Galatians 2:21

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:21

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21 I do [atheteo] not [ou] frustrate [atheteo] the grace [charis] of God: [theos] for [gar] if [ei] righteousness [dikaiosune] come by [dia] the law, [nomos] then [ara] Christ [Christos] is dead [apothnesko] in vain. [dorean] KJV-Interlinear

21 "I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly." NASB

Frustrate, ‘atheteo,’ means to abrogate, abolish, void, nullify.

The phrase, grace of God, refers to the favor of God as it applies within the plan of God in salvation and as it applies to life beyond or after salvation.

Righteousness refers to the justification in salvation, and justification in ones spiritual growth.

And so, if a person can be justified and/or saved by means of the law, then he can be saved by means of his own efforts.

If a person can advance in their spiritual life by means of the law, then they can advance by means of their own efforts.

If those two things are possible, then God is not needed and man can define and design his own path to holiness.  That all makes Christs work on the cross and His deaths (both deaths, the first being his spiritual death and the second death being His physical death) useless and of no importance or value.

If man can do nearly anything, and that is exactly what happened to the Levitical code, when the Priests over several centuries, made up rule after rule, regulation after regulation.  They made things complicated and then made exceptions for things that were too complicated, and then made more rules until the Law was held not within the content of the first five books but were contained within volumes and volumes and volumes of books of regulations.

And then it eventually excluded nearly everyone except the chosen Jewish few as determined by the priests.  The Law became biased and prejudiced to the maximum.

When man makes up the rules, then favoritism, exceptions and bias inevitably enter into the rules and fairness fades into non-existence.

Man cannot justify himself.  Man cannot pay the high price for his evil.  Man cannot take his own rottenness and purify it.  Man cannot rise to the level of God (someone else wanted to be like the most high), and become an equal with God.

Man cannot control his own birth, or life span, or the number of beats of his own heart or the weather for that matter.

If man could accomplish all of these things, then there would be no need for God.

Therefore, since man has virtually no control over almost everything, except his own thoughts perhaps, then man needs God, a perfect and all powerful entity, to help him out.  And if such a God exists, then He would have a plan, and make Himself and His plan known to all of humanity from the beginning to the end.  And that is exactly what the Bible and Christ, is.

Galatians 2:20

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:20

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20 I am crucified [sustauroo] with Christ: [Christos] nevertheless [de] I live; [zao] yet not [ouketi] I, [ego] but [de] Christ [Christos] liveth [zao] in [en] me: [emoi] and [de] the life which [hos] I [zao] now [nun] live [zao] in [en] the flesh [sarx] I live [zao] by [en] the faith [pistis] of the Son [huios] of God, [theos] who [ho] loved [agapao] me, [me] and [kai] gave [paradidomi] himself [heautou] for [huper] me. [emou]KJV-Interlinear

20 "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. NASB

Life is the quintessence of existence.  Without life there are no senses, no feelings, no emotions, no thoughts, no interactions, without life there is nothing.

In death there is nothing. That is the absence of life.  No feelings, no senses, nothing.  But also, in death, when the process is a separation process,  there are no rules that govern and no connection to rules that attempt to govern.

And so it is as Paul states in this verse and the previous verse.

Once one was ruled by the Law, and this applies to all of humanity, as the rules of this world apply to all.  But those rules gave everyone, nothing to look forward to, nothing to hope for, no destiny but a permanent existence away from life.

Then Christ went to the Cross, and paid the heavy price for sin and the penalty of death, permanent death, that it demanded.

And so since we have believed in Christ, then we all become associated with Him in His death.  For He paid the price of death and through our belief in faith, we died to the rules of this world, to the rules of death, thus separating us permanently from death and those rules.

And since we are separated from death, then we have life, but not life in and of ourselves, but life by means of and through Christ.

None of us had any say about our existence before we were born.  None of us orchestrated or brought about our own birth.  Others did all of that for us.  Our parents perpetuated the biological aspects, and the Lord created our human life, just as He created our eternal life at the very moment we believed in Him.

But having this second chance of life, being reborn into a spiritual life, we now have the opportunity to design and define our eternal destiny.  That we do, or do not do, by means of our interest or lack of it, in our learning bible doctrine on a daily basis.

