Galatians 2 | Paul vs. Peter and Grace vs. The Law

How does justification by faith differ from salvation by works? 
How were people saved in the Old Testament? 
What was the relationship between Paul and Peter? 

In this episode of *God's Plan, Your Part*, we explore Galatians chapter 2, where Paul provides further context about his ministry and personal story. He focuses on the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Jesus Christ—a crucial theme that runs throughout Galatians. The chapter begins with Paul recounting his visit to Jerusalem, where he met key church leaders like Peter, James, and John. This meeting confirmed his mission to preach to the Gentiles, while they focused on the Jews.

A significant event in this chapter is Paul’s confrontation with Peter (also called Cephas) in Antioch. Despite being previously aligned with Gentile Christians, Peter started drawing back when influential Jews arrived, acting hypocritically to avoid conflict. Paul boldly calls him out for this inconsistency, showing the importance of standing firm in the gospel’s truth even in difficult situations.

The second half of the chapter shifts to a theological discussion. Paul emphasizes that no one is justified by observing the law; rather, justification comes only through faith in Christ. He explains how both Jews and Gentiles are saved in the same way: by trusting in Christ's sacrificial work. This point is vital for understanding how both Old Testament believers and Christians today rely on faith for salvation, not on their ability to follow rules.

The key takeaway is to solidify your understanding of salvation by faith alone. Just as Paul confronted Peter for wavering in his convictions, we are reminded to stay firm in our faith and hold each other accountable. Our salvation rests not on fulfilling religious duties but on trusting Christ’s finished work on the cross. As we grow in this understanding, we can confidently live out our faith without falling back into legalism or relying on our own works.

#JustificationByFaith #Galatians2 #FaithOverWorks #BibleStudy #NewTestament #ChristianPodcast #ScriptureStudy #GospelTruth #GraceThroughFaith #PaulineEpistles 

Transcript

 Galatians 2

Galatians 2

[00:00:00] Hey everyone, welcome to God's plan. Your part year two, where this year we're reading through and studying the entire new Testament one chapter at a time. Thanks again for joining us in discovering God's plan and your part in it. Today, we're diving into Galatians chapter two, where Paul is going to give us a little bit more context about his personal ministry, his story of what a little bit more of his story coming from his conversion experience into expanding his missionary journeys.

But he's also going to start to make this very strong case centered around justification by faith alone through Jesus Christ. This is a very critical point. Uh, this is going to continue to be made across the book of Galatians, and that's what we're going to be diving into today. Yeah, there's a big part of this chapter that really deals with, um, justification through faith, which we really hinted at yesterday.

It's definitely coming out in today's chapter and episode. Um, I do think it's interesting to see more of the Paul humanity showing [00:01:00] here. Not that he doesn't have humanity. He's not like, you feel that way kind of, um, but there is like more of him coming out like, oh man, he dealt with some pretty intense situations.

Even with, this is not just like him calling out churches, it's like the brothers alongside of him that he's calling out and having issue with. So it does kind of, it feels awkward reading it because it's like, oh man, that's tense. But it also shows like, this was not outside of what he was dealing with, makes you feel kind of like, okay, he's not too far gone from where I feel like I am sometimes too.

So I would say the context of Paul's personal life starts out with him expanding a little bit about his conversion experience. There's obviously, uh, he talks about a 14 year period, uh, leading up to his trip to Jerusalem to basically like meet with what he calls the pillars of the early church. Uh, that 14 years could start from his actual conversion.

When Christ appeared to him, it could also [00:02:00] start after his three years in Arabia, where he was most likely being taught, uh, by Christ or being prepared for his ministry. What's interesting is he goes to Jerusalem and meets with very key leaders. This is like Peter James and John specifically and they have this discussion about the the gospel that he has now.

What's interesting is if you just read it at face value at first, it appears like he's talking about two different things, but he's not he's talking about how Christ has given him the gospel to be taken to the Gentiles, uh, where Peter, James, and John seem to have been given the gospel to bring to the Jews.

And there's a little bit of back and forth about what that looks like and how it's going to work. But he highlights the fact that Titus is with him and Titus is not required to be circumcised. He can continue to preach the gospel, even though he hasn't been circumcised. And this is important because Paul is engaged in this war about circumcision, [00:03:00] specifically, uh, with the Galatian church, because these people are false teachers.

They're teaching that you have to come under the law, and more specifically, you have to be circumcised to follow Christ. And Paul is highlighting that at the very beginning of his ministry, when he met with the brothers in Jerusalem, they themselves decided that Titus would not have to be circumcised because circumcision is not required to follow God.

I think it's interesting too, like this, uh, Kind of back and forth of Peter and Cephas like it's the same person But yeah, that's also something to be aware of so it is it's pretty crazy that he is meeting up with these men and Like you were saying earlier. He this is in Jerusalem. So it's kind of setting a little bit of backstory to for how Paul interacted with him differently in Jerusalem than when he was with him after.

So when, when Cephas, Peter, comes to Antioch, there's like a totally different interaction between the two of them. What sets that [00:04:00] off? So this is really, this is Really important and very interesting. Paul goes to Jerusalem and essentially is commissioned in Jerusalem, him and Barnabas, probably more so Barnabas than Paul at that time.

