Galatians Chapter 2: Do I Know You?

Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army 14 July 2013 and 23 August 2015, by Captain Michael Ramsay.

This is the 2013 Saskatchewan Version. To read the 2015 Toronto version, click here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2015/08/galatians-211-14-do-i-know-you.html

Three weeks ago now, when we were in Toronto, the new Chief Secretary of the Canadian Salvation Army told us this story:

There was a man who was new to town. He just got transferred to a new city. The company was having a softball game and he thought that this would be a good time to get to know people in the company and the town. He went up to bat. He missed the first pitch and someone yelled, 'good try Mr. Moore'; he didn’t think that he knew anyone; he looked around; he struck out and someone yelled, 'we're cheering for you Mr. Moore.' Who is calling him? Again and again he goes up to bat, inning after inning and each at bat he is just as bad as the previous one but each time he hears someone yell, 'well done Mr. Moore', 'Doing good Mr. Moore', 'We're cheering for you Mr. Moore.' He is looking around. He can't see anyone he knows - except his wife and son but each time he is up to bat - even though he can't hit anything someone is cheering him on, 'Good game Mr. Moore.'

      After the game he asks his family, 'Did you hear that person cheering me on?' 'Do you know who it was?'

      'It was me', his son says, 'I wanted to support you and make you feel better.'

      'Why did you call me Mr. Moore instead of dad like usual?'

      ‘I didn't want anyone to know I was related to you. You were terrible.’

‘Thanks, son.’

This is not entirely dissimilar to Cephas (Peter) in Galatians 2, which we read earlier.  We notice that he at first enjoys associating with the Christian Gentiles but then the Christians show up from Jerusalem and it is almost as if he pretends that he isn't related to the Gentile Christians at all. Whereas Peter was eating with the Gentile Christians and relating to them positively in culturally appropriate ways before, now these Christians show up from Jerusalem and everything is different.

One of the myriad of old Jewish laws - which were fulfilled in Christ - states that a Jew can't even associate with Gentiles, let alone eat with them; so when the Jewish Christians appear, the Apostle Peter seems to start obeying all these old Jewish laws including those that say that he is not allowed to associate with the Gentiles.

This brings us to the main question of our text here in Galatians 2 and the first of many I want to discuss here today. It is a question that we have visited not that long ago in the book of Acts here when we were reading through that book as a congregation and it is a question that Paul addresses a lot actually in the New Testament. The question is: Can one be a Christian without first being a Jew?[1] Does one need to convert to Judaism to be saved or can anyone be saved (TSA Doctrine 6)? This is a big question and this is an important question for the Apostle Paul.

Remember that all through Acts we hear about Gentiles becoming saved. At first it seems as if those being saved are already Jewish proselytes but later the Spirit is seen descending upon people who are still fully and completely Gentiles (Acts 6,8; Acts 10,11). The Spirit is coming upon those who eat unclean food -like ham - and who have never been circumcised (Acts 10). God is saving people who do not follow the Jewish Law (Acts 11:17).  So then a question arises which is addressed over and over again as well in the New Testament: if the Gentiles are saved just by being Christians and they don't have to follow Jewish laws; do the Jewish Christians have to follow Jewish laws to be saved? The Bible says, ‘no’ (cf. esp. Romans 1-5, Galatians 1-5). The Apostle Paul in his letter to the Galatians says 'no' and here in the next few chapters Paul will quite nicely explain the purpose of the law but the answer to the question - 'since the Gentile Christians are saved without following the law do the Jewish Christians need to follow the law?' - simply put is 'no'. The Jewish Christians should not follow the old Jewish laws anymore than the Gentile Christians. They are all saved the same way; we are also saved the same way (cf. Romans 2): through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now Peter, Paul, and Barnabas know all of this and Peter has not been following all of the Jewish laws up until this point; in fact he is being very sociable with the Gentile Christians in culturally appropriate ways when all of a sudden these people from James show up (Galatians 2:11-13). Then everything changes…

Can you imagine what it would be like to be one of these Christians in Antioch? One minute Peter and the other Christians from Judea are your best friends: worshipping and serving along side you and then all of a sudden some new people come from Judea and then they won't even talk to you. (Sounds like being a teenager!) How would you feel? How would you act? How would you react? What would you do? How would this affect the spreading of the Gospel? And there are more questions too but first, why would Peter do this? Why would Peter seemingly turn his back on these people and his mission, the Great Commission?

