From 5c6e2bf63a5abc5562d0408ac78ca562bb15293e Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Lyle Mantooth Date: Sun, 6 Aug 2023 16:23:56 -0400 Subject: [PATCH] Galatians 2:11-21 --- content/bible_journal/galatians_2:11-21.md | 41 ++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 41 insertions(+) create mode 100644 content/bible_journal/galatians_2:11-21.md diff --git a/content/bible_journal/galatians_2:11-21.md b/content/bible_journal/galatians_2:11-21.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a2b5742 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/bible_journal/galatians_2:11-21.md @@ -0,0 +1,41 @@ ++++ +title = "Galatians 2:11–21" +date = "2023-08-06" ++++ + +### [Read the passage.](https://biblia.com/bible/esv/Galatians2.11-21) + +Now that Paul has established his apostolic authority, he addresses the attack +saying he was modifying his message to suit his audience. Remember that Peter +(called Cephas in Aramaic) was the one to receive the vision of the sheet full +of unclean animals before meeting Cornelius the Roman centurion and baptizing +him and his household. Peter was also at the Jerusalem council that Paul and +Barnabas attended wherein the church officially welcomed Gentile believers and +laid out the relatively few expectations of conduct. So then, it is not unusual +for him to fellowship with Gentile believers when he visits Antioch. When the +circumcision party arrives and Peter starts pulling away and others follow +after him in this hypocrisy, Paul has to remind him of the truth of the gospel. + +Paul has used "the truth of the gospel" twice now, which is his shorthand for +the fact that Christ's sacrifice is completely sufficient to save sinners. Even +the faith in His work on the cross is a gift of grace from the Lord, and to +impose any other conditions or requirements is to deny His sufficiency. Paul +shows that both the Jews who kept God's law and the Gentiles who didn't are not +justified before Him in either case. Instead, both groups of people must have +faith in Jesus Christ in order to be justified. + +The next part of Paul's argument is a little hard to follow, but I will +endeavor to explain it clearly. The agitators were calling Paul a sinner in the +same sense he himself used it in verse 15 to describe the Gentiles: one who +doesn't follow the Law of Moses. However Paul responds by saying that if he is +a sinner _because_ of his justification through Christ, then wouldn't that make +Christ a promoter of sin? But that cannot be. Instead, Paul claims unity with +Christ in His death and resurrection which allows him to be justified before +the law. If this were not the case, then God's grace wouldn't mean anything; if +it were possible to be justified by doing the works of the law, then Christ's +death would also be meaningless. + +* * * + +We are sinners who do not deserve Your love for us that allows us to be +justified in Your sight.