God still does all of the work, but we have the right to choose to advance in life, or to remain stupid and forfeiting our eternal reward.

In eternity past, God invented us within the divine decrees.  That was our start.  We had no say or even awareness in that part of our existence.

In time, we were born into this world and God gave us our human life.  That started our adventure, our story, our song, our travels through life.  But that start was in accordance with the rules of this world, and in that we had no good story worth telling.

But then we believed in Christ and that gave us a second start, but remaining in this world, and in so remaining we were given a new set of rules, a separation from the old rules, to which we should never return nor even attempt to return to, lest we be fools.

And yet so many people return to the works or efforts of their own energy, claiming their earning power for this new life, to which they have no right to claim.

Our entire life is totally dependent on the life of Christ, on the work that He accomplished, on the plan which He has been faithfully executing throughout these many millennia and beyond.  From a history that none of us have any direct personal knowledge.

Once we were all bound by the Law, the rules of this world.  Now, through our faith and resulting salvation, we are bound by the new rules of grace in Christ, through which we have an awesome opportunity to advance to heights in our life that were before never obtainable.

Christ is the living God.  The only living God.  Christ is man, the unique person of the universe in that He is both God and man in one person.

Christ is also the word, the written word.  And through that word, when we learn it, assuming that you participate in a daily study that enables you to learn it, then you advance in your spiritual life by transforming your soul by means of that word, and making a stronger and stronger unity with Christ in you.

As believers we are indwelled by all three members of the Trinity, from the moment of our faith in Christ.  But we were also empty of divine viewpoint and thus in need of completion.  Filling up our soul with doctrine and understanding we develop muscle, spiritual muscle, which translates into faith.  And in real true genuine faith, then nothing is impossible, Matt. 17:20.

But most people fall way short of this, because they constantly turn back to the rules and comfort and indifference of this world.

How many see truth and recognize it?

How many see truth and pursue it?

How many see truth and invite others?

How many see truth and stick with it, especially when something comes along to tempt them away from truth?

No spiritual muscle comes from the lack of faith, comes from the lack of understanding, comes from a lack of learning, comes from a deficient study plan, comes from a failure to dedicate oneself to a daily study out of indifference or inconvenience or simply not taking any of this God stuff seriously.

And so then, what rules apply, rules of death or rules of life?

Galatians 2:19

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:19

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19 For [gar] I [ego] through [dia] the law [nomos] am dead [apothnesko] to the law, [nomos] that [hina] I might live [zao] unto God. [theos] KJV-Interlinear

19 "For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God. NASB

Paul was raised up in the most traditional Jewish fashion, Phil. 3:4-6.  There were strict rules for ones conduct and daily living which were prescribed by the volumes of Levitical regulations that had developed through the centuries after the time of Moses.

But in the strictest sense, the Law, refers to the original writing of Moses, and excludes the many modifications and adjustments and additions that were made long after Moses.

The Law, the Mosaic Law was the original compilation of rituals from the first five books of the Bible.  These included not only the ritual feasts and sacrifices and ten commandments, but also the sabbath rules, the sanctuary rules, the dietary rules, hygiene rules, social rules, work rules, marital rules and so forth.

The whole of the content of the Levitical Law in summary, points to the depravity of humanity, his weaknesses, limitations, inability to handle or deal with life and especially death.  They point to the need for something or someone higher than man who can intervene in behalf of man, in order to lift man out of the bondage of these limitations, especially death.

So, through the Law, we all have died.  Through the Law, we all can see our limitations and inabilities and helplessness.

Therefore, in order to live in a better environment or experience, which we call eternal life, then we must die to, or be separated from the Law.  The Law is the total embodiment of the world and its limitations.

This is accomplished through Christ.  He lived the Law to perfection and therefore there was no complaint that could be filed against Him.  That qualified Him to become our redeemer.  A redeemer is one who can purchase a slave, out of slavery in order to set him free.

And Christ did that by means of his work on the Cross.

On the Cross, He was punished for mans sins.  Therefore, when you believe in Him, which is to say that you believe in who He is, what he did, and accept His work, then you receive the promise of eternal life by means of your acknowledgement in His work and in effect testify or confess or recognize you own deficiencies in life.

You cannot live by the rules of the world, namely the rituals or traditions or beliefs that originate from the world, and also live by means of Gods work.

