Throw out the Old Calendar

Paul is doing everything he can to convince the Galatians that they have made a HUGE mistake in believing the counterfeit gospel of the Judaizers (Gal 1:6; 2:4; 3:1).  

The apostle made two stops in the region during his first missionary expedition and established a network of churches there (Acts 13:13-14:23).  

He proclaimed to them the amazing news that Jesus had not only fulfilled the Jewish law but had thrown open the door of salvation to the entire world.  

But just as soon as he hit the road, a group of spiritual snake oil salesmen rolled into town.  They convinced the Galatian believers that Paul didn't give them the full story.  

According to them, Jews must still follow Jewish law.  And Gentiles must become Jews in order to follow Jesus.  In other words, Jesus might bring you into His kingdom, but it's up to you to keep yourself in it.

Once back in Antioch in Syria, the apostle has gotten the disappointingly bad news from Galatia of their return to Jewish ritual.  

He's floored to hear what is going on.  He hears that they have dusted off their old Jewish calendars to celebrate the holy days once again.  "You observe days and months and seasons and years" (v10).  

Paul is stunned.  He thought that he had instructed them fully that this was no longer needed.  He clearly preached to them in the synagogue specifically what Jesus had done for them.  

"Through this Man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from you could not be freed by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:38-39).  

In other words, get rid of your old Jewish calendar.  

In Jesus, a new day has dawned.  There's no need to celebrate a weekly ritual of the Jewish Sabbath.  There's no need to concern yourself about what month it is on the Jewish calendar.  There's no worry about whether it's time to celebrate Passover or Pentecost.  Toss that old calendar in the trash.

But wait just a Mississippi minute.  No more Sabbath?  No more Passover?  Who gave Paul the right to ditch the ritual calendar after thousands of years of Judaism?  

God established these days, months, seasons and years so that we could remember Him, worship Him and set our hearts on Him.  What's changed on this side of the cross?

That was exactly Paul's point when he preached of Jesus in the Galatian synagogues (Acts 13:38-39).  Jesus provides forgiveness, so there's no more need for ritual sacrifice whether daily, weekly, monthly or annually.  Christ frees us from law of Moses by fulfilling it completely and perfectly on our behalf (Mt 5:17).  

In his letter to the Colossians, the apostle explains that these various holy days and festivals were simply put in place to remind us that Messiah would come one day.  "These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ" (Col 2:16-17).  And there's more of the same in Romans 14:1-6.

There is a parallel for the followers of Jesus.  The Lord told us to celebrate the communion meal as a way to remember His sacrifice for us until He comes back (Lk 22:14-23).  When you observe the Lord's Supper, "you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" (1Cor 11:26).  

Once Jesus comes back, there will be no reason to observe communion.  At that point, we're invited to THE Big Party, the Wedding Supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9).  There will no point to remember Jesus when He's already back with us.

But let's not get so high and mighty about the Jewish holy days.  Let's face facts.  We do the same.  We center our calendar on our days, months, seasons and years too.  

Christmas.  Easter.  Fourth of July.  Thanksgiving.  Even birthdays and anniversaries.  These are all fun and great times for so many reasons.  But we shouldn't worship them.  They aren't Jesus.

I have to confess my personal legalism when it comes to the calendar.  I remember certain events that happened on particular dates in the past like these days hold some particular power or significance.  

The death of a friend or relative.  An important day at work.  A big event for the family.  

It's OK to remember.  It's wrong to worship.  It's a sin to obsess.  God tells us that He is always up to something brand spanking new.  "Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old.  Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?" (Is 43:19).  

And Paul wasn't one to stare at the rear view mirror either.  "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:13-14).

Throw out the old calendar.

When the apostle gets the news that the Galatians are celebrating the old Jewish rituals and festivals, he's worried that his time with them is down the toilet.  "I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain" (v11).  

He thought they went all over that when he was there.  Had he wasted his time?  Was it all in vain?  That's what happens when we go back to our old ways of legalism.  

Come on, folks.  It's time to throw out the old calendar.

©2012

Jay Jennings

Paul the Wall Buster

Paul continues to slam the wrecking ball against the counterfeit gospel the Judaizers have preached in the Galatian churches.  

These false teachers have told these new believers that the only true way of salvation is by combining rules of Judaism with following Jesus.  This is completely the opposite of what happened when the apostle was there just a few weeks ago.  

He has just returned to Antioch after his first missionary journey with Barnabas (Acts 14:26).  They tell the church there how God "had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles" (Acts 14:27).  Jesus personally passed along this radical new revelation to the man from Tarsus (Gal 1:12).  