But later on, Paul more than Barnabas, he's basically commissioned, uh, and given permission to, to take the gospel to the Gentiles. This would have been a new kind of thing. I'm sure there would have been uncertainty and hesitation about this new kind of thing. But they have this meeting, they come to an agreement.

That Peter, James and John, I'm sure other believers as well are going to focus on bringing the gospel to the Jews and Paul and Barnabas are going to focus on bringing the gospel to the Gentiles. They, they both, both groups have the same mission. It's get the gospel out. Um, but they have different. So there's kind of this agreement that like, Hey, the new mission is just taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.

That's the, that's the mission that Jesus gave before he ascended into heaven. They are agreeing on this and setting this into motion. And I think acts 15, that Jerusalem [00:05:00] council is certainly part of this. Um, but what's interesting is when Peter goes to Antioch, Peter appears to be very comfortable living like a Gentile.

Not living like a Jew, that is like he eats what he wants to eat. He hangs out with who he wants to hang out with. Uh, he's very comfortable living as though he is not under the law until some very influential Jews show up and Peter stops living like a Gentile. And Paul notices that it's, It's affecting his ministry, um, because essentially like Peter is kind of wobbly.

He's not willing to live out what he believes because he's been very comfortably, uh, supporting and probably teaching and helping to teach, um, that it doesn't matter if you're a Jew or a Gentile anymore, Paul's going to teach that very clearly later on in Galatians. Uh, but apparently Peter is living this way until Jews show up and then he kind of shrinks back into the comfortability of his, Traditions and they get in a fight over it, which is really interesting.

Yeah. [00:06:00] And it's not a, not a kind one either. Uh, but Paul calls him out and it's just like, Hey, face, it says in verse 11, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. Um, I think, I, I honestly think it's really cool that he does call him out for this because he's, he's essentially saying like, dude, you're totally, Just being super fake about your faith right now.

And he's supposed to be this rock, right? Um, that Jesus calls out as like, where the church will be built. Like, this is pretty critical that you're like, so flimsy all of a sudden. Um, so I dunno, I think it's pretty cool to see someone be so bold as to call someone out about this like flip floppy nature of their faith.

Um, so I think that does kind of. Like, all these sections are intertwined and I definitely think they're linked because right after that, um, unless you want to talk more about it, [00:07:00] Paul goes right into, like, our justification doesn't come from the things that you do. It comes through your faith. And if you believe these things, it will show through what you do.

So, if you're flip flopping back and forth, that kind of, like, Sheds light on how your faith is like, wibbly wobbly too. Exactly. So I, I just, I like the cohesion between these sections. It was a critical point in this shift. And it's a shift that Jesus asked for. And it's a shift that God supported. And it, it just shows, it shows the humanity of Peter.

Like you naturally want to hang out with the people that you're used to hanging out with. And when you hang out with people that you used to hang out with, you act like you used to act. And that's what's happening to Peter. It happens probably to all of us and at times it's not for the best. And so it's, it's worth noting that Paul has no problem with this confrontation.

We already know that Paul has no problem with confrontation. Uh, we just wrapped up second Corinthians and he ends his letter of second [00:08:00] Corinthians saying like, Hey, I'm coming to correct you. Can you imagine though, like what kind of a world we would be in if Christians took that so seriously though?

Like if we actually were comfortable with confronting. And I don't know, like the unwillingness to be firm in your faith and actually live it out. Uh, I think there's like so many situations where people are just kind of like, Oh, you know, whatever. Okay. But if we would actually be. This way with each other, how much more of a strong accountability, like just showing of our faith we would have to the world.

And honestly, like we wouldn't be so offended all the time. It is interesting how these men were fairly comfortable with confrontation. They also, it should be noted, appear to be Pretty good at bringing these things to resolution. Paul has a couple pretty high level confrontations that he's fairly famous for.

This is definitely one of them. It does appear that they [00:09:00] resolved this, and it appears that they resolved it in a way that brought strength to the church. Later on 2nd Peter, er, later on Peter, in some of his letters, Is going to recognize that Paul's writings can be hard to understand, which is funny, uh, because they can be hard to understand, but he also recognizes that the work of Paul is valuable and what he is writing is known as scripture.

So there's not a longstanding fight that erupts. There's not a longstanding tension like they resolve this and it is for the glory of God and the church can be thankful for it. So we can learn about healthy conflict and good resolution, uh, from these accounts. Now, the next thing that Paul's going to do is.

Is kind of set up the theology of this. He's been setting up the background, uh, that he was a very Jewish Jew. That was kind of in chapter one. Uh, he got support from the pillars of the church that is Peter, James and John. They would have been very highly respected by a lot of people. Um, he also points out that Peter was very comfortable living as a Gentile when he was among the Gentiles, that's going to help to strengthen [00:10:00] his case.

And now he's going to, Like launch into supporting the theology of this whole thing that we have never been justified by the law ever. Um, and because of that, we've always been justified by faith. This was important for them. This was important for Paul confronting false teachers. It remains to be important for us today.