The two lifestyles are mutually exclusive.  They cannot be mixed, or compromised, or mingled together in any way shape or form.

When you do a wrong thing in the wrong way, it is wrong.

When you do a wrong thing in the right way, it is wrong.

When you do a right thing in the wrong way, it is wrong.

You can only do a right thing in the right way, for it to be right.

Galatians 2:18

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:18

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18 For [gar] if [ei] I build [oikodomeo] again [palin] the things [tauta] which [hos] I destroyed, [kataluo] I make [sunistao] myself [emautou] a transgressor. [parabates] KJV-Interlinear

18 "For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. NASB

All of the scriptures of the Old Testament, are about Jesus Christ, Jn. 5:39, 46; Lk. 24:27.

Jesus Christ came to fulfill the Law of Moses, Matt. 5:17-18.

The Law was kept perfectly by Christ, Rom. 10:4, and therefore fulfilled by Christ.

No one ever fulfilled the Law or any or all of its requirements in all of human history, except Christ.

And yet even His fulfillment did not provide salvation for humanity, but it did qualify Him for being the perfect and only redeemer for the securing of salvation for all of humanity.

Therefore to revisit the Law, which has been fulfilled and therefore no longer applicable to anyone, is to reinvent sin and the old ways prior to salvation.

Peter and the Apostles were trying to reinvent and apply the requirements of the Law, and in particular the principle of circumcision, as a requirement of salvation.  And in that attempt, they were returning to the old ways and returning themselves to the status of sin or transgressors, by defying the new principle of salvation by faith, not of works.

If a thing has been destroyed, then it needs to remain destroyed.  If the thing is evil in itself, then if does not need to be brought back to resume its promotion of evil.

Peter and the Apostles previously mentioned, were trying to appease both traditional Jews and the gentiles by playing both sides of a cultural ritual game.  This was just an early application of political correctness, which whenever it is applied in life, becomes an evil in itself.

To try to reinvent again something that Christ had already completed was not only a sin, but an insult to all that Christ had done.

So, Paul states in the first person, ‘I,’ meaning to apply this principle to anyone including himself.

But the reference is to Peter and the Apostles for the practices that they had been pursuing, but also to you and me and to everyone in general who tries this.

If you try to do something that Christ has already fulfilled, like works, then you are transgressing the very principle of His work, and that makes you a sinner merely by the nature of your insult, which is a form of rejection of what Christ has already accomplished.

Christ did the work of salvation.  You cannot do anything to add to that work.  You cannot do anything to improve upon His work. You cannot do anything that would be a better substitute for His work.

So do-gooders or workers for the Lord take heed, lest your very pattern of life disqualify you from spiritual advancement.

Galatians 2:17

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:17

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17 But [de] if, [ei] while we seek [zeteo] to be justified [dikaioo] by [en] Christ, [Christos] we [heurisko] ourselves [autos] also [kai] are found [heurisko] sinners, [hamartolos] is therefore [ara] Christ [Christos] the minister [diakonos] of sin [hamartia]? God forbid [me]. [ginomai] KJV-Interlinear

17 "But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! NASB

The words, ‘while seeking,’ refers back to the previous verse, ‘have believed in Christ.’

When Paul and Peter were seeking justification from their own sins, they in their cultural upbringing, naturally looked to the works of the Levitical law, which was written by Moses long ago.

The Law, which is found in the first five books of the Bible, but primarily in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, delineates the many moral and social rules for how one was to conduct themselves in order to maintain some semblance of purity, as opposed to being ceremonially unclean.

None of these rules brought about salvation.  Most if not all of the rules demonstrated that man could not maintain a cleanliness within himself that was adequate to satisfy Gods perfect mandates.

These things needed to be accomplished by someone other than mere man, someone who was capable of fulfilling all of the moral codes requirements and thus be perfectly qualified to pay the price of sin, demanded by sin.

Sin is an opposition of truth, and therefore an opposition of God.  Sin is a corruption and an evil which cannot sustain itself, nor even clean up itself.

God is perfection and cannot be tainted by sin in any form, lest God becomes as sin is.  If God were tainted than all perfection would be gone and God would not be God.

Thus, it would take a person who was God but also on the level of man, that was capable of accomplishing that cleansing process, washing away sin forever.