There are no racial, ethnic or gender barriers in following Christ.  Paul hits the roof when he hears about the teaching of the Judaizers and fires off this letter.  That's critical context for this letter and these verses.

The apostle wants to make sure everyone is clear on just who is eligible to become a disciple of Jesus.  "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus" (v28).  

Paul is NOT denying that God has not created differences in races, differences in gender or even differences in social status.  What he IS saying is that when it comes to following Jesus, none of that matters one little bit.  

He knocks down three walls that many considered to be impenetrable.  Call him Paul the Wall Buster.  

First is the wall of ethnicity.  The Jews were God's chosen people.  While that is certainly true both biblically and historically, Hebrews loved to rub that in the noses of Gentiles.  Jews hated non-Jews and non-Jews returned the favor.  

But everything changed with Jesus.  While He clearly came to God's chosen people (Mt 15:24), Christ also came through them to Gentiles.  He reached out to the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:14, 23-24, 42).  He cast a legion of demons from a non-Jewish madman (Lk 8:26-39).  

It is almost impossible for us to wrap our minds around just how radical the idea of God's salvation of Gentiles was.  It's THE controversy that boils on just about every page of Acts.  

This idea was so revolutionary that it required to important meetings at the home office to confirm this was a true move of God (Acts 11:1-18, 15:1-35).  

Paul the Wall Buster states it as boldly and clearly as possible: "There is neither Jew nor Greek" when it comes to following Jesus.

The second impenetrable wall is that of social status.  "There is neither slave nor free" (v28).  While the concept of slavery in the Roman empire is considerably different that slavery in the American South, the role of a first century slave was certainly subservient.  

Slaves (Gr. δουλος/doulos) were not allowed citizenship.  They were not their own.  They could not come and go as they pleased.  

A free person (Gr. ελευθερος/eleutheros) had complete self-determination, independence and unbound politically and socially.  

One thing that a free person could do was to own slaves.  The wall-busting apostle lets his readers know that this barrier means nothing when it comes to following Christ.

It is worth noting that Paul doesn't condemn slavery.  In his letter to Philemon, he encourages his buddy to forgive his runaway slave Onesimus (Phlm 15-16).  

He knows that if they are truly disciples of Jesus, God has knocked down those walls in a way that the abolition of slavery never could.  

He also tells the slaves in the Corinthian church not to worry about their status.  You might be a slave in society but now you're "a freedman of the Lord."  He goes on to say that if the opportunity presents itself to gain your freedom, grab it (1Cor 7:20-24).

Wall number two comes crashing down: "There is neither slave nor free" (v28).

But Paul the Wall Buster is not done yet.  He hammers at the third impenetrable wall: "There is no male and female" (v28).  Those who charge the followers of Jesus with sexual discrimination and chauvinism don't understand just how radically the Gospel historically demolishes gender roles.  

In the first century, women were less than second class citizens.  They had absolutely no voice in Jewish society.  That all changed with Jesus.  He accepted and embraced female disciples (TOTALLY unheard of among other rabbis).  

The power of the cross continued to destroy gender barriers.  God's first convert in Europe was a woman, Lydia (Acts 16:14).  Priscilla was crucial in the spread of the Gospel (Acts 18:26; Rom 16:3; 1Cor 16:19; 2Tim 4:19).

Let's be clear that Paul is NOT knocking down God's clearly defined gender roles.  There are distinct differences between men and women, especially when it comes to their service in the local church.  

Scholars call it complementarianism.  It's the idea that men and women have equal standing at the cross of Christ but serve in different roles within the church.  This is all based on the idea of willing submission to authority.  

While Jesus is equal to God the Father, He willingly submitted to His Dad's authority.  But when it comes to following Jesus, wall number three comes slamming to the ground: "There is no male and female" (v28).

But Paul the Wall Buster has more work to do.  He hammers at the third impenetrable wall: "There is no male and female" (v28).  For those who charge the followers of Jesus with sexual discrimination and chauvinism don't understand just how radically the Gospel historically demolishes gender roles.  

When it comes to following Jesus, wall number three comes slamming to the ground: "There is no male and female" (v28).

Because of the destruction of these so-called impenetrable walls, there is absolute unity in the Lord.  "For you are all one in Christ Jesus" (v28).  This isn't just some rogue statement found in Paul's letter to the Galatians.  This is the consistent inclusive message throughout the NT.  

