The Word Made Fresh
1Fourteen years passed before I went again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas, and I took Titus with me. 2I went up because of a revelation I had received, and in a private meeting with the leaders I put before them the gospel I had preached to the Gentiles, just to be certain I wasn’t acting in vain. 3But they didn’t insist that even Titus, who was the Greek that had come with me, should be circumcised. 4However, some phony believers were sneaked in to examine the freedom we have in Christ so that they could control us. 5But we didn’t surrender to them for one moment so that the truth of the gospel might not be taken from you.
6And there were also some men who claimed to be your leaders (It doesn’t make any difference to me who they really were. God treats everyone the same.), but they were no help to me. 7Indeed, when they realized I had been chosen to share the gospel with those who were uncircumcised, just as had Peter been chosen to share it with the circumcised, 8(for the one who made Peter an apostle to the circumcised also sent me to the Gentiles), 9and when James and Cephas and John, who were accepted as leaders, saw the grace that had been bestowed on me they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship and agreed that we should preach to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10They only asked one other thing, that we remember the poor, which I was already eager to do.
11But when Cephas came to Antioch, I confronted him because he was clearly wrong – 12he used to eat with the Gentiles until certain people were sent by James, and then he stayed away from them out of fear of the circumcision party. 13The other Jews joined him in this hypocrisy – even Barnabas was led astray. 14When I saw that they were not behaving according to the truth of the gospel I told Cephas in front of them all, “If you, a Jew, could live like a Gentile, how can you insist that Gentiles should live like Jews?”
15We are not sinful Gentiles. We are Jews by birth. 16We are well aware that we are deemed righteous not by obeying the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we believe in Christ Jesus so that we’ll be justified through faith in him rather than by being obedient to the law. No one will be justified because of their obedience to the law.
17Of course, while we strive to be justified in Christ we are still sinners. But does that make Christ a servant to sin? Of course not! 18Still, if I fall back on the very things I once gave up, then I’m just demonstrating that I’m a sinner. 19I died to the law so that I might live for God. I’ve been crucified with Christ. 20Therefore, it no longer matters that I am alive, but rather that Christ lives in me. And the physical life I now live is lived by faith in God’s Son who loved me and gave his life for me. 21I’m not denying the grace of God, but if righteousness can be earned through the law, Christ died for nothing.
Commentary
1-10: Paul’s meeting with the leaders in Jerusalem is apparently the one mentioned in Acts 9:26-30. He insists that there was a general understanding that circumcision was not required and that he, Paul, would be the apostle to the Gentiles.
11-14: The confrontation between Paul and Peter (Cephas) in Antioch is not recorded elsewhere. Paul says that he challenged Peter for his duplicity regarding Jewish dietary restrictions.
15-21: Paul’s favorite theme is presented here again: we are justified by faith, not by works; that is, not by keeping the Law of Moses. The law should be kept, of course, but cannot save. Christ is our salvation, not the law. His logic is summarized in verse 21: “If justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”
Takeaway
Raise a prayer of gratitude today for Christ, who exposed the burden of the law (the first five books of the Old Testament) so that we can be free to respond to those who need our help and support whether they are Christians or not. If we do that we might actually rescue some souls.