As perfection, God can have no relationship with sin.  Therefore as sinners, man cannot have a relationship with God unless mans sin is cleaned away for good.  Since sin was incapable of self-cleaning, then someone else would be needed in order to accomplish that cleaning process.

That someone of course is Jesus Christ.

Therefore, seeking justification in Christ is the correct approach for salvation.  Christ did the work, not man.  Christ accomplished the work necessary for man to have salvation available to man.

To look for justification in ones own work, is promoting sin to correct sin.

Therefore, if the works of the Law do not promote or accomplish justification, then one cannot expect gentiles to adopt a system that was never designed to do what many traditional Jews were demanding.

Justification was not by works for Jews, and therefore it would not be accomplished through those same works for gentiles either.

There was a Levitical purity accomplished through the ritual rules, but these were there to teach mans inability and therefore mans need for a Messiah and Savior, to accomplish that which man could not do for himself.

To pursue justification through ones own works would be to pursue sin in order to justify sin.

And if this were correct then Christ, or God, would be the promoter of sin within sin.  And that is certainly not so, as Paul points out here.

Justification is obtained in Christ.  And the wording here is ‘in Christ’ not ‘through Christ’ and that is important, because Christ did the work, Christ accomplished the work, and man had no part whatsoever in the work of salvation.

We approach the Father ‘through Christ,’ and this indicates our effort in approaching as one would go through a door in order to get from one place to another. And this is perfectly fine as it is the only authorized means of approach, which we do whether you know it or not, within all of your spiritual activities.

But ‘in Christ,’ acknowledges that all the work for our spiritual existence was accomplish not by us, but only by Christ.

Therefore, human works are taboo, not authorized, never accomplish anything, cannot sustain or obtain anything of a spiritual nature.

So, whether you are a circumcised Jew, or a circumcised any person, or an uncircumcised gentile or whomever, your justification to God is not accomplished by means of what you do or do not do.

Faith and faith alone, which is believing in Christ, is the only means of justification that is available to anyone.

Galatians 2:16

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:16

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16 Knowing [eido] that [hoti] a man [anthropos] is [dikaioo] not [ou] justified [dikaioo] by [ek] the works [ergon] of the law, [nomos] but [ean me] by [dia] the faith [pistis] of Jesus [Iesous] Christ, [Christos] even [kai] we [hemeis] have believed [pisteuo] in [eis] Jesus [Iesous] Christ, [Christos] that [hina] we might be justified [dikaioo] by [ek] the faith [pistis] of Christ, [Christos] and [kai] not [ou] by [ek] the works [ergon] of the law: [nomos] for [dioti] by [ek] the works [ergon] of the law [nomos] shall [dikaioo] no [ou] [pas] flesh [sarx] be justified. [dikaioo] KJV-Interlinear

16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified. NASB

Continuing from the previous verse, Paul continues comparing the requirements of salvation for Jews as well as gentiles.

In the previous verse, he compared Jews to sinners.

Sinners, is a common reference to gentiles who did not follow the Law of Moses.  Generally derived from their partaking of the foods and activities that were forbidden to Jews.

For example if a Jew was to eat something forbidden then he would be a sinner.  And gentiles did this as a matter of their normal daily life.

But these forbidden things were teaching aids, not only to help the Jews learn doctrine, but to keep the principles of doctrine in the forefront of their minds.  These daily living activities and rules were designed to keep doctrine in view, not necessarily the activity or the observance of them.

In the Garden, Adam was forbidden to eat from one single tree. That was his sin or obedience threshold.  There was no other thing forbidden to him.  And since he had an entire planet as it were, or wherever the boundaries of the Garden extended to, then that single tree could have easily been ignored.  But of course it was not.

It was not the fruit that was bad, it was the decision to obey or disobey that was relevant.

The Jews had the Mosaic law, and the many rituals contained therein.  These were distorted later on into huge volumes of rules.  Those volumes were of course out of line.  But, the decision to obey or disobey remained the same decision barrier.

The rules of eating or not eating various foods was strictly a Hebrew function, because they were given the scriptures from God, to learn themselves and to teach others.  The gentiles were to learn doctrine but were never required to follow, unless they wanted to, the various rules contained therein.

