Galatians 2:1–10 – The Gospel That Cannot Be Compromised

Galatians chapter two verses one to ten.

Then forty years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas and took Titus with me also.

And I went up by revelation and communic and communicated unto them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to them which are a reputation, lest by any means I should run or had run in vain.

But neither Titus, who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised, and that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privilege to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that thy may bring us into bondage.

To whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

But of these who seem to be somewhat whatsoever they they were, it maketh no matter to me.

God accepteth no man's person for they who seemed to be somewhat in confidence added nothing to me.

But contrary wise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter, for he that was effectively in Peter in the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles.

And when James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go unto the heathen and they unto the circumcision.

Only they would that we should remember the poor, the same which I also was put forward to do.

That's the God's word amen.

In my Bible it actually says Paul is accepted by the church, because if you remember last week Paul was arguing his authority to preach.

But for some reason, and it might be a good one at the end of the day, I've actually titled this sermon the Gospel That Cannot Be Compromised.

My dear brethren and sisters in Christ, and I pray that you are in Christ.

We return to Paul's great defence of the gospel in this letter, in this section, to the church at Galatia.

His ministry has already been attacked by the Judaizers, men who insisted that Gentile believers must be circumcised and come under the law of Moses before they could truly belong to Christ.

Paul will have none of it.

He calls such teaching bondage, the very opposite of the liberty we have in Christ.

And Paul tells us in verses 1 and 2 that after 14 years, so it was 14 years after he was converted, he actually goes up to Jerusalem.

And he takes a guy called Barnabas with him and Titus.

And he went by revelation.

Now what do we mean by revelation?

It means that God sent him.

He didn't go of his own accord, he was sent by God.

And he didn't go to Jerusalem, which was the center of the new faith and the center of Judaism to make a name for himself.

He did not go to win an argument.

He went quietly, privately to those who seemed to be pillars, because the unity of the church mattered.

He wanted to ensure that his labor amongst the Gentiles would not be hindered by division amongst the apostles.

Now I want to divert a little bit here because we're going to be talking about church unity.

And I don't want anybody to get a confused message from me that makes you think that I am for church unity as it's spoken of today.

The church can only be unified, which is what we're going to hear in a bit in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Any church or anything that calls itself a church that preaches Christ plus is not a church of Christ.

As Ryle would say, and I quote him quite a lot, there can be no unity with Rome until Rome has peace with God.

But there can be no unity with the Church of England until the Church of England has peace with God.

And it goes with every other church that has diverted from the Word of God.

That's my position.

And Paul seems to be on the same wavelength.

This is not Paul doubting the gospel.

This is Paul protecting the church, the integrity of the church.

And he quotes in verse 3 that Titus, who's a Greek, was not compelled to be circumcised.

That's massive fundacrap.

If the apostles in Jerusalem believed circumcision was necessary for salvation, Christ plus, Titus would have been the first to feel the knife, but he wasn't.

Why?

Because the gospel is Christ alone, received by faith alone, without the works of the law.

And in verse 4, we get the threat of the false brethren, people who had infiltrated the church.

Paul speaks of false brethren unawares brought in, i.e., the church is not aware of who they are.

They were not simply just unhelpful Christians, and we have loads of those.

They were infiltrators.

Men who pretended to be believers but were not.

Their aim was to spy out the liberty of the gospel and drag believers back into the chains of the law.

You know, every every generation of the church has its false brethren.

People that always look religious, they always sound pious, but they always add something to Christ.

And anything added to Christ destroys the gospel.

And Paul will not yield.

He says, to whom we give place by subjection when he's talking about these people.

Do we give them a place by subjection?

No, not for one hour.

And that has to be our response to the worldwide church movement.

No, not for one hour.

Take anything away from Christ and it's not the gospel.

Add anything to Christ and it's not the gospel.

And Paul would not budge, and we will not budge.

And Paul would not compromise, and I hope you like me will not compromise.

And Paul would not soften the truth to keep the peace, and neither will I.

And I hope neither will you.

And why?

So that the truth of the gospel might continue with you.

You see, the gospel isn't ours to edit.

It's not ours to improve.

It's not ours to adjust to the mood of the age.

It's God's gospel.

And it must be guarded.

Verses 6 to 9, the apostles recognized Paul's ministry.

Those who seem to be somewhat, he says, seem to be somewhat, added nothing to Paul.

God does not accept a man because of his status.

The gospel Paul preached was the same gospel the apostles preached.

But God had given them different fields.

Peter to the Jews, Paul to the Gentiles.

And when James and Peter and John saw the grace of God in Paul, they gave him the right hand of fellowship.

Unity was restored.

The gospel was preserved.

The mission expanded.

And I want to go back onto that a little bit.

Unity was restored.

When we have people that we can agree with the gospel, even if they're slightly different in the way they worship to us, we give the right hand of fellowship.

Because working together in our own different spheres, we strengthen the gospel and the outreach and the work of the mission.

They great commission.

I have, I've always thought, of specific audience, congregation type.

Other people have different congregations.

Stanley Park is uh a very close one to me.

And yet Eddie and I, although we have slightly different views on things, walk together as one.

We preach the same gospel of Christ and him crucified.

And in verse 10, Paul is just asked to do one thing for Peter, and that's to remember the poor.

The only request the apostle made was that Paul remembered the poor.

And he was happy to do that.

Because a gospel that has no compassion is not the gospel of Christ.

Galatians 2 verses 1 to 10 then teaches us three grand and great truths.

Galatians 2:1–10

The gospel must never be compromised.

The unity of the church must always be guarded.

The fruit of the gospel is compassion.

And may we be a people who hold the line where Paul held it, refusing to add anything to Christ, refusing to subtract anything from Christ, and refusing to let anything overshadow Christ.

Let us pray.