Freedom Thieves

Galatians 2:1-10   

Paul‘s first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion on the road to Damascus is found in Galatians 1 where Paul tells us that after three years he went up and visited with Peter for fifteen days. It would be fourteen more years from that visit before Paul would once again return to Jerusalem. It is also believed that it was during the second visit that the apostle brought the offerings from the church in Antioch as described in Acts 11:27-30. So the apostle returns by direction of the Holy Spirit. As communicated in previous studies the Judaizers challenged the very notion of Paul being commissioned by Jesus to be an apostle to the gentiles. Without doubt they would have challenged the fact that Paul was called to come to Jerusalem by the spirit; likely claiming that Paul had actually been called by the apostles in Jerusalem.

Once in Jerusalem the Apostle seeks an audience with those who “were of reputation.” Again, a jab at the Judaizers since they held the original twelve in high regard claiming that they had apostolic approval for their doctrine and Paul did not. Those whom Paul refers to of reputation would have been Peter, James (the brother of Jesus) and John and likely others as well as those “false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.”
In verse seven the apostle makes it clear to his readers that God is no distinguisher of persons and the apostles to the church of Jerusalem are no greater than he is and he no greater than they; furthermore, they added nothing to his gospel account, rather Paul’s came from a direct encounter with the true and living God.

Before going further I want to talk about verse six for a moment, “But of these who seemed to be somewhat, (whatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepts no man’s person.)” There is a notion within some Christian circles that ‘some’ are endowed with a greater amount of the Holy Spirit; evidenced by the fact that they have a greater gift or office. This simply isn’t so! The spirit teaches us in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 that no one knows the things of God except the spirit of God and that WE (that means all of us) have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that WE might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Jesus tells us in John 14:16,17 “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— “the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” Nowhere do we find Jesus distinguishing between who gets more and who gets less of the spirit. Let us consider another verse from the book of 1st Corinthians Chapter 12 which says: “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.” In fact, I would encourage all to read the entire 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians. Friends, the bottom line is that we are all grafted into the same body, given the same spirit but called to different purposes within the body. Let us not forget that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles (heathen)lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But Jesus said “Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. “And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

So, in verse three we see that Titus came along for the journey as evidence that circumcision was not a prerequisite to Christianity as the Judaizers taught. Paul was certainly interested in how the apostle’s might decide, not desiring to see the ministry efforts to the gentiles wasted because of legalism. Ultimately the apostle’s sided with what had, in all reality, been fore-ordained by God, that gentiles do not need to be bound by rituals and traditions of men in order to be accepted into the kingdom of God. Therefore, the apostle’s refusal to side with the Judaizers solidified the rejection of their doctrine, and further supported the ministry to the gentiles.

So as I was reading these verses over and over I kept returning to verse 4 and I kept asking myself one central question; Why would freedom from the law be a threat to anyone, why would these people or for that matter any people seek to place others into bondage?

I think the foremost answer is power. With all groups in opposition to the true gospel of Jesus Christ; be it the Pharisees and Sadducee’s ,the Judaizers, the Gnostics or today’s cults the common thread is power. They use whatever laws, rules and traditions they have at their disposal, made up or not, in order that the so-called elect might wield their power to bludgeon people into submission and reign over the masses. So, if the truth is discovered that people no longer have to submit under the brutality of such laws, people are going to be abandoning ship left and right and those in power or should we say out of power no longer have a leg to stand on. This has always been an issue with man throughout history who have no use for the true gospel of grace. Man in his carnal desire to promote himself above others in order that he might become his own supreme being will go to astronomical lengths, even the murder of anyone standing in opposition. Throughout history we have seen this occur both in the church and the government using whatever form of laws they so choose.

God never intended it to be that way, the law of Moses was meant to shine a light on the dark hearts of men so that they might realize that any pious attempts at holiness could not be accomplished through it. It would take Jesus Christ through the perfect fulfillment of the law and his blood as the perfect lamb to fill the gap between man and the law. The law could only condemn and it is only by the shed blood of Christ at the cross that has the power to release us from the bonds of condemnation. Romans 8:1 beautifully illuminates this fact, it says, “ There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.”

May we all go forward this day walking in the grace and peace of Jesus Christ,
Mark