And so Paul states here.

We are justified or saved, not by works, but by faith.

The law gave rules to guide and teach doctrine, but the works of the law never saved.  Even following the many sacrificial rituals did not in themselves, save, they merely taught the principles of the spiritual life, beginning with salvation and continuing on with confession and living the spiritual life.

One cannot mix dead things, namely sin, with living things, namely the spiritual life.

One has to learn to separate these things and set aside the sinful life, the dead life, from to spiritual life, the living life.

Today we do this by confession and daily studies and applying what we learn to our daily life.

Those folks way back then, did the same.  They simply had their daily or weekly and annual feasts and rituals to help them to learn doctrine, to remember doctrine, to teach doctrine to their children and others and so forth.

But the things that they did, the works, never saved them, never advanced their spiritual life one bit, but was only the means of instruction, of learning, of remembrance.

One cannot earn salvation.  One cannot work for salvation. 

If that were the case then what one person cannot do, would place them at a disadvantage, and God has made the spiritual life available equally to everyone, regardless of their financial or physical or mental or geographic situation.

And Paul states it plainly here.

Salvation is not by means of works, mans efforts.  Never has been and never will be.

Salvation, is by faith and faith alone.  And more specifically, it is by means of faith in Jesus Christ.

Therefore, if the works of the law are irrelevant to salvation, then they not only do not apply to the Jews, but certainly not to the gentiles who were never required to follow them in the first place.

Adam never had the Law.  Noah never had the Law.  Abraham never had the Law.

They were all saved by means of faith, just as you and I and everyone else are saved.

Galatians 2:15

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:15

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15 We [hemeis] who are Jews [Ioudaios] by nature, [phusis] and [kai] not [ou] sinners [hamartolos] of [ek] the Gentiles, [ethnos] KJV-Interlinear

15 "We are Jews by nature, and not sinners from among the Gentiles; NASB

This verse connects the last verse to the next verse, which should be rather obvious.

But, Paul is making the point that salvation is by faith.  And since it is by faith and since it applied to everyone, then they, Paul and the Apostles, who are Jews and they were saved by faith, then why should the gentiles have any other demands placed upon them.

There are no other demands placed on the Jews, and so there should be no extra demands or expectations, or hoops to jump through, for the gentiles.

When one grows up within a culture and lives their life based on the culture, then those cultural choices should not be placed on others.

Some cultures insist on its people wearing black. 

Some cultures expect the men to have beards.

Some cultures have this lifestyle, and other cultures have that lifestyle.

So whether you push bones through your nose, or will only drive sports cars, then these things are choices that you make and have nothing to do with salvation.

The Jewish history is full of cultural examples that were primarily designed to be teaching aids, for learning spiritual principles.  They were never designed to be the spiritual life.

And by the way, the term, Jew, did not begin with Abraham, nor even Jacob or Moses.  That term came along many, many centuries later when Judah became known as Judea, and then naturally its occupants were called Jews.

The circumcision of Abraham was done as a picture of faith.  Faith came first, and thus salvation was already completed, when Abraham circumcised himself. 

Abraham back then was called a Hebrew.  This set him apart from all other races on planet earth.

His spiritual status was set apart from all others, and then his physical make up was set apart as a teaching aid to symbolize that separation from all others.

Galatians 2:14

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:14

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14 But [alla] when [hote] I saw [eido] that [hoti] they walked [orthopodeo] not [ou] uprightly [orthopodeo] according to [pros] the truth [aletheia] of the gospel, [euaggelion] I said [epo] unto Peter [Petros] before [emprosthen] them all, [pas] If [ei] thou, [su] being [huparcho] a Jew, [Ioudaios] livest [zao] after the manner of Gentiles, [ethnikos] and [kai] not [ou] as do the Jews, [Ioudaikos] why [tis] compellest thou [anagkazo] the Gentiles [ethnos] to live as do the Jews [Ioudaizo]? KJV-Interlinear

14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, "If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? NASB

In Acts 10, Peter saw a vision that had unclean together with clean animals that were presented to him for food.  At first Peter refused the eat of the unclean animals, preferring to continue in the Levitical rituals with regard to foods, not catching on initially that God had opened the door of the spiritual life to gentiles, which was not meant just for the Jews.  That the old ritual habits had been removed and that now there was a wider door of opportunity for all peoples.

