After Paul’s greetings to the people of Galatia, Paul describes a meeting that happen. This week we begin to realize why this meeting was important, not only to the people involved in the meeting, but to the Galatians as well.
1Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain. 3But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery— 5to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. – Galatians 2:1-10 ESV
Paul traveled to Jerusalem with two companions: Barnabas and Titus. This was typical for Paul—he always lived in close relational connection with a community of faith, not as a strategy, but as the overspill of the gospel. His closest ministry associates were the fruits of the gospel, often his direct converts. The love they shared was the harvest of the Spirit’s life among them, the motive and power for their mission.
Barnabas was a Jew from Cyprus, a Levite who may also have studied under Gamaliel; he was certainly a capable and gifted man since he was sent to lead the church in Antioch. But since the work was so extensive, he sought out Paul and brought him back as a ministry partner (Acts 11:25). Later, he and Paul undertook the first missionary journey together (13:1–3).
Titus, a convert of Paul’s preaching, was an uncircumcised Greek. Because of this, Titus became the test case on which the visit would succeed or fail.
If you were a Jew, to eat with a Gentile or to step into a Gentile home rendered you ritually unclean. Paul took Titus not just to dinner, but into the headquarters of the Christian church and into a private meeting with key leadership under the watchful eyes of zealous ex-Pharisees (whose zeal was not too “ex”). At the very least, this was a likely way to provoke an argument! But that wasn’t Paul’s purpose. Rather, he aimed to establish the truth of the gospel, with Titus as a bold object lesson.
Have you ever had an experience where some around you were judgmental and not really supportive? The situation where there are two camps within one army? How did you handle it? What worked? What failed?
Paul knows that the separation needs to be addressed. There can not be any uncertainty or doubt in his message or intention, as stated in verse 2. in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.
How would you describe grace? What is your definition? If you were sharing with a new believer, how would you describe it?
It’s not uncommon to hear people talk about how they need grace. And we often hear people say they’re thankful they’ve received grace. And we all know how fond preachers are of challenging their congregations to believe in grace or get saved by grace. But seldom do we hear anyone talk about seeing grace. We don’t speak often of seeing grace. Yet when we read the Bible we have to conclude that grace is indeed something we can see.
Seeing grace is the decisive thing in Galatians 2:1–10. Here is Paul’s description of an important meeting he’d had with the leaders of the church in Jerusalem. As you see from the first several verses (2:1–6), this was an intense and important meeting; at issue was the controversial question of Gentile circumcision. In fact, some, whom Paul calls “false brothers”, were dead-set on seeing Paul’s Gentile traveling companion, Titus, undergo circumcision and thus become a Jew.
Why do you think Paul would take the risk and challenge of meeting with the church leaders? What did it matter?
to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. – Galatians 2:5
There will be times when confusion and division need to be addressed. To be confident, wise and not “run in vain”, there will be times when the important meetings need to be had.
Paul explains, the decisive thing was that the Jerusalem leaders saw grace. In fact, from Paul’s perspective seeing grace saved the day. As he explains, when the Jerusalem leadership “saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised” (2:7), and when they “perceived the grace that was given to me” (2:9), they concluded that the only right thing would be to partner with Paul by extending to him “the right hand of fellowship” (2:9). Thus, as Paul explains, the Jerusalem leadership didn’t add anything to his gospel (2:6). Paul did not get “set straight”, Paul did not have to update the gospel that he had shared to the Gentiles. On the contrary, they affirmed the fact that God was in fact using the gospel to save Gentiles (2:7–9). Therefore, they reached a resolution—all because they saw grace.
Obviously, then, it’s essential to be able to see grace. If we want to live a gospel-rooted life, we need to be able to see grace; and if we’re going to navigate our way through this complex world, we need to know how to spot grace. The ability to see grace will impact virtually every aspect of our life: how we spend our time, where we invest our money, how we pray, which church we join, how we assess our own spiritual health, how we parent our kids, even how we make difficult decisions or resolve conflicts, as we see in our passage. Seeing grace is an essential life skill for gospel-rooted people. But how skilled are we at spotting grace? Would we know grace if we saw it? Could we pick grace out of a crowd? Would we recognize grace if it was in our living room or in our small group, on our front porch, in our workplace or in the church lobby? What should we look for in order to see grace?
