The HCSB translators gave this passage the title Paul Defends His Gospel at Jerusalem. That title seems a little misleading to me. Paul did defend his gospel at Jerusalem. But as we read the passage, you’ll see that he also went to Jerusalem to make sure what he was teaching was in agreement with what the apostles who came before him were teaching—and not only that, but really to confirm that those who were teaching another gospel, a different gospel, were wrong and were false teachers. I think Paul was confident that he was teaching the true gospel, but this trip to Jerusalem was not just for his benefit, but really for the benefit of those that might be misled by the false teachers. The false teaching was that men must be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses in order to be saved.

As we read the passage, remember, as always, that we are reading the word of God. “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God [or woman of God] may be complete, equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim.~3:16, 17)

¹Then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. ²I went up because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles—but privately to those recognized as leaders—so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain. ³But not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. ⁴This issue arose because of false brothers smuggled in, who came in secretly to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, in order to enslave us.

⁵But we did not yield in submission to these people for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain for you. ⁶But from those recognized as important (what they really were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism)—those recognized as important added nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was for the circumcised. ⁸For He who was at work with Peter in the apostleship to the circumcised was also at work with me among the Gentiles. ⁹When James, Cephas, and John, recognized as pillars, acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I made every effort to do. (Galatians~2:1-10)

Two weeks ago I talked about Galatians 1:11-24 (which comes right before today’s passage). The translators gave it the title Paul Defends His Apostleship. Last week’s passage was Paul Defends His Apostleship. This week’s passage is Paul Defends His Gospel at Jerusalem. But it isn’t just Paul’s gospel. It’s what Paul was teaching. But the reality is that there is only one gospel. It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. Mark’s gospel, the gospel according to Mark (which, of course, is not just Mark’s gospel) starts out “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ. And the word “gospel” means...? ...Good News! Jesus Christ is good news! (In days gone by we used to say, “That’s the gospel,” meaning, “That’s the absolute truth.” So I thought the word “gospel” meant “truth”. The Gospel according to Matthew was the truth according to Matthew. The gospel according to Mark was the truth according to Mark, and so forth. But the gospel means “The Good News”! And the apostle Paul says back in chapter 1, verse 8 of Galatians that even if he, himself or an angel from heaven should preach to the Galatians a gospel other than what he has already preached, a curse be on him! Any other gospel is really no gospel at all. It’s not good news. It’s bad news!

Anyway, in the passage from two weeks ago, Paul made the point the gospel he was preaching was not based on a human point of view (literally, not according to man). What Paul was preaching was not something that he had made up himself. (I’ve mentioned “Scientology” before. It’s a religion. It was made up back in 1950. I actually remember it being talked about in the news back then. It was presented as a new approach to psychology, as I remember, and they said that a number of people from Hollywood had subscribed to it. And you know what? As I was preparing this, I looked up Scientology on the internet. I found a video of Tom Cruise preaching the “gospel of Scientology” (with some fervor, too). (How many of you knew that Tom Cruise was a Scientologist?) Scientology is a weird made-up religion. They are more weird in Hollywood than in some other places. And I should point out that all religions except Judaism and Christianity—all religions that don’t agree with the word of God—are “made-up” religions—either by men or by Satan the devil!

The apostle Paul didn’t make up the gospel he was preaching. And he didn’t get it from someone else who made it up. He didn’t even get it from someone else who didn’t make it up, someone who was actually a Christian and knew what the true gospel was. Paul didn’t even get the gospel from one of the other apostles. He got it directly from Jesus! (But he does say in chapter 1, verses 18 and 19 that he did go to Jerusalem and met with Peter after he was taught by Jesus. The only people he talked to at that time were Peter and James, the Lord’s brother.)

Now, before we go on, remember what this is all about. The question is, “Are we saved by God’s grace through faith—or by works—by what we do?” Paul (the Holy Spirit speaking through Paul) says in Ephesians 2:8, 9, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift—not from works, so that no one can boast.” (And how much we want to be able to boast.) But as we go on in Galatians, we will see just how destructive it is to believe that we are saved by works.