The apostle makes a remarkably similar statement to the Colossians (Col 3:11).  He tells the Romans that when it comes to following Jesus "there is no distinction" (Rom 3:22; 10:12).  He tells the Corinthians that God's Spirit dunks us all into the same pool (1Cor 12:13).

The result of this divine wall busting is unity among believers.  We're one in Christ.  This was Jesus' prayer for us 2000 years ago, "that they may be one, even as We are one" (Jn 17:11).  

And Paul speaks directly about how Jesus personally took the wrecking ball to to "the dividing wall of hostility" between Jews and Gentiles in order to bring "us both to God in one body through the cross" (Eph 2:14-16).  

We're one.  United.  Thanks to Jesus and His man Paul the Wall Buster.

©2012

Jay Jennings

Who's Your Daddy?

Maury Povich has become infamous for featuring paternity tests on his show.  Hundreds of couples have degraded themselves by parading in front of a cheering audience to find out who’s the father of the child.

Paul tells us there is a simple paternity test when it comes to faith.  If you believe God and trust that He is good and all-powerful and rely on Him, He’s your spiritual Father.  It is part of what it means to be counted as righteous (Gal 3:6).

Who’s your daddy?

“Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham” (v7).  Remember that Paul is trying to convince the Galatians that the false teachers have sold them a load of spiritual snake oil.  

The Judaizers have told them that if they really want to be members of the family of Abraham, they must become Jewish.

You know that means.  Circumcision.  The law of Moses.  Ordering off the kosher menu.  The whole deal.  But the apostle uses the Old Testament and the story of Abraham to diffuse their case.  

God credited righteousness to Abe’s account BEFORE his circumcision.  That happened when he simply trusted God and His goodness.

The result is that Abe is the spiritual dad of not only the Jews but EVERYONE who places their faith in God.  On this side of the cross, that means trusting in the finished work of Jesus.  This does address the often-asked question of salvation before Christ.  

How were OT saints saved?  Simple.  They trusted God. They believed that He would save them somehow, someway.  Through their faith in Him, He counted them righteous.  Their works and obedience would follow.  

But they were still flawed, sinful failures.  Noah.  Abraham.  David.  Moses.  An endless parade of losers that placed their faith in a God who saves.  

The Galatians are no different.  They are sons and daughters of Daddy Abraham when the only thing they have to do is trust God.

Paul will later explain this when he writes to the Romans.  The whole reason God saved Abe before he was circumcised “was to make him the father of all who believed without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well” (Rom 4:11-12).

He goes on to tell the Romans that God’s saving act is a gift He gives and that we have done nothing to deserve so ”that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring…Abraham, who is the father of us all” (Rom 4:16).

I don’t ever think of myself as a son of Abraham.  Obviously, I should.  It’s what connects me to the story of the OT.  It’s what grafts me into the family tree (Rom 11:17-36).  Like Abe and the Galatians, I have done nothing to earn such a blessing from God.  

I have simply believed in what God has done and in who He is.  I trust in Jesus.  So when someone asks, “Who’s your daddy?”  I can say, “Abraham.”  And because of that, I can be assured of my relationship with my Heavenly Dad as well.

©2012

Jay Jennings

OT? Bring It on!

Paul continues to defuse the spiritual grenade left in Galatia by the Judaizers.  They rolled into the churches telling everyone that Paul’s Gospel was incomplete.  If you wanted to follow Jesus, you had to follow Jewish law first.  That included circumcision, the sign of God’s covenant with Abraham.

The apostle has just asked us a series of questions.  He wants his readers to think back to their conversion.  How did that happen?  What did you do?  What kind of things do you perform in order to receiver God’s Spirit?  Was it by obedience to a list of rules, “by works of the law?”  Or was it really by simply believing in what Jesus has done for you, “by hearing with faith?” (Gal 3:2-5).

At this point, Paul opens his Bible and flips back to Genesis.  If these false teachers want to use the OT, the apostle says, “Bring it on!”  You want to talk about obedience to the law, let’s talk about Abraham.  Father Abraham.  “Just as Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (v6).

Paul quotes Genesis 15:6.  What does a dusty old Bible story have to do with churches in Galatia, much less with us today?  Great question!  Paul is saying that God made Abe right LONG before He established His covenant and its mark of circumcision.

Abe simply believed what God had told him.  Somehow, someway, he believed God was good on His crazy promise to transform a childless old man into a “great nation” (Gen 12:2).  That his descendants-to-be would be like “the dust of the earth” (Gen 12:16).