Peter later understood this principle as he went to visit with and then eat with Cornelius, a gentile, for whom this vision was intended.

When Peter entered into the home of Cornelius, then he presumably began the activity of acting like and living like the gentiles, in so much as their diet was concerned.  And, if this habit began with foods which were a huge part of the Levitical ritual, then it would have been easy for him to adopt other gentile customs.

And here, years later, now Paul confronts Peter for acting with a double standard, with hypocrisy, especially when his Jewish acquaintances were present.

This hypocrisy sends a wrong message and teaches the wrong principles of truth, as though Peter was saying and acting out one thing, when gentiles were present, and acting and saying differently when Jews were present.

So, Peter knew what he was doing, and Paul called him on the duplicity, and he called him on it in a public setting.

Peter was acting like and behaving like a Gentile when with gentiles and as a Jew when with Jews, which indicates that Pater was accepting both standards for the convenience of his company. This was a betrayal of principle.

There was nothing wrong with either lifestyle so long as the lifestyle was not driving the spiritual life or principles of truth.

You can wear the clothes you want to wear, eat the foods you like to eat, live in the home that makes you comfortable, and so forth, but these things are not the spiritual life.

Your spiritual life is doctrine, studying, learning, understanding, and using the principles of scriptures in so far as they are applied correctly to your life.

Your foods, home, clothes, deeds, are not your spiritual life.  Doctrine in the soul is.

You can climb mountains, drive fast cars, change diapers, wear black, be a soldier, be a ditch digger, be a professional, be or do anything that you like, but all people learn doctrine by means of only own method which God had designed for the spiritual life, which is to study doctrine daily, learn doctrine and then apply it to your life, regardless of your chosen lifestyle.

Your lifestyle does not form your spiritual life.  Doctrine forms your spiritual life.

Your preconceived ideas or ideas of convenience do not define doctrine, the scriptures define doctrine.

The only way that you can learn doctrine is to be taught by means of a consistent daily study. 

Doctrine sets a single and unique standard for everyone.  And then doctrine will define your morality, your beliefs, your standards with respect to God and people.  After that you can be as unique unto yourself as you wish.

Galatians 2:13

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:13

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13 And [kai] the other [loipoy] Jews [Ioudaios] dissembled [sunupokrinomai] likewise [kai] with him; [autos] insomuch [hoste] that Barnabas [Barnabas] also [kai] was carried away [sunapago] with their [autos] dissimulation. [hupokrisis] KJV-Interlinear

13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. NASB

Dissembled, ‘sunupokrinomai,’ means hypocrisy.

In his most stern words, Paul reprimands both Peter and James, and also Barnabas, for their hypocrisy in maintaining a double standard with regard to circumcision as it relates to salvation in the view of the Jewish believers of that time.

Peer pressure overtook these men as they associated with gentiles and maintained salvation through faith, but when the Jewish believers were present, they cowered to the pressure of the current traditional thought, by which salvation was being tied to certain Jewish works.  Circumcision was one of the more prominent works in view.

Barnabas was a believer, a Levite from the island of Cyprus and cousin of Mark. He met Paul, then known as Saul, and became his sponsor when Paul was introduced to the early disciples in Jerusalem, wherein they accepted Paul very early on in Pauls ministry.

Barnabas was high up in respect and reputation within the Christian community.

It is noted here in these verses that it took Pauls efforts and intervention to straighten out those early leaders so far as their beliefs and inconsistent interactions with Jews and gentiles.

They had been compromising doctrine for the furtherance of their cultural relationships.  And when doctrine is in view, compromise cannot be allowed to interfere with its consistent application, either because of peer pressure, or even personal conveniences.

Today, as most likely in all generations, there are people who have pre-existing ideas as to what the spiritual life really is.  Most often it is viewed as ones personal works or attitude which are more easily pursued, than to sit down and listen to, or read, doctrine being taught.

To sit and concentrate seems to be an effort for most.  And while it is far easier to just believe things that you want to believe, to do things that you want to do, to have things that are more convenient and less confining than a daily study, than to subject oneself to a daily study, to subordinate oneself to someone else's teaching, places a bit of a strain on ones personal views.

