Galatians 2:11–16 - Back On the Gospel Way

Last week, we began to explore further the subject of legalism. We all have legalistic tendencies.

What I mean is, there are particular things that make us feel justified, as if those things achieve righteousness for us. Those things become law for us. They become regulations to which we must adhere strictly.

Now, I’m not speaking here of God’s moral law. We should seek to keep that law. And I’m not talking about the laws by which we as citizens must abide. God wants us to keep those laws also, when they don’t conflict with His moral law.

I’m talking about man-made laws that go beyond God’s Word – laws to which God has not bound His people – burdens that we place on ourselves, or that we place on others, or burdens that others place on us. This is legalism in its various forms.

And we’re naturally subject to its influence, from both within and without. Your sinful nature aims to put you under a yoke of slavery. That nature in others aims to put you under such a burden. And it’s a miserable and dangerous place to be. There is fear, self-righteousness, anxiousness, and contempt for others.

But Christ with His gospel is always ready to correct us and set us free. If you look over His earthly ministry in the NT, that’s one thing He was doing. Jesus was dispelling legalistic fear, self-righteousness, and disdain for others.

This is why we continually revisit and rejoice in the good news of who Jesus is and all He has done to put on the right course with God. Jesus is accomplishing this in the lives of His people even today.

How? With His gospel, yes, but more specifically, in two ways that we see on display in these verses of Galatians. His gospel uncovers your legalistic faults and declares God's life-changing grace.

Scripture teaches that it is ultimately God’s grace – not His law – that produces the righteousness that His law demands. This is really all about why we do what we do. Why do we obey God? Is it to get something from Him, putting Him in position to owe you something? Why do we disobey God? Isn’t it because we don’t trust that His way is best? Those two ways of living look very different outwardly, but both displease God. Both misunderstand His love and His law.

Now, in the previous verses, Paul and Barnabas went to the assembly in Jerusalem. At that time, all of the apostles and elders agreed on the gospel of free grace. Gentiles did not need to become Jews – keeping various ceremonial laws. Then Paul and Barnabas went back to Antioch to continue their ministry. It seems that Jerusalem had a high concentration of Jewish Christians, and Antioch had a high concentration of Gentile Christians.

Now apparently, Peter (also known as Cephas) visited Antioch. And according to Paul, Peter did something for which “he stood condemned.” Romans 8 says, “There is…no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” So what does Paul mean?

Condemnation in Romans 8 refers to damnation. It’s a death sentence for sins. If you are born again, you have no danger of that. You cannot lose your status as a child of God. No matter what – if Christ has saved you, you are secure in Him. You cannot be damned to hell later on through some misstep or grave error.

This is vitally important for understanding why we should aim to obey God’s moral law. It’s not because we’re in danger of losing God’s love and favor. Nor is it because we must do so to earn God’s love and favor. Rather, God’s gracious delivery from condemnation is our reason to obey.

When Paul says Peter “stood condemned,” the word is similar to but not the same as the one in Rom. 8. Paul means that Peter did something for which he deserved blame. Paul “found fault” with Peter according to the gospel.

Here’s what happened. During his stay in Antioch, Peter had been enjoying table fellowship with Gentiles. In ancient Israel, as God was setting His people apart to teach them His ways, He gave food laws that separated the Israelites from other peoples.

But now, God had put those laws aside for His people. There was no longer a dividing wall between Jews and non-Jews. The apostles all understood this. Born again Jews and born again Gentiles were one: saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ.

But then, some visitors came to town. Verse 12 says they came “from James,” which isn’t to say that James was a Judaizer but rather seems to indicate that these men came from Jerusalem. James was in a position of authority there. And these “certain men” were legalists – they were in “the circumcision party.” Peter was worried about what they would think if they saw him enjoying table fellowship with Gentiles. And so “he drew back and separated himself” out of fear.