Abraham believed God.  He believed in the goodness of God.  He believed in the sovereignty of God.  He certainly trusted Him for the promises He made to him regarding land, seed, and blessing.  But more importantly, Abe simply trusted God.  

No matter how difficult life was, no matter how ridiculous his situation, he trusted inch God was and what He said.  And he did so centuries before Jesus showed up to fulfill everything. 

Do I have the same kind of faith?  Do I have that same kind trust in God and HIs goodness?  I pray that I do.  One thing I have in my favor is the perspective of the life of Jesus and His death for my sin on the cross.  Abraham believed in God for what he has done as well as those future blessings.

Paul says that when Abe believed, God “counted it to him as righteousness.”  The Greek verb he uses here is λογιζομαι/logizomai.  

This is an accounting term.  It means that when Abraham believed, God went into His divine ledger and credited Abe’s account as made right and reconciled.  Everything was paid in full.  Simply because he trusted in God.

This is important to the Galatians because it means they didn’t need anything more than to place their faith in God.  If Abe, as the patriarch of the Jews, didn’t need to be circumcised, much less follow the law that was still to come centuries later, then they didn’t either.

Justification by faith is good news for for me.  I simply need to trust in Jesus and what He’s done for me.  And that also means I don’t need to add any of my on futile self-salvation projects either.  Not going to church.  Not serving in ministry.  Not reading my Bible.  Not praying.  Not seminary.  No small groups.  

None of these has the power to save.  Only my faith in Jesus.  Only my trust in God.  And if anybody wants to bring up the OT, bring it on!

©2012

Jay Jennings

Demolition Man

False teachers have infiltrated the Galatian church network and accused Paul of going rogue and failing to preach a complete Gospel (Gal 2:4).  They have perverted the true Good News with a counterfeit message of “do better through obedience to the rules” (Gal 1:6-7).  

The apostle insists that any self-salvation efforts by through good behavior by either Jew or non-Jew is actually no salvation at all.  It’s only when we place our faith in what Jesus has done for us what we could never do that we are made right in the eyes of God (Gal 2:15-16).

Paul has dedicated the past few years of his life preaching the Gospel Jesus personally gave Him (Gal 1:12).  Christ told Paul that His death on the cross demolished the barriers between Jew and Gentile.  The Good News puts the wrecking ball to ethnic walls.  

The big story: Gentiles can now come to faith in Messiah Jesus AS GENTILES!  No conversion to Judaism need.  No rituals necessary.  No circumcision required.  And the big wigs of the church gave Paul’s radical message their seal of approval (Gal 2:6).  

The apostle has spent all of his energy tearing down these walls as he travels.  He has just returned from his trip to Galatia with Barnabas where he was the Demolition Man (Acts 13:13-14:23).  They made two stops in the churches of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe knocking down walls.

He’s the Demolition Man.  

That’s the scene when Paul writes, “For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor” (v18).  The construction of the original Greek is more than a little awkward in English.  It could be something like, “For if the things I tore down I build again, I prove myself to be a violator.”  

The apostle describes his days as the Demolition Man.  He uses the verb καταλυω/kataluo.  It means to take something apart, tear down, abolish, demolish or destroy.  Paul has torn down and completely dismantled centuries old racial walls.  He’s dedicated himself to the destruction of ethnic barriers between Jews and Gentiles as they come to faith in Jesus.

He’s the Demolition Man.

Paul tells us that it would be ridiculous for him to rebuild what he worked so diligently to demolish.  And if he did, “I would prove myself to be a transgressor” (v18).  The Greek word for transgressor is παραβατης/parabates.  

It describes someone who illegally crosses a boundary or knowingly oversteps a line.  A trespasser.  An illegal alien.  The apostle says that if he went around trying to put back together all of the walls he’s worked hard to tear down, he would knowingly be violating what Jesus specifically commanded him to do.  

He’s the Demolition Man.

Jesus has called me to be a Demolition Man too.  Walls still exist.  Barriers between races.  Barriers between economic groups.  Barriers between neighborhoods.  Barriers between genders.  It’s time to get out the Gospel wrecking ball and get to work.  

The night before His crucifixion, Jesus prayed to His heavenly Dad “that they may be one even as We are one.  I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly  one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me” (Jn 17:22-23).  That only happens when we work hard to destroy the walls we’ve erected between us.

Let’s be Demolition Men.

©2012
Jay Jennings

Justify

Paul has just described his confrontation with Peter in Antioch (Gal 2:11-14).  The man from Tarsus got in Pete’s grill when false teachers duped into buying a snake oil gospel of “do better.”  

