Study inGalatians

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Contending For The

FaithChap 2v1-10

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IntroductionIn our last study we saw that false teachers had begun to undermine Paul’s authority by suggesting that both his authority and his gospel was second hand - something he received from men. In reply Paul showed that he had acquired his gospel independently of the other apostles. He had been tutored by the Spirit of Christ in Arabia after his conversion. Thereafter, he had only minimal contact with the other apostles 1v18. However, a second criticism suggested that his gospel was quite different to the one preached by the other apostles. And so in order to prove that his gospel was identical to that of the other apostles Paul now stresses the significance of a very important second trip made to Jerusalem some 14 years after the one mentioned in 1v18.

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Meeting The Apostles In JerusalemPaul “went up by revelation”. He was not summoned or, carpeted by the apostles. Paul went to Jerusalem because God told him to go.

What this revelation was we do not know. The reference may be to Agabus’ prophecy of a famine; as a result of which Paul and Barnabas were sent to Jerusalem by the church at Antioch on a relief mission [Acts 11.27-30]. On this occasion Paul clearly took the opportunity to have a private meeting with the apostles.

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Meeting The Apostles In JerusalemPaul tells us that the purpose of this meeting was to “set before them the gospel that I preach”. He spread before them the gospel he had received directly from God during his stay in Arabia. In this epistle we see some of the important elements of that gospel e.g. justification by faith, union with Christ, and the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

We could equally underline issues such as, the authority of scripture, heaven and hell, the need of regeneration and conversion and the expectation of Christ’s return in glory.

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Meeting The Apostles In JerusalemWhy did Paul feel it necessary to unpack his gospel in this way? He says, “for fear that I was running or had run my race in vain”. He is not saying that he was uncertain about the content of his gospel. He did not have personal doubts or misgivings. He did not need the reassurance of the Jerusalem apostles on that count. Rather he was concerned that the false teachers who dogged his steps on his missionary journeys should render his ministry, both past and present, fruitless. And so it was to overthrow their influence and not to strengthen his own conviction that he laid his gospel before the apostles.

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Meeting The Apostles In JerusalemPaul was laying out his gospel over against the wrong ideas of the false teachers who were troubling his converts. He saw the logical outcome of wrong ideas - confusion in the church. Only when the truth of the gospel is maintained can the way of salvation be clearly understood. Three things have contributed to the eclipse of the gospel of grace in recent years.

1. The undermining of the authority of scripture. 2. The liberal view of the nature of man – he is

presented as basically good.3. The influence of rationalism which rejects what

human reason cannot understand - miracles the deity of Christ etc.

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Meeting The Apostles In JerusalemAny attempt to restore the life of the church without recovering its’ true message is a waste of time. Only as the truth of the gospel is maintained will the moral standards of society be influenced for good. It is not possible to retain the social and cultural benefits of Christianity after Christianity has gone.

Within the life of the Western church today all the efficiency experts and commercial fund-raisers are discovering that they cannot replace the energy of the Holy Spirit. We need to recover some of the Pauline intolerance and forthright condemnation of muddled thinking and dangerously misleading ideas that are being presented as the authentic gospel.

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Titus: Paul’s Visual AidWhy does Paul tell us that he brought Titus, a Gentile convert, along with him on this trip? Titus was Paul’s visual aid. He was the fruit of the apostle’s ministry. He was the product of the gospel which his opponents were denigrating. Paul was able to say, “This is what the gospel I preach does for a man, this is how it transforms him”.

Now that is a good test for the gospel that we preach. It is not an infallible test for people can resist the gospel they can suppress and reject the gospel’s claims upon their lives. But where people are prepared to open their minds and hearts to its’ influence and allow their lives to be shaped by it, then their lives reflect the gospel that has influenced them.