For those of us who have just read through the Acts of the Apostles together, we remember the dream that Peter had (Acts 10). It is Peter who sees all of these unclean, forbidden foods descend from heaven and God tells him to kill and eat this food and Peter at first declines in his daydream but he eventually accepts the message of this vision for Salvation; and it is revealed to Peter, and to us, as to those present, that this dream means that there is no longer a barrier between Jews and Gentiles. Peter now knows that he is allowed to associate with Gentiles; Peter now realizes that Gentiles can be saved just as the Jews can; Peter now knows that Gentiles can be saved without first becoming Jews; Peter now is the first one to bring this Gospel to the Gentiles. Then and now, as recoded in Galatians 2, back in the Antioch church; he is celebrating, feasting, and worshiping with the Gentile Christians and then everything changes.

Why? What happened to Peter and what happened to Barnabas? What happened to these men used greatly by God in the early church? Why are they now seemingly turning their backs on the Gentile Christians? Did you ever wonder why the Apostle Paul apparently tears this strip off the Apostle Peter in Galatians 2? What is really going on here? Why is Peter acting like this?

Some people have suggested that Peter is all of a sudden self-conscious about his faith. Some people have suggested that Peter is happy associating with the Gentiles in culturally appropriate ways when there is no one else around but as soon as 'important' Jewish Christians show up he no longer has time for any Gentiles because he wants to be accepted by these Jews sent from James or because he wants these emissaries to tell James about how good he is or something like that.

I find this hard to believe and I find it harder to believe still that both Peter and Barnabas could be tempted to turn their backs on people for such a shallow reason. Remember that Barnabas is the one who stands up to the early Church in vouching for Paul when the others won't have anything to do with Paul at all (Acts 9:26-30). Remember that Barnabas also stands up to Paul in favour of John Mark as well (Acts 15:36-41), John Mark later goes on to be a key figure in the early Church and even writes the book of Mark, that is in our Bible (cf. Colossians 4:10, 2 Timothy 4:11). And remember that Barnabas and Paul report together to James and the early Church in Jerusalem what the Holy Spirit is already doing in the life of Christian Gentiles, who have never converted to Judaism (Acts 13-15). How can Barnabas forget this or act so out of character as to turn his back on everything just because these other people show up? And Peter - we already said that he is the one first used by God to bring non-converted Gentiles to the Faith and he is the one through whom God articulates that mission clearly in a dream (Acts 10). Could these two men of faith used greatly by God in this way all of a sudden forget everything that they have risked their very lives and everything else for? How could they?

Are they like children who hang out with their church friends at the coffee shop until their hockey friends show up and then move to another table and won't make eye contact. Are they like teenagers in the store with their parents, who, spying some peers, all of a sudden are curt or rude or profane or totally ignore their parents because they are afraid of what their friends will think of them? And are we ever like that with Jesus? I hope not but I also don't think that this is why they are doing this. I think that Peter, Barnabas and the others are acting this way for much more noble purposes than this but I do think that the end results are just the same.

This letter was probably written ca. CE48-50, in the years leading up to the time of the Jewish revolt against Roman rule that brought so much death and destruction to Judea and even the ultimate destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem (CE70). There is this great self-destructive wave of nationalism sweeping over the Jewish people. They are separating themselves more and more from the Romans and they are separating themselves more and more from the Gentiles as they are preparing to bring war and rebellion to the Near East. [2]

The early Christians are getting all caught up in these times leading up to the war. Remember that Peter, Paul, and Barnabas are all Jewish Christians. The people they are with in Antioch and the people in Galatia are Gentile Christians and back home there is a Jewish revolt brewing. I have read some suggestions recently that these people mentioned in the text from James are probably bringing the information of the growing Jewish intolerance and the impending revolt to Peter, Paul, and Barnabas here.[3] They are warning them about pro-Semitic prejudice and violence.

Now, when people rebel against their occupiers, what do they do to the sympathizers of their occupiers? When the ‘Free French’ rebelled against Nazi occupation, what did they do to people they thought were friendly to the Germans - whether they really were or not? When one regime falls and another comes to power - like we have seen in Libya and Egypt in recent history - what happens to supporters, friends, allies, or sympathizers of the old regime? What has the US done to people on the other side of their wars in the 21st Century? Remember Saddam? Remember Osama? Remember Abu Gharib? Remember Guantanamo Bay? Remember all of the even innocent people who were swooped up, dropped off, killed, or even tortured? Remember?

Jerusalem here is on the verge of a revolt against Rome. James in all likelihood has sent these people here to warn Peter, Paul, and Barnabas about this and he may even have requested that Jewish Christians not act like non-Jewish Christians because if they don't that might put the lives of all the Christians back in Jerusalem at risk. Peter and Barnabas may have been asked to prove that they are loyal to Jerusalem by distancing themselves from the Gentile Christians.