This led to a hypocrisy that split the church down ethnic lines.  Paul warned the leader of the apostles that he wasn’t walking straight in terms of the Gospel.  These false teachers peddled a counterfeit message that said non-Jews had to first follow Jewish law in order to become true followers of Jesus.

Peter clearly repented of his sin after the “Antioch Incident.”  This only made his relationship with Paul stronger.  In 2Peter 3:15-17, Pete boldly proclaims his love for his “brother Paul” as well as his authority as an apostle.  In his own letter to believers, he warns us not to be suckered by false teachers as he was.  He cautions us not to allow “the ignorant and unstable to twist” God’s Word.

In verse 16, Paul drops a nuke on the idea of self-salvation through our own good works.  Three times he detonates the “J Bomb” of justification by faith in Jesus.  He begins by saying “a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.”  

This is a powerful statement that applies to any person.  The apostle takes it a step further and makes it personal.  “So we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law.”  He finishes his triple play by concluding with the absolute that “by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Let’s review...

• Not justified by works.
• Justified through faith in Jesus.
• Justified by faith in Christ.
• Not justified by works of the law
• By works of the law no one will be justified.

Get it?  Got it?  Good.

Three times Paul uses the Greek verb δικαιοω/dikaioo.  This is a legal term that describes how a judge declares the defendant not guilty and innocent of any charges.  When Jesus saves us, God rules that we are fully and immediately innocent of our sin and rebellion against Him.  Despite our sinful flesh that He must still sanctify, He pounds the cosmic gavel in our favor.  Not guilty!

Three times Paul uses this word.  Notice a couple of things.  First of all, each time it is passive.  In other words, we have nothing to do with the declaration.  This is God’s ruling from the bench.  We have provided no defense worthy of His verdict.  

Second, each time the apostle uses the verb, he uses a different tense.  The first time its in the past (the Greek aorist tense), “justified...through faith in Jesus Christ.”  The second time its in the present tense, “we believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith.”  Finally, he uses the future tense in warning that “by works of the law no one will be justified.”

• Past.
• Present.
• Future.

Get it?  Got it?  Good.

While Paul uses the legal language, a medical image helps me understand what's going on here.  Think of the law as CT scan, an MRI or an X-ray.  These are tools that doctors use to diagnose illness and disease.  These do nothing to treat us.  They simply tell physicians what's wrong with us.  That's exactly what the law does.  God provides it to us as a diagnostic tool.  But it doesn't heal.

When we put our faith in what Jesus has done for us, that's the cure.  Trusting in the truth that Jesus lived the perfect life we couldn't live.  Trusting that Jesus died the perfect death we should have died.  Trusting that Jesus rose to a heaven we don't deserve.  It's not about what we do.  It's not about obeying the law.  

Just like getting more and more CT scans won't cure us without treatment, trying to obey the law won't save us.  That's exactly what Paul means when he writes to his Roman buddies.  "For by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin" (Rom 3:20).

The law is the diagnostic. Faith in Jesus is the cure.  Only putting our faith in the Great Physician provides ultimate healing.

Some of the great minds of our faith call this imputation.  That's a fancy way of saying we get Jesus' perfect righteousness and obedience while He takes our sin and disobedience.  

Not exactly a fair trade, is it?  Luther calls it the Great Exchange.  Paul describes it in one of his letters to the Corinthian crew.  "For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God" (2Cor 5:21).

That's the same message Paul also preached at the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch.  "By Him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses" (Acts 13:39).  Instead of using legal or medical images, the apostle uses prison language.  Only Jesus can bust us out of the joint.

The apostle grabs Peter, the Galatians and us by the shoulders and gives us a hard shake.  He wants us to remember the amazing truth of our justification in Jesus.  

©2012

Jay Jennings

Walk Straight

In this letter, Paul is working quickly to put out the heretical fire that has sparked in the Galatian churches.  False teachers called Judaizers have rolled into the region just after he and Barnabas hit the road on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:13-14:23).  

These men have infiltrated the Galatians and perverted the Gospel of grace, telling those who are not ethnically Jewish that they must first become Jews in order to follow Jesus (Gal 1:6-7; 2:4).

But Paul tells the Galatians that he's seen this before.  And you'll never guess who it was.  Peter.  Yup, THAT Peter.  The Apostle Peter.  It happened at the church in Antioch, Syria.  

This is the church that God used to send Paul and Barnabas on that very first missionary expedition (Acts 13:2-3).  This is also the same place where Jesus' followers earned the nickname "Christians" (Acts 11:26).

