Galatians 2:11-21
Verse 11 - But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.
I have heard it said that Peter “lambasted” Peter real good, yelling and screaming at him in this public rebuke. I do not believe this was Paul’s way of rebuke, any more than any other Christian. People who call themselves Christians today may yell and scream at one another, but Christ never did.
Verse 12 - For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.
Peter ate with the Gentiles because he understood there was nothing wrong with eating all different kinds of meat. This was proven to him in Acts 10 when the net full of all kinds of animals was brought before him three times. But when the Jews came from Jerusalem (James and the church at Jerusalem), Peter withdrew himself because he feared (this is peer pressure) the Jews who were still keeping the Jewish customs. It doesn’t hurt to keep these customs, but they have absolutely nothing at all to do with salvation. Peter was afraid he wouldn’t be accepted any more by these Jews. This is similar to preachers today who won’t say what God leads them to say because they will be cast out of the “group” and not allowed to preach any more in their conferences, revival meetings, or whatever. Peer pressure is great in the ministry. When bad words get out about you, you are dead. Contrariwise, when a pastor has great power because he is the pastor of a large church, he can commit all kinds of sins and nobody will say anything against him, because the one who spoke out will be “kicked out.”
Verse 13 - And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.
It is remarkable that even Barnabas, the son of consolation, also went along with this great wickedness. What is actually happening is that the Jews are changing the gospel message from one of pure grace, to grace plus works. They are perhaps unawares of their changing the basic gospel message, but the change is there nonetheless. The change has come about slowly, and has happened because of the customs of the people, which was readily accepted. It doesn’t make any difference, the gospel is being changed, and that must be stopped.
Verse 14 - But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?
It seems to me that Paul is the only one standing for the pure truth of the gospel - all other saved people, and leaders at that, have fell into the trap of placing customs into the gospel, which completely destroys the gospel message.
It seems that the speech by Paul continues through the end of this chapter.
Verse 15 - We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Paul here mentions three different kinds of people, separating the Jews into two different categories. I know and you know that all people are sinners, but the conflict in this chapter is not about what we know; it is about what the Jews know and what is happening at this time.
Jews who are natural born Jews.
Jews who are spiritual Jews, having been born again by the grace of God.
Gentiles, who are called sinners.
Paul is mainly talking about and to the natural born Jews and their natural aversion to Gentiles, thinking they are unclean and outside the grace of God. Paul is making this difference because the Jews, as a nation, believed they did not need salvation, because they were Jews, but Gentiles, who were sinners, were outside the reign of grace because they were sinners. The Jews did accept Gentiles into their nation and worship, but only when they deemed them Jews, and not when God deemed them spiritual Jews.
Paul is using this expression of speech to reveal the truth about justification by faith. It is not by works of righteousness which we do. Justification by faith is not for just Jews, or just Gentiles. Justification by faith is for everybody who God determines.
Verse 16 - Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
The fact that justification does not come by the law is well known and accepted by the Jews Paul is preaching to. These people know and understand personally that their good works, whether of the law of not of the law, did not produce justification. They understand their correct, pure, judicial standing before God is by the faith of Jesus Christ. They understand they have believed in Jesus Christ in order to be justified by him.
They also understand that Christ is the same for everybody – Jew or Gentile: sinner or Jew – who, as a nation, considered themselves righteous without Jesus Christ and his gift of saving faith.
Verse 17 - But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid.
In this verse, Paul drives the point home that all are sinners, whether they are Jew or Gentile. All need to be justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. If a lost Jew comes to the place of understanding that he is a sinner and needs to be justified by the faith of Christ, Christ is not made a sinner, nor is he the minister of sin. If a saved Jews comes to the place of realizing he is still a sinner (even after he has been saved) and continues to need the justification of Christ by the faith of Christ, Christ is still not the minister of sin. Both of these Jews (the one that is lost and the one that is saved) are exactly like the Gentiles, who all the Jews know are sinners!
Verse 18 - For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Paul will not encourage the doctrine of the Jews that Jews and Gentiles are different in regards to their spiritual condition. All are sinners. All are justified the same way – through the faith of Jesus Christ.
Paul will continue to preach justification to the Jews and Gentiles exactly the same. He will not become a transgressor of the gospel of Christ, giving preference to any group because all are alike as regards sin and salvation and eternity.
Verse 19 - For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
Paul is a Jew and God used the law (which is the school master) to bring him to the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul knows the law of God is not just to the Jews, but to every person.
Verse 20 - I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Paul here stresses the way of his salvation and the way of his life. It is by the faith of Jesus Christ, and not by the law. Paul is stating that both Jew and Gentiles must come to Christ the same way: by faith. It is Christ that lives in Paul, enabling him to be a good witness for Christ. It is Christ that lives within every saved Gentile, enabling them to be a good witness for Christ.
Verse 21 - I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Paul will not frustrate the grace of God; that is, he will not allow confusion to the gospel by saying one group of people must be saved one way and another group of people must be saved another way. Paul will treat all believers the same way – whether they are Gentiles, or whether they are Jews.
Paul is in a unique position because he is a Jew, called of God to be a minister to the Gentiles. He has come to see that every person is a sinner. Paul came to see he was a sinner when he was a “righteous” Jew, traveling to Damascus to kill righteous Christians. He has never forgotten the grace of God, which freely came to him, revealing his lost condition to him, and bestowing on him the greatest gift of all – salvation; full and free.