Do-gooders and personal opinions and works are the popular approaches to the spiritual life.  But they are all wrong, and in a form they are hypocritical.

Back then circumcision was the barrier of failure.  Today it is the approbation of presenting ones opinions, that is the barrier to spiritual failure.

And today it is the social network apparatus that seems to promote superficial spirituality, despite its phenomenal opportunity to promote doctrine in the correct manner.

But just as in Pauls day, so too in our current day, it is far easier to go with convenient beliefs, and ignore Gods mandate to ‘study to show yourself mature’ and learn doctrine correctly.

Galatians 2:12

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:12

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12 For [gar] before [pro] that certain [tis] came [erchomai] from [apo] James, [Iakobos] he did eat [sunesthio] with [meta] the Gentiles: [ethnos] but [de] when [hote] they were come, [erchomai] he withdrew [hupostello] and [kai] separated [aphorizo] himself, [heautou] fearing [phobeo] them which were of [ek] the circumcision. [peritome] KJV-Interlinear

12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. NASB

And here is the double standard which began with how James had been conducting himself, and for which Paul reprimanded both him and Peter for their behavior and inconsistent application of doctrine.

Doctrine is one standard and it is to be applied to all in the same manner.

There are not two standards, one for gentiles and one for Jews.

Circumcision was something that God commanded of Abraham, who was a grown man, and yet the application of circumcision was continued down through the generations and applied to infants, not to adults.

It was a teaching aid, to portray faith.

The infant certainly had no knowledge or understanding of God or salvation, but the adults that circumcised the child would have knowledge of God and salvation, and why they were performing this circumcision. The child while growing up, would likewise have a perpetual and personal reminder of faith every time he urinated.

And that was the intent of teaching aids, which was to teach principles of doctrine.  The sacrifices and feasts were teaching aids that taught principles of doctrine from the work of salvation, to confession and fellowship, to spiritual growth and a relationship with the one unique person of the universe.

This all separated Abraham and Hebrews alike, from the rest of the pagan world and their false gods and superstitions.

Faith was the key, not a surgical procedure.

Knowledge of doctrine and spiritual growth are also the important keys of the spiritual life, not ones works or intentions or traditions or cultural practices.

When culture becomes a source of embarrassment, especially when you associate with non-cultural folks, then the priorities and principles are lost.

James had associated with gentiles, the uncircumcised, but when Jewish folks, the circumcised, came along, then James would separate himself  in an aloof sort of embarrassment not wanting to be seen with the gentiles, or even associate with them in public.  And in this, James and others most certainly, were wrong in their behavior and somewhat hypocritical.

Galatians 2:11

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:11

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11 But [de] when [hote] Peter [Petros] was come [erchomai] to [eis] Antioch, [Antiocheia] I withstood [anthistemi] him [autos] to [kata] the face, [prosopon] because [hoti] he was [en] to be blamed. [kataginosko]KJV-Interlinear

11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. NASB

The Galatians were being intimidated with false beliefs which tried to incorporate circumcision into the salvation principle.

When Peter and James had both been there in prior times and on prior trips, they met with and dined with the gentiles as fellow Christians.

But when Jewish folks came around, they withdrew from the gentiles as though they were embarrassed by their association with them.

This causes certain unrest among the Galatians and uncertainty as to their own spiritual beliefs and understanding.  Those trips were from many years prior.

And now Paul who is now in and among the Gentile believers, tells then straight out that he will not back down in some hypocritical form as did James and Peter, when Jewish folks come around.

So in this setting, Paul reassures the Galatians, while at the same time reprimands Peter and James for their double standard when with either gentile or Jewish believers.

This tells us that even in those early times, which covered a couple of decades, that Peter still exercised some decree of embarrassment while being associated with gentiles, when in view of Jewish folks.

Peter denied the Lord three times when Jesus was arrested, and now many years later he still demonstrates some degree of embarrassment and not a very strong adherence toward Christian principle.  Tradition was still controlling his soul, as it were.

Remember that when Paul was first contacted by Jesus, on that road to Damascus, he went to learn for three years and then was away from Judea for another fourteen years before his well known travels and writing began.  This meeting now with Peter was then quite some time after the events of the cross.

By then, Peter and especially James who were viewed as pillars of that early church, should have known better, but still had their weaknesses, obviously.