The "Gentile Problem" first happened here because the church was made up of both Jews and non-Jews.  Persecution that followed Stephen's murder forced the Jewish followers of Christ to leave Jerusalem and move to places like Antioch (Acts 11:19).  

Luke tells us that thanks to God's use of men like Barnabas in telling folks about Jesus, a boatload of Gentiles also came to faith (Acts 11:21, 24).  The First Church of Antioch was a marvelous mixed up mess of people from all ethnic groups.  

It's this context that provides fertile ground for racial discrimination.

This is the scene in Antioch when Pete hits town.  At first things are great.  He's hanging out with anyone and everyone in the church.  Paul tells us that Peter was living "like a Gentile" despite being ethnically Jewish (v14).  The walls have come down.  

But things change when "certain men came from James" (Gal 2:11).  When they showed up, Pete freaked out and became very worried about his reputation (Gal 2:12).  

He suddenly ditched his Gentile friends and only hung with the boys from Jerusalem (Gal 2:13).  If this wasn't bad enough, Pete's behavior impacted everybody else, including Barnabas.

At some point, Paul puts his foot down.  "I opposed him (Peter) to his face" (Gal 2:11).  He got up in Pete's grill.  He didn't try to work through his friends behind the scenes.  He confronted him directly and lovingly.  Face to face.

The Apostle Paul "saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the Gospel" (v14).  The ESV does a solid job translating the original text, but there's an interesting nuance in the Greek.  

Paul uses the verb ορθοποδεω/orthopodeo.  Looks familiar, doesn't it?  It's where we get our term "orthopedic."  It's a compound word meaning "straight" (ορθο-/ortho-) "walking” (-ποδεω/-podeo).  

Paul saw that Pete and those he influenced were no longer walking straight in regard to the Gospel.  They had veered off course.  They needed a course correction.  

You could say that they had begun to limp badly in their walk with Christ.  They needed orthopedic surgery.  God prompts Paul to provide the treatment needed so they could walk straight once again.

This results in a showdown between the two apostles.  Paul confronts "Cephas before them all" (v14).  Chances are he had tried to talk to him privately, following Jesus' instructions in Matthew 18:15-20.  

Paul most certainly followed that up by taking a couple of witnesses with him for a second private meeting.  These guys knew each other.  They had spent two weeks together at some point (Gal 1:18).  

Here he describes the resulting confrontation before the entire church.  This is the kind of meeting Paul tells Timothy about.  "As for those who persist in sin, rebuke them in the presence of all, so that the rest may stand in fear" (1Tim 5:20).  

Calvin wrote that private sin should be dealt with privately and public sin rebuked publicly.  That's exactly what happened here.  

Because Pete's sin became such a divisive cancer in the First Community Church of Antioch, Paul needed to handle it very publicly.  That way everyone would know this was wrong.

In front of the entire church, Paul cuts the chase with Peter.  "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?" (v14).  Dude, you're Jewish.  You clearly understand the truth of the Gospel and the freedom you have in Jesus by living like a non-Jew.  

That's because Pete understood that Jesus completely fulfilled all of the requirements of the Law.  Yet, once the boys hit town from Jerusalem, he was forcing "Gentiles to live like Jews."  What's up with that?!?!

This is a reminder of a couple of incredibly important points.  First of all, walking straight according to the truth of Jesus' Gospel is NOT about keeping a list of rules and forcing others to do the same.  

It's interesting that, in essence, Paul is rebuking Peter for breaking the rule of establishing unnecessary rules.  Here's the deal, Jesus kept the rules that we couldn’t and wouldn't keep.

Second, this demonstrates the importance of protecting the purity of Christ's Gospel of grace.  He did the work.  He did the heavy lifting.  

Because of what He did in His life and on the Cross, we have access to His righteousness.  He takes our sin.  We get His sinless perfection.  

Luther called it the Great Exchange (2Cor 5:21).  To try an add our own good works to the formula ruins the math.  As Tullian Tchividjian consistently says, "Jesus plus nothing equals everything."  Paul knew that Pete's expectation of Jewish rule-following by Gentile believers was bad math.

Finally, we see godly and loving confrontation.  Paul would have loved nothing better than to avoid such a nasty scene in front of the entire church.  But it was vitally necessary.  

His friend needed correction.  He did this out of his love for Pete.  He did this out of love for God.

When it comes to the Gospel, we are to walk straight.

©2012

Jay Jennings