But when I saw that they were not
straightforward
about the truth of
the Gospel, I said to Peter
before them all,
"If you, being a Jew,
live in the manner of
Gentiles and not as the Jews,
why do you compel
Gentiles to live as Jews?
We who are Jews
by nature,
and not sinners of
the Gentiles, knowing that a man
is not justified by
the works of the law
but by faith in Jesus
Christ, even we have believed
in Christ Jesus, that
we might be justified
by faith in Christ
and not by the works of the law;
for by the works of
the law no flesh shall be justified."
Galatians 2: 14-16
Paul now
gives the theme of this letter to the Galatian churches and that is also
for all Christians in all times even in our present time. Therefore, we must look at this being and
dig in deep to see how what Paul wrote actually applies to us. What is this theme? Man
is not justified by works, but by faith in Jesus Christ. Somehow, and this happens to a lot of
Christians even today, Peter had forgotten what had been revealed to him by the
Holy Spirit: "Then he said to them,
‘You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one
of another nation. But God has shown me
that I should not call any man, and more unclean" (Acts 10:28). In Christ Jesus all men are equal in His
sight and have all the rights of communion with one another as the veil
separating the Jewish nation from other nations had been torn asunder opening
the door for everyone to come to the most holy Place: the throne of God. No longer was there a need for a high priest
to go into the most holy place of the temple once a year to make intercession
for the sins of the Hebrew people. Our
high priest is Jesus Christ and He is in heaven at the throne of God the Father
making intercession for all of God's children.
There is no need to continue in these various festivals and practices
that were to bring people closer to God: i.e. offering lambs that are
undefiled, or turtle doves, or holding other festivals that were to cause them
to be thankful for what God had done for them.
Jesus Christ said "it is finished!" This He did on the cross when by His death men can receive
redemption, righteousness in the eyes of God, and sanctification, and
furthermore, everlasting life. Jesus
did leave us with two sacrificial acts: 1.
The Lord's Supper otherwise known as communion. 2.
Baptism. There are no other
things required to be done by God's children after the death of Jesus Christ on
the cross. Unfortunately there are
those who want to add all kinds of works and call those works approved by God when in fact the Bible never asks us to do those works outside
of what Scripture has given unction for to be done. But there are those like Peter, who say that
they are Christian, and then do that which is not commanded by God. What was this "sinners of the Gentiles?" An interesting phrase and we need to come to
understand it as the Greek word:̀ ὰμαρτωλοί, a nominative word or vocative
use of this word speaking of many and denotes that this id one who
deviates from the path of virtue, and this one would be called a sinner, and is
speaking of one who is depraved, sinful, detestable and this is what the
Gentiles were in their religious theology and practices and unfortunately the
Hebrews still esteemed them in some manner. It sseems as there are those who esteem those who seem to have a "good life" and do not claim Christianity, or any other religion for that matter, therefore it was used in a Gentiles
were those who do not fear God.
Now, when
Paul observed Peter acting in this way as to prejudice the truth of the Gospel
and the peace of the church, he was not afraid to reprove him. We too, when we see those things that are
prejudicing the truth of the Gospel and the peace of the church we are to address
this as did Paul. When we see people
not living up to the principles that the Gospel teaches and for which they
profess we do not fear to cause not to address this: we address it. The Gospel teaches by the
death of Christ the partition wall between the Jews and the Gentiles had been
taken down, and that the observance of the law of Moses was no longer
enforced. When people are not acting
according to the Gospel whether by fear or just having learned a false theology
and this is actually true for some what they say they believe is an offense not
only to the congregation of Christians but to the public. People do see and judge another by their actions and by their
words, therefore, we have a responsibility to live a life that God desires for
all His people to live, and this is the live by His commands, and precepts, not
by some work, rather by faith. Too
many Christians fall back to things of their past that they had formerly rid
themselves of this is transgression:
"But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also found
sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! For if I
build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I threw the law died to the law that I
might live to God" (Galatians 2:17 -- 20). We are not to do as some are doing, and that is preaching a
Gospel of works whereby people are focusing on the works rather than on Jesus
Christ who died to save them from their sins. These who need salvation will not come to Jesus until that person comes to fully believe that
they are sinful and in need of a Savior.
We are affective when we preach the gospel and the Gospel alone. Our focus is not on the results, no, our
focus is on Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Do not envy the oppressor,
and choose
none of his ways:
for the perverse person is an abomination
to the
Lord,
but His secret council is with the upright.
Proverbs 3: 31 -- 32
Prepare your heart now to worship God
Richard L. Crumb
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