Paul stood firm in the truth.  They vacillated in their beliefs.

Most folks consider the apostles as all being unmovable pillars in Christianity, but as we can seem, they had their flaws.

Every Christian has flaws and even though we all have varying degrees of knowledge and faith, we all are still exposed to flaws and failures.  We can all stumble.

But the very best way to avoid stumbling is to glue yourself to a daily bible study and stay glued for the rest of your life.

No matter who you are, and no matter who you think you are, you will never know it all even in a thousand lifetimes of study.  So make the best of this one single life that God has given you, and learn as much as you possibly can.

If you cannot learn it all in several lifetimes, then you cannot afford to waste time in this one life which is all that you have.

And once you learn doctrine, then expect that God will test your faith. Problems will come along in your life and that is when your true faith and stability come out. 

Throughout history, people are tested in many ways.  Often times those tests can go on for years or even decades and under the most dire of circumstances.  This then is your test. 

Where is your breaking point?  It is a day of hardship, a month, a year, a decade?

What is your breaking point, a broken finger nail, a lost job, a lost family, a death, a handicap, simply the unknowns of tomorrow?

The circumstances of your life are irrelevant.  What is relevant, is your knowledge of doctrine and your application of doctrine to your life.  That application, builds up faith and faith is the muscle and strength for your endurance against any hardship or challenge from life.

And it all begins with your daily study.  That is the only mechanism for your learning doctrine. Do not diminish it.  Do not mock it.  Do not waste your learning opportunities.

Galatians 2:10

Copyright Ó 2013 J. Neely

Galatians 2:10

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10 Only [monon] they would that [hina] we should remember [mnemoneuo] the poor; [ptochos] the same [autos] [touto] which [hos] I [spoudazo] also [kai] was forward [spoudazo] to do. [poieo] KJV-Interlinear

10 They only asked us to remember the poor —  the very thing I also was eager to do. NASB

From the previous verse, Paul along with Barnabas, had a conversation with James, Peter and John.

In that conversation was discussed the requirements of salvation and the role of which circumcision had in salvation.  And, that circumcision had no role in salvation, therefore was not a requirement of salvation, and therefore any gentile who believed in Christ would not be required to be circumcised in order to somehow confirm or seal his salvation.

Also, was discussed the respective audience of James, Peter and John, as opposed to Paul and Barnabas.

James, Peter, and John preferred to take the message of the gospel of Christ, to the Jewish peoples (the circumcised), while Paul was to take the same exact message of the gospel of Christ to the gentile people (the uncircumcised).

Circumcision was the tradition of the Jewish people and had been since Abraham circumcised himself many centuries prior.  Non-Jewish people back then, the gentiles, did not practice circumcision as a matter of culture or tradition.  This also was a tradition and practice that set Abraham and his faith, apart from the other nations and peoples of his time.  Even the muslim religion of today who wrongly and arbitrarily claim Abraham as their father, do not practice circumcision.

And even though western civilization took up that practice, it was out of the Christian influence that gentile peoples adopted that practice.  Today there are now good medical reasons for using circumcision which again has nothing to do with salvation.

And finally, since the thrust of their respective gospel missions was going in different directions, James, Peter and John requested that the poor of Judea (implied by their conversation), would not be forgotten.

Paul states clearly that he would not forget but would remember and help with enthusiasm as best he could.

James, Peter and John would naturally have a soft spot in their hearts for their people and would want to help them as much as possible.

Paul on the other hand, was more mission oriented, as his directive was issued directly from God, to spread the truth to the gentile people, a much larger task spreading the word to the entire world.

And even though James, Peter and John had a smaller group, the Jewish people, to focus on, their burden was directed toward a people who were more stiff necked toward the truth, despite their having custody of that truth for many centuries since the time of Moses.

God has promised all generations that that race, the Jewish race, would enter into the Kingdom of God, which we know will not occur until the second-advent. 

That kingdom we know, has not yet occurred and that many centuries have already passed.  So to maintain some semblance of Jewish Christianity across many centuries and generations until then would be a huge undertaking.  Something that man cannot control or accomplish, and only God can do.

Remembering the poor would be difficult enough, while in their day, just existing in the face of a world full of anti-Christian policies was to be an overwhelming task.