The Heart Of Paul’s Theology: Paul And The GalatiansSample

Introduction: Galatians 2:1-21

The second historical account in this section of Galatians, found in 2:1-10, reports Paul’s meeting with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. Simply put, fourteen years after an earlier private meeting with Peter, Paul met with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. And in this meeting, they confirmed his approach to bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. Consider Paul’s record in Galatians 2:1-9:

I went up again to Jerusalem … in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles… They saw that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles … James, Peter and John … gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship … They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:1-9).

Paul related this story to the Galatians so that they could see that his work among the Gentiles did not contradict the authoritative teaching of the church leaders in Jerusalem. In fact, the other apostles agreed that God had given Paul the specific role of spreading the gospel to the Gentile world. So, Paul had every right to approach the question of Gentile circumcision as he had.

Paul’s third historical account, found in 2:11-21, describes a conflict with Peter in Syrian Antioch. At an earlier time, Peter had freely associated with uncircumcised believers. At some later time, however, Peter began to fear for his reputation among some strict Jewish believers from Jerusalem. So, he separated himself from uncircumcised believers. 

Regardless of what Peter believed in his heart, his actions conformed to the false belief that uncircumcised Gentile believers were inferior to Jewish believers. When Paul found out about this, he confronted Peter and reminded him of the gospel which both Peter and he believed. Galatians 2:15-16 report Paul’s words to Peter on that occasion:

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 faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:15-16).

Paul wrote about his conflict with Peter to prove that even Peter had submitted to his authoritative correction in this matter. If Paul’s authority had been sufficient to correct even the preeminent apostle Peter, it certainly was sufficient to correct the false teachers in Galatia.