Highly Esteemed
Notes
Transcript
Is Paul ignoring or dismissing the authority of James, Cephas, and John?
Is Paul ignoring or dismissing the authority of James, Cephas, and John?
Good Morning,
Today we have made our way into chapter two of Galatians, and in our passage today Paul again continues the defense he has been building in support of his authority as an apostle. Here in chapter 2, he really begins to reinforce his earlier statements from chapter one, that there is not another Gospel. I am going to apologize right now though, this week I had planned on trying to make it through the whole of this passage, but yesterday after bulletins where out God led me a different direction. So we will probably only answer question one today.
So if you could, please open your bibles with me to Galatians 2:1-10, and before I begin let me open up with a word of prayer.
I will tell you today I am going to Galatians 2:1-10
New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update Chapter 2
1 Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also.
2 It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of reputation, for fear that I might be running, or had run, in vain.
3 But not even Titus, who was with me, though he was a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
4 But it was because of the false brethren secretly brought in, who had sneaked in to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, in order to bring us into bondage.
5 But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.
6 But from those who were of high reputation (what they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality)—well, those who were of reputation contributed nothing to me.
7 But on the contrary, seeing that I had been entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised
8 (for He who effectually worked for Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised effectually worked for me also to the Gentiles),
9 and recognizing the grace that had been given to me, bJames and Cephas and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, so that we might go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
10 They only asked us to remember the poor—the very thing I also was eager to do.
Is Paul dismissing the authority?
Is Paul dismissing the authority?
We read here that Paul goes to those of reputation, and this is why I decided to use the NASB rather than ESV today. If you are using the ESV, it reads “those who seemed influential,” and while in verse 6 we will see that Paul does not care about the level of influence they had, at no time does Paul look at them as these influential above him people. He goes to those who everyone else considers to be important. The NASB is marginally more clear on that point. It was to the people who had high reputations within the church that Paul goes and he does so not because they wanted him to but because God directed him to. He went to these people because of a revelation of God.
But, God sent him to those that other people thought were more important. Three times in our passage today, Paul says, “those who were of reputation” or high reputation. The first is in verse 2, the second is in the beginning of verse 6 and the other is at the end of it. Paul really wanted his readers to know these were people who were admired by others. He even goes as far to point out that they were reputed to be pillars in verse 9. He is saying that people call them the pillars of the church. Paul made sure that the Galatian church knew he met the very people the Judaizers were telling them he was inferior to.
Look what Paul says about these people. Right in the middle of verse 6, Paul rights, “what they were makes no difference to me.” Paul does not care how important these people seem to be to everyone else. To him, they are just men. They are not above him nor are they below him. They are equally accountable to God and dependent on God as he is. Why can he say this?
This is like me going to John MacArthur, John Piper, Francis Chan, Paul Washer, Jim Canady, Kevin Hausmen or any other pastor you can think of. They are not above me nor are they below me, just as we are not above you nor are we below you. Yes, we hold a different role, our role is to shepherd the flock of God, which does include teaching and protecting, so there is some leadership there, but we are all equally accountable and equally dependent upon God and His grace. Paul tells us what they were makes no difference, because God shows no partiality. We are going to look at a few different passages to emphasize this, but the first one is in Deuteronomy 10 if you could turn with me there and we will read verses 12-17.
God Does Not Show Partiality
God Does Not Show Partiality
Deuteronomy 10:12-17 ““And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good? Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.”
If you are using an ESV Study Bible, back in Galatians 2:6 there was probably a note next to God shows no partiality, and that note refers you to this last verse we read. This was written to Israel, before they began to go into the promised land and look what He tells them before He says He is not partial. He tells them to circumcise the foreskin of their heart, and be no longer stubborn. In a little more modern terms, put your faith in Him and walk in His ways, Why? You cannot bribe God, everything you have comes from Him and Him alone. He owns everything it is all His, there is nothing here that He did not create or that He does not hold together. He is not like man, where you can give him something he doesn’t already have.
In Psalm 50 Asaph writes:
Psalm 50:10-12 “For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.”
Take a look around here. Everything you see is below God, everything.
A Worldly Reputation Doesn’t Matter Before God
A Worldly Reputation Doesn’t Matter Before God
Back in Galatians 2, Paul tells us that these people had high reputations within the Church and he says that is of no value to him, nor does it matter to God. Remember to keep this one in the back of your mind because we will get into this a bit more in verses 11-14, when we see that no one is above reproach. In many ways God does not care about our reputations before men. There are ways He does and we will look at those, but it is not the way the world judges reputation.
If you want to see how a reputation is important, look at the book of Job. In Job chapter one verse 8 God says this about Job.
And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
That is quite the reputation. God commends Job before Satan and tells him that at that time there was none like him on earth. God called him a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil. I pray that God would say that about me or you. However, turn with me to Job chapter 42 and look how Job responds to God after God questions him. Remember what God said about Job at this time, there were none like Job on earth, but Job before God says:
therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Job 42:1-6 “Then Job answered the Lord and said: “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ‘Hear, and I will speak; I will question you, and you make it known to me.’ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.””
Job this man like no other in his generation, who God said was blameless and upright, before God despises himself and can do nothing but repent.
We see this again in the book of Isaiah. Turn to Isaiah 6. Isaiah is a Prophet of God and in Isaiah chapter 6, we read that the year King Uzziah died Isaiah sees God sitting on His throne. God hasn’t even said anything to Isaiah yet and look at his response.
And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
This is always the best we can respond to when it comes to our own reputation before God. The response all throughout the old testament when someone sees God, is Woe is me, usually followed by some form of I am going to die now, because I am sinful and God you are Holy or greater than me. The best we have is filthy before the perfection of God. That is why God offered His Son in our place. We can come to God because of the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross. Our debt has been paid and we have a clean account with God. Turn with me to 1 Peter
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
See Christ brought us to God by taking our place that we might be made alive in the spirit. If we look we now have a new reputation to uphold.
You are to be a pillar of God’s Church
You are to be a pillar of God’s Church
Paul has this made the point that it was other people who were holding them up with a high reputations. There was, however, another part of this esteem. These three men that Paul met with were considered pillars. Essentially they were holding up the Church.
Pillars
I know that everyone here knows what a pillar is, but this is the picture of pillars at the time of this letter. They were considered foundational to the whole structure at the time. This is what Paul is saying people said about them. However, Paul, as well as James, Cephas (Peter), and John had a different opinion about what it was to be a pillar of the Church. Look back to Galatians verse 9.
Galatians 2:9 “and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”
When these three men perceived the grace given to Paul, look what happened. They gave him the right hand of fellowship. This is to say that he was considered to be equal with them, but with a different mission. They saw his mission as equally important as their own. These men all saw the role of being a pillar as a reward yet to be attained though.
If you would like to know what it fully is to be a pillar read all of 1 Timothy, but I will only read to you what Paul says to Timothy near the middle of the letter
I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth.
This letter was written so that Timothy, and by extension we, might know how we ought to behave in the household of God. How we as the church can be a pillar and buttress of the truth. All of us are to be part of that. We are all as a unified body to be that pillar of truth. This is not something that is complete but ongoing. And look what Revelation says about it.
Revelation 3:10-12 “Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.”
We see here that those who conquer, or hold fast to what they have and keep God’s word about patient endurance, God will make them pillars in the temple of God. This is a future even when the new heavens and new earth are here. Those who conquer will be rewarded. This is not salvation but an extra reward.
So what does this mean for us?
So what does this mean for us?
We are all equal before God. We will either be judged based on our works or Jesus’s Works
Your worldly reputation won’t matter.
Your godly reputation will.