Can we see grace? What does it look like? Do we know grace when we see it?
The first thing to look for is gospel advance. We know we’re seeing grace when we see the gospel of Jesus Christ advance in the lives of people. We know it’s grace when we find faithful sharing of the gospel met with a believing response to the gospel. We know it’s grace when we see a person come under the conviction of sin and put his or her trust in the Savior who died for his or her sins. When these kinds of things are going on, we know we’re seeing grace.
Gospel advance is what the Jerusalem leadership saw in Paul. In fact, as Paul tells the Galatians, these leaders recognized that the fruit of Paul’s ministry was on a par with the apostle Peter’s own:
On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised – Galatians 2:7
Of course, it wasn’t ultimately about Paul; nor, for that matter, was it about Peter. It was about God. He’s the one ultimately responsible for gospel advance. Again, as Paul explains, “He who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles” (2:8). You see, God is the one who works; it’s therefore not about Paul or Peter, much less you or me. When it comes to the gospel, we plant and we water, but it is God who gives the growth (see 1 Corinthians 3:6). God causes the gospel to advance in people’s hearts.
Can you share of a time when you were involved in something that did not represent this concept? Can you share of times when you were in this situation of “obvious grace”? What did it do for your spirit? What was your walk like?
But what precisely was the gospel advance they saw in Paul’s ministry? No doubt they would have heard about Paul’s early evangelistic efforts shortly after his conversion and his ministry in Arabia (1:17) and then in Syria and Cilicia (1:21). Surely the pillars of the early church were also hearing what the rest of the churches in Judea had heard: “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy” (1:23). They were probably even receiving reports of conversions as a result of Paul’s gospel ministry, how his preaching came “not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction” (1 Thessalonians 1:5). To a certain extent they would have been able to see grace in all these stories.
But it is suspected that they saw grace most clearly and most concretely somewhere else—not in the stories about conversion, but in the people who had been converted. And there was one right there in front of them, in their very midst. His name was Titus, and he had made the trip up to Jerusalem along with Paul.
Notice how Paul underscores that it was his decision to take Titus along; you get the sense that Paul knew he would need Titus, not as his luggage boy on a long trip, but as living proof of the effect of his gospel ministry.
Do you, like the Apostle Paul, have a Titus? Someone who’s proof of the effectiveness of your life as a disciple maker? For some of us, our Titus is our spouse. For others it’s a child. For some it’s a parent. Still others have a Titus in a neighbor or a classmate or a colleague from work.
And some of us are someone else’s Titus; we are the proof of another person’s gospel-rooted living. That’s a wonderful thing. It’s good to be able to turn to a Titus in our lives and see the grace of God on display. When it comes to seeing grace, the proof is in the pudding. But in this case the pudding is people—converted sinners, to be precise. They are the proof of God’s grace. Sinners who come to know the Savior—that’s the place where we see grace. So if we want to see grace, we can look to those who have come to Christ. We’ll find grace in those trophies of grace.
Why do you think it was necessary for Paul to put this in his letter to the Galatians?
Let us learn from the first part of Galatians that some of the most challenging and most difficult situations we may face is not in sharing the Gospel, reaching the poor, but actually working with others in ministry. Confronting division. Willing to engage in discussions to create unity. This message was not about Paul setting the church leaders straight or proving he was right. It was about sharing and engaging and uniting for Gospel’s sake.
Wilson, T. (2013). Galatians: Gospel-Rooted Living. (R. K. Hughes, Ed.) (p. 51). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Bush, D., & Due, N. (2015). Live in Liberty: The Spiritual Message of Galatians. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (Ga 2:11–14). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.