Galatians 1:11-2:10 "Paul's Story: A Defense Of The True Gospel"

Intro: To understand Galatians we need to look at the history of the early church and discover where the Judaizers came from and why they were always attacking Paul (he deals with them in almost every one of his letters!)

It is important to remember that the church in its earliest days, was almost completely Jewish, and the early Christians practiced their faith while also retaining Jewish cultural and religious practices like circumcision and observing the ceremonial clean laws. But, and this is very important, there were really two groups of Jews in the early church. The first group saw their Jewish culture as good and valuable, but the second group (who would become the Judaizers) considered their Jewish culture religiously superior, and thought that their culture was the only "clean" culture, the only one acceptable to God. As long as the church only contained Jewish Christians who continued to live by Jewish cultural norms (including worshipping at the Temple!) these two groups co-existed with no problems. But when Gentiles came into the church, and Paul started telling them that they didn't need to be Jewish to be Christians, some huge problems arose.

Remember - the purpose of the clean laws (laws regarding the things you needed to do or to avoid in order to come into worship) was to show that you can't just come into the presence of a holy God. As Tim Keller put it, "Worship is not a come-as-you-are party." But even if you could keep the clean laws, you still had to offer a blood-sacrifice in worship! You couldn't purify yourself enough even by following the clean laws.

When Paul began preaching freedom from Jewish culture to Gentiles, the Judaizers went nuts! They accused Paul of subtracting some vital parts from the gospel, and they started following him around, teaching people that Paul only taught half a gospel, and that if you wanted to be a real Christian you needed to be circumcised and obey the clean laws. Furthermore they said, he is a second-generation guy, who had garbled the gospel he had received from the real apostles, while they (the Judaizers, or circumcision group) were teaching what they had gotten from the true apostles, that all Christians needed to be Jewish to be Christian.

And, the Judaizers were very effective because of several factors:

1. Peter's hypocrisy (Gal 2:11-13) Even though God showed him a vision (Acts 10) that Jewish/Gentile distinctions had no place in the church, and even though he agreed with Paul in principle (otherwise Paul couldn't call him a hypocrite!) he waffled in his practice and refused to eat with Gentiles because the Judaizers considered them unclean.

2. Paul's visits to Jerusalem which the Judaizers said proved he got his gospel and his authority from the original apostles (whom the Judaizers claimed to represent -- Gal 2:12)

How can Paul respond to these two charges, that his authority was from men (the other apostles), and that he had garbled the gospel he had received from them? He tells a story. See how he answers the charges against him:

I. He Sets The Record Straight With Regard To His Authority Against The Judaizers' Lies!

1. Only a divine revelation can explain his conversion! (vs. 11-16)

• His background and his zeal were over-ruled -- he was not dissatisfied with Judaism!

• He wasn't discipled by any man. He was chased down by the sovereign God. Eugene Peterson says it well, "It is significant that Paul did not describe this moment by saying "When I decided to be a Christian" but rather by saying "When He was pleased to reveal His Son to me." Conversion is God's work."

• Paul says God “set him apart” which is ironic since the Pharisees (of whom Paul was a part) set themselves apart for God. In fact the name Pharisee means “the set apart one.” Paul’s understanding of how you relate to God has been turned upside down! Man’s wisdom says “set yourself apart for God and He will notice you.” Learn to be a self-promoter. But the gospel is that God takes notice of us apart from what we do!

• The gospel is a revelation! It is not something we discover or invent. The religions that mankind invent s always end up giving glory to man rather than God.

2. After his conversion he didn't go to Jerusalem but to Arabia and Damascus! (vs. 17) This proves he was preaching the gospel before he ever met the other apostles!

3. He goes to Jerusalem three years later, but only briefly. He is not Peter's disciple and is not constantly checking in with him.

4. Fourteen years later he goes to Jerusalem again. But why? Not to see if he's got it right with regard to the gospel but to shut up the Judaizers! Yet Paul was nervous about going because:

• It was a huge moment. It was the only time we know of when Peter, James, John and Paul all met.

• The stakes were huge. The Judaizers were deceiving many people and if the "pillars" of the church failed to agree with Paul, it would do serious damage to the work of spreading the gospel of free grace

• There was reason to worry because these other apostles had difficulty getting free from their Jewish bias, as we can see by Peter's later hypocrisy! It seems that Paul saw clearly the implications of a compromise with the Judaizers while the other apostles seemed more inclined to compromise (see Acts 15.) Paul saw how the compromise to not offend weaker brothers could be used to compromise the true gospel!

5. Why does this matter today? Because God’s people still get confused about cultural matters. The culture you were raised in brings you lots of assumptions, but God calls His people to think through their cultural assumptions and to lay them down for the sake of the gospel. This is what Paul models in his life. But it is not easy to do – and we see that even other apostles struggled with this stuff.

• What assumptions do you have about church or music or dress that need to be examined? It is so easy to elevate a cultural practice to the level of Biblical mandate. Notice, Paul doesn’t tell people to quit practicing circumcision – rather he attacks those who consider it vital for salvation. When it is made into something vital for salvation it becomes a false gospel that must be opposed! [Story of Archibald Alexander and his wet bar.]

• We must beware thinking ours is the only “clean” culture! Racism is rooted in seeking to justify yourself by the basis of your culture or people group and only the gospel can set you free.

II. He Sets The Record Straight With Regard To Who Really Preaches The True Gospel Are the Judaizers right in requiring all Christians to practice circumcision and the clean laws? NO!

1. It reverses the gospel by adding to the gospel! Jesus + nothing is the true gospel formula! Paul used to trust in his culture and his zeal, he's been there, done that! Paul is thrilled that when he sets his gospel before the other apostles (not that he needs it approved for his good, he does it to shut up the Judaizers) "they added nothing to my message!" (Gal 2:6) This is a huge point to get! What qualifies you to receive the gospel? Do you need to forsake sin to come to Jesus? "I wish I could come to Jesus, but my motives are bad." You don't have to clean up and then ask Christ to marry you! That's why the message of Galatians is so difficult to absorb! In fact most people conceive of either their faith as the work which qualifies them to receive grace, or their sincere decision, or their asking Jesus to come into their heart -- but making any of these the thing that qualifies you for grace is a distortion of the gospel. The only thing that qualifies you to receive God’s grace is the work of Jesus!

2. The other apostles didn't require Titus (a Gentile) to be circumcised (2:3-5) While circumcision would be no fun – Paul does not oppose it because of Titus’ comfort. In fact he does circumcise his disciple Timothy before taking him to Jerusalem because Timothy was Jewish and Jews would be offended by him not adopting this part of his own culture.) The reason Paul opposes Titus being circumcised was that the Judaizers said it was required for salvation. Thus for Paul to give in would be to say the false gospel of “Christ + something” was really the gospel. There are things worth fighting for.

3. The other apostles agree with Paul and give him the right hand of fellowship (2:7-10) Even though later Peter falls into hypocrisy (we’ll cover this next week), the true gospel helpd by all the apostles is the same. Paul did not “invent” Christianity!

Conclusion: Beware! There are always those who are looking to spy out our freedom in Christ. They must be opposed for the sake of the gospel! A weaker brother (Romans 14) is not the same as a Pharisee – and the key to distinguishing between the two is do they think the issue is a matter of salvation? Do they think they are 2 levels or Christians depending on whether you agree with them?