Legalists can have this kind of power. They can exert influence. The leader of the apostles was influenced by these men who may have, in fact, been Christians but who were very mistaken about God’s demands for His people. When legalism has its sway – always – one group feels inferior and one feels superior.

Notice the result in verse [13], “And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.” Have you ever felt yourself pulled into a yoke of slavery by someone else? This is peer pressure – and it’s not only teenagers who are subject to it.

Well, look at what happens next. Verse [14], Paul says, “But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, 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?” When Peter was eating at table with the Gentile Christians, he was, as Paul says, “living like a Gentile.” He was living in light of the gospel.

He and those he enjoyed fellowship with were living freely in Christ. They were pleasing to God. The Judaizers would argue that this so-called “freedom” wouldn’t allow them to experience the holiness of God. There’s no doubt that the legalists believed that they knew the way of sanctification.

But the opinion of men is not more important than the opinion of God. God had already expressed His opinion of these Gentiles in the gospel of grace.Prov. 29 says, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.”

Circumstances will often expose your legalism. Situations will arise in which your legalistic tendencies will be put on display. You’ll be made to feel uncomfortable and you’ll feel pressured to change. Or you may feel the need to put pressure on others, condemning them as law-breakers where God has made no law. Rather, it’s your law or another person’s that is violated.

You may not even recognize your legalism right away. But the gospel of Christ uncovers your legalistic faults. Where the fullness of the gospel is understood, legalism dies. But where things have been added to please God, fear looms over the people – unbiblical fear of God and even fear of each other. Jesus Christ came into the world to set us free – free from sin, free from death, and free to rest – to rest in all the goodness and love of the one true God.

Now look at this statement that Paul makes next. He reminds Peter and the others of the gospel that uncovers their legalistic faults but does something else as well. Paul says, “[15] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners.”

Have you ever heard someone called a “heathen?” This word translated “sinner” has the same concept in mind. This is what Jews often called non-Jews – those who didn’t have the law and the covenants by birth. But look at verse [16], he continues, saying, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.” We – Paul, Peter, the apostles, the church – knew that Jews were not counted righteous before God by keeping the law.

Even God made clear in His law given to Moses that they could not perfectly keep it. That’s why they had sacrifices and cleansing rituals – to teach them that they were sinners and only God is without sin. A person can only be justified by faith in Christ, and so Paul says, “so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in 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.”

Do you know that on your very best day, in your very best moments, you’ve never had a righteousness of your own that made you acceptable to God?

Whatever rules you keep that make you feel like you’ve got it together – whatever things you see in the lives of others that make you glad you’re not like them – no matter how put together you are or how successful you’ve been in your life, whether in your career or your marriage or parenting or in keeping a moral code – for any good you’ve ever done or will do, God deserves all the glory for it.

Anything you ever did for God you only did through Christ who made you able. Scripture tells us that apart from Christ, even our best deeds are like a filthy rag. Even our best attempts are unclean apart from the cleansing blood of Jesus, which is ours only by grace.

This is the gospel that I’m telling you. You must never get far away from this good news, because through it, Christ not only uncovers your legalistic faults, but He also declares God's life-changing grace. The gospel says that all who believe in Christ can have the favor of God.

Will you trust not in yourself but in Christ the Lord? All other ground is sinking sand. All other foundations will crumble. Christ with His gospel frees you from the prison walls of legalism. Christ sets us free from hypocrisy – and we are all like Peter – hypocrites by nature. In other words, we’re natural pretenders. We’re actors. We act one with these people, and a different way with these others – unless Christ with His gospel changes us.

Look once more at the phrase in verse 14. Paul says, “I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel.” This literally reads, “they were not walking straight [or walking consistently]” with the truth of the gospel. The natural tendency toward legalism ran off Peter and the others off the gospel path. But it is with the gospel itself that they were put back on the gospel way.

The gospel condemns our legalism and then it corrects it. The gospel hurts us and then it heals us. May Christ do this in our lives every day.

Let’s bow in prayer together.