Now let’s look at the first two verses in today’s passage: “Then after 14 years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. I went up because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel I preach among the Gentiles—but privately to those recognized as leaders—so that I might not be running, or have run, in vain.”

Now, as I mentioned, I don’t think Paul was in any serious doubt about whether he might have been preaching in vain. I think he was convinced that he had been preaching the truth. But nevertheless, it is always good to compare what you are teaching or proclaiming with what others are teaching or proclaiming. If we keep ourselves isolated, it’s easy to drift into just emphasizing part of the Scriptures or to add human ideas and begin to believe that you are teaching the word of God. (And I believe that both of these things happen a lot. We are all susceptible to it. So be very, very careful that what you tell people is really the word of God.) It’s good to have multiple teachers in a given congregation so that they can check and question each other’s teaching. (So, if you think I’m teaching anything that’s wrong, ask me about it and make sure I have a good answer.)

(And I just want to make a side comment here about “up” and “down”—“Paul went up to Jerusalem”. We think of “up” or “down” on the map as referring to north or south. But in the Bible you go “up” to Jerusalem and “down” from Jerusalem to someplace else regardless of what direction you are actually going according to our way of specifying direction. Going south to Jerusalem is still “going up”.)

¹Some men came down from Judea (that is, they came from Judea to Antioch where Paul was at the time –my comment) and began to teach the brothers: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved!” ²But after Paul and Barnabas had engaged them in serious argument and debate, they arranged for Paul and Barnabas and some others of them to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem concerning this controversy. ³When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, explaining in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they created great joy among all the brothers.

⁴When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. ⁵But some of the believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses!”

⁶Then the apostles and the elders assembled to consider this matter.⁷After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them: “Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe. ⁸And God, who knows the heart, testified to them by giving the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us. ⁹He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. ¹⁰Why, then, are you now testing God by putting on the disciples’ necks a yoke that neither our forefathers nor we have been able to bear? (It’s something nobody could do! We can’t do it either.) ¹¹On the contrary, we believe we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way they are.” (Acts~15:1-11)

Do you remember the story? Peter was up on the roof praying and waiting for lunch to be prepared. He went into a trance. In a vision he saw something that looked like a large sheet being lowered down. It was full of all kinds of animals, reptiles and birds. A voice told him, “Get up Peter. Kill and eat.” Peter replied, “No Lord! I have never eaten anything common and unclean.”

Peter had observed the dietary Law of Moses all of his life. There were “clean” animals and “unclean” animals. The Law of Moses forbade you to eat anything unclean. And I think it would have been much harder than anything we can imagine for him to eat things that we normally eat—like pork, for example. Mooma won’t eat tripe, and I doubt if she would eat brains (things which I was fed when I was young, but probably would not eat now). Just take how Mooma feels about such things and multiply it by 100 and you probably can have an idea of how Peter would have felt. But the voice told Peter, “What God has made clean, you must not call unclean.” And this was repeated three times (and remember, God does it twice if he really wants to emphasize something—so think about three times). Peter wondered what it meant.

Right after that, some men arrived that had been sent by a man named Cornelius, who happened to be a Roman Centurion, a Gentile. The men told Peter that an angel had appeared to Cornelius and told him to send for Peter—that Peter had a message for him. Peter went with the men and with several others and preached the gospel to Cornelius and a number of others who had gathered to see what Peter had to say. (And if you think it would have been hard for Peter to eat “unclean” food, it would have been equally hard for him to go into the home of a Gentile.) Peter preached and they believed the gospel and they were saved. When people heard about what had happened, some praised God that the Gentiles could be saved, but others argued with Peter. When Peter told them the entire story, they all praised God (although it apparently took them a moment to do so).

At the meeting of Paul, Barnabas and Titus with the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, Peter rebuked those who were arguing and reminded them of all that had happened with Cornelius and the people with him. And their decision was that the Gentiles didn’t need to be circumcised or keep the ceremonial law in order to be saved. In verse 3 in today’s passage Paul says, “Not even Titus who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.”

