A Faceoff Galatians 2:11-21 “Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” – Galatians 1:10

Some Skill Testing Questions What was the situation that Paul was up against as he writes this letter to the Galatians? Paul was being accused of having a distorted gospel. What was at stake in this situation? The nature of the gospel and the existence of the church! “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

“When Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group. The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs?  “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

“We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles  know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified. “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.  “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” - Galatians 2:11-21 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

Who was Simon Peter? Simon Peter, along with the brothers James and John were Christ’s closest companions. Nicknamed Cephas or Peter - meaning something like Rocky– he was always the first to act. He was super passionate about Christ and his mission, and was willing to take it to a physical level if necessary. In many ways, Peter and Paul were quite similar. Peter was also a powerful figure in the early church, operating out of Jerusalem, and struggled mightily with how Gentiles fit into this newly forming thing called Christianity. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

A Miraculous Revelation: Peter and Acts 10 Outcome: the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles had been torn down in a significant way by Christ Jesus. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

What does Paul call Peter on in our passage from Galatians? In light of the presence of certain people, while visiting Paul and Barnabus in Antioch, Peter reverted back to his Jewish Torah upholding mentality, re-establishing the barrier between Jew and Gentile, previously torn down by Christ Jesus. What has happened in Peter’s life for this reversion to have occurred? When certain men sent from the apostle James arrived, Peter’s hypocritical behavior begins. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

The law does not make a person righteous, only faith in Christ does. Paul views ‘conversion’ as a foundational shift in our identity and our standing before God. Through Christ, we are made righteous before God. The law does not make a person righteous, only faith in Christ does. If we continue to live as though following the law makes us righteous, we participate in a vicious circle. Legalism defeats the gospel message, making Christ’s death irrelevant. Why did Christ die if all we need to do is live law-abiding lives? The challenge of the distorted gospel is actually a direct challenge against the work of Christ on the cross. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

We must question what it really means that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Paul’s major emphasis here is that just as Gentile Christians have lost their identity as pagan people separated from God, even Jewish Christians have lost their old identity, one defined by the law. All believers, whether Jew or Gentile, have come into a new identity defined only by Jesus Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

Application We live in a day of easy believe-ism, where following Christ really isn’t much more than sacrificing an hour a week on Sundays. What it would mean to live a life defined only by Jesus? “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

Our interaction with each other is based on certain tangible, external factors. We are all prejudicial in one way or another because this is a function of sin. Sin separates … it separates us from God and from each other and is the wedge driven between the people of Israel on one side and the Gentile nations on the other. Jesus’ death and resurrection effectively removed that wedge and the result was a collision between Jew and Gentile, a collision made beautiful in Christ Jesus. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

“For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.” (Ephesians 2:14-16) “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20

Three Questions What would our church look like if we simply based our interaction on the plain fact that we each find our identity in Christ? Would the nature of our gathering be different? In what ways? What if church became a place where people with all kinds of differences – skin colour, age, style of dress, preference for musical style, etc. – set those differences aside and came together because they loved being together and experienced the presence of Christ together? “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.“ – Galatians 2:20