Galatians 2:4 Commentary

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Galatians 2:4

Comments

The issue of Titus being circumcised would never have arisen except for the presence of certain false brethren. Paul is anxious to vindicate the apostles from any charges and to show that quite independently from him they had been taught the same things by God, for the Galatians needed to be sure that Christ had revealed a consistent message to all his apostles.‘They came in privily.’ Acts 15:5 refers to the disturbance caused by the Judaizers, in response to Paul and Barnabas reporting God’s blessings among the Gentiles. They repeated the same error they had taught at Antioch. A meeting with the apostles and elders was therefore convened, and this begins in Acts 15:6. This is the meeting that Paul speaks of in Galatians 2:2-5. Acts 15:7 says ‘when there had been much disputing’, and it was certainly not the apostles who were disputing this question with Paul and Barnabas. The Judaizers had somehow also got into this private meeting. They had ‘come to spy out our liberty which we have in Jesus Christ’. Paul valued that liberty for he had known the bondage of serving God under the law, and he knew that without grace our walk before God is a story of constantly falling short, and a web of self-deception about our own performance. The gospel sets men and women free from this bondage and those who have been set free cannot return to their former bondage. They are no longer required to succeed in an impossible battle with sin in order to obtain salvation. Furthermore Paul had been freed from the ceremonial law which, although it contained highly instructive types and shadows, was designed by God to be arduous in itself and even monotonous (Hebrews 10:11). It was glorious not as ceremony but because of what it pointed to. This incident was highly relevant to what had been going on in the Galatian churches.

Application

Do we think enough of our liberty? Do we value it sufficiently? It is hard for us to understand perfectly what God has done for us, but do we reflect upon it at all? Whereas people in the world can only sin, can only increase the wrath against them, we can truly advance. Unless we had been justified from the beginning of our Christian lives, we would have no adequate motivation and incentive for holiness, for any obedience to God could only spring from fear, and fear is not able to produce the whole-hearted devotion to God involved in true obedience. Fear anticipates judgment, but love anticipates favour, and we cannot love God unless we know that he is reconciled to us. Only the believer can truly please God. After we have been pardoned by the Lord, death does not legitimately threaten us at every step, and we have access to God through Christ that the Jews never had. We can come and give thanks to God for salvation clearly revealed through Jesus Christ. We can come to our heavenly Father.

False doctrine from wherever it arises must be opposed, for the defence of the true gospel is of greater importance than any individual or group of individuals.

Questions

When Paul calls the Judaizers false brethren, does that mean that he viewed them as unconverted? Certainly, for in spite of their believing in Christ, their doctrines were destructive to the gospel. They held the very doctrine which Paul refutes in this letter, and which he says renders Christ of no effect (Galatians 5:4).

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Galatians 2:4 Commentary and Bible Study