Galatians 2:21 Commentary

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Galatians 2:21

Comments

Paul did not, as Peter had done, attempt to do something that he knew was completely contrary to the grace of God in an attempt to frustrate it. This verse is a powerful way of saying that the grace of God and the law are mutually exclusive and cannot be mixed together to provide a combined formula for salvation. Each one excludes the other totally.By drawing an absurd conclusion - ‘Christ is dead in vain’ – Paul proves that righteousness cannot come from the law. God could not be mistaken about what was the crowning glory of his plan for this world. The Father would not have allowed his Son to go through such agony, if it could be avoided. Christ could not have died in vain, and it certainly would have been in vain if it was possible to obtain righteousness from the law. He would never have come into the world to die for sin, if in fact, however difficult it was, men could obtain righteousness from the law. What Christ came to do was to provide the only possible way of salvation. Therefore we should abandon all hope of righteousness from any other source but him. If Paul therefore needed to correct the chief of the apostles, he has an answer for all those who claimed he was a second-class apostle dependent on the true apostles. And in pointing out Peter’s error on this occasion he deals with the very issue that was being contested between him and the false apostles.

Application

In helping to recover our brother who is going astray, we must use the strongest arguments available to us, arguments which are irrefutable and which will silence the gainsayer. However, we must at the same time do nothing to provoke a stubborn response by using unnecessary harshness. Paul speaks as gently as he can in that he applies these things to himself in the hope that Peter will learn from them. We are not told what the results of this rebuke was, but we can be sure that Paul’s courage was rewarded and that Peter acknowledged his error and repented of it, leading the way for all who had followed his bad example.

Questions

Did Paul overreact to Peter’s behaviour, and did he read too much into it? No, rather he saw more clearly than anyone else the implications of this very serious error, and he had the courage to speak and used just those words which were necessary to correct and recover one who was in danger of corrupting the gospel at a crucial point in the history of the evangelisation of the world. God at times seems to place the defence of his truth in the hands of a single man who must have the courage and conviction to stand against the whole world if necessary.

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Galatians 2:21 Commentary and Bible Study