Galatians 2 Studies

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each chapter is divided into a number of studies and each study or passage has a simple four-Part, verse-by-verse approach, to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Galatians 2:1-5

A. Find Out:

1. How long before Paul next went to Jerusalem? v.1a
   • Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem
2. Who went with him? v.1b
   • this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also.
3. Why did he go? v.2
   • I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain.
4. What didn’t have to happen? v.3
   • Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek
5. Why had this arisen? v.4
   • This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves.
6. But what had been the outcome? v.5
   • We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

B. Think:

1. What, again, is the main point Paul is making here?
2. Read Acts 15:1-31 What had been the main point under debate?
3. What had been the outcome?

C. Comment:

As Paul carries on his argument with relentless logic, having just shown how the Gospel of Christ that he preached had not originated in Jerusalem, but had come directly from Christ, he now continues with a twofold thrust.

First, he is continuing this idea that the Gospel he preached wasn’t second-hand. For a further fourteen years he hadn’t been near Jerusalem, so his preaching wasn’t under their influence.

But secondly and now more strongly, Paul starts introducing the matter of circumcision, because this was obviously the key issue again in Galatia now, as we’ll see later in the letter. It was because of arguments about the necessity of new Christians to be circumcised to comply with the law of Moses that Paul had gone to Jerusalem a second time. The leaders there had confirmed that it was not necessary. Paul is starting to build his case against the need for circumcision.

Although we may not insist upon circumcision as a sign of being saved, we may often fall into the trap of requiring other “things” to be “essentials”. We may do various things as an outworking of our love for Christ but the moment they become “essentials” we are back under the Law again! Beware!

D. Application:

1. Christ released us from being “law-keepers” (Romans 7:6) to become people of grace and the Spirit.
2. Beware of insisting on certain “actions”.

Passage: Galatians 2:6-10

A. Find Out:

1. What hadn’t the leaders done? v.6
   • As for those who were held in high esteem – whatever they were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism – they added nothing to my message
2. What had they seen? v.7
   • On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
3. How did Peter & Paul differ? v.8
   • For God, who was at work in Peter as an apostle to the circumcised, was also at work in me as an apostle to the Gentiles.
4. Who had met with Paul? v.9a
   • James, Cephas and John, those esteemed as pillars, gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship
5. What had they recognized? v.9b
   • when they recognized the grace given to me. They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised.
6. What one thing had they asked? v.10
   • All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.

B. Think:

1. What hadn’t the meeting with the Jerusalem leaders done?
2. What positive result did it have though?
3. So what point is Paul continuing to make here?

C. Comment:

Paul had previously said that the Jerusalem leaders hadn’t insisted on any of them being circumcised in order to keep the Law. Now he enlarges on that and says in fact they hadn’t added anything to what he had already been preaching. From that point of view the Jerusalem meeting had simply confirmed that what Paul was doing and saying was quite right. The leaders had recognized that in the same way that Peter had been called to be an apostle to the Jews, it was clear that Paul had been called to be an apostle to the Gentiles. They saw that Paul’s heart was to preach to the Gentiles and that he had in fact been doing that for quite some time.

Oh yes, he adds almost as an afterthought, there was one thing they asked of us and that was for us to remember the poor in our travels, which of course we already did, but apart from that (by implication) there was absolutely nothing they added to us.

Yet again Paul is driving home this point to the Galatians: the message he had preached was from Christ and that it was perfectly accredited by the leaders in Jerusalem. Therefore (he will be saying) why are you adding to it?

D. Application?

1. One of the greatest temptations that we can have today is to add to the Gospel, by implication to say that Jesus’ death was not sufficient.
2. Nothing I can do can add to Jesus’ work for me!

Passage: Galatians 2:11-14

A. Find Out:

1. Why had Paul opposed Peter? v.11
   • When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
2. What had Peter done before the others came? v.12a
   •  For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles.
3. What did he do when they came? v.12b
   • But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles
4. Why had he done that? v.12c
   • because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
5. Who had joined in? v.13
   • The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
6. How had Paul exposed Peter? v.14
   • When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, ‘You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?

B. Think:

1. What freedom had Peter known?
2. Why had he lost that?
3. Who had been the “pressure group” that he had bowed to?

C. Comment:

In his ongoing logical challenge to the law-keeping Galatians, Paul now recounts a small incident that had actually occurred in Antioch. Peter, the great leader, had come to Antioch and had been living as a free Christian, mixing with the Gentiles with no problem. Then other Christian Jews had arrived who held to the belief that Christians, whether Jew or Gentile, still needed to keep the Law and be circumcised. Because Peter feared them, he drew back from the Gentiles he had been with.

This had clearly incensed Paul who had challenged Peter openly. Instead of merely speaking about his having drawn back he struck at the root of the thing. Look, he said, you have been living with the freedom of a Gentile so why insist on Gentiles having to follow Jewish customs, it’s not logical!

Again, Paul simply makes this same point, over and over again: Christ brought freedom from outward law keeping so why start adding extras, things that “ought” to be done. As we have said previously, this is perhaps one of the greatest temptations for the Christian church, even today.

D. Application?

1. Yet again, can we examine our own lives? Do we have the feeling we “have” to do things to justify ourselves before God?
2. Thank the Lord that He accepts us just as we are, and that gives us    freedom to live – and change.

Passage: Galatians 2:15-21

A. Find Out:

1. How are we NOT justified? v.15,16a
   • ‘We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law,
2. How ARE we justified? v.16b
   • but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.
3. What happens if we try to observe the law? v.17,18
   • But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not!  If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
4. What is the consequence of that? v.19
   • ‘For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
5. What is my life source today? v.20
   • I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
6. Why is self-righteousness abhorrent? v.21
   • I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!’

B. Think:

1. Again, what happens when we try to keep the law?
2. What are the 2 key truths about the Christian life revealed here?
3. Why mustn’t I try to “achieve” righteousness?

C. Comment:

As Paul continues his theme, he first twice declares we are NOT justified by keeping the law and twice declares it is only by faith in Christ that we ARE justified. This is his main point again and again.

To emphasize it he then asks, what happens if in seeking to be justified in Christ we find we are still sinners? Does it mean Christ is a failure? No, it means that when it comes to “keeping the rules” I am a failure! The Law simply makes me realize that I can’t do good constantly, in fact it puts me off it so much, I give up on it, I die to even trying, I lose all hope in ever being righteous myself.

Now comes the wonderful news: First, I HAVE been made right in God’s sight, for ever and ever, when I first believed in Christ dying for me. Second, Christ now lives actually IN me, so it is His life force that is energizing me, guiding me, leading me, empowering me. As He leads, I actually lead a righteous life, not by having my eyes focused on the rules, but on my heart being full of his love so that I live a life in response to that, flowing out of that. To do otherwise would be to annul Christ’s death and make it pointless and not needed!

D. Application?

1. God HAS justified me completely. I cannot make myself more justified, more right in God’s eyes.
2. Christ, by His Spirit, lives within me and provides all the inner resources I ever need.