Galatians 2:1-9 – True Gospel: Doesn’t Add To What Jesus Has Done
Here in verse 3 we get one of our biggest clues so far about the false teaching that’s rocking the Galatian churches. Paul says here that Titus wasn’t circumcised. Circumcision was standard Jewish religious practice. In fact, it was something that God had commanded Abraham and his descendants to do. It was a sign of God’s covenant with them. For Christians, it’s been replaced by the sign of baptism. But the false teachers in Galatia were saying that in order to be a Christian, someone had to believe in Jesus but also be circumcised. From what we’ve seen so far in the letter, their message seems to have been: ‘This Paul has messed up the gospel message. He heard it from the Apostles in Jerusalem, but then he changed bits of it. He’s leaving out the bit that says you need to be circumcised’. But Paul is saying, ‘No, the other Apostles recognised that I’d been entrusted with the same gospel as them. And as proof that we weren’t teaching a different message, they didn’t force Titus to be circumcised’.
Now it’s not that circumcision is now wrong. It’s just that it’s not needed. Later on, in Acts 16v3, Paul circumcises Timothy because if he hadn’t been, it would have been a been a stumbling block to the Jews they were trying to reach. So is Paul being inconsistent? No – they’re two completely different situations. Here, Titus ISN’T circumcised, because if he had been it would have given ammunition to the ‘false brothers’ in v4 who were claiming to be Christians and leading other Christians astray. But with Timothy in Acts 16, he WAS circumcised, because if he wasn’t then it would have been an excuse for unbelieving Jews not to listen to the message that he and Paul were bringing. Even though Paul did the exact opposite, in both situations his goal was the same – the advance of the gospel.
Verse 5 tells us how serious this is. Titus wasn’t circumcised ‘so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you’. If Titus had been circumcised, these false brothers would have gone back to Galatia and said – the real Apostles in Jerusalem circumcised Titus. That proves that Paul’s message is wrong and ours is right! The truth of the gospel is at stake. Because when anything is added on to Jesus as something you need to do to achieve salvation, the gospel is lost.
Questions
- What were the false teachers trying to add to the Gospel?
- What are some things people try to add to the Gospel today?
Prayer Points
- Give thanks that our salvation does not depend upon us.
- Use prayer points from your congregation.
- Pray for family matters.