
the New Testament of what it means to be a “born again Christian”.
Just as Jesus sacrificed himself upon the cross, so we are to emulate
our Savior by sacrificing our old, sinful selves upon our own cross,
a cross which we must be willing to carry up our hill of Calvary as
Jesus carried his. This hill of Calvary of ours can be anything that
is undesirable or unwanted, such as a character flaw or personality
defect, like a bad temper. It can also be something that seems stuck
or otherwise immovable to us, such as a bad past, overcoming mental
illness and addiction, or being long-term unemployed as I once was.
It is not possible to be born again until our former selves have been
put to death, and we must do so willingly because Jesus went
willingly to the cross for all our sins. This does not necessarily
have to happen all at once. We can believe and be born again at the
moment we place our trust in Christ, but climbing our own hill of
Calvary takes time, as I learned myself starting 23 years ago. It is
an ongoing process for all of us, and we are all at varying stages
along the way in our development as children of God. Just as children
grow up under the watchful eye of their parents, so we are to grow up
in the watchful eye of Jesus, becoming students of the Master
Himself. There is no other way to be saved, Paul once wrote, and it's
just as true today as it was 2,000 years ago.
Let's consider this carefully, then. Salvation in
Christ is far more than assuming a set of beliefs, rituals, or other
pomp and circumstance. Our actions and personal sacrifices have
nothing to do with salvation in and through Christ. Our salvation in
Christ is only made possible by the shedding of Jesus' blood as he
died on the cross. It is by His supreme sacrifice, by our faith and
by His grace (in that order) that we are saved, Paul wrote, and not
by the works of our hands. That means no matter whether we are a
“good person” or not, or how much we tithed or gave to charity,
or whether we were “nice” to everybody or not, is neither here
nor there as far as Jesus is concerned. Salvation in Christ means
becoming a whole new person, an entirely new creation crafted in His
image and likeness, and it is often the opposite of the old. He
replaces us with Himself, dwelling within us in a marvelous harmony
that emanates from the human heart. His Spiritual indwelling is
literally a cohabitation that exists within ourselves, which is
exactly as it should be. And His cohabitation in the Spirit brings
with it the peace of Christ – an internal peace with God, with
others, and with ourselves that is so sublime that it is
indescribable and defies human comprehension. That, brothers and
sisters, is a goal worth shooting for every single day.
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