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Titus: Paul’s Visual AidPaul’s opponents taught that without circumcision there could be no salvation. Their position is summed up in Acts 15v1 “Unless you are circumcised according to the Law of Moses you cannot be saved.” Paul brought the issue to a head. Would the apostles accept Titus, an uncircumcised Gentile convert, as a brother in Christ? Titus’ presence in Jerusalem soon drew out the opposition. The Judaisers demanded his circumcision. Paul refused to yield to their pressure. To take an uncompromising stand upon anything is the surest way to become unpopular and branded a bigot or dogmatist. We are told that the way to become acceptable is to change with the wind, to dilute every strong opinion, to resist hurting the feelings of others. But where does this approach lead us as individuals and as a church?

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Titus: Paul’s Visual AidThe truth of the gospel was at stake [v5]. Paul saw that the issue was not merely a question of circumcision or uncircumcision but of freedom v bondage. The Christian has been set free from the law - his acceptance before God depends entirely upon God’s grace. Of this principle Titus was a test case. Having believed in Jesus, he had been accepted by God in Christ and that, Paul said ,was enough! Paul rehearses the Titus case for the Galatian church for a reason. If the apostles, had been in agreement with the gate-crashing Judaisers, the same group who were troubling the church in Galatia, then they would surely have insisted that Titus be circumcised. The fact that they did not demonstrated that they thought circumcision was unnecessary for salvation.

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The Recognition The Apostles ShowedIt might seem from Paul’s description of the apostles in v6, “those who seemed to be important” that his account of them is somewhat derogatory. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Judaisers were exaggerating the status of the Jerusalem apostles at Paul’s expense.

It is these extravagant and exclusive claims that Paul is tilting at here and not the apostles themselves. How then did the Jerusalem apostles respond to Paul’s gospel? Did they contradict it, modify it, edit it, trim it, or supplement it? No! Paul mentions their threefold response!

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The Recognition The Apostles ShowedFirst in v6 he says, they “added nothing to my message”. His gospel was in no way considered to be defective. They did not try to reshape or embellish it in any way.

Oh they encouraged Paul to “remember the poor” v10. But they mentioned that not by way of pointing out a defect in his ministry. He had after all come to Jerusalem for that very purpose. Rather these words are to be seen as an index of the practical help that the church in Jerusalem needed at that time.

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The Recognition The Apostles ShowedSecondly, they went on to recognise the existence of different spheres of service v7-8. We must not underestimate what Paul is saying. Namely, those in authority in Jerusalem not only recognised his ministry but also his apostleship. He is seen as God’s apostle to the Gentiles and as such at the vanguard of their evangelism.

Peter, you will remember, had a similar role among the Jewish people. Clearly, the apostles recognised authenticity when they saw it.

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The Recognition The Apostles ShowedThere is a rigidity that can almost paralyse evangelical orthodoxy when the question of recognising a ministry with new insights and emphases arises. I am not recommending that we accept uncritically every new idea that comes along. But how many works of God have received minimal support in their early years because of the resistance of a rigid orthodoxy? Hudson Taylor shocked the western missionary community when he dressed in Chinese clothesin order to identify with those he sought to reach.

We need to pray that God would give us grace and wisdom to recognise Divine Authority ringing in a man’s message when we hear it, and humility to receive that message even when it cuts across our cherished practices and it challenges our minds and hearts.

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The Recognition The Apostles ShowedThirdly, the Jerusalem Apostles extended to Paul “the right hand of fellowship” v9. This was the most public and official recognition that could be given to Paul . This action showed both him and his opponents that the apostles considered themselves to be at one with Paul in the work in which he was engaged and in the gospel that he preached.

How were his opponents going to answer that! The truth is that they had no answer.

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ConclusionSome read passages such as these with a measure of impatience. The argument over Titus’ circumcision and the consultation with the apostles seems so remote and unrelated to the problems of the C21st. But this is far from the case. For the life and ministry of the church rises and falls with our determination to guard the truth of the gospel and resist compromise even at the cost of offending others. We do the church no favours by our failure to defend the gospel.“Now as concerning faith we ought to be invincible, and more hard, if it might be than the adamant stone; but as touching charity, we ought to be soft and more flexible than the reed or leaf that is shaken with the wind, and ready to yield to everything”. Martin Luther