²⁴Because we have heard that some to whom we gave no authorization went out from us and troubled you with their words and unsettled your hearts, ²⁵we have unanimously decided to select men and send them to you along with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, ²⁶who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁷Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will personally report the same things by word of mouth. ²⁸For it was the Holy Spirit's decision—and ours—to put no greater burden on you than these necessary things: ²⁹that you abstain from food offered to idols, from blood, from eating anything that has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well. Farewell. (Acts~15:23-29)

I’ll just make one comment. It may look like there are some ceremonial rules—abstain from food offered to idols, from blood and from eating anything that has been strangled. But I believe that these things were asked, not to make the Gentile believers holy, but to keep the Jewish believers from being “grossed out”.

What this says is that these people who were teaching that you had to be circumcised and keep the ceremonial law in order to be saved were not really Christians. They were false brothers. Paul was aware of their motives. He says they wanted to enslave the Christians. They may not have put it that way, but that was the effect. But we have freedom in Christ. In Christ, you don’t live according to a set of rules, you walk by the Spirit. Trying to save yourself or even to “make yourself more holy” by living by a set of rule is slavery. It leads to competition (“I’m holier than thou”) and to envy and strife. And you know what? Paul would have known that very well. He was an expert at it before he met Jesus. He was a Pharisee. But he repented. (And in case you don’t think that the idea that holiness comes from keeping rules isn’t still promoted, I was talking to someone the other day who told me about some people who were trying to promote that very thing, the idea that people should be taught to follow certain rules in order to be holy—and this was in a church that certainly believes that you are saved by grace, not by obeying rules. But these people were apparently from a background and culture where holiness by keeping rules had been taught just as those who were teaching that you had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses were from a background and culture where holiness by keeping rules had been taught.

And by the way, did you notice what verse 3 in the passage from Acts says when Paul , Barnabas and the others were on there way to meet with the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. It says that they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria and explained in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and they created great joy among all the brothers—the opposite reaction from those who insisted that the Gentile had to be circumcised in order to be saved.

Verse 5 in today’s passage says, “But we did not yield in submission to these people for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain for you.” Paul didn’t compromise with these people. He didn’t compromise because they were teaching a gospel of death. We shouldn’t compromise either.

⁶But from those recognized as important (what they really were makes no difference to me; God does not show favoritism)—those recognized as important added nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was for the circumcised. ⁸For He who was at work with Peter in the apostleship to the circumcised was also at work with me among the Gentiles. ⁹When James, Cephas, and John, recognized as pillars, acknowledged the grace that had been given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to me and Barnabas, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. (Galatians~2:6-9)

The point is that the leaders all agreed that what Paul had been teaching was the true gospel and that the teaching that you had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses was a false and destructive teaching. (And it appeared that they were also happy that the Lord had chosen Paul rather than any of them to take the gospel to the Gentiles.) But verse 8 says, “For He who was at work with Peter in the apostleship to the circumcised was also at work with me (Paul) among the Gentiles.” He who was at work in both Peter and Paul is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. He is the same Spirit who is at work in all of us who believe.

The whole point of today’s passage (and all of Galatians) again is that we are not saved by observing rituals. We are not saved by keeping rules and we are not saved by “being good”. (Jesus said no on is good but One—God.) We are saved by grace through faith. And that’s a gift from God.

Verse 10 says, “They asked only that we would remember the poor, which I made every effort to do.” These people that Paul came to see were leaders in the church, the whole church—and not just in a local church. Among them were those whom Jesus had designated apostles during his ministry on earth—Peter and John, at least. Yet the church in Jerusalem was in need. But God designed things so that we would have to help each other. “This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life for us. We should also lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother in need but shuts off his compassion from him—how can God's love reside in him? Little children, we must not love in word or speech, but in deed and truth.” (1 John~3:16-18)