Daily Scripture Reading Galatians 2:1-21
There are many well-known leaders within Christianity. Unfortunately, sometimes those leaders sin egregiously. Likewise, there are many pastors and elders of small churches who give in to their flesh and violate the precepts of Scripture or fall away from sound doctrine.
Their sin needs to be confronted, but it is debated within Christianity whether the confrontation should be public or private. Many believers are opposed to the idea of publicly rebuking and shaming church leaders who teach heresy, commit adultery, or commit other disqualifying sins.
Today’s passage records an occasion when Cephas acted hypocritically. He knew Gentile believers did not need to be saved, but when men from the party of the circumcision arrived in Antioch, Cephas withdrew from the Gentiles because he feared those of the circumcision.
Paul rebuked Cephas in public and put his condemnation in writing for all future generations to read. This indicates to us there are times when it is appropriate, perhaps required, to publicly rebuke those who sin or teach false doctrine.
In the latter half of chapter 1, Paul reviewed his life story. He acknowledged that at one time he persecuted the church. Then he mentioned his conversion, after which he spent time in Damascus, and then Jerusalem, before going to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
Gal. 2:1 ¶ Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.
This journey to Jerusalem with Barnabas is probably the journey recorded in Acts 15, which took place after Paul’s First Missionary Journey. The reason for going to Jerusalem was to get an answer from the apostles and elders as to whether or not Gentile Christians have to be circumcised and obey the Law of Moses in order to be saved. The answer was no.
Gal. 2:2 And I went up because of a revelation, and I laid out to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, lest somehow I might be running, or had run, in vain.
We know from Acts 15:2 that Paul was teaching the Gentiles that they did not have to be circumcised and obey the Law of Moses. Paul would have taught this during his First Missionary Journey, meaning he had taught it to the churches to whom he was now writing.
Gal. 2:3 But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
Gal. 2:4 But this was because of the false brothers secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our freedom which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.
The pronoun “this” refers to the need to go to Jerusalem and address the question of whether Gentile believers need to be circumcised.
Gal. 2:5 But we did not yield in subjection to them for even a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
Gal. 2:6 But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.
Paul emphasized the fact that his gospel came directly from Jesus, he was not teaching things he had learned from other men.
Gal. 2:7 But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised
Gal. 2:8 (for He who worked in Peter unto his apostleship to the circumcised worked in me also unto the Gentiles),
Gal. 2:9 and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, James and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
We read in Acts 15:22-30 about the leaders in Jerusalem sending Paul and Barnabas to Antioch.
Gal. 2:10 Only they asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.
Gal. 2:11 ¶ But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
Pay attention to what happened here. Paul publicly criticized Peter. He put it in writing, and his criticism was been preserved and proclaimed in the pages of Scripture throughout all of church history.
There are many Christians who oppose the idea of criticizing Christian leaders in public. However, since Paul did this in writing for all of church history to see, then we should be open to the idea that sometimes that is an appropriate course of action.
Gal. 2:12 For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles, but when they came, he began to shrink back and separate himself, fearing the party of the circumcision.
Notice the word “fearing”. In Galatians 1:10, Paul wrote about the importance of pleasing God rather than men. When the men from James arrived, Cephas was more concerned about their opinion than he was living out the truth of the gospel.
Gal. 2:13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
Note the word “hypocrisy”. There are at least 20 verses in the Gospels in which Jesus spoke negatively about hypocrisy. The problem was not just that Peter separated from the Gentiles. The problem was he pretended to be one thing to the Gentiles and something else to the party of the circumcision.
Gal. 2:14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before everyone, “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?
Pay attention to the words “before everyone”. This tells us Paul rebuked Cephas in public. It is unclear how much of the rest of chapter 22 is a continuation of Paul’s statement to Cephas and how much of it is what Paul wrote to the Galatians in response to this incident with Cephas.
Gal. 2:15 ¶ “We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;
Gal. 2:16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.
The debate was whether or not Gentile believers had to obey the Law of Moses. The answer was no. Paul reiterated that teaching by saying that we are saved through faith in Jesus, not by performing works.
Gal. 2:17 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!
The words “been found sinners” is a reference to teaching and living false teaching about how to be saved, which is what Cephas was doing when he withdrew from the Gentiles.
Gal. 2:18 For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor.
Paul, Cephas, and other church leaders had decided and taught that Gentile believers did not need to be circumcised. If, after doing that, Cephas began separating from Christians who were not circumcised, then he was condemning himself as having taught something that was not true.
Gal. 2:19 For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.
Gal. 2:20 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 gave Himself up for me.
Gal. 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”
If Gentile Christians needed to be circumcised, then there was no point in Jesus dying on the cross.
Unfortunately, church leaders are human, and sometimes they fall away from the truth or commit egregious sins. It is debated whether their downfall should be addressed publicly.
When Cephas acted hypocritically, Paul condemned him openly and put it in writing for all future generations to see.
What are the benefits of publicly shaming and documenting the sins and false teachings of church leaders?
Why was hypocrisy singled out for particular criticism by Jesus and Paul?
What examples of hypocrisy, false teachings, and sin do you see in your church leaders?
What can and should be done to address the short-comings and errors of those in church leadership today?
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“Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.com.”