So you can see him make a really strong case for this. Um, in verse 15, we ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by works of the law, we No one will be justified.

Paul is pointing out that even the Jews properly do not understand that the law brings justification because you need to follow the law. But when you break the law, you need to make sacrifices to [00:11:00] cover for your sins. So The law never made anyone justified before God. It continues to never make anyone justified before God because sacrifice was always required.

And part of that sacrifice was, um, representing God's provision for covering your sins. So we believe in Christ as the ultimate provision for our sins. And this is a very, very important thing to understand because. People have gotten it wrong. It's, it's easy to get wrong, but I do want to clarify here in the old Testament, people believed in God's ultimate provision.

They believe that God would ultimately provide a way to be reconciled to himself. They believed forward that God would provide the perfect sacrifice. So they believed ahead. We believe backwards that Christ. Is the ultimate sacrifice, and that ultimate sacrifice has been provided. So everyone in the Old Testament was believing and looking forward.

We are now believing and looking backward. Everyone throughout all of [00:12:00] Christian history throughout all of God's history has has been justified. Only through faith in Christ. The difference is Old Testament folks believed forward. Um, people post the new Testament now believe backward. Everybody was believing in, in God's ultimate provision that is through Christ.

And Paul is starting to set that up. And I think he makes it very clear here in these couple of verses. So what would you say is a really good your part, excuse me for today, as we like look through this thread of Paul's Paul's mind, I do, I do like just seeing more of his personal story. That's not a, your part, but it's extra credit.

Like, I think it is interesting to learn more about Paul because it's, it's pretty popular today to not appreciate Paul and to be frustrated with Paul. So it is good to see the human side of him and like the conflict that he was involved in. Um, but I do think like being reminded of this justification through faith alone.

Um, Is very powerful. Um, because there is a lot of like. Like, like a lot of us just haven't dug deep into what we [00:13:00] actually believe. A lot of us haven't dug deep into what it means to be justified by faith alone. And I think even today, the reason I'm spending a lot of time on it is a lot of us have not spent time digging into how old Testament folks found salvation.

A lot of times it can be very confusing. Um, and if, if you're, if you don't get it right, and if you don't spend some time thinking through it, uh, you can end up teaching that. Old Testament folks were, uh, justified by their sacrifices, which is actually a works based salvation. Um, everyone has always been saved through faith alone by the grace that's given by God through the sacrifice of Christ.

And the, the ultimate example of that is that Abraham, uh, believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. I think that's Genesis 15 verse six, I think. Think I don't have it in front of me, but it's definitely in Genesis 15. So from the very beginning, uh, people were saved by their faith in God's provision, not by the things that they do.

And that continues to be true for us today, that we [00:14:00] are saved by the grace of God when we have faith in Christ. Uh, and it's really unique, you know, that there is no other human created religion, uh, that Like that, and that is one of the indicators that this is not a human created religion. This is God caring for his people by providing his son who died for our sins.

And when we believe in that ultimate sacrifice, we are saved by faith alone in Christ. So I suppose that your part is just to be firmed up in your faith, to sharpen that, that understanding of what our faith is and actually to hope in that and, and find, um, Strengthen that like hope and strength and confidence in the fact that Christ has paid the debt for your sin when you believe in him, you are saved.

There is not some giant list of checkboxes. You need to accomplish to to get there. Um, you just believe that Christ paid your debt and you now have right relationship with God. You don't need to take time cleaning yourself up to have [00:15:00] salvation. You can have salvation immediately and then you can live a life defined by the work of Christ and strive to it.

To live in a way that honors him. Um, so Paul is going to expand on that more. Uh, the, a lot of this book is about that very topic. So we'll continue to cover this chapter by chapter. So we'll be back at this again tomorrow with Galatians chapter three. Hey guys, if you enjoyed the episode today and are enjoying God's plan, your part, we would love it if you could help us in two ways.

First, if you would give us a rating and review for our podcast, we would really appreciate that. And second, tell your friends, tell all your people that you rub shoulders with every day, uh, to listen to the podcast and also give us ratings and reviews as well. That being said, here is the reading for today.

Galatians chapter two. Then, after 14 years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them, though privately before those who seemed influential, [00:16:00] the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.

But even Titus, who was with me, was not forced to be circumcised, though he is a Greek. Yet 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, to them we did not yield submission even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.

And 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. 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, for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised, work on my behalf.

Also through me for mine to the Gentiles. And when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that [00:17:00] 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. Only they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.

But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with Gentiles. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.

But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I was I said to Cephas before them all, If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile, and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews? We ourselves are Jews by birth, and not Gentile sinners. Yet we know that a person is not justified by the work of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.

So we also have believed in Christ Jesus in [00:18:00] order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law. Because by works of the law, no one will be justified. But, if in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not. For if we rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor.

For through the law, I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Thank you so much for listening to today's episode of God's Plan, Your Part. Don't forget, you can find us on just about every social media platform and YouTube. Let us know what you thought of today's episode. And if you have any questions, go ahead and post them there. You can also reach out to us directly at godsplanyourpartatgmail.[00:19:00]

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