Galatians 2:1-10

Galatians 2:1-10

-          V. 1-

o   Fourteen years after what?  Paul’s conversion?  His first visit to Jerusalem?  It is impossible to say with certainty. 

o   Possible that the construction “with Barnabus,” implies that Barnabas is still the senior partner in the mission

o   Titus gained experience on this journey that would make him very useful to Paul later, especially in Paul’s dealings with the Corinthian church

-          V.2-

o   Paul’s anxiety is over church-unity, he does not want a Jewish church and a Gentile church.

o   “His commission was not derived from Jerusalem, but it could not be executed effectively except in fellowship with Jerusalem.” – F.F. Bruce

o   If Paul meant the revelation of Christ on the road to Damascus, why does he not say “the revelation?”  Could this be a reference to Acts 11:27-30?

o   The gospel “I preach” (present tense), not that “I preached” (past tense).  Shows consistency in Paul’s message

-          V.3-

o   Paul is willing to circumcise Timothy because he is already Jewish, and doing so is not a system of salvation but rather a sign of ethnic identity.  He is NOT willing to circumcise Titus, because he is Greek.

o   Titus is a test-case, and if he indeed goes without being circumcised, other Gentiles can as well

-          V.4-

o   As the gospel liberates, so the law enslaves. 

o   “to themselves”, their motives seem to be motivated out of self-interest and selfishness, not the genuine well-bring of others

o   So ask where this happened?  They were probably “secretly brought in” to the meeting in Jerusalem, thus the language of secrecy.

-          V.5-

o   To yield on this issue would have radically changed the nature of the Gentile Christians faith, at least in practice

-          V.6-

o   The structure of Paul’s statement is not intended to argue that the pillars should not be held in high esteem, but rather that they should not be held in high esteem simply because they knew the historical Jesus.  Hence Paul’s statement that “what they were makes no difference to me.”  In essence, Paul would argue not they shouldn’t be esteemed, but that they are being esteemed for the wrong reasons

o   Furthermore, it would be closer to the actual meaning to say that “God does not accept face”, rather than “God shows no partiality”.  It would be similar to our modern day proverb that one shouldn’t “judge a book by its cover”. 

o   Also, by saying that “they added nothing to me”, Paul is refusing to tie his “honor rating” into his association with the pillars, while also showing that they in no way added to the gospel he was preaching as if it lacked something before their meeting.

-          V.7-

o   The Jerusalem leaders merely recognize what God has entrusted to Paul

o   Some argue that this implies a Petrine and a Pauline gospel.  On the contrary, in demonstrates that the gospel, while being uniform in its message, is preached in different ways to different groups.  Think of the four gospels as an example of how the same message can be presented in different ways.

o   “Entrusted” is in the perfect sense, which means that it began in the past (before the Jerusalem meeting), but continued on in time.  It shows both the prior act of Jesus’ revelation/entrusting of the gospel to Paul, and also the fact that Paul’s mission is on-going 

-          V.8-

o   Paul and the pillars are acknowledging ex post facto what God has already done

-          V.9-

o   The “right hand of fellowship”- the Greek word koinonia, or “fellowship”, implies more than a covered dish luncheon or potluck.  It means the sharing in common of all things, as will be reflected by Paul’s collection mentioned in v. 10.  An example would be the church as described in Acts 2

o   “Agreement between Paul’s gospel and that preached by the primitive community is confirmed, and not just established.” – Ronald Y. K. Fung

o   Cf. “pillars” with Rev. 3:12

-          V.10-

o   This underlines that the gospel, which was shared by Paul and the Jerusalem apostles, had a similar outgrowth in their respective actions.  Paul was already doing the only thing the Jerusalem apostles requested of him specifically. 

o   If this meeting as in 48/49 AD, then the collection is probably motivated by a famine that struck Judea around that time according to Josephus

Summarizing Thoughts:

-          Jurgen Moltmann refers to the unity of the church as an “evangelical unity”, not an ethnic, social, or legal one.  In other words, the unity of the gospel is found not in us, but in the grace we find through Christ.  The church should bow to neither conformity nor pluralism if either seeks to compromise the grace found in the gospel.