A worn stone road climbing through terraced Judean hills at dawn toward a distant walled city on a ridge.

The Book of

Galatians 2

Paul goes back to Jerusalem, and later faces Peter at Antioch. Both times, the truth of the gospel is at stake.

21 verses≈ 4 min4 peopleBSB

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In this chapter

Where we are

1:1–10No other gospelGrace, not a different message
1:11–2Paul's storyA gospel from God, not from menChapter 2
3–4Faith, not lawSons of Abraham through faith
5–6Free in ChristWalk by the Spirit, serve in love

The Council at Jerusalem

Fourteen years later I went up again to Jerusalem, accompanied by Barnabas. I took Titus along also.

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I went in response to a revelation and set before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I spoke privately to those recognized as leaders, for fear that I was running or had already run in vain.

Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek.

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Fourteen years later

Paul “went up again to Jerusalem,” probably from Antioch in Syria, where he and Barnabas served the church together. It was a journey of about 300 miles south along the coast and up into the Judean hills, with Barnabas and with Titus, a Greek believer.

This issue arose because some false brothers had come in under false pretenses to spy on our freedom in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us. We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you

Galatians 2:5

But as for the highly esteemed—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism—those leaders added nothing to me.

Paul

Reflect

The right hand of fellowship

Paul and Peter were sent to different people, yet they shook hands over one gospel. And the only thing the leaders asked was to “remember the poor.” Who is a fellow believer you could stand alongside, even though God has given you different work? And who are the poor you could remember this week?

Paul Confronts Cephas

A long low table in a courtyard at dusk, with people seated along it and one place left empty as a figure walks away, seen from behind.

When Cephas came to Antioch, however, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For 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, for fear of those in the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.

0:25

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

When I saw that they were not walking in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, who are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Not by works of the law

Whiteboard

Paul starts with himself and Peter. They were born Jews, raised with the law, not Gentile “sinners.” Yet even they had to come the same way as everyone else: “So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus.” If the law could not make them right with God, it cannot make anyone right, “because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

We who are Jews by birth and not Gentile “sinners” know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.

So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Someone might ask

But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin?

Paul

Certainly not! If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker.

Question

Quick question

Paul reminds Peter of something they both already knew, as Jews by birth.

According to 2:16, how is a person justified?

For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.

Galatians 2:20

The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

I do not set aside the grace of God.

For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.

Galatians 2:21

Pray

Christ lives in me

Pray Paul’s words as your own. Thank Jesus, the Son of God, “who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Tell Him you trust His grace, not your own record, to make you right with God. And ask Him to live His life in you today, so that you “live by faith in the Son of God.”

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Galatians 2

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A verse to carry with you

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 up for me.

Galatians 2:20

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