It is no longer I that live, but Christ that lives in me! I stand in the truth that God alone is my Deliverer and Savior
Galatians 1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.
Remember Paul shared the heartbeat of the Father. His will and desire is to set us free from sin and deliver us from the present evil age. The Father has a heart for you! Paul declared he had first had revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ and the gospel. He was ministering 3 years before he went up to Jerusalem to see Peter. He met with Peter for 2 weeks and he also met James the Lord’s brother, pastor of the Jerusalem church.
Galatians 1:20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.) 21 Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia . 22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ. 23 But they were hearing only, "He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy." 24 And they glorified God in me.
Paul was not well known to most of the apostle and most believers. They praised God for the testimony that he was preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.
Galatians 2:1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me.
Fourteen years later Paul went up to Jerusalem again, equaling 17 years of ministry.
Galatians 2:2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain.
Paul was directed by the Holy Spirit to go to Jerusalem and communicate the revelation of grace. Paul privately told the leaders of the Jerusalem church the revelation of grace he preached to the Gentiles.
Galatians 2:3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. 4 And this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in (who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage),
Titus, who was not a Jew, was not compelled to be circumcised. The Jewish believers had made a decision they were not going to put the Gentile believers under the law of Moses Acts 15:23-29 and Acts 21:21-26; however they felt it important for the Jewish believers to continue in the law of Moses. The whole of Hebrews was written to bring Jewish believers to trust exclusively in the priesthood of Jesus Christ. Paul spoke of the liberty found in grace alone and declared he would not be moved from it. While the law is holy it cannot bring life. It identifies sin but the solution to sin is in Jesus Christ alone!
Galatians 2:5 to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. 6 But from those who seemed to be something; whatever they were, it makes no difference to me; God shows personal favoritism to no man; for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.
Paul said they would not yield submission to them for even an hour! To yield to those who are interested in returning to the law is to stop the gospel from continuing.
Galatians 2:7 But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter 8 (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles),
Paul came with the revelation of grace and shared the gospel to Peter and the rest of the brethren. Paul was sent to the Gentiles. We find in the book of Acts the Apostles did not go share the gospel to the Gentiles. They were commanded to go to the uttermost parts of the earth but it took the calling of the Apostle Paul to fulfill the word.
Galatians 2:9 and when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.
James, Peter and John heard the fullness of the grace message and gave Paul the right hand of fellowship.
Galatians 2:11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed; 12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
Now we find the apostle Paul rebuking the apostle Peter for he was to be blamed. Some brothers from James church ( Jerusalem ) came to Antioch and Peter separated himself from his fellow Gentile believers. The divide had grown big and the Jewish believers still held they were better than the Gentile believers. Peter’s fear of man (the Jewish brethren) caused him to walk away from the grace message and separate from the Gentile believers in the presence of the Jewish believers.
Galatians 2:13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
All the other Jews were influence to play the hypocrite with him!
Galatians 2:14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
Please hear this word of God. Peter learned to live in the manner of the Gentiles believers. However, he forsook the freedom when the brothers, who were zealous for the law, came to Antioch . The calling of God was for every Jewish believer to find the liberty of grace and live as the Gentile Christians lived.
Galatians 2:15 "We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, 16 "knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Justification before God cannot come from the law of Moses in anyway! Justification before God comes exclusively by faith in Jesus Christ and there is no other way for justification to be applied. No man can be justified by the works of the law!
Galatians 2:17 "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18 "For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
If we try and bring the believer back under the performance of the law he will be found a sinner. Christ cannot be a minister of sin! If we come under the guise of the law we become a debtor to the whole of the law. If I go back under the law and build those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. The law and grace cannot be mixed.
Galatians 2:19 "For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
When we are saved we die to the law that we might be free to be joined to Christ. One who remains under the guise of the law cannot live for God successfully. After we die to the law we can say “ I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”
Galatians 2:21 "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."
I will not allow the law of Moses or the codes, rules, and regulation of man get in the way of grace. “I do not set aside the grace of God.” If righteousness or justification comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. I will hold to the heart of God found in grace.
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