Galatians 2:11-21

content/bible_journal/galatians_2:11-21.md

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+title = "Galatians 2:11–21"
+date = "2023-08-06"
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+
+### [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.