Now and here in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, we know what happened to the families of German decent when World War II broke out. Where I am from (Victoria, BC), we are very conscious about what happened to Canadians of Japanese origin during the war. When Susan, the girls and I were in Ontario just a few weeks ago we read about what happened to the Italian Canadian families there. I read about one family that had to burn all of their clothes of a certain colour to try to protect themselves, their friends and their family from their own Canadian government. I read of one Canadian family where -even though one Canadian son of Italian ancestry was serving in the Canadian Army- another son was shipped off to the internment camps and the family was broken up. (We just celebrated Heather's 3rd birthday.) I read of one Canadian family of Italian ancestry where the Canadian government came to take the father on his young daughter's birthday. He asked to be allowed to stay at least until the candles were blown out. The men from the Canadian government said 'no' and they took him away - on his young daughter's birthday.

It is very likely that Peter and Barnabas believe that if they, as Jews, act like Gentile Christians in Antioch, as recorded in Galatians here, then the Jewish nationalists will do similar sorts of things to the Christian Jews back home, after all the early Christians are Gentile sympathizers. As Paul repeatedly says, there is no Jew or Greek in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:22, 10:12; Galatians 3:28; Colossians 3:11). Peter and Barnabas could be moving away from the non-Jewish Christians -as referred to in our text today- in order to save the lives of the Christians back home; so that they are not persecuted as guilty by association.

Now what I am about to say is really important. It seems a reasonable enough thing for them to do this to protect the Jewish Christians from persecution back home in the years leading up to the Jewish revolt against Rome. But Paul says – and rightfully so - that it is not reasonable. Paul says - rightfully so - as recorded in our pericope today - Paul says that giving up your freedom in Christ for this reason is hypocrisy (v.13)! And Paul will go on later in this very letter to the Galatians to express his anger about this hypocrisy in some of the most brutal language you'll ever read in scripture from the Apostle Paul's own mind. This hypocrisy bothers Paul so much that this is the only one of his letters that we have that does not even begin with the customary polite greeting. There are none of the normally expected niceties of first century correspondence in this letter. Paul is in essence saying to Peter, Barnabas, the Galatians; and by extension, Canadians, Salvationists, and all of us here today that if for whatever reason we turn our backs on our faith and fellow servants in the faith - whether for seemingly trivial purposes such as rules, regulations, pride, prejudice, popularity or for severely serious reasons such as to protect yourself, or to protect your friends, or to protect your family; it is still denying the essence of your faith. It is exactly the same.

The great apostle, Peter, who is used by God to accomplish so much in the world; Peter, who is the rock upon which Christ was to build his Church; Barnabas, one of the most courageous, one of the most heroic, one of the most determined followers of Jesus Christ, one of the most ardent proclaimers of the resurrection and the Gospel of Salvation; when these men turn away from practicing the freedom of their faith; when these men turn away from helping and associating with their Christian brothers and sisters; when these men turn away from sacrificing everything for the proclamation of the Gospel; then they in essence turn their back on our Lord. They - no matter how noble their purposes - are just like the teenager denying her father for her own personal reasons. And their actions hurt our Heavenly Father just as much as a disowned 21^st Century Canadian father. Peter and Barnabas, of course, did repent and return to being used greatly by God for the proclamation of the Gospel of Salvation.

My questions for us today are like this: Are we ever tempted to fall into the same trap as they did? Are we ever tempted to act like we are not Christians? Are we ever tempted to not associate with fellow Christians? Do we ever talk to people in church but dodge them on the street? Do we ever deny that we have anything to do with the Church or others here? Do we ever hide our faith by not saying grace at the restaurant? Do we ever dodge questions about whether or where we go to church? Are we ever embarrassed about some of our distinctive behaviours that show to the world we are Christians? If we turn our backs on our Christian brothers and sisters, if we deny our Christianity and if we deny our Lord and Saviour before people then - no matter how good our reasons might seem to us for doing so - reasonably, Jesus will also deny us. If we turn our backs on Christ we will no longer be facing him who is reach out to us, to hold us and love us.

With this being the case: from this day forward let us all commit to carry our cross; from this day forward let us all commit to love God; from this day forward let us all commit to love our neighbour; and from this day forward let us all commit to put nothing before God and the proclamation of His Gospel of Salvation through Christ Jesus our Lord; so that at the eschaton, at the parousia, at the resurrection; we will join Peter, Paul, Barnabas, and all the saints for eternity with our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

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[1] Cf. Captain Michael Ramsay, Acts 10:1-11:18: It's All In Who You Know, Presented to Swift Current Corps of The Salvation Army, 02 June 2013. Available on-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/06/acts-101-1118-its-all-in-who-you-know.html 

[2] Cf. Flavius Josephus, ‘The Wars of the Jews’ in Complete Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by William Whiston, A.M. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregal Publications, 1971.

[3] Cf. Charles B. Cousar, Galatians (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox, 1982), 56-57