In Galatians 2:1-10, Paul is writing to churches who have been subjected to false teaching by those requiring Gentiles to be circumcised and to keep the law of Moses in order to be saved. So, Paul recounts a time when he contended for the gospel concerning the same issue on a trip to Jerusalem with Barnabas and Titus.
On that trip, Paul met privately with some leaders of the church and set before them the gospel he had been preaching (verse 2). We don’t know all who were there, but we know Peter, James, and John were (verse 9). Paul said that he wanted “to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.”
What does Paul mean? He doesn’t mean that he had any doubts that the gospel he had been preaching was the true gospel. He had received it directly from the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul undoubtedly explicitly denounced any requirements of the law as conditional to salvation in his presentation of the gospel. His concern was whether the leaders were tolerating those who imposed legal mandates on Gentiles in order to be saved.
Paul isn’t saying he doubted the other apostles’ orthodoxy; he is conveying to the Galatians that it was a life and death issue. In Philippians 2:16 Paul writes, “Hold fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.” The word of life is Christ, his death as an atonement for sinners being the only way to God.
The false teachers didn’t understand the atonement, the cross of Christ. The strictness of the law shows us our danger—not the way to God. In the gospel, God says to those who deserve to die, “Here, I give to you Christ, my Son, for your sin. Believe in him and you will have eternal life.”
The cross shines light on the truth in our mind, in our heart, and the whole world. It opens the door of hope to the worst sinner and gives solace to sinners in despair. There is nowhere else to look if you would be reconciled to God. If I would boast in the cross and nothing else, then consider that the cross on his back was for my sin; the crown on his head for my sin; the nails in his bleeding hands for my sin. The cross gives us motives that alone can move us to turn from the sin we love to live for the honor of Christ.
In verses 3-10, Paul assures the Galatians that the apostles and leaders of the church were in full agreement with him. Paul emphasizes that the false teachers “slipped in to spy out our freedom in Christ Jesus, so that they might bring us into slavery.”
Paul uses language of the devil’s craftiness in referring to the false teachers. Adding your own righteous acts to the work of Christ for salvation puts you under obligation to keep the whole law.The sinner’s plight is this: he is in bondage to Satan, and unable to free himself from that dominion; he is in bondage to the law, under the obligation of meeting its demands or bearing its penalty; he is in bondage to sin, with no resources of his own to deliver himself from it.
The Lord Jesus began his ministry by saying that “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim liberty to the captives.” (Luke 4). What we cannot do for ourselves, the Lord Jesus did all for us. And it is all given to us by God through faith. How is Christ a perfect Savior if any act of redemption is left to ourselves, sinners incapable of one pure act that meets God’s standard?
Christian freedom is not freedom from restraint or authority; it is freedom to be in subjection to Christ and to give God the honor he is due, which we cannot do if we trust in our own righteousness rather than Christ, always looking for grounds to boast in ourselves.
Pride comes from indwelling sin which the Lord allows to remain for the ultimate good of the Christian. He strives to work out pride and self-importance; when we know our own hearts, we learn our dependence on continual supplies of grace. When we feel the effects of our fallen nature and repeated evidences of our weakness, Christ becomes more precious to us; the sight of a crucified, glorious Savior heals the wounds of guilt and gives the freedom of peace, joy, and love.
