GALATIANS 2:11-21
FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2007
BY GOD’S GRACE ALONE
11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face,
because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James,
he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and
separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. 13 And
the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even
Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of
the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, “If you, being a Jew, live
in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel
Gentiles to live as Jews? 15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners
of the Gentiles, 16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of
the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ
Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the
works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be
justified. 17 “But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we
ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin?
Certainly not! 18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I
make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law died to the law
that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no
longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if
righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”.
Galatians 2:11-21 (NKJV)
As I have done in the past I have chosen to do a series of Devotions by
going verse by verse through a Book of the Bible. This time I have
chosen the Letter
of St. Paul to the Galatians. The first Devotion, for
Chapter 1,
verses 6 - 10, was written earlier and can be found by going to the
Devotion Archives.
Each following devotion
will remain on this page for approximately 6 days before it will be
transferred to the Archives. It is my prayer
that these devotions will assist you in your Bible Study and in your
growth in Faith and in the Love of Jesus. Here then is the fifth
in this series of Devotions.
Yesterday we mentioned the fact that St. Peter was going out to reach
the Jewish people for Jesus while St. Paul was going to the Gentiles. In
our verses for today St. Paul confronts St. Peter.
When they meet face to face, St. Paul is very blunt when he speaks to
St. Peter. To use our language of today, Paul told Peter that he was
being two faced. When there were no followers of Paul around, Peter
would be with the Gentiles and would do things the Gentiles did, such as
eating with them. As soon as Peter heard that a follower of Paul was
coming, he would withdraw from the friendship with the Gentiles and just
preach to them the message of Christ. But that wasn’t all. He went on to
ask Peter, “If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not
as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?”
Here was the real problem. When Peter was living in the manner of he
Gentiles, he was eating with them. The Gentiles did not follow the
Jewish law of what foods you could or could not eat or how the food had
to be prepared. He lived like the Gentiles in one way, yet required the
Gentiles to live as a Jew when it came to accepting Jesus as the Savior.
Peter did this by requiring circumcision. It is easy to see the problem
here. Peter was able to put aside the Jewish food laws, yet he was
worried about other Christians finding out. He was having trouble
shaking the old laws that were replaced by Grace when Jesus died on the
Cross. At the same time, he could not put aside the concept that you had
to earn your salvation through circumcision. He tells Peter that it is
not right to build again what Jesus destroyed on the CROSS.
This is when Paul says these famous words to Peter. “I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in
me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” These are words that
are not just spoken to Peter, but to each of us. These are words that we
should memorize, that we should make copies of to have at our desk, on
our refrigerators, and on bathroom mirrors.
In the closing verses, Paul reminds Peter and reminds us, if we believe
that we receive righteousness through living the LAW, then the death of
Jesus on the cross was a worthless event. It is only by God’s GRACE that
He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the Cross for us and take upon himself
the burden of our sins, that we have righteousness.
It is only by the GRACE and LOVE of God that we can see and understand
that the Laws of God are given to us that we might find great joy in
following them. The laws are not merit badges to earn our entrance into
heaven.
WE PRAY:
O let Thy grace inspire
My soul with strength divine
My all my powers to Thee aspire,
And all my days be Thine. AMEN.
SUGGESTIONS FOR LIVING THE DEVOTION
St. Peter was doing an action that God would approve when he was eating with the Gentiles, but he did not want others to know. He was being two-faced. Have you done God pleasing things that you don’t want others to know about? If so, ask yourself why you are being two-faced?