Galatians
Unbound, Unchained, Unbroken
Week 4 | Galatians 2:11–21
Lisa Scheffler, author
Welcome back for Week 4 of Galatians! We’re getting some positive feedback on the audio version of the EGD. You can check it out at bit.ly/EngageGodDaily
A table can become the heart of a home. It can be the place where people gather for morning coffee, quick meals, lengthy dinners, or holiday feasts. It can be a place where old friends catch up and new friends are made. From it you might hear the roar of laughter or the quiet murmurs of serious discussion. In a home where all are welcomed and conversation flows freely, what happens at the table can shape the lives of those who are seated around it.
The table is a symbol of family, community, and faithful presence. It’s a symbol of our deep desire to be known and be loved. Throughout Scripture, we see it as a place where God dwells with and provides for his people, and where his people come together. Ideally, it’s a place of peace where there is harmony, love, good-will, and reconciliation between the people who gather around it.
In a fallen world, you can be judged for dining with the “wrong” people. This was certainly the case in the first century where status-seeking Greeks and law-keeping Jews refused to sit at a table with those deemed unworthy. But that wasn’t the way of Jesus. Jesus ate with the religious elite and with the outcasts of society. His gospel was for all people, and welcoming people different from you to the table was expected for his followers. Table fellowship between Gentiles and Jews was a outward sign of how God was redeeming and reconciling the world through Christ.
So far we’ve seen that at the core of Paul’s frustration with the Galatian Christians is that they’ve been convinced to add on the gospel. By doing so, they are no longer relying on Christ to reconcile people to God and people to one another. They’ve been persuaded that they need to add works of the law. They’ve bought the lie that Jesus’ sacrifice wasn’t enough to overcome sin and division to create the covenant community of God. In their minds, something more was needed before everyone could come to the table.
Paul took the gospel and its implications so seriously that he publicly challenged the Apostle Peter over this matter. This week we’ll consider the conflict between the apostles and what their disagreement means for us and how we should think about who we invite to our tables.
Day 1
In his letter to the churches in Galatia, Paul defended his gospel against his opponents. Paul preached the sufficiency of Christ, while his opponents preached Jesus + the law. They believed that in order to become right with God and enter into his covenant community, Gentile believers needed to observe circumcision, dietary laws, and holy days.
In other letters, Paul told Christians not to divide over these issues. For example, if Jewish Christians wanted to abstain from certain foods, Gentile Christians needed to accommodate them (see Romans 14–15). But the situation in Galatians is different. This wasn’t an issue of finding unity in the midst of differences; Paul’s opponents were adding requirements to the gospel. They were excluding Gentile believers and ultimately nullifying the work of Christ.
In the passage we studied last week, we learned that Paul journeyed to Jerusalem and discussed his mission to reach the Gentiles with the leaders of the Jerusalem church, James, Peter, and John. They agreed that God was behind Paul’s mission and decided that Paul would continue proclaiming the gospel to Gentiles, while Peter would focus on the Jews. Yet, here in the passage we’ll read today, we see Paul confronting Peter.
Pay attention to the conflict between Peter (called Cephas in this passage) and Paul. Why is Paul so upset? What reasons does he give to support his understanding of the gospel and condemn the one preached by his opponents?
Read
Galatians 2:11-21
11 When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. 13 The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray.
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?
15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, 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.
17 “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! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.
19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 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. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”
What did Paul accuse Peter of? Why do you think Paul found Peter’s actions serious enough that he called him out publicly?
According to Paul, what justifies a person before God? What does that mean to you?
Respond
In this passage we see two titans of our faith in conflict over the gospel. Then and now, disagreements arise, even among committed followers of Christ. One of our goals this week will be to think through when and why a confrontation might be necessary, and how to go about it in a way that strengthens Christ’s body, and doesn’t tear it apart.
Based on your initial read-through of the passage, what kind of issues that we see today might rise to the level of gospel-importance? Are there any issues over which you think Christians are too contentious and ready to fight? Right now, how do you discern the difference?
Ultimately, we want to land with Paul in understanding how important it is to welcome all kinds of people to our tables to have meaningful conversations and experience Christ through us. So, praise God for his big, open table and your seat at it! Invite him to speak to you through his Word this week, and ask him to give you a heart for all kinds of people.
