Lesson
3Galatians
Paul’s Rebuke
Prayer
Father, God, Help me to be open to the teaching of your Holy Spirit. Cause me to see Jesus in this lesson. Help me to take the knowledge here and gain understanding. Help me to apply the understanding to generate wisdom in my life that I may glorify you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Key Words
Gentiles, justified, The Law, crucified, grace
Reading Assignment
Galatians 2:11-21
Lesson
Welcome back to Believers Bay’s 2001 study on the book of Galatians. Questions and comments should be directed to publisher@believersbay.com. Thank you. We hope you enjoy this study and it helps you to grow in Christ.
Rules are important to our lives. The establishment of standards affords us a safe haven that prevents chaos from consuming our civilization. God gave us rules in the Old Testament. The Ten Commandments are easily recognized by most as what the bible refers to as The Law. In fact there were hundreds of rules. Rules that dealt with every conceivable aspect of our daily lives. Many of the rules address a lifestyle that we do not practice.
The Law was entrusted to man so we could know the difference between right and wrong and so that we could see that we did evil in the sight of God regularly. It was never designed to put us in right standing with God.
Paul recognized this in his ministry to the Gentiles. Peter had come to visit and had embraced the truth of the gospel. Where it was forbidden by The Law to eat with Gentiles the gospel had set everyone free to fellowship. Unfortunately some Jews who had chosen to accept the gospel didn’t understand this freedom and made it their goal to remind other Jews who practiced Christianity that The Law forbad them to fraternize with the Gentiles.
When the Jewish Christians saw Peter hypocritically refuse to eat with Christian Gentiles he had already eaten with they also refused to eat with the Gentile Christians. Even his ministry partner, Barnabas, stopped eating with the Gentiles. Paul stood his ground. He publicly rebuked Peter explaining to all who would listen that it was by God’s grace that we were justified and that The Law could not do such a thing. He went on to expose the weakness of The Law in that if it actually had that power the death of Christ was a meaningless act!
Only Paul remained true to the gospel of freedom that had been given him by revelation. Hypocrisy had captured all the Christian Jews and they were attempting to find safety in what they already knew. They were trusting the principles that had prevented chaos from devouring their society for thousands of years. Paul’s new message of freedom looked as if it threw out all the standards and embraced a rebelliousness that our savior, Jesus, would never have condoned.
In fact, Paul’s gospel delivered people and waved a banner of change and freedom that was the very purpose of Christ’s visit to earth. Paul’s revelations, given him by God, challenged the historic thinking of the Jewish nation; even the thinking of those Jews who had accepted that Jesus was the Messiah. They eventually discovered that if they were to follow the will of God fully they must begin to think outside the box. They had to yield to the guidance of the Holy Spirit in a realm that had not been available to them in the past.
Word Definitions
Gentiles – all people who are not Jews.
Justified – declared righteous, free from sin. If I am justified it is "just as if I’d" never sinned.
The Law – all laws revealed to man through God’s holy word contained in the Old Testament.
Crucified – slow death by being nailed and/or tied to a cross in such a fashion that the person’s knees eventually buckle from lack of strength. The victim would then relax and allow their arms to bear the weight of their body. Their own body weight would pressurize the throat and force it closed. This condition could not be maintained so the victim would push up against the block nailed to the main section of the cross to get air. This exhaustive process would often continue for days while the dying person struggled to hold onto their life. To speed the process Roman soldiers would break the victim’s legs so they could not stand. This caused the victim to suffocate as they could no longer stand to breath. Although it sounds cruel it was actually a merciful and expedient act.
Grace – an undeserved favor.
Action Assignment
- The Jews that were rejecting fraternization with Gentiles were simply trusting the traditions they had been raised with. Take time this month to examine the things you were taught as you were growing up. Look into the bible and see if those things are actually there or if there is a possibility of misinterpretation on the part of others who accepted it without checking its validity.
- Pray for the leading of the Holy Spirit. Look around your life and see if there are others that you have chosen not to fraternize with. Ask the Holy Spirit if that is his will or if you should find ways to open the door of friendship